Jump to content

Sadism and masochism in fiction

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Green Hill (talk | contribs) at 00:06, 14 December 2007 (adding to video games). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

In general, the depiction of sadism and masochism in fiction tends to be portrayed from the viewpoint of masochistic fantasy. Titles are sorted in chronological order.

Novels

  • Anti-Justine (1793) by Nicolas-Edme Rétif A response to de Sade's works, using a very similar style to describe a directly opposite political point of view.
  • Venus in Furs (1870) by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch - Is essentially one long masochistic fantasy, where the male principal character encourages his mistress to mistreat him. Many of Sacher-Masoch's other works include themes of sadomasochism and female dominance.
  • Les Onze mille verges (The eleven thousand rods) by Guillaume Apollinaire - written around 1906-1907 (the publication is neither signed nor dated).
  • The Story of O (1954) by Pauline Réage - Another classic masochistic novel, this time written by a woman. In this novel, the female principal character is kept in a chateau and mistreated by a group of men, one of them her official lover. Later, she resumes her normal life while secretly becoming the property of one specific man, a friend of her lover's.
  • Je... Ils... (1969) by Arthur Adamov _ With stories like Fin Août. The author revolves around Masochism, which he regarded as "immunisation against death", but does not aim erotic arousal.

Specialist publishers of S/M fiction

Mainstream films

Consensual BDSM is not generally depicted accurately or sympathetically in mainstream films, to say the least. However, film-makers often find some way to incorporate BDSM imagery into many films. The following films feature BDSM as a major plot point, not just as an exploitative add-on.

Sado-masochism is featured as a central plot element in the following mainstream drama films:

Art movies:

Comedy:

Thrillers:

Television

  • Episode 1x02 of the 2005 FOX series The Inside dealt exclusively with S&M, and was criticized by the PTC as a result.
  • The television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has featured sado-masochistic themes in the plots of a number of episodes, most notably in the special episode "Lady Heather's Box".
  • Season 4 of HBO series Six Feet Under features a character, Joe (Justin Theroux), who wants to adopt a submissive sexual role in his relationship with Brenda (Rachel Griffiths).
  • In an episode of Family Guy main character Lois and Peter are seen suiting up for a sadomasochistic session while discussing their children. In the audio commentary for that episode it is noted that such a practice seemed very normal to them.
  • Season 2 of the FOX medical drama House, a patient is deeply involved in a BDSM relationship, and it is hinted that one of the main characters, Robert Chase, was involved in that life style in the past.
  • Rex Van de Kamp of Desperate Housewives was unveiled as a lover of S&M, much to the disgust of his wife, Bree.
  • Marge Simpson makes hints in several episodes that she enjoys S&M, notably in the Whacking Day episode. Also, in one of the Halloween episodes, Kang, disguised as Presidential Candidate Bill Clinton, declares that if elected "all will kneel trembling before me to obey my brutal commands." Marge purrs, "That Slick Willie, always with the smooth talk."

Drama

  • Thomas Shadwell's play The Virtuoso (1676) includes an old libertine named Snarl who entreats a prostitute, Mrs Figgup, to bring out the birch rods. It is unclear if he is to flog her or be flogged.
  • In Thomas Otway's play Venice Preserved (1682), Act III, Scene i, an old senator, Antonio, visits the house of Aquilina, a Greek courtesan. Antonio pretends to be a bull, then a frog, begging her to spit on him, and then a dog, biting her legs. She whips him, then throws him out and tells her footmen to keep him out.
  • The play Oh! Calcutta! includes at least two segments with sadomasochistic themes. One of them, set in a fantasy of an English girls public school, invites the audience to vote on which of four "girls" is beaten at the end.

Poetry

  • In Samuel Butler's satirical poem Hudibras (Part II, Canto I, line 833- ) a lady urges the knight to submit to a whipping as proof of his devotion to her. This is the origin of the maxim "Spare the rod and spoil the child", not the Bible as is often thought, although the maxim is clearly based on Proverbs 13:24 ("He that spareth his rod hateth his son.")

Video Games

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Sadism_and_masochism_in_fiction&oldid=177775693"