Sex and Drugs in Popular Movies: An Analysis of the top 200 Films

Abstract

We analyse the portrayal of sex and drug use in the most popular movies of the last 20 years using the Internet Movie Database list of the top 200 movies of all time. Films released or set prior to the HIV era (pre 1983), animated, not about humans or G/PG rated, were excluded. Films were reviewed by one of two teams of two observers using a data extraction sheet tested for inter-rater reliability. Sexual activity, sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention, birth control measures, drug use and any consequences discussed or depicted were recorded. There were 53 sex episodes in 28 (32%) of the 87 movies reviewed. There was only one suggestion of condom use, which was the only reference to any form of birth control. There were no depictions of important consequences of unprotected sex such as unwanted pregnancies, HIV or other STDs. Movies with cannabis (8%) and other non-injected illicit drugs (7%) were less common than those with alcohol intoxication (32%) and tobacco use (68%) but tended to portray their use positively and without negative consequences. There were no episodes of injected drug use. Sex depictions in popular movies of the last two decades lacked safe sex messages. Drug use, though infrequent, tended to be depicted positively. The social norm being presented is concerning given the HIV and illicit drug pandemics.

Greater Exposure to Sexual Content in Popular Movies Predicts Earlier Sexual Debut and Increased Sexual Risk Taking

“…Scripts provide behavioral options in social situations, including those that may lead to sexual behavior, and the content of scripts is often influenced by media. As mentioned in the previous section, movies generally offer permissive and risky sexual messages to viewers (Gunasekera et al, 2005; Nalkur et al, 2010), and a higher degree of sexual media exposure has been found to predict more permissive sexual attitudes (Bleakley, Hennessy, Fishbein, Coles, & Jordan, 2009; Brown, Halpern, & L’Engle, 2005). Furthermore, adolescents sometimes seek out sexual media, possibly to learn these scripts (Brown et al, 2005).…”

“…Potentially even more important for adolescents’ sexual health, however, is that most of these movies do not portray safe sex. A content analysis revealed that 70% of the sexual acts depicted in movies released from 1983 to 2003 occurred between newly acquainted partners, 98% included no reference to contraception, and 89% resulted in no consequences (Gunasekera, Chapman, & Campbell, 2005). Additionally, Pardun, L’Engle, and Brown (2005) found that only 9% of sexual content in movies contained messages promoting sexual health.…”

Quand mon personnage préféré consomme : Usages et représentations des médicaments et des drogues dans la websérie Skins

“…Selon les études sur les représentations des drogues illicites dans les médias de divertissement, notamment au cinéma, entre 15 % et un tiers des films y faisaient référence (Roberts, Henriksen et Christenson, 1999 ;Gunasekera, Chapman et Campbell, 2005 ;Terre et al, 2006 ;Callister et al, 2012), alors que la proportion des séries télévisuelles présentant ces substances atteignait 20 % (McCaffrey et al, 2000 ).…”

“…Quant aux médicaments, 29 % des films y faisaient référence, mais l'étude ne précise pas si leur consommation obéissait à des objectifs médicaux ou à des recherches de sensations. Une autre étude portant sur deux cents films populaires dans différents pays, produits entre 1983 et 2003 (Gunasekera, Chapman et Campbell, 2005), indique que 15 % d'entre eux contenaient des références à des drogues illicites (8 % au cannabis, 7 % à d'autres substances). Les personnages qui avaient recours au cannabis étaient généralement des adultes et ce type de consommation était le plus souvent représenté de façon positive et sans conséquence probléma-tique.…”

“…Quant aux données qualitatives, elles portaient sur le contenu des représentations de chaque séquence dans laquelle une substance, légale ou illicite, était mentionnée. Chaque extrait a ainsi été codifié à l'aide d'une grille inspirée de celles utilisées lors de recherches précédentes sur les représentations de substances à l'écran comme les drogues, l'alcool et le tabac (Gunasekera, Chapman et Campbell, 2005 ;Roberts, Henriksen et Christenson, 1999 ;McCaffrey, Christenson, Henriksen et Roberts, 2000 ;DuRant, Rich et Rome, 1997). Nous y avons ajouté de nouveaux thèmes qui ont émergé lors d'un premier visionnement de l'ensemble des épisodes.…”