A Strange Comedy

The film Pepi, Luci and Bom had obvious shock factors from the depictions of sexual and physical abuse. Although the movie was supposed to comically entertain the audience, our class hardly laughed throughout the entire movie screening. One scene in particular would be the urination scene. The sly joke revolves around how the solution for Luci to cool off, is for Bom to literally urinate on her. Although the scene may function as an outrageous and funny clip, it left the class confused and surprised. The reason why the class found it weird was because Luci enjoyed the humiliation/sexual pleasure of being urinated on. In the popular American movie American Pie, a similar premise occurs when one of the main characters is peed on unknowingly at a party. The scene in this film produces laughter because of dramatic irony, and the disgust portrayed in the character’s face. Luci enjoys the humiliation and as a result the audience is disgusted and the scene loses the comical appeal. However the urination scene effectively challenges social expectations on the views of sex.

The film satirizes sexual desire, and sexual abuse throughout the movie. The urinations scene and general masochism are not ordinarily accepted as apart of normativity. Anything that exists outside of traditional sexual appeal is looked down upon. Most people would find it gross or unacceptable to do such a thing. Sex in general is a touchy subject. Some people have issues accepting lesbian relationships, and ‘weird’ attractions. While the movie uses the sexual desires for shock value and as a joke, it also persuades the audience to accept differences. People should stray away from the idea of normativity.