Sexploitation
Encyclopedia
Sexploitation, or "sex-exploitation", describes a class of independently produced, low-budget feature films generally associated with the 1960s and serving largely as a vehicle for the exhibition of non-explicit sexual situations and gratuitous nudity. The genre is a subgenre of exploitation film
s. Sexploitation films were generally exhibited in urban grindhouse theatres
, the precursor to the adult movie theaters
of the '70s and '80s that featured hardcore
content. The term soft-core is often used to designate non-explicit sexploitation films after the general legalization of hardcore content. Nudist films are often considered to be subgenres of the sex-exploitation genre as well. "Nudie" films and "Nudie-cuties" are associated genres.
had established that sex and obscenity were not synonymous. The genre first emerged in the U.S. around 1960. There were initially three broad types: "nudie cuties" such as The Immoral Mr. Teas
(1959), films set in nudist camps like Daughter of the Sun (1962) and somewhat more "artistic" foreign pictures such as The Twilight Girls (1961). Nudie cuties were popular in the early '60s and were a progression from the nudist camp films of the '50s. The Supreme Court had previously ruled that films set in nudist camps were exempt from the general ban on film nudity, as they were deemed to be educational. In the early '60s films that purported to be documentaries and were thus "educational" enabled sexploitation producers to evade the censors. Nudie cuties were soon supplanted by "roughies", which commonly featured male violence against women, including kidnapping, rape and murder. Lorna
(1964) by Russ Meyer
is widely considered to be the first roughie. Herschell Gordon Lewis
and David F. Friedman
's Scum of the Earth!
(1963) is another film that is cited as among the first in this genre. Other notable roughie directors include Doris Wishman
.
Sexploitation films initially played in grindhouse theatres
and struggling independent theaters; however, by the end of the decade they were playing in established cinema chains. As the genre developed during the '60s films began showing scenes of simulated sex. The films were opposed by religious groups and by the MPAA, which was concerned that sexploitation films were cutting into the profits of major film distributors. Customers who attended screenings of sexploitation films were often characterized by the mainstream media as deviant, "dirty old men" and "raincoaters". In the mid-'60s some newspapers began banning ads for the films. By the late '60s the films were attracting a larger and broader audience, however, including couples rather than the single males who originally made up the vast majority of patrons. The genre rapidly declined in the early '70s due to advertising bans, the closure of many grindhouses and drive-in theaters and the growth of hardcore pornography
in the "Golden Age of Porn
".
obscenity laws were tested by the Swedish
film I Am Curious (Yellow)
. Because the 1969 ruling by the Supreme Court allowed the film on the basis of its educational context, the late '60s and early '70s saw a number of sexploitation films that were widely referred to as "white coaters"; in these films a doctor dressed in a white coat
would give an introduction to the graphic content, thereby qualifying it as "educational". The ruling led to a surge in the production of sex films. Language of Love and other Swedish and American films capitalized on this idea until the laws were relaxed.
Exploitation film
Exploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
s. Sexploitation films were generally exhibited in urban grindhouse theatres
Grindhouse
A grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. It is named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City, where 'bump n' grind' dancing and striptease were featured.- History :...
, the precursor to the adult movie theaters
Adult theater
An adult movie theater is a movie theater where pornographic films are shown to an adult audience. There are usually continuous showings. The movie posters in front of the theaters normally feature no nudity.- Films and patrons :...
of the '70s and '80s that featured hardcore
Hardcore pornography
Hardcore pornography is a form of pornography that features explicit sexual acts. The term was coined in the second half of the 20th century to distinguish it from softcore pornography. It usually takes the form of photographs, often displayed in magazines or on the Internet, or films. It can also...
content. The term soft-core is often used to designate non-explicit sexploitation films after the general legalization of hardcore content. Nudist films are often considered to be subgenres of the sex-exploitation genre as well. "Nudie" films and "Nudie-cuties" are associated genres.
History
A series of United States Supreme Court rulings in the late '50s and '60s had enabled increasingly explicit sex films to be distributed. In 1957 Roth v. United StatesRoth v. United States
Roth v. United States, , along with its companion case, Alberts v. California, was a landmark case before the United States Supreme Court which redefined the Constitutional test for determining what constitutes obscene material unprotected by the First Amendment.- Prior history :Under the common...
had established that sex and obscenity were not synonymous. The genre first emerged in the U.S. around 1960. There were initially three broad types: "nudie cuties" such as The Immoral Mr. Teas
The Immoral Mr. Teas
The Immoral Mr. Teas is the first commercially successful film of director Russ Meyer.-Etymology:The name "Teas" is a homophone of the word tease, and one of the meanings of "tease" includes to sexually excite another person by subtle means, usually explicitly avoiding advancement to more...
