Provocative Does Not Mean Naked

Many years ago, someone called me provocative for the first time. I remember instinctually looking down at myself to check to see if I had forgotten to get dressed that day. In my head, provocative meant naked. Why? Because people often called films provocative because they had nudity in them. But provocative means to cause a strong reaction intentionally, not let’s all get naked and be sensational to get press.

Sometimes nudity can be used to make a point or make people uncomfortable or both but often it’s there for shock value and to sell tickets. Same is true for violence. Making a point or just shocking people with more blood, guts, gore, shooting and torture? There is a line and many films cross over it.

This begs the question, how can you tell if you are making a film that is provocative or offensive or just plain ridiculous?

First off, ask yourself, how does this act (someone streaking across the screen or someone’s head exploding) help me make my point? After making many western genre films, Clint Eastwood made the Unforgiven to show how people really died from gun violence, slow, painfully and frightened. This film is provocative rather than offensive because it is showing the truth about something we often gloss over in films and it isn’t making it seductive or “cool”…it’s honest. People get shot and they die slowly from bullet wounds. Heroes who are dying are afraid of death. Many of the most powerful moments were the characters facing their pain and death and not the actual violent acts that lead them to those moments.

Second, ask yourself, is there some other way I can show this to get my point across? Often showing someone reacting to the violence before them and hearing the sounds of violence is more impactful than showing the violence itself. This leaves the actual violence to the viewer’s imagination. Imagination is often stronger than visuals.

Third, ask yourself, does this add to the story or is this just a piece I shoved in to try to “sell” the film or the screenplay? If you can take the scene out and the film loses nothing, then you might want to reconsider.

Fourth, look at the amount of time you spend on something. I enjoy superhero films as much as the next person, but I often find that they action sequences go on way too long. It gets boring, you can’t tell who is shooting who anymore and I want to get back to the story and tension between the opposing sides. Less is more. Don’t get caught up in how cool it can be or all the things you can do with your CGI. Stop and think, does this make the film better?

If you want to make people uncomfortable, the key is to keep it honest. To keep focused on the story you are telling and perhaps allowing for moments of quiet for it all to sink in. Some of the most powerful moments in film, are still moments where there is room for reflection. Room to let the person’s brain process things. A moment of a Jewish character standing naked in front of a nazi character being given the once over in quiet can be much more powerful than a violent scene of torture. One builds suspense and awkwardness and absolute degradation and the other becomes a glorification of something hideous.

Think about what makes you uncomfortable and not what you think will be shocking. You’ll find it’s more likely something simple rather than something over the top.