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An International Journal Editor-in-Chief Richard Koszarski Museumof theMovingImage, (American New York,USA) !

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FILM

HISTORY ThisIssue:

An International Journal

FILM EXPLOITATION

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Volume6, Number3, 1994

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ExploitationFilm MarkLonger

Editedby MarkLanger 291

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theexploitationfilm Resistingrefinement: and self-censorship 293 EricSchaefer Whiteheroinesand heartsof darkness: Race,genderand disguisein 1930s junglefilms 3314 RhonaJ. Berenstein Thewomanon thetable:Moraland medicaldiscoursein theexploitation

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MAKELOVE MAKE WAR:Cultural confusionand the bikerfilmcycle MartinRubin 355 Thetropeof Blaxploitation in critical responsesto Sweetback 382 JonHartmann

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FilmHistory,Volume6, pp. 147-148, 1994. Copyright ?John Libbey&Company ISSN:0892-2160. PrintedinGreatBritain

film Exploitation MarkLanger ^W^iB

AV ith this issue on the Exploitation Film,FilmHistoryinvestigatesone of the more obscure cornersof cinema. If there is a grand narfilmhas nothad rativeof filmhistory,theexploitation itschaptertherein.Thereare manyreasonsforthis. Becauseof censorshipand marginalmeansof productionand distribution, manyexploitationfilmsdid Questionsof tasteand notreceivebroadcirculation. of a filmcanonbased on conventional establishment films notionsof artand qualityhavekeptexploitation out of manyfilmarchivesand well down on listsof preservationpriorities.The intendedaudiences for thatdid thesemoviesformedpartof a social stratum not controlthe academy. Some exploitationfilms, such as LouisGasnier'sReeferMadness (1936), icons worthyof brieflydid become counter-culture the short-lived examination 1960s during scholarly debate over 'camp'.However,the mosttraditional venues for investigationof exploitationfilmshave been fanzinesor non-scholarly suchas publications in de Sadism the Movies. (NY: George Coulteray's MedicalPress,1965) whichthemselvesexploitviolationsof tastenormsas a marketing strategy. While it is unlikelythatthisissueof FilmHistory willappearwithplastic-wrapped at the publications local news stand,untilrecently,few academic journals have chosen to investigatethissubject.Panels or papersdevotedto thesubjectat conferencesover the past couple of years, and the appearanceof a special issueon exploitationfilmsin TheVelvetLight Traptestifyto an emerginginterestin the topic. thatpromisesredlightswillcrowdthe 'Anything box office', observed director Lois Weber in 19181. Many examples supportWeber's claim. Filmsthatexploitedsensationaland forbiddensubjectswere at one timeverymuchin the mainstream of cinema. Weber's own film, The Hypocrites (1915) featuredan unclothedgirlplayingthe figure of Truth.Audiencespacked intotheatresto see the naked truth.Universal'sfirstfeaturefilm, Trafficin

Souls (1913) dealt with the white slave traffic. When itopened in New York,thestreetsoutsidethe theatrewere jammedwith people tryingto get admissionto a screening.Eugene Brieux'splay Les Avari6s(1902), whichdealt withvenerealdisease, opened on the New Yorkstage in 1913, and was adapted intothe filmDamaged Goods two years later. Motion picture depictions of socially-prohibited behaviourwere enormouslypopularwith majorsegmentsof the public,and manyfilmmakers producedfilmsdealingwithsimilartopics. Althoughthese filmswere financialsuccesses, agencies and organsof the induspublicregulatory tryitselfattemptedto controlthedepictionsof forbidden subjectsin film.By 1914, majortradejournals or news aboutsuch refusedto carryadvertisements movies.Variousstate censorshipboards, the NationalBoardof Censorship,the NationalBoardof Review,and the MotionPictureProducersand Distributors Associationwere among the organizations thatsoughtto regulatethe depictionof sensational topics and to suppressfilmsthat soughtto exploit them.Generally,historiesof filmportraytheenforcementof theCode of MotionPictureProduction as the of controlbanningthe depiction ultimateinstrument of forbiddenmatterin the Americancinema. This was not done as a simpleact of acquiescenceto conservativepressuregroups. Janet Staiger has was also profitablein pointedout, 'Self-censorship thatit encourageda productacceptableto all culturalgroups'2. Previousaccounts of the effect of censorship maybe moreor less truein regardto the production of filmfor a mass market.In termsof specialized production,this is less the case. It may be more usefulto thinkof the Americanfilm industryas a series of industries.While the classicalHollywood cinemacateredto a mass market,therewere other filmindustries producingsuchthingsas educational films,picturesfor religiousorganizations,industrial films,exploitationfilms,etc. Therewouldalways be

