The Energon Pub

I know why the masturbation line is such an issue. The Bible says that God would rather you put your seed into a prostitute before you spill it on the ground. That's some genius, top-of-the-IQ-scale logic right there, isn't it?

There's just no arguing with people that use that kind of sick logic.

I think the issue is over.

Flashbang wrote:A teenage boy being confronted by his mom about masturbation is FUNNY.

1. It's not funny. It's not funny to most people anyway. It's certainly not funny to the parent of a six-year-old kid who is suddenly having to explain such a thing.

2. How does the concept of "masturbation" figure at all in a movie about giant mechanoid aliens that transform into earthly vehicles?

TheKnightShift wrote:

Flashbang wrote:A teenage boy being confronted by his mom about masturbation is FUNNY.

1. It's not funny. It's not funny to most people anyway. It's certainly not funny to the parent of a six-year-old kid who is suddenly having to explain such a thing.

2. How does the concept of "masturbation" figure at all in a movie about giant mechanoid aliens that transform into earthly vehicles?

You have to look at the big picture here first off... This movie is rated PG-13 which means parental guidance for children under 13, further meaning if you bring a six yr old to this movie they are forewarning you that there maybe some scenes that are not suitable for a pre13 age group that you may have to uncomfortably explain to your child... That taken into consideration to those of us post thirteen IMO that was a funny scene.. I think it well fit in to the movie in the direction they were going with Sam... Teenage boy , girl crazy, so on so forth..

Secondly this movie is not solely about " Giant mecanoid aliens that transform into earthly vehicles there is a few sub-storys within this movie that deals with human interaction so I dont believe this was to far out of a scene and I honestly believe it was genuinely funny.. Thank you!

TheKnightShift wrote:

Flashbang wrote:A teenage boy being confronted by his mom about masturbation is FUNNY.

1. It's not funny. It's not funny to most people anyway. It's certainly not funny to the parent of a six-year-old kid who is suddenly having to explain such a thing.

2. How does the concept of "masturbation" figure at all in a movie about giant mechanoid aliens that transform into earthly vehicles?

Then you should have waited for the butchered version with all the "vile" sexual humor cut out. I believe there's a place called CleanFlix where uptight fascists and the unthinking majority rent all their "clean" films. Or you just shouldn't have become a parent if you don't know how to talk to or teach a kid. No offense.

Flashbang wrote:

TheKnightShift wrote:

Flashbang wrote:A teenage boy being confronted by his mom about masturbation is FUNNY.

1. It's not funny. It's not funny to most people anyway. It's certainly not funny to the parent of a six-year-old kid who is suddenly having to explain such a thing.

2. How does the concept of "masturbation" figure at all in a movie about giant mechanoid aliens that transform into earthly vehicles?

Then you should have waited for the butchered version with all the "vile" sexual humor cut out. I believe there's a place called CleanFlix where uptight fascists and the unthinking majority rent all their "clean" films. Or you just shouldn't have become a parent if you don't know how to talk to or teach a kid. No offense.

Loosely agreed! The parent thing was a lil harsh , but come on ppl its 2007 this is not 1960 this is not such a censored world anymore... Thats why there are MOVIE RATINGS!!

Furthermore I think it was way more inappropriate in the 1986 cartoon film where spike screams the word ****!! I mean that was a friggin cartoon... and I believe that was only a PG rating!

Ever heard of "catering to the lowest common denominator"? Well, this line was an example of that. And maybe that sells more tickets... but in the long run it DEDUCTS from the movie's lasting appeal, rather than add on to it.

There's nothing wrong with expecting better out of something, including our entertainment.

Flashbang wrote:But "masturbating" is a whole different thing entirely. I actually saw kids in the theater asking their parents during the movie about what that meant. No I never saw any parents *telling* them what it meant during the movie but I can't imagine why any filmmaker would want to force parents into that kind of a position during a supposedly "family-friendly" movie.

It's PG-13. A kid that didn't know about it is either really honking stupid or too young to be there in the first place. And a parent that takes a kid that young to a PG-13 movie deserves to have to answer questions of that sort.

Deceptiwho? wrote:Thats why there are MOVIE RATINGS!!

Movie ratings as we've always had them are horribly outdated. They were never meant to reflect on the content of the movie so much as they were to gauge how "controversial" a movie might be. So a movie like The Passion of the Christ gets a hard R (there's much worse in some PG-13 movies) and something with a lot of lewd and crude sex humor (NOT saying that's supposed to be Transformers at all) gets a PG-13. And I know some parents who refuse to let their kids see movies rated higher than PG... and even some of the PG ones are pretty bad.