(1959), films set in nudist camps like Daughter of the Sun (1962) and somewhat more "artistic" foreign pictures such as The Twilight Girls (1961). Nudie cuties were popular in the early '60s and were a progression from the nudist camp films of the '50s. The Supreme Court had previously ruled that films set in nudist camps were exempt from the general ban on film nudity, as they were deemed to be educational. In the early '60s films that purported to be documentaries and were thus "educational" enabled sexploitation producers to evade the censors. Nudie cuties were soon supplanted by "roughies", which commonly featured male violence against women, including kidnapping, rape and murder. Lorna
Lorna (film)
Lorna is a 1964 film by Russ Meyer. Shot mainly on the small main street that runs through the town of Locke, California in September 1963, this was Meyer's first film in 35 mm. It was Meyer's first film to employ a dramatic storyline, the most expensive film he had filmed to date, and the first of...
(1964) by Russ Meyer
Russ Meyer
Russell Albion "Russ" Meyer was a U.S. motion picture director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor, actor and photographer....
is widely considered to be the first roughie. Herschell Gordon Lewis
Herschell Gordon Lewis
Herschell Gordon Lewis is an American filmmaker, best known for creating the "splatter film" subgenre of horror...
and David F. Friedman
David F. Friedman
David Frank Friedman was an American filmmaker and film producer.-Life and career:Friedman first became interested in entertainment after spending part of his childhood in Birmingham and Anniston, Alabama, traveling carnival sites. He met exploitation film pioneer Kroger Babb during his stay in...
's Scum of the Earth!
Scum of the Earth!
Scum of the Earth! aka Devil's Camera is a 1963 American exploitation film directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis and produced by David F. Friedman. It is credited as being the first film in the "roughie" genre.-Synopsis:...
(1963) is another film that is cited as among the first in this genre. Other notable roughie directors include Doris Wishman
Doris Wishman
Doris Wishman was an American film director, screenwriter and independent film producer....
.
Sexploitation films initially played in grindhouse theatres
Grindhouse
A grindhouse is an American term for a theater that mainly shows exploitation films. It is named after the defunct burlesque theaters located on 42nd Street in New York City, where 'bump n' grind' dancing and striptease were featured.- History :...
and struggling independent theaters; however, by the end of the decade they were playing in established cinema chains. As the genre developed during the '60s films began showing scenes of simulated sex. The films were opposed by religious groups and by the MPAA, which was concerned that sexploitation films were cutting into the profits of major film distributors. Customers who attended screenings of sexploitation films were often characterized by the mainstream media as deviant, "dirty old men" and "raincoaters". In the mid-'60s some newspapers began banning ads for the films. By the late '60s the films were attracting a larger and broader audience, however, including couples rather than the single males who originally made up the vast majority of patrons. The genre rapidly declined in the early '70s due to advertising bans, the closure of many grindhouses and drive-in theaters and the growth of hardcore pornography
Hardcore pornography
Hardcore pornography is a form of pornography that features explicit sexual acts. The term was coined in the second half of the 20th century to distinguish it from softcore pornography. It usually takes the form of photographs, often displayed in magazines or on the Internet, or films. It can also...
in the "Golden Age of Porn
Golden Age of Porn
The Golden Age of Porn or porno chic refers to a period in the history of pornography, approximately from the late-1960s to the early-to-mid-1980s. The period is idealized as a time in history where the difficulty to treat STDs had not achieved wide public notice...
".
White coaters
In the late '60s AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
obscenity laws were tested by the Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
film I Am Curious (Yellow)
I Am Curious (Yellow)
I Am Curious is a 1967 Swedish drama film written and directed by Vilgot Sjöman and starring Sjöman and Lena Nyman. It is a companion film to 1968's I Am Curious ; the two were initially intended to be one 3½ hour film...
. Because the 1969 ruling by the Supreme Court allowed the film on the basis of its educational context, the late '60s and early '70s saw a number of sexploitation films that were widely referred to as "white coaters"; in these films a doctor dressed in a white coat
White coat
A white coat or laboratory coat is a knee-length overcoat/smock worn by professionals in the medical field or by those involved in laboratory work. The coat protects their street clothes and also serves as a simple uniform...
would give an introduction to the graphic content, thereby qualifying it as "educational". The ruling led to a surge in the production of sex films. Language of Love and other Swedish and American films capitalized on this idea until the laws were relaxed.