Editorial Editorial

292 292 money to be made catering to audience needs whichwere not servedby the mainstream industry. between the historyof the The interrelationship classical Hollywoodcinema and the historiesof and specialized cinemasis these parallel,minority itselfa promisingarea of investigation,as manyof the studies contained withinthis numberof Film Historyillustrate. Film'issue demonstratesthe This'Exploitation scholarlyactivitydevoted to this marginalmode of filmproductionand its positionin regardto mainstreamformsof cinematic productionand reprean articlewhich sentation.EricSchaefercontributes and ideological relationexploresthe institutional ships between the productionof exploitationfilms and the mannerin whichthe Hays office attempted to situateitselfas a regulatoryorganization.Rhona of race, gender Berenstein analysesrepresentations and monstrosityin mainstreamand exploitation junglepicturesof the early 1930s. Berensteinfowhite cuses on the central role of an interstitial heroinein depictionsof crossingrace and species. Felicia Feasterinvestigatesthe use of a medical discoursein exploitationfilmsthatprovidesa fetishisticvisionof womenwhich is informedby conventionsof classicalHollywoodcinemaand by cultural representationsof science. Martin Rubinwrites about a more contemporaryformof exploitation film.In his analysisof the bikerfilmcycle, Rubin of thisexploitationgenre outlinesthe characteristics

and situatesit withinthe culturalcontextof America duringthe VietnamWar era. Jon Hartmanndiscusses the criticaldebate in the 1970s concerning filmwith his conthe emergence of Blaxploitation in siderationof the response varioussectionsof the press to MelvinVan Peebles' Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971). Finally,for a complete a book change of pace, SusanOhmercontributes reviewof EricSmoodin'sAnimatingCulture.(New NJ: RutgersUniversity Press,1994). Brunswick, Pictures depictingscenes fromexploitationfilms are particularlydifficultto acquire. FilmHistory wouldliketo thankFilmFavoritesand EricSchaefer for providingmuch of the visual materialin this issue.* Mark Langer Associate Editor Notes 1.

LoisWeber, quoted in MotionPictureMagazine,

Behind the Brownlow, May1918:6, citedinKevin Maskof Innocence.(LA:University of California Press,1990), xxii.

2. JanetStaiger,'Standardization andDifferentiation', in DavidBordwell, ThomJanetStaigerand Kristin pson, TheClassicalHollywoodCinema:FilmStyle to 1960. (NY:Columbia and Mode of Production

Press,1985), 104. University

UPCOMINGISSUES/CALLFOR PAPERS edited byJohnBelton (inpress) edited by Kristin Asian Cinema Thompson (inpress) Film Preservation vs edited by PaoloCherchiUsai (deadlineforsubmissions1 January1995) Scholarship edited by RichardKoszarski Auteurism Revisited (deadlineforsubmissions1 April1995) edited by Marklanger Cinema and Nation (deadlineforsubmissions1 July1995) edited byJohnBelton Films of the 1950s (deadlineforsubmissions1 October 1995) withinthe overallscope of the journal. FILM HISTORY encouragethesubmissionof manuscripts Thesemaycorrespondto theannouncedthemesof futureissuesabove, butmayequallybe on any in contributions topicrelevantto filmhistory.Itis the journal'spolicyto publishnon-thematic futureissues. Audiences and Fans

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FilmHistory,Volume6, pp. 293-313, 1994. Copyright?John Libbey&Company ISSN:0892-2160. Printedin GreatBritain .... III......... I

Resisting the refinement: film exploitation and self-censor EricSchaefer The Hays Office - they hated us. You see, they couldn'tstop us and thatmade themawfulmad ... they didn'tlike anythingwe were doing. Theonly reasonwe likedit so well is because it was making moneyforus - HildegardEsper1 creenwriterHildegardEsper,along with her producer-directorhusband Dwain Esper,made some of the most notorious exploitationfilmsof the 1930s: Narcotic (1933), Maniac (1934), Marijuana(1936) and How to Undressin Frontof YourHusband(1937) among them.Thefact thatthe HaysOffice- or the MotionPictureProducers and Distributors of America did not like the (MPPDA) anything Esperswere in was summed doing up Joseph I. Breen'sassessmentof the Esper'ssex hygienedrama,TheSeventh Commandment (1933):

ploitationmovies remainedoutside the organization'ssphereof influence- hence Breen'svexation. Most scholarshipon self-censorship in the film has focused on the role of scandal industry (Fatty Arbuckle'strial, the murderof William Desmond Taylor,etc.) and the cycle of Mae West and fallen womenfilmsas the majordeterminants. Butby conthese other incidents, tinuallyre-evoking important factorsin the developmentof the filmindustry's selfhave been aim censorshippractices ignored.My here is to show that exploitationfilms played a and maintenance significantrole in the formulation of self-regulatory At the most policy. conspicuous allowed the mainstream induslevel, self-censorship tryto preventsalacioussubjectsfromappearingin its filmswhile at the same time the on-goingwar against exploitationmovies served to presentthe MPPDAas an active organizationcommittedto Thewhole play is the mostthoroughly vile and keepingall Americanscreens'clean'.3PeterStallydisgustingmotionpicturewhichthe threemem- brass and AllonWhite have theorizedabout the bersof thisstaff,who saw the picturelastnight, recurrent culturalpatternin which'the'top'attempts haveeverseen. Itis thoroughly in to reprehensible rejectand eliminate'the bottom'for reasonsof all itsdetails. prestigeand statusquo, onlyto discoverthat... it is In addition, it is poorlyproducedand poorly in some way frequentlydependent on that lowOther'4.By constructing exploitationmovies as a photographed.The portionof the filmgiven over to the Caesarian operationsuggests a threatto average moviegoers,Hollywoodthrewits foreignpicture,possiblya foreignmedicalpicture. The whole thing is very offensive and Eric Schaefer is a VisitingAssistantProfessorat EmersonCollege. Please address correspondence disgusting2.

