Let’s be honest. America is ass-backwards. Hollywood is one of the world’s largest suppliers of violence, gore, blood and guts. In our never-ending endeavor to constantly outdo ourselves, America’s greatest/most twisted minds have created some of humanity’s sickest and explicit plots, fight scenes, gunfights, car chases and disembowelments with blunt, rusty objects. Although we are fearless in graphically portraying small animals being blown to bits in microwaves, the entirely natural act of sex has rarely been allowed as much freedom.

As a matter of fact, censors in America have been more scared of full-frontal nudity in mainstream cinema than they ever have of a 7-foot freakshow in a hockey mask.

Why? Perhaps they feel embarrassed when watching two of their favorite stars copy, position for position, everything they did with their significant other last night. Or perhaps it is because violence has always been a keynote of American culture.

Early cinema was filled with Westerns – Indians pillaging white-colonial villages and cowboys having shoot-outs in the middle of streets while man-handling showgirls. Ever since, filmmakers have been pushing the balance between realism and acceptable content further and further.

Today, almost no act of violence shocks mainstream audiences. And with “Saw 2” coming out this Halloween, expect that balance to be even more lopsided. There is a new trend in American cinema, however – one that originated from our European neighbors and is now just beginning to be accepted by the independent film scene.

“Sexima,” full-length, legitimate features that include hardcore sex, is now becoming an accepted art form in the American scene, the most recent addition to this genre being Vincent Gallo’s “The Brown Bunny.” Toward the end of the film, mainstream starlet and the eccentric director’s real-life girlfriend, Chloe Sevigny, fellates Gallo – from start to finish – on camera – uncut and uncensored.

This is not the first time Sevigny has braved the sexual unknown, with her unforgettable role in the 1995 cultish nightmare, “Kids.” In this film, which deals with deflowering virgins, drugs and HIV, Sevigny is unknowingly raped at the hands of one of her friends.

As with any new discipline or medium, problems will arise in the beginning. The problem with “Sexima” is, for American directors who still see these new outlets as novelty, they focus too much on the idea of using real sex. In consequence, many endeavors for American filmmakers have failed because the rest of the film has suffered from lack of focus. This is entirely clear with “The Brown Bunny,” as the film, is possibly one of the worst films ever created.

Filmmakers have already begun the bad habit of depending on their film’s explicit sex to carry it through the award ceremonies and on to infamy.

“Sexima” is nothing new to French filmmakers, whose greater societal acceptance of sex has allowed them to hone their skills for the past 20 years. Some notable hardcore films that have been made aware to the American public are “Baise-Moi” and “Irreversable.” Both films are not only explicit in their sexual depiction, but are extremely violent at the same time.

If there’s something taboo in American culture, it is the depiction of violent, sometimes brutal sexual aggression. Most of the American-made films that include real sex scenes are never portrayed with violent activity.

French “Sexima” is spreading fast, and many Canadian filmmakers have already taken this new idea in stride, with a couple of films winning awards at Sundance – 11 movies at Sundance featured prolonged, sometimes hardcore, sex scenes last year.

With all of these new innovations, another question must be raised – when are movies going to become too real?

– Alex Switzer is a junior in journalism and mass communication from Shelburne, Vt.