For most of my memory, one of the essential characteristics that distinguished an “R” rated film from an “X” rated one by MPAA’s standards, was the on-screen depiction of male genitalia. For the longest time an’ “R” film was forbidden any imagery of the penis (“Midnight Cowboy was “X” rated…and that had no such depictions)…I think it was “Boogie Nights”…a film about Porn, no less, that lowered that standard. So one has to wonder where exactly such lenience will lead the consumer in terms of psychological determinations when it come to such films as “Bruno”? What exactly does such lenience seek to accomplish? A frank explicitness about sexuality or an exploitation of social dynamics? In terms of Hollywood and porn, it is always the later. The later is a more profitable and discreet form of prostitution.