TheMPPDAhad been toutingits success with the recentlystrengthenedProduction Code, butex-

to EricSchaefer,EmersonCollege, Divisionof Mass Communication, 100 Beacon St., Boston, MA 02116, USA.

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EricSchaefer Schaefer Eric

motionpicturesand thosemade by the independent I exploiteersinto sharp relief.The Hays Office and otherelementsin the organizedindustry were often able to use exploitationfilms as an antithesisto deflect attentionfrom mainstreammovies which mighthave otherwiseattractednegative criticism. On anotherlevel,theclash betweenthe mainstream and exploitationindustriescreated a series of discourses on sexuality,taste, mores, the natureof and the functionof motionpictures. entertainment, The discourses,in turn,were markedby tensions and fissureswhichwere neitherfixed noruniformwhat Foucaultwould have called the 'tacticalpolyvalence of discourses'5.Some of the same discourses marshalled within sex hygiene films themselves(clean/dirty,wholesome/unwholesome, entertainment/education, etc.) and used in their defence, were also employed by Hollywood against the unorganized exploitationproducers. Largelybecause the mainstreamindustrycould not dominatethe discursiveformationsthat attended renegade exploitationmovies, these films proved beyondthe reachof the HaysOffice.Thiseventually theveryconceptof self-censorhelpedto undermine ship. A rash of sex hygiene filmsreleased immediately afterWorld War I promptedincreasedcalls for censorshipacross the country.Fear of further crackdownon Fig. 1. Theorganizedindustry censorshipled to an industry-wide attemptedto cast sex hygienepicturesby the NationalAssociationof the filmsof independentexploiteers,suchas the MovingPictureIndustry which issueda DwainEsper'sMarihuana(1936), as a threatto (NAMPI) 1919 resolution war on the declaring hygienefilms. the average movie-goer.[? DwainEsper.] Elsewhere,I have detailedhow these earlyattempts by Hollywoodto police itscontentcreateda separ- censorship.TheCommitteeforPublicRelations,and ate industry whichmanufactured exploitationfilms6. later the Public RelationsDepartment,absorbed TheThirteenPointsand Standards,adopted by the many of the criticismsdirectedat motionpictures NAMPIin 1921, codified the exclusionof subject while the Hays Office solidifiedits controlover the mattersuch as sex, drug use, nudity,white slavery organized film industry.The primaryimpulsefor was an economicone as the industry and other'salacious'topics.Theperceivedfailureof self-regulation the ThirteenPointsto take hold, the passage of a hoped to stave off further censorshipand the costly statecensorshiplaw in New Yorkcoupledwiththe necessityof creatingcustomizedprintsforeach area threatof others,and the publicoutcrygeneratedby with a censorship board. Additionally,protests filmsand subjectmatterhad the the scandals of 1921 and 1922 forced the film againstdisreputable in the potentialto erode audiencesand profitsfor all moindustryto vigorouslyembraceself-regulation formof theMotionPictureProducers and Distributors tionpictures. of Americaunderthe leadershipof Will Hays in By 1927 the nation's'movieczar', Will Hays, 1922. The Hays Office broughtabout severalim- had made stridesin repairingHollywood'simage mediatesuccesses, the mostobviousof whichwas but littlehad been done to change the impression the defeat of a Massachusettsreferendum on film that movieswere immoralor unclean.A group of

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Resisting refinement:the the exploitation exploitationfilm filmand self-censorship and self-censorship Resisting refinement:

