TikTok Meme Highlights Netflix's Double-Standard About Sexually Explicit Content

TikTok Meme Highlights Netflix's Double-Standard About Sexually Explicit Content

LOS ANGELES — A recent TikTok meme that tricks users into recording reaction videos while watching the first few minutes of the arthouse film “Love,” now streaming on Netflix, has renewed a debate over the platform's unclear policy regarding sexually explicit content.

The meme is part of a subgenre of “reaction” videos, where people are challenged to record themselves or friends being exposed to something they are unfamiliar with, often with shocking results.

Some TikTok users recently zeroed in on the opening sequence of French-Argentinian cult director Gaspar Noé’s 2015 erotic dramedy “Love,” which has been quietly available on the platform for several years.

Noé’s film, originally shot and shown in 3-D, retells the breakdown of the marriage of a self-important young artist — a caricature of Noé during his own youth — after a series of sexual entanglements.

Noé filmed all the sex scenes between the actors explicitly, making the “mainstream actors having actual sex in 3-D” the core of the film's marketing.

Newsweek reports that "Love" has now “shot to [sixth place] in the overall U.S. Netflix charts and fourth in the movie rankings, despite having been on the streaming service for over four years.”

“The main reason for this seems to be twofold,” the report conjectured. “The first reason why this obscure arthouse movie is doing so well is that it is one of the recommendations that come up when Netflix users search for ‘365 Dni,’ the Polish erotic thriller that has made headlines across the globe due to its graphic sex scenes.”

The second explanation is the TikTok challenge concerning the opening scene “which sees a character masturbate her male lover to the point of ejaculation, with the camera capturing everything from above.”

Enter Generation TikTok

Confusingly enough, Netflix first added a 2-D version of Noé’s film in 2016, at the same time it premiered the Judd Apatow-produced “hipsters in L.A.’s Echo Park” comedy “Love.”

Both productions named “Love” were occasionally mixed up by streamers, who expressed shock at the explicit scenes in Noé’s film, including the initial long shot of a sexual encounter between the protagonist and one of his lovers that opens the film, and that has now been “rediscovered” by TikTokkers.

According to Newsweek, “this week, users of social media platform TikTok have been setting each other a challenge where they have to watch this opening scene and film their reaction. For example, one reaction video to this masturbation scene sees a woman say: ‘That's a real penis. How is that allowed on Netflix!’ and ‘How is this a movie?!’”

TikTokkers quickly took to Twitter to re-post the reaction videos, with comments such as “Why the fuck did I listen to TikTok and check out the opening scene of 'Love' on Netflix," "Tiktok kept talking about the opening scene of this movie called 'Love' and it wasn’t on my Netflix and I went and looked for it online and... it was literally porn, like the first two [minutes] were literally just porn,” and “I want to know who [the fuck] approved 'Love' to be on Netflix! Shit is a whole-ass porno!”

The new meme shines a light on Netflix’s unclear double-standards regarding sexual expression.

A movie like the explicit version of Bree Mills’ “Teenage Lesbian” — which has a legitimate coming-of-age plot, an award-winning performance by Kristen Scott and a supporting cast and professional production values — would not be allowed onto the mainstream streaming platform because of its “porn” origins.

But the equally explicit, and arguably less accomplished, “Love” has been part of Netflix’s ecosystem for over four years, waiting quietly for its “success by scandal,” thanks to its association with a controversial, watercooler-trendy Polish riff on “50 Shades of Grey” — and to Generation TikTok's passion for short, phone-shot content like reaction videos.

Related:  

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

Streamster Launches 'Tip2Peep' Camera-Switching Feature

Live-streaming software provider Streamster has launched Tip2Peep, a new feature that allows viewers to switch between multiple webcam viewing angles by tipping the creator.

Tyler Wu Guests on Chaturbate's 'Sex Tales' Podcast

Tyler Wu is the latest guest on Chaturbate’s “Sex Tales” podcast, hosted by Melissa Stratton and Vanniall on the company’s “Camming Life” YouTube channel.

Fleshy to Launch Interactive Cam Site 'Eromote'

Male pleasure brand Fleshy has announced that it will launch an interactive, bidirectional cam site next month called Eromote.

XBIZ LA Show Introduces New 'Crib Crawl' Feature

XBIZ is pleased to announce that the 2025 edition of its flagship conference, the XBIZ Show, will debut a brand-new feature: Crib Crawl, offering attendees the chance to meet and greet representatives from leading brands and organizations in dedicated suites at the host venue.

Pre-Nominations Now Open for 2025 TEAs

The pre-nomination period for the 2025 Trans Erotica Awards (TEAs) is now open.

Byborg Invests $22.35M in PLBY Group

Luxembourg-based Byborg Enterprises SA is investing $22.35 million in Playboy parent company PLBY Group.

Supreme Court to Hear Oral Arguments on Texas AV Law in January

The United States Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments for Free Speech Coalition's challenge to Texas’ age verification law to take place Wednesday, Jan. 15.

2025 XBIZ Exec Awards Nominees for Online Industry Announced

XBIZ is pleased to announce the nominees for the online industry edition of the 2025 XBIZ Exec Awards, set to be presented as part of the annual XBIZ Honors ceremony on Wednesday, Jan. 15 in conjunction with the XBIZ 2025 conference.

Project 2025 Leader Claims Big Tech Companies 'Deliberately Fuel Pornography Addiction' Among Men

Heritage Foundation president and Project 2025 leader Kevin Roberts published on Wednesday the text of a speech in which he persists with his past claim that “predatory Big Tech corporations” are “deliberately fueling pornography addiction” among young men.

FSC Petitions 10th Circuit for Review of Utah AV Dismissal

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) on Wednesday petitioned the United States Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit to review a decision handed down earlier this month by a three-judge panel of the same appeals court, which denied FSC the right to challenge Utah’s controversial age verification law by suing state officials.

Show More