Classic Erotica

How did directors show classic erotica on screen in the conservative, censor-bullied years of cinema?

One way was to show sex as a sin. In The Joy of Sex Education, sex is a shown as being a one-way ticket to venereal disease, unwanted pregnancy and social rejection in a number of early documentaries (although the astonishingly progres... show more >

How did directors show classic erotica on screen in the conservative, censor-bullied years of cinema?

One way was to show sex as a sin. In The Joy of Sex Education, sex is a shown as being a one-way ticket to venereal disease, unwanted pregnancy and social rejection in a number of early documentaries (although the astonishingly progressive Growing Up from 1971 offers a more measured view).

Others showed nudity in a more innocent light. Bettie Page became a 1950s pin-up through her saucy antics, while Barbarella, starring Jane Fonda, played sex for campy laughs. Meanwhile, directors with more vivid visions had to go underground as seen in the homoerotic films of Kenneth Anger, most notably in the leather boy classic Scorpio Rising.

Russ Meyer, arguably the most famous purveyor of erotica in movie history, became known for his outrageous comedies featuring an array of large breasted nudie cuties, most famously in the marvellous (and, bizarrely, semi-feminist) Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! and the controversial yet massively successful Vixen!

While some directors dared to take sex seriously, such as Vilgot Sjoman, Luis Bunuel and Nagisa Oshima, most classic erotica exploited sex either for humour or, as the swinging sixties beckoned, titillation. < show less