295 295

Millard prolow-budget,buthighmoted Is Your profile, sex hygiene filmsbegan to sweep Daughter Safe? by across the countryin having a girl in a 1927 causing proglass case outside -..NOOV, the theatre. 'It is a tests and prompting Office to flash for the boobs', the Hays nOYs UNDIER14i. its first conVarietychirped.AgiNOT ADMITTED. begin ^ certedeffortto ridthe tating censors from coast to coast, this screenof exploitation moviessince theirin'hot stuff' was banned in New itial expulsion from the mainstream. York, Maryland, Since the early Ohio, Virginia,and _ _ ...t .I ._ 4 _ :m1.. _iI..^. 1 1920s those topics Portland, Oregon. But many comforbiddenby theThirmunitiesdid see the teen Points had film.Fartoo manyto becometheexclusive of the lowsuitthe HaysOffice. province The MPPDA budget,independent exploitation probegan its campaign ducerswho released against hygienefilms inJuneby organizing theirmovies through the state'srightsmara screening of Millard's picture for a ket or travelledfrom venue to venue with group of women. the roadCol. JasonJoy, head on prints of the Studio Relashow circuitof small tions Department, astown theatres and 2. VarietyclaimedthatS.S. Millard'ssex hygienefilm sumed that the Fig. Street' 'Main seedy women would conmovie houses in Is YourDaughterSafe?(1927) wouldbe a 'wow' in communities'wheretheywantto see hotstuff. The films demn the film.Butin cities. larger his reportto CarlMilwere invariably [? S.S. Millard.] the chief of the to 'adults liken, presented he audiences those of school or older Public Relations high age Department, expressed confuonly' - and were oftensegregatedby sex. Inthe summer sion: of 1927 itinerantroadshowmanS.S. MillardreI was somewhat surprised... when they released Is YourDaughterSafe? (Fig. 2). A compilato me a momentago thatthey thinkit ported tionof footage, some up to fifteenyearsold, the film teaches a very splendidlesson and thatevery featuredscenes of white slaveryand venerealdisgirl over sixteen years of age ought to be ease. Variety's reviewercharacterizedthe pictureas for compelledto see it. Of course,the difficulty 'possiblythe strongestand mostdaringof so-called us is the kindof publicitytheyare sendingout hygieneand sex warningpicturesever made'. which leads the people who don't see the pictureto believe thatwe are responsibleand Thisreporterhas seen manyof the Liliesof the have slippedback a long way in ourprogress Field,stage and screen.Butthisone is theprize towardbiggerand betterthings8. pip. If the censorslet it get by in communities wheretheywantto see hotstuff,it is a cinchthis Joy's post-screening analysishad hit upon two willbe a wow7. problemswhich would continuallyconfoundHolly-

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296Eric 296 wood in itseffortsto deal withexploitationfilms.The firstwas the public'sinabilityto distinguishbetween filmsmade by the organized, mainstreamindustry and those made by independentexploitationproducers. Calls for movie reformwere invariablydirected at Hollywood, but not necessarily at Hollywoodfilms9.Had theseparationbeen as clear to the average movie-goeras it was in the mindsof the representatives of the MPPDA,theirabilityto attackexploitationmighthave been easier. As it was, theywere forcedto call for the eliminationof sex hygienefilmsand other'offensive'movieswhile notappearingto supportcensorship- a verydifficult manoeuvre. Second, exploitation films usually claimed some educationalmerit.The mainstream wouldeventuallymakethisa crucialdistincindustry tionbetweenitsfilmsand thoseof the exploiteers,a pointI willexpandon below. The Association'sattackon Is YourDaughter Safe?was oblique,initially carriedoutthroughother and The MPPDAwas alinstitutions. organizations in its ways circumspect dealingswithindependents for fear that they would level charges of unfair of tradeagainstthe organcompetitionand restraint ization10.Thoughthe attemptto haveJoy'sgroupof women denounce the movie had backfired,the Associationquietly persuaded the corresponding secretaryof the CaliforniaWomen'sChristianTemperance Unionto withdrawher endorsementof Is YourDaughterSafe?' . Othersympatheticorganizationswere ralliedto bringpressureon thefilm.The NationalBetterBusinessBureauissueda noticeto BureauManagersand Chambersof Commerceon 1 August1927, claimingthatcontraryto ads, Will Hays did not approve of Is YourDaughterSafe? 'Shouldthisfilmbe shown in yourcity', the notice how itis read, 'willyou kindlyadvise us immediately of advertisand a advertised forward sample being ing thatmay be used?'.12Localand regionalfilm boardsof tradewere enlistedto pressureexhibitors. The Northwestfilm board of trade succeeded in convincingthe operatorof a theatrechain to withdraw Is YourDaughterSafe? from uptown and suburbanrunsin Seattleand limitthe filmto one 'MainStreet'house which did not advertisein the newspapers.13TheMotionPictureTheatreOwners of Americaissueda 'redflag' alarmto itsmembers, warningthemaboutMillard'spictureand morethan a 'wave' of sex a half-dozenothersthatconstituted

EricSchaefer Schaefer films.The organizationclaimed that playing such filmswould'breed'censorshipl4.Once established, suchcensorshipwouldnotdiscriminate betweensex filmsand moviesmade by the organizedindustry. As noted, the spread of censors, separated both geographically and ideologically, directly threatenedprofitsof the mainstreamcompanies since such censorshipinvariablyled to the added expense of customizedprints.The theatreowners' concernthat'sexfilms'wouldbreedcensorship,and the MPPDA'santagonismtowardexploitation,was rooted in experiencewith state censors for whom exploitationmovieshad always been a primetarget. In 1922 EllisPaxsonOberholtzer,a historian and memberof the PennsylvaniaState Board of Censors,had harshwordsforfilmproducers,buthe reservedparticularanimusfor the makersof 'sex pictures'- exploitationfilms15.The'shabbyfellows' whom Oberholtzerwrote about purveyed films about white slavery,abortion,venereal diseases, and druguse. He held thatsome good mightcome frominstructing the young aboutsuch topics 'under propercircumstances'but castigated 'the general circulationof picturesof this kindfor the profitof 16 speculators' Accordingto Oberholtzerthe promoterof exploitationpictureswas a moralistuntilhe left the censor'soffice,whereuponhe became 'a shameless adventurerwho would prey upon the salacious tastesof the people'. Theaudienceforsuchmotion picturesdid notfareany betterwiththePennsylvania censor: They do not come in a frame of mind for learning.Theyare wroughtup to the pointof believingthat they are to see hithertounseen and to hearhithertountoldthings,havingto do withtheirprocreativeorgans.The lessongoes astray;if it shall ever be taughtthemat all it must be conveyed by wiser teachers under more favourable conditions at some later day17. Oberholtzerbelieved that the motionpicture not educatheatrewas a place for entertainment, tion, a stance that would be embraced by the motionpictureproducers. mainstream In October 1927 the MPPDAendorsed the thelist 'Don'tsand Be Carefuls'. JasonJoyformulated to helpthe industry negotiatethe perilsand pitfallsof