Hell, depending on who you listen to, there's sexual innuendo in most of the recent G-rated Disney movies. I'm convinced of one of them anyway (and it was a Disney guy who even told me that it was intentional).

There needs to be a better system of reflecting on the content of movies. In lieu of that, if I were a parent I'd either watch the movie first or rely on people I personally know to tell me what it's like before taking my kids to see it.

TheKnightShift wrote:Ever heard of "catering to the lowest common denominator"? Well, this line was an example of that. And maybe that sells more tickets... but in the long run it DEDUCTS from the movie's lasting appeal, rather than add on to it.

There's nothing wrong with expecting better out of something, including our entertainment.

Well, from now on be the smart and responsible parent and read the entire synopsis, script, and whatever you can get your hands on about the content of the movie BEFORE you take your kid to see it. No offense. As a parent these things should just be common sense.

You never know what kind of "filth" these heathen directors are gonna sneak into your films these days

DorkimusPrime wrote:It's PG-13. A kid that didn't know about it is either really honking stupid or too young to be there in the first place. And a parent that takes a kid that young to a PG-13 movie deserves to have to answer questions of that sort.

Okay, look at it this way:

What kind of mother, ever, asks her teenage son if he's "masturbating" like that? Even if she is, as the French put it, "pees droonk" as Mrs. Witwicky obviously was.

I'm sure that "masturbating" has some legitimate uses in cinema. But just using the word "masturbating" does not in and of itself qualify as humor. There was nothing funny at all, in the context of the situation, with using that word.

It seemed too much like toilet humor that was just tacked-on without anyone actually thinking about how realistic it would be.

TheKnightShift wrote:

DorkimusPrime wrote:It's PG-13. A kid that didn't know about it is either really honking stupid or too young to be there in the first place. And a parent that takes a kid that young to a PG-13 movie deserves to have to answer questions of that sort.

Okay, look at it this way:

What kind of mother, ever, asks her teenage son if he's "masturbating" like that? Even if she is, as the French put it, "pees droonk" as Mrs. Witwicky obviously was.

I'm sure that "masturbating" has some legitimate uses in cinema. But just using the word "masturbating" does not in and of itself qualify as humor. There was nothing funny at all, in the context of the situation, with using that word.

It seemed too much like toilet humor that was just tacked-on without anyone actually thinking about how realistic it would be.

Come on, dude. I think the real reason you're here is because you feel guilty for not doing what a parent should've done - researched the movie. But of course you think you shouldn't admit fault. No offense.

When I see a TV show or movie and there's something in it that offends me I don't get mad at the writer. I say to myself "Damn. I should've read up on it first. I should've done my research so I would've known to stay away from it."

I don't know. Maybe you like things to offend you so you can cause a fuss afterwards. Maybe you don't. I don't know what kind of person you are.

I like these kinds of discussions. It's been fun. I'm done. Good night.

Flashbang wrote:I know why the masturbation line is such an issue. The Bible says that God would rather you put your seed into a prostitute before you spill it on the ground. That's some genius, top-of-the-IQ-scale logic right there, isn't it?

There's just no arguing with people that use that kind of sick logic.

I think the issue is over.

Good lord! I'm not even arguing with that mind. Firstly the reason I objected to it was becuase it was crude and rather out of place in my opinion and could have been handled so much better in term of writing. I am honestly no prude, I've dealt with even worse lines this this in a movie. But I am of a squimesh nature, it's the main reason I avoid supposed funny movies like American Pie and Frat house parties. I can't stand puking and such, and while I don't care what goes on in the bedroom, I really don't think any modern mother would actually ask that question. It felt as if it was pulled out of a bad teenage comedy from the early 90s. It could have been delivered more subtitally.

Example, Ratchets mating line, that was great becuase it makes sense and it's funny. This line was rather just thrown in there to make his parents seem more dopish then anything. Why not have her ask something else. Then there was their reaction to Mikalia. Okay so they're okay with a girl in his room? Um...yeah a mom's going to be really happy that her son has a girl in the room. Uh huh, and the door locked...right...Yeah. Really believable there.

Here's the thing though, most people have grown up with being taken to a PG-13 movie. It's a Transformers movie, Ie people assume cool robots, to me the whole part seemed on second viewing rather annoying and honestly once the intial shock was over with, wow it's a pretty dumb line.

"Were you...Masterbating?"
"Would you rather me call it Sam's happy time?"

Lovely, great, firt time I saw it I laughed. Second time, I was like..Okay...nice, fine. But would a mom really ask that even if she was drunk? How many mother's honestly, even drunk would think to ask that first. I would have thought she would have asked about a girl in the room or something like that.

