(Im)purity in the Media on the Basis of the Films „50 Shades of Grey” and „Caroline”

Abstract

Issues related to the eroticism frequently appear in the media and this is the context in which the authors of the following text concentrated on a closely related and yet opposing matter. They decided to ask about the broadly defined chastity and the purity of heart, mind and body (the terms chastity and purity, as well as unchastity and impurity, shall be used interchangeably). How is this topic presented by the contemporary media? Simultaneously, they ask how the issues related to the lack of such purity, e.g. in the physical context, are treated by the media. The authors made an attempt to explain this by presenting a comparative analysis of two films they chose as serving best for their purpose. The first is 50 Shades of Grey, directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, and the other Caroline, directed by Dariusz Regucki. During the first stage of this research of notions and chastity and unchastity have been defined, on the basis of the proper reference books. Next, the chosen movies were analysed thoroughly, in order to define the true look of the purity and impurity noticeable in both movies – in their activities, as well as in the behaviour and dialogues of the main protagonists. The third stage of the research assumed creating a synthesis of the material achieved on the basis of analysing the two pictures. At this moment it became possible to present the conclusions, pointing out, first of all, that the media are rather poorly interested in the subject of chastity. However, this inspired the authors to drawing other conclusions in the form of the postulates, concerning how the media presents the subjects of purity and impurity.