Resisting refinement:the the exploitation exploitationfilm filmand and self-censorship self-censorship Resisting refinement:

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the varyingstateand municipalcensorshipboards. nota randomlistof sensitivesubjects.Anynumberof Joy includedeleven 'Don'ts',thingsgenerallyforbid- other'offensive'topics(explicitviolence,sexualinterden or cut frommoviesby the censor boards,and course,sadomasochism,and necrophilia,to name twenty-five'Be Carefuls',a catalogue of subjects a few)couldconceivablyhave been includedon the that requiredspecial care in presentation.As with lists.Butsince thosesubjectshad notbeen a partof the 'Don'tsand Be the commercialcinema at any time, therewas no priorformsof self-censorship Carefuls'were economicallyinspired,butthe stakes reasonto includethemon any inventoryof forbidwere suddenly higher. Althoughcensorshiphad den topics. The listcreated by Joy arose out of a been expensiveand nettlesometo the majorsduring reactionto real-worldexperience,not on the basis the silent era, a silent picturewith cuts was still of theoryor assumption.The listwas generatedto extentby exploitationmovies.Inplayable.Therisein talkingpicturesposed a poten- an overwhelming the a since tiallydevastatingproblem scissoring talkie, deed, adoptionof the 'Don'tsand Be Carefuls' at the time the MPPDAwas confrontinga a desame sound-on-disk movie, virtually particularly films 'wave' of it. the 'Don'ts' were sound stroyed Byfollowing exploitationmovieswas no mere coinmade moreviablein censorshipstates. but was insteada reactionto a specific cidence, to In a resemblance the NAMPI's threat. Bearing strong manyrespectsthe fieldof exploitationfilm ThirteenPointsand Standards,the 'Don'tsand Be came to be defined by its embrace of tabooed Carefuls'were also largelyinspiredby the desireto topics fromthe 'Don'ts'and, later, the Production restrict exploitationfilms.Indeed,Edwardde Grazia Code.21 and RogerK. Newman have noted thatthe listof The MPPDAdrive to rid America'sscreensof 'Don'tsand Be Carefuls','is perhapsmostinstructive sex hygiene films reached a peak in late 1928 for its evidence of the kindsof subjectswithwhich when Paramount's theatrechain, Publix,announced "renegade" producers were dealing in the that it would no longer play the pictures.Variety 1920s'18. Sevenof theeleven 'Don'ts'were directly reportedthat Publix,and other 'distributor-chain generatedby topics thatwere subjectsof exploita- operators'were motivatedby effortsof the Hays tion films, subjectsthat had consistentlyoffended Office to 'quietly... suppressthe sex films'.Hays Oberholtzerand otherstate censors:nudity;drug attemptedto extractpledges fromexhibitorchain traffic;'sex perversion';white slavery;sex hygiene membersnotto playthe moviesand wentfurther by and venerealdisease; childbirthscenes; children's instructing distributors not to supplyany housewith sex organs(anothercontroloverscenes of childbirth, regularfilmsonce it had opened its screen to 'the among other things).Anotherwould become the obnoxioussex film'22.At the same time a strict subjectof the exploiteersby the early 1930s: mis- proposalforcensorshiphad been introducedin the cegenation'9.Thesetopics providedthe spectacle New Jerseylegislaturebecause the state'stheatre which exploitationproducersreliedon to differen- owners had 'repeatedlybrokenfaith by showing tiatetheirfilmsfromthe mainstream and to drawan obscene sex picturesafterpromisingnot to'23.The audience. Thisdifferentiation was, above all else, majoroffenderswere reportedlychain-ownedand located in the fact that exploitationmovies were operatedtheatresin Newark,JerseyCityand Union about the marginalized,the Other- the diseased, City, ratherthan independentexhibitors.The indethe drugaddict, the prostitute, those who chose an pendentoperatorswho formedthe MotionPicture alternatelifestyle,the pregnantwoman (who was TheatreOwnersof New Jerseyadopted resolutions always constructedas otherthan'normal').Thead- favouringsupportof the censorshipmeasure24. ditionalrestrictions of the 'Don'ts'were on profanity, TheMPPDAhad always takenan anti-censorridiculeof the clergy, and wilfuloffence to any ship stand publicly.However,calls for the eliminanation,race or creed. Thelasttwo were the subject tionof sex hygienefilmsputthe Associationin the of concurrentprotests.20In all, these eleven topics positionof appearing to advocate some formof causedcensorsto ban or cutmovies,drew censorship. For instance, when censorshipwas regularly the ire of protestgroups, and left the entirefilm threatenedover the San Diego screeningof Is Your industryvulnerableto increasedcensorship.Thus, DaughterSafe? (underthe title The Octopus),Joy the 'Don'ts',as the previous'ThirteenPoints',was instructed an employeeto advisetheclubwomenof