At least it gives Sam a pretty good background that the worst thing his mother could think to ask is if he was giving himself a hand job. Hell I would have laughed harder if she had asked.

"Were you busy entertaing five friends?" then wiggled her fingers at her husband who would have been like "Jan..." or whatever her name was.

Flashbang wrote:I think the real reason you're here is because you feel guilty for not doing what a parent should've done - researched the movie.

Dude, it's supposed to be about Transformers. It's not like this is a Quentin Tarantino film or a Merchant Ivory production.

Why should anyone be expected to research giant morphing robotic aliens in order to find possible references to masturbation?

PG-13 or whatever, the scene shouldn't have been in *this* movie. Since they absolutely just had to have it, they could've stuck with "Sam's happy time", dropped the actual word, and still gotten their joke across. Regardless of whether or not it should've been in there. (Again I say, it shouldn't have.)

They could've made fun of him for never having a girlfriend before. However, that was probably deemed too cruel.

No, we had to suffer through the cruelty with talk of masturbation.

Ridiculous.

Call me a prude or whatever you like, but this is TransFormers...not American Pie: The Clean Version.

(and if you think sex jokes are necessary in a movie like this...get your bolts tightened.)

TheKnightShift wrote:

Flashbang wrote:I think the real reason you're here is because you feel guilty for not doing what a parent should've done - researched the movie.

Dude, it's supposed to be about Transformers. It's not like this is a Quentin Tarantino film or a Merchant Ivory production.

Why should anyone be expected to research giant morphing robotic aliens in order to find possible references to masturbation?

Mildly adult themes go in PG-13 movies, and this was a PG-13 movie. And beating off is only a mildly adult topic.

TheKnightShift wrote:

Flashbang wrote:I think the real reason you're here is because you feel guilty for not doing what a parent should've done - researched the movie.

Dude, it's supposed to be about Transformers. It's not like this is a Quentin Tarantino film or a Merchant Ivory production.

Why should anyone be expected to research giant morphing robotic aliens in order to find possible references to masturbation?

Dude, because on the movie poster and every other print ad and online it says this:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, brief sexual humor, and language.

Nowadays they actually list the potentially offensive content on the movie poster.

I'm not shy about movie violence, sex, or language, but I would definitely want to know exactly what's in the movie I'm about to take my little kid to. But that's just me. I think ahead.

I'm going to try my best to ask this, one last time:

Why does masturbation need to be referenced in this kind of movie? A movie based on a line of children's toys, mind ya.

What compelling reason was there to have that word in a movie like this at all?

TheKnightShift wrote:I'm going to try my best to ask this, one last time:

Why does masturbation need to be referenced in this kind of movie? A movie based on a line of children's toys, mind ya.

What compelling reason was there to have that word in a movie like this at all?

I don't know, but it's not going to be removed, so what's the point challenging it?

You're just going to have to tolerate that most action movie fans (like me) want more edge to our movies these days. They want more violence, sex and language - and it's OK because it's fantasy. It's harmless fun. Movies aren't going to hurt anyone.

How hard is stay away from a movie that may offend you?

Most mainstream movies are going to have something that will offend you, but you can't expect the writer to be thinking "Hmm. That might offend TheKnightShift and cause his kid ask him about masturbation. I better leave that joke out of the script." It doesn't work that way.

Ever read history much?

It was funny in American Pie, but not funny here [my opinion], i guess because you expect a line like that in an American Pie type movie but not Transformers. Once the initial shock passes then it gets stale. I was hoping this movie would have a more timeless feel, by populating it with what is popular and 'in' today will date it terribly ... ten years from now what if Ebay is a distant faded memory then it wont have the same effect leaving watchers asking "Whats ebay?" Think of "Finding Nemo" and Shark Tale; Nemo was funny tasteful and will have the same effect 20 years from now, as opposed to Shark Tale which will then seem like a bad 70's movie.

TheKnightShift wrote:Ever read history much?

TheKnightShift wrote:I'm going to try my best to ask this, one last time:

Why does masturbation need to be referenced in this kind of movie? A movie based on a line of children's toys, mind ya.

What compelling reason was there to have that word in a movie like this at all?

Doesn't matter why - or if - it was needed. It was present, people were warned by the rating and explanation, and if you didn't pay attention, it's your own damned fault and pretty amusing (to me) that you opened yourself up to questions from your kids because you blindly saw the movie.

I don't have children yet. So I didn't have any to explain this too.

Has it occurred to you that this movie might have made even more money if it didn't stoop so low as to cater to the arrested-development crowd and made it so that the ENTIRE movie was enjoyable by all?

Here's a secret: movies without this kind of thing gross far more at the box office than movies with it.