Can you remember the first time you touched yourself?
It was probably during your teens, at the moment when you were just discovering your sexuality. As we discover a blossoming part of ourselves, we feel afraid of the moral implications of our actions. We don’t know what they mean and we’re constantly confused by the messages we receive from society. That’s why it’s so hard to discover the way of pleasure when we’re raised within the confines of religious beliefs. We believe the moral standards it defends, and then we just let ourselves be repressed by external forces. But is this something we should let ourselves fall for?
Alice, a 15-year-old girl played by Natalia Dyer (you may remember her from Stranger Things), suffers from this predicament. A nineties’ teenager living in a Catholic community who’s struggling between the morality standards she hears at school and her own self discovery. The narrative of what’s right and wrong clashes with what she finds on her parents’ computer. Will she be able to impose her own search for pleasure above the repressive worldview she’s taught in the classroom?
The short film goes by the name Yes, God, Yes (2017), and it actually tells a true story. Based on director Karen Maine’s experience of growing up in a Catholic community in the state of Iowa, this is a sincere portrayal of the adolescent conflict of letting our own wellbeing stand over the obstacles that our culture places between us and pleasure. The movie is rich in humor, even hysterical at times, as it honestly captures the character’s desire to explore her own sexuality.
Maine has described the film as a love story between a woman and her vagina. Her intention behind the project is not only telling her personal story, but also as a statement against the taboo of female sexuality that male-dominated societies hold. Hence, by putting a part of her life in this short, she wants the audience to relate to her own experience because it is one many women have lived through.
Another aspect of the film that makes it very endearing are its references to late nineties’ culture. The fact that the story starts with the character chatting through IM imbues the whole thing with nostalgia. It also shows how the internet itself was living through its own teenage years. Looking back at it in retrospective, the whole aspect of how cybersex has evolved to this point makes the scene even more hilarious.
Since its release in early 2017, Yes, God, Yes has received critical approval, screening at several festivals, as well as a receiving positive internet response. The team is looking forward to taking the short film to a full-length feature with an even more sensitive and hilarious approach. Let’s hope it keeps up to expectations.
Watch the film here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ-AvL0O4Ps
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