298Eric 298 the cityto withdrawtheirsupportforcensorship,but to continueto workagainsthygienepicturesin their Ina letterto CarlMillikenten days later territory.25 Joyconfessed: TheSan Diego episode makesit apparentthat we are dealingwitha verydangerousvehicle, and thatcensorshipis apt to be the resulting remedy.Of course, in settingup a machineto censorthistypeof picture,theyare also putting intooperationsomethingwhich may proveto be embarrassing to us in thefuture26. Such embarrassingcontradictionswere unavoidable. One such instance occurred at an conferencein September1929 MPPDA-sponsored betweenmotionpictureleadersand individuals from a varietyof community and religiousorganizations. Themeetingin New Yorkwas, in part,a response to renewed threatsof federal censorshipand an increasein the numberof deletionsorderedby state and municipalcensors. C.C. Pettijohn,general counsel of the Hays Office, offeredthe organization'sstandardresponseto the issue of censorship by declaring'Ibelievethatcensorshipin any formof humanexpressionis sillyand ridiculousand absoor result'.He lutelydevoid of any accomplishment went on to speak out for diversityon the screen saying, 'A reasonablenumberof picturesshouldbe made each year forchildrenbutwe can't makeall picturesfor children.Adultsstillhave some rights'. The next day, when confrontedwith a question about what the industrywas doing about sex hytoed anotherstockMPPDA giene pictures,Pettijohn lineby replying:'Now you are gettingto a class of pictureswhichshouldneverbe shownin theatres.I would liketo see everyproducerof themputout of does notstandfor business.Theorganizedindustry thosepictures'.CarlMillikenventuredthat"whenthe industryresentscensorshipas it does, it does not mean that no controlby the publicshouldbe permitted'27 Despite the public and privateattemptsthe HaysOfficemade to eliminatesex hygienefilmsthe organizationwas paralysedin itseffortsby a philosophical conundrum.As long as some states and communities did nothave censorshiplaws, exploitation filmshad a venue. Butadvocatingcensorship for certainpicturescould conceivablybe extended to othersand soon impingeon those filmsmade by

EricSchaefer Schaefer mainstream companies.Moreover,by publiclydeclaringthatsome movieswere worthyof censorship, the MPPDAadmittedthatself-regulation of content was not a workablealternativeto state-sponsored censorshipas long as some producerscould operate free of self-censorship's constraints. The internal contradictions within Hollywood's trade body fromdevelopinga preventedtheorganizedindustry for coherent,long-term policy controlling exploitation films.Instead,the skirmishes would continue,especiallyonce the effectsof the stockmarketcrashand the Great Depressionfinallycaught up with the majorstudios. In 1930 the MPPDArefashionedthe 'Don'ts and Be Carefuls'intothe Production Code. Martin a Catholic Quigley, prominent laymanand publisher of theexhibitor-oriented tradeMotionPictureHerald, teamedwithFatherDanielLord, Jesuitpriestand at St. Louis to professor University, expand Hollywood's 'Don'ts'and give them a philosophical base. Underrosierfinancialcircumstances thestudio chiefs mighthave been able to shrugoff the new Code, but anotherbill to establishfederalcensorThe feeble economic ship had been introduced.28 with the situation,coupled supportof distributors, the and investment exhibitors, bankers, all-important meanttheyhad littlechoice butto accept the Code in principle.Hays trumpetedthe Code as a new moral doctrine which would guide Hollywood throughthe bramblesof state censorship.Critics, however,saw itas moreof thesame and producers quicklylearned that they could ignore it with the same impunitywith which they had shirkedthe 'Don'tsand Be Carefuls'29. Ridingon the popularityof talkiesthe major studiosmanagedto coast throughthefirstyearof the depressionwithouttoo much pain. But between 1931 and 1934 the frail economy had left the majorswith only slim profitswhen they were not faced withred ink.Movie housesdarkenedacross the countryand those that remainedopen were forcedto cut back servicesas attendancedropped between 1930 and 1932. Inan effort by one-third to draw patronsback into theatresexhibitorstried ploys rangingfromadmissionprice cuts to double featuresto gimmickslike BankNight, Dish Night and Screeno.Production companiesrespondedby moresex and spice intotheirfilms.Gangsprinkling stersshot theirway across the screen. Mae West

Resistingrefinement: refinement:the the exploitation exploitationfilm filmand and self-censorship self-censorship Resisting

