Are You Kidding? Reassessing morality, sexuality and desire in 'Kids'

Following the 25th anniversary of the making of this controversial film, this article for Film International examines the legacy of the 1995 film 'Kids', especially in relation to its young screenwriter Harmony Korine. Korine was feted at the time as instigated a new cinema. The work asks a number of important questions concerning censorship, transgression, and morality drawing on childhood studies as well as film studies. There is the notion that this film possibly could not get made today, and would not get distributed, indicating a shift it aesthetics and censorship, historically. The article goes against the grain and argues, in relation to Kristeva and other cultural theorists and philosophers, that the film is in fact a moralistic tract which offers up a warning. The analysis puts the film in the context of child sexual abuse, whilst acknowledging the nuances within a legal framework. As well as the cultural and sociological framework utilised, drawing at times on queer theory, this article also employs elements of film studies rhetoric exploring cinematography.