Notable sexploitation directors
|
Michael Findlay Michael Findlay, along with his wife Roberta Findlay, directed and produced numerous sexploitation movies. They have been described as "the most notorious filmmakers in the annals of sexploitation".... Radley Metzger Radley Metzger is an American filmmaker and distributor. He is also credited under the pseudonym Henry Paris, a name he adopted in the 1970s when he began to direct hardcore pornography.... Andy Milligan Andy Milligan was an American playwright, screenwriter, cinematographer, actor, film editor, producer, and director, whose work includes 27 films made between 1965 and 1988.-Biography:... Carl Monson Carl Monson aka Carlos Monsoya, Charles Monsoya and Nosnom Lrak, was at the forefront of independent low budget sexploitation/grindhouse films or paracinema during the 1970s and 1980s... Tinto Brass Giovanni Brass , better known as Tinto Brass, is an Italian filmmaker. He is noted especially for his work in the erotic genre, with films such as Così fan tutte , Paprika, Monella and Trasgredire... |
Jesús Franco Jesús "Jess" Franco is a Spanish film director, writer, cinematographer and actor. His career took off in 1961 with his cult classic The Awful Dr. Orloff, which received wide distribution in the United States and England... Jean Rollin Jean Michel Rollin Roth Le Gentil was a French film director, actor, and novelist best known for his films in the fantastique genre such as the vampire film Le Viol du Vampire and the first French gore film Les Raisins de la Mort .-Early life:Jean Rollin was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine , France to... Stanley Long Stanley Long , often known as Stanley A. Long, is a British Exploitation cinema and sexploitation filmmaker. He is a writer, cinematographer, editor, and eventually, producer/director of low-budget exploitation movies.... Stephanie Rothman Stephanie Rothman is a film director, producer and screenwriter, known for her low-budget independent exploitation films made in the 1960s and 1970s. She was the first female to be awarded the Directors Guild of America fellowship... Anna Biller Anna Biller is an independent American filmmaker. She is known for her visual style, and for her use of period genres and satire. Her 2007 sexploitation feature film premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, and won the Best of Fest Award at the Boston Underground Film Festival... |
See also
- Bavarian pornBavarian pornBavarian porn is a campy subgenre of softcore porn comedy. The apogee of the genre was the late 1960s and early 1970s, corresponding roughly to the chancellorship of Willy Brandt, but these films continued to be produced up to about 1980. Today they live on as staples of late night European cable...
- Black EmanuelleBlack EmanuelleBlack Emanuelle is an Italian softcore sexploitation film from 1975, the first in a series made to cash in on the success of the French film Emmanuelle, which was released the year before...
- Exploitation films
- Nudity in filmNudity in filmNudity in film is any presentation in motion pictures of people while naked or wearing less clothing than contemporary norms consider modest. Many actors and actresses have appeared nude, or exposing parts of their bodies or dressed in ways considered provocative by contemporary standards at some...
- Pinku eigaPinku eigais a style of Japanese softcore pornographic theatrical film. Films of this genre first appeared in the early 1960s, and dominated the Japanese domestic cinema from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. In the 1960s, the pink films were largely the product of small, independent studios...
- Pornographic films
- PornochanchadaPornochanchadaPornochanchada is the name given to a genre of sexploitation films produced in Brazil that was popular during the 1970s and early 1980s. Its name combined pornô and chanchada ....
- Pulp magazinePulp magazinePulp magazines , also collectively known as pulp fiction, refers to inexpensive fiction magazines published from 1896 through the 1950s. The typical pulp magazine was seven inches wide by ten inches high, half an inch thick, and 128 pages long...
- Women in prison film
Further reading
- RE/Search No. 10: Incredibly Strange FilmsIncredibly Strange FilmsRE/Search No. 10: Incredibly Strange Films is a book about American underground and other films edited by V. Vale and Andrea Juno.Among the subjects covered are the work of filmmakers Russ Meyer, Herschell Gordon Lewis, Frank Henenlotter, Larry Cohen, Doris Wishman, David F. Friedman, Edward D....
RE/SearchRE/SearchRE/Search Publications is an American magazine and book publisher, based in San Francisco, founded and edited by Andrea Juno and V. Vale in 1980. It was the successor to Vale's earlier punk rock fanzine Search & Destroy , and was started with $100 from Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti...
Publications, 1986 by V. ValeV. ValeV. "Valhalla" Vale is a writer, keyboard player and, as Vale Hamanaka, was a member of the initial configuration of Blue Cheer, prior to that band becoming famous as a power trio. He is the publisher and primary contributor to books and magazines published by his company, RE/Search Publications...
, Andrea Juno, ISBN 0-940642-09-3 - Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies 1956-1984Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies 1956-1984Immoral Tales: European Sex & Horror Movies 1956-1984 is the title of a 1994 non fiction book by Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs, that won the Bram Stoker Award for Best Non-Fiction....
(1994) by Cathal Tohill and Pete Tombs, ISBN 0-312-13519-X
External links
- Sexploitation Movies: Definition and data base
- Razor Reel: Sexploitation: Art of perversion
- Atomic Cinema - Sexploitation Films
- Razor Reel: Sexploitation: The European Story
- Something Weird: Popular online resource for Sexploitation movies
- Interview with Stephanie Rothman