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rolledhercorsetedhips and leeredsuggestively.A tryblamedthe nudistfeaturesfora renewedwave of parade of prostitutes plied theirtrade on back lot stateand municipalcensorshipbillsand yet another versionsof the big city. The exploiteerswere not measureproposinga federal motionpicturecomHayshad hoped thatthe holdingbackeither.Between1931 and 1934 over missionwas introduced34. or National Industrial were new features RecoveryAct (NIRA),signed by produced thirty exploitation 16 June 1933, wouldfinally in Franklin Roosevelt on the United States. for distribution Nudity, imported sex education,drug use, and all mannerof vices bringthe moralstandardsof moviesin lineunderthe Code. The NationalRecoveryAdminiswere profferedin DamagedLives(1933), Narcotic, Production The Road to Ruin(1933), Enlightenthy Daughter tration(NRA),created by the act, was intendedto Child- regulate wages and prices to stimulatethe de(1933), Elysia(1933), Maniac, Tomorrow's wroteitsown code ren(1934) and others,providingthe largestconcen- pressedeconomy.Eachindustry because if they failed to do so the federalgoverntrationof new exploitationfeaturessince 1927-28. Majorcompaniesedged intoexploitationsubjects mentwouldwriteit forthem.DouglasGomeryand as well. In 1933 ColumbiaproducedWhat Price othershave shownthatthe MPPDAlobbiedto have Innocence?,a filmthatadvocated sex education, the film industryincludedin the NIRAbecause it and in defiance of earlierMPPDArulingsthe com- offered the potentialto solidifymonopolycontrol pany's exchanges distributeda venereal disease underthe aegis of the federalgovernment.Infact, the NRAMotionPictureCode had been writtenby picture,DamagedLives. of the MPPDA,who made surethe Thescreenwas not the only place where one representatives could find spicierentertainment. Depression-weary positionof the Hays Office was strengthened.Arto mainAmericanswere momentarilydivertedfrom their ticleVIIof the Code committedthe industry economicwoes in 1933 by newspapercoverage tenanceof 'rightmoralstandards'35. in Europe, of the nudistmovement.Long-established Mary Beth Haralovichhas describedthe moin cultsof sunworshippers were beginningto gain a tionpictureindustry as in a stateof 'near-hysteria' footholdin the UnitedStates. Camps in California its efforts to avoid federal interference36.The and otherstatespopped up and the presscovered strengthened positionof the HaysOfficein the midst the phenomenon,eagerly printingplentyof pictures of thisnear-hysteria mayhavegivenHaysand others to satisfythose for whom words alone would not in the businessan inflatedsense of theirabilityto suffice.Thereturn of newspapercirculation to 1929 controlthecontentof all motionpictures.Ananalysis levelswas directlyattributed to 'theextremelyhotart of the nudistpictureproblemin Varietyduringthe workon the nudes'30.Pressmaterialon Elysiain- firstmonthof 1934 disclosedthe spuriousassumpcluded a still of the alleged crew of the movie tionsunderwhichthe majorshad been operating: and encouragedexhibitorsto 'filming"aunaturel"' Firstof all while the Hays productioncode 'submitthisto yourmostprogressivenewspaper.It specificallyprohibitsnudeposes, and whilethe oughtto be a cinch'.As a resultof the daringnudist as to advertisingcode is being so administered shots in the dailies, Hollywoodstillphotographers excise various limb displays in stills, nudist and press agents began to display more flesh of makersare able to escape all of this because femalestarsin publicityshots.Will Haysputhisfoot are non-Haysites. Henceexhibitors can do they down with anotheredict3l. Butwhile Hays was as they please in the matterof lobbydisplays. occupied with stills, nude figureswere traipsing Therefore,official spokesmen declare, it is across the screen in manytheatres.Elysiaand two abouttimeto get a rulingon all-industry morals, othernudistmovieswere causinga stirat the box notjustthe Hayspercentage,butfromtheNRA. officeand in censor'sscreeningrooms. Thenudistfilmsranintocensorshiptroublein a Hereagain a snag is struck.Thecode does not numberof cities as well as the statesof Maryland, specifyany set rulesfor moralityin eitherproand New York32.BryanFoy,the producerof Elysia, ductionor advertising.Theclause, regardedas was forcedto obtain an injunction againstthe Los ambiguousfromthe start,simplysays thatthe to restrain them with from Angelespolice interfering industryshall pledge itselfto maintainhighest localshowingof his picture33. Theorganizedindusmoralstandards.

