Revolutionary Desires

Sex on screen is unnecessary, gratuitous, and serves no purpose. This is the sentiment on the rise as cinema becomes less and less sexy.
Xuanlin Tham counters that sex scenes can open our minds and bodies to the possibility of new futures, and seduce us towards an expanded political imagination. Through The Matrix Reloaded, Lingua Franca and beyond, Revolutionary Desires explores how the form's intimacies, transgressions, and dedication to pleasure can be uniquely poised to rupture dominant narratives of capitalism and the violences that flow from it.
Why is the sex scene, demonised as it is, therefore more politically important and subversive than ever? And how can it power a desire for something more?

Xuanlin Tham is a writer, critic, and curator based in Edinburgh. They write for British GQ, i-D, Little White Lies, AnOther Magazine, and The Skinny, among others, covering culture (and sometimes sports). They curate for Take One Action, an arts organisation harnessing the transformative power of film and storytelling for collective change.