Orgy
Related: human sexuality - orgasm - group - Dionysian
Works related by title: The Movie Orgy (1968) - Joe Dante
Orgy scene in Casanova (1927) - Alexandre Volkoff
Definition
Orgy has several meanings, including "a drunken revelry", a religious rite involving ecstatic dancing, an "unrestrained indulgence" (for example, "an orgy of destruction"), or group sexual activity. This article deals with the latter.
- Practical difficulties – but which also contribute to the enjoyment – in participating in an orgy include figuring out where all the arms and legs go, figuring out what positions work and in what complexity, and addressing in advance such issues as consent and jealousy. - - - - A "drunken orgy" resulting from intoxication may leave the participants embarrassed and upset in the morning when the hangover strikes. - - - - A gang bang is intercourse between one woman, or man, and a group of men, one after another. An alternate slang phrase for this practice is "pulling a train". Gang bang can also refer to a group rape (the meaning should be clear from the context). Gang members are sometimes called gang bangers. -
In sex, an orgy is a sexual activity in which four or more participants are present and involved in sexual activity with each other. In some cultures, orgies have been practiced as part of communal ritual or religious practice. An orgy may be exclusively hetero- or homosexual; instances of bisexuality may or may not occur. The concept of an orgy in Western culture also carries a connotation of unrestrained and outlandish behavior.
Strictly speaking, group sex involving three participants is called a ménage à trois or a threesome and is not normally thought of as an orgy. Interpretations vary, but some argue that to be classified as an orgy there must be at least eight people, including at least two of each sex, otherwise it is just "group sex." Group sex is sometimes referred to as a gang bang, though this term is used by some to mean intercourse between one woman, or one man, and a group of men, one after another. An alternate slang phrase for this practice is "pulling a train". Gang bang can also refer to a group rape. Participation in an orgy is a common sexual fantasy. Triple Penetration refers to a type of orgy involving 3 men and one woman, in which a penis is inserted into the woman's mouth, vagina, and anus all at the same time. This is an example of what many call gang rape, although triple penetration is portrayed as an enjoyable act for both women and men involved. After the man reach climax, they often ejaculate in the woman's mouth, and frce her to swallow the semen.--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orgy [Mar 2005]
Orgies in mainstream film
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) - Stanley Kubrick
Eyes Wide Shut (1999) - Stanley Kubrick [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Orgy
The storyline follows the surreal, possibly imagined, sexual adventures and misadventures of Bill (Cruise), in shock after his wife, Alice, (Kidman) reveals that she has considered an affair, and culminates in his admittance to a bizarre orgy held in a mysterious castle. The orgy sequence contains some of the most explicit portrayals of consensual sex in mainstream cinema.
Censorship
The film was scheduled to receive an NC-17 rating for its full male nudity, and Warner Brothers digitally altered the film by inserting the silhouette of a "man in black" in an orgy scene. This digital figleaf moved and stood in such a way as to block the objectionable body part. This alteration of Kubrick's vision antagonized many cinephiles, as they argued that Kubrick had never been shy about ratings: A Clockwork Orange had an X-rating.
In contrast to their usual behaviour, the British Board of Film Classification allowed Eyes Wide Shut to be released to British cinemas without the need for the digital alterations seen in US cinemas. The film was rated 18, viewable only by those aged 18 and over. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyes_Wide_Shut [Oct 2004]
CASANOVA (Alexander Wolkov, France, 1927)
Orgy Then: everybody is tired except Don Juan who surveys the carnage in jaded satiation (just a day's work ...), re-emphasized in his magnificently ex- tended right arm. Everybody is carefully draped. The use of strongly slanted lines introduces a perverse element in what otherwise would have been a dead, academic composition. --Film As a Subversive Art (1974) - Amos Vogel [Amazon.com]BLOW-UP (Michelangelo Antonioni, Great Britain, 1966)
Orgy Now: The famous scene in Blow-Up -- carefully excised in many countries -- in which two stray London "birds" finally involve the photographer in casual sex on the floor. The glimpse of pubic hair was unprecedented. SC --Film As a Subversive Art (1974) - Amos Vogel [Amazon.com]Merry Widdow (1925) - Erich von Stroheim
Mirko is hosting a party that becomes a drunken "orgy," and decides to bring the partygoers to Danilo's apartment to surprise him during his evening with Sally.a decadent orgy scene and semi-nude musicians in Erich von Stroheim's silent operetta The Merry Widow (1925) --http://www.filmsite.org/sexualfilms.html [Mar 2005]
Memorable sequence: the blindfolded, half-naked orchestra seranading a drunken orgy. --http://www.oakstreetcinema.org/films_0103/von_stroheim.html [Mar 2005]
The Wedding March (1927) - Erich von Stroheim
Originally made in two parts (the second of which Paramount tampered with) but with only the first having survived, this concerns the ill-starred romance between a Viennese prince (Stroheim) and a lowly commoner (Fay Wray). In many respects what remains is Stroheim's most poignantly romantic work, though even a lyrical tryst among apple blossoms is intercut with a brothel orgy, highlighting his abiding fascination with the social and moral extremes of the crumbling Hapsburg Empire.
US 1927/With ZaSu Pitts, George Fawcett, Maude George, Cesare Gravina. c109 mins. With Carl Davis score. --http://www.bfi.org.uk/showing/nft/featurearchive/stroheim/screenings.html [Mar 2005]
Caligula (1979) - Tinto Brass, Bob Guccione
Caligula is a 1979 film directed by Tinto Brass (with additional scenes directed by Bob Guccione), about the Roman Emperor Gaius Caesar Germanicus; also known as "Caligula". Caligula is loosely based on a screenplay by Gore Vidal and co-financed by Penthouse magazine. The producers were Guccione and Franco Rosselini. The film advertised itself as "the most controversial film in history. Only one movie dares to show the perversion behind Imperial Rome...".
Caligula was unrated when shown in theaters in certain jurisdictions because it contained several scenes with sexually and violently explicit content, including orgies, masturbation, fellatio, anal fisting, beheading prisoners using a lawn-mower-type device (which is unlikely to have existed in reality), and slamming an infant onto stone steps like a ragged doll. It was highly controversial, and considered by some objectors to be pornographic. It would certainly have received an X rating from the MPAA. It was censored in several countries, an original runtime of 156 minutes (which, itself, was cut down from the Cannes 210 minute version, which may still exist somewhere as a bootleg) was reduced to 102, in the US, and 103, in the UK.
Guccione eventually did authorize an R-rated cut, which earned the film wider distribution. Though the controversy over the film's content drew large crowds, virtually none of the most excessive scenes were included in the R version.
Both the R-rated version and a 156-minute cut have been released to DVD. The original, 210-minute version is not available.
It was followed by an unofficial sequel, called Caligula II - Messalina, Messalina. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caligula_%28film%29 [Aug 2004]
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