- Golden Age of Porn
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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.[1] The period is idealized as a time in history where the difficulty to treat STDs had not achieved wide public notice. This freedom was ostensibly reflected in the pornography industry, with adult movies and adult magazines approaching the mainstream and becoming increasingly visible.[2]
Contents
The era
The golden age was also typified by interactions with the contemporaneous second wave of feminism. These were radical and cultural feminists which, along with the Christian right, attacked pornography, while other feminists were more concerned with ideas of sexual liberation and freedom from government intrusion into the growing industry.[1]
The origins of the Golden Age are typically associated with the massive success of the 1971 film Boys in the Sand,[3][4] and of Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door, which were both released in 1972.[5] These three were the first hardcore porn films to reach a mass mixed-sex audience,[6] and all received positive reviews in mainstream media.[7] Other key films from the period include The Devil in Miss Jones and Score, which appeared in mainstream moviehouses of the United States for the first time.
These movies saw the blossoming of pornography in the mainstream consciousness, whereby drive-in theatres would take out full page newspaper ads to promote the latest adult features. Porn films started being shown in mainstream movie theaters, and thus were accepted as suitable for public consumption, or at least tolerated.[1] Debbie Does Dallas (1978) is also regarded as one of the most important releases during the period.[8]
Mainstream attention
For a period of two or three years it was fashionable to watch and discuss such films. An influential five-page article about the movie Deep Throat in the New York Times Magazine in early 1973 used the phrase "porno chic" in the title and described the phenomenon.[9] Actress Linda Lovelace once stated at that time that she believed that the porn industry would merge with the mainstream film industry.[10]
Porno chic actors
During the Golden Age of Porn, major adult film stars included Linda Lovelace, Marilyn Chambers, Annie Sprinkle, Lisa De Leeuw, Jacqueline Lorains, Juliet Anderson (a.k.a. "Aunt Peg"), Seka, Harry Reems, John Leslie, Jack Wrangler, Ron Jeremy and John C. Holmes (a.k.a. "Johnny Wadd").
As their popularity rose, so did their control of their careers. John Holmes became the first recurring porn character, in the wildly popular "Johnny Wadd" film series. Holmes later died of AIDS. Lisa DeLeeuw was one of the first to sign an exclusive contract with a major adult production company, Vivid Video, and Marilyn Chambers worked in mainstream movies, being one of the first (and still rare) crossover porn actors.
The dominant pornographic film studios of the age were VCA Pictures[11] and Caballero Home Video.[12]
Films
Some of the best-known films are:
- Boys in the Sand (USA, 1971)
- Deep Throat (USA, 1972)
- Behind the Green Door (USA, 1972)
- The Devil in Miss Jones (USA, 1973)
- Emmanuelle (France, 1974)
- Sensations (France, 1975)
- Alice in Wonderland (USA, 1976)
- Through the Looking Glass (USA, 1976)
- The Opening of Misty Beethoven (USA, 1976)
- Debbie Does Dallas (USA, 1978)
- A Night at the Adonis (USA, 1978)
- Jack and Jill (USA, 1979)
- Insatiable (USA, 1980)
- Nightdreams (USA, 1981)
- Café Flesh (USA, 1982)
Notes
- ^ a b c Second wave: Feminism and porn's golden age. Radical Society Oct 2002 by Loren Glass
- ^ Boogie bites: Porn star activists want to pave the way for a new era of enlightened porn...but isn't this an oxymoron?. Salon.com, By Jenn Shreve
- ^ Bailey, Cameron (2005-02-10-16). "Blow-by-blow accounts". NOW Toronto. http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2005-02-10/movie_reviews.php. Retrieved 2008-03-18.
- ^ Weitzer p. 52
- ^ Williams, Linda (2004). Porn studies. Duke University Press. p. 320. ISBN 0822333120. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=rdWZ8JD5dkkC.
- ^ Williams, Linda (1999). Hard core: power, pleasure, and the "frenzy of the visible". University of California Press. p. 156–158. ISBN 0520219430. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3wAe48_yfNUC.
- ^ Robert J. Kelly, Ko-lin Chin, Rufus Schatzberg (1994). Handbook of organized crime in the United States. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 301–302. ISBN 0313283664. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=CWg1Efv5C5UC.
- ^ Sam Stall, Lou Harry, Julia Spalding (2004). The encyclopedia of guilty pleasures: 1001 things you hate to love. Quirk Books. p. 182. ISBN 1931686548. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=LqaOE25UiMsC.
- ^ Ralph Blumenthal: Porno chic; "Hard-core" grows fashionable-and very profitable, The New York Times Magazine, 21 January 1973
- ^ From an 1970s interview in the documentary Inside Deep Throat.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Jennings, David (2000). Skinflicks: The Inside Story of the X-Rated Video Industry. AuthorHouse. p. 125. ISBN 158721184X. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3VCVm7sc5JsC.
References
- Weitzer, Ronald John (2000). Sex for Sale: Prostitution, Pornography, and the Sex Industry. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-92294-1.
Further reading
- Legs McNeil, Jennifer Osborne and Peter Pavia: The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film Industry. Regan Books 2005. ISBN 0-06-009659-4
External links
- That old feeling: when porno was chic, Time Magazine, March 29, 2005
- PornoChic, a collection of resources related to the 1970s phenomenon
- Porn May Be Good for Society
Categories:- Pornography
- Pornographic films
- Pornography terms
- 1970s pornographic films
- History of film
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