300 Itwas assumedin majorcircles,at first,thatthe clause was sufficientto makeit understoodthe businesswould bow to the Hays writings.But heldoutagainst independentshavesuccessfully theseand todayare doing muchas theyplease in the matterof morality. Witha few nudistpicturesholdingthe industry up to a generalattack,as is evidencedin more censor activitythan has been witnessed in years, the moralityissue is admittedcomingto a definitehead37. Hays and the majorshad expected the indeCode when the pendentsto accept the Production NRAwent intoeffect,if onlybecause itwouldmean 'a large financialsaving to them'38.But, as the article indicated, independentshad continuedto pursuetheirown pathwithlittleregardforthe industryas a whole. Theirpictureshad been singledout and placed theentirefilmbusinessundersiege. The had, in turn,singledthemoutfor organizedindustry elimination. the Code mighthave meantsaving Embracing for money exploitationproducersby allowingtheir filmsto play in territories withcensorship,butit also would have strippedthemof that aspect that differentiatedthemfromthe majors.Intime the Hays Officebegan to realizethattheexploiteerswere out to carve theirown niche, regardlessof who might be offended inside or outside the industry.An MPPDAinter-office memoabout BryanFoy demonstratedhisstandas a producerof exploitation: This gentlemanis certain to be increasingly as timegoes on. troublesome He is avowedly out to make picturesoff the beaten track,withthe idea thatin thisway he may be able to make a good living.He has gone on record,repeatedly,as of the opinion thathe cannotcompetewithothercompanies makingthe usualtype of picturesand that he mustresortto the sensational,the shockingand the lurid39. Withoutsuggestivecontent,the moviesmade by Foy and other exploiteerswould have simply been morelow-budgetfare,similarto thatproduced by Chesterfield,Monogram,Tiffanyand otherPoverty Row outfits.Contraryto what the organized

EricSchaefer industrymay have thought,therewas littlefinancial incentiveforthe exploiteersto accept the Production Code. Inthe face of Catholicboycottsand the newly formedLegionof Decency, the ProductionCode Administration was establishedwithintheMPPDAin July1934. JosephI. Breenwas placed in chargeof the office. GeoffreyShurlock,who worked under Breenin the PCAand eventuallyheaded the office, claimed:'we neverrefusedseals. We were in the businessof grantingseals. The whole purposeof [thePCA's]existencewas to arrangepicturesso that we couldgive seals'40.ThePCA,once established, worked in the interestof the majorstakinga proactivepositionof suggestionand negotiationrather thana reactionarystanceof restraint. However,as shown above, considerableconcern about nudist films- existedwithin movies- and otherexploitation the organizedfilmindustry and amongcensors.Just as surelyas 'theBreenOffice'was anotherstrategy to consolidatepower in the handsof the majors,it also functionedto marginalizethe exploiteersby denying MPPDAseals to their pictures.Without Code seals exploitationfilmswere, for all intents and purposes, barred from the lucrativefirst-run housesin largecitieswhichwere runby the majors. also servedto shape TheCode and itsenforcement the dominantimage of what movies should be, vis-a-vis exploitation. Since the time exploitationsubjectswere first producers,state's segregatedfromthe mainstream, and roadshowmen pointedto the educarighters, tional intentof theirfilmsin an effortto lend them meritcould respectability.Claims of instructional with content censorsand reformitigatethe prurient mers.Or so the exploitationproducershad hoped. Whethertheexploiteerswere sincereabouttheeducationalcontentof theirfilmsor not,Hollywoodand the censorsturnedtheirargumentback on themby insistingthatthe role of movieswas entertainment and thateducationdid not have a place on American screens. StephenVaughnhas shown how the majorshad endorsedthe entertainment/education polaritywhen acceptingthe foundationsforthe ProductionCode. Thecompaniescontendedthat'motion pictureswere firstand foremostentertainment and could not be considerededucationor even indirectly as an essentially moral or immoral desireto separate force'41.Theorganizedindustry's

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Resisting refinement:the the exploitation exploitationfilm filmand and self-censorship selfcensorship Resisting refinement: was codified in the educationand entertainment to the Production Code: preamble ... thoughregardingmotionpicturesprimarily withoutany explicitpurposeof as entertainment or teaching propaganda,thesignatories[tothe Code] know thatthe motionpicturewithinits own field of entertainment may be directlyrefor and moral sponsible spiritual progress,for for muchcorrect of social and life, highertypes ... thinking On theirpart,theyask fromthe publicand from of publicleadersa sympatheticunderstanding their purposesand problemsand a spiritof cooperationthat will allow themthe freedom and opportunity necessaryto bringthe motion pictureto a still higher level of wholesome entertainment forall the people. Inhistreatiseon thesocial construction of taste, writes that Pierre Bourdieu Distinction, principlesof division'functionwithinand forthe purposesof the strugglebetweensocial groups'. What is at stake in the strugglesabout the meaningof the social worldis powerover the classifcatoryschemes and systemswhich are the basis of the representations of the groups and thereforeof theirmobilizationand demobilization:the evocativepowerof an utterance whichputsthingsina differentlight... orwhich modifies the schemes of perception, shows somethingelse, otherproperties,previouslyunnoticedor relegatedto the background...; a separativepower, a distinction,diacrisis,discretio,drawingdiscreteunitsout of indivisible continuity,difference out of the undifferentiated42. Itis clearthatthewritersof theProduction Code to break undifferentiated featheatrical attempted turesintocategoriesalong traditional morallinesof wholesomeand unwholesome(in thiscase as constructedby the Code), as well as by theirfunctionas entertainment or education. Figure3 graphically this represents scheme. Theverticalaxis dividesentertainment and education while the horizontalaxis separateswholesome from unwholesome. The films which the mainstreamindustrytried to create throughself-

WHOLESOME

A Movies

ENTERTAINMENT

ImaginaryIdeal EDUCATION

..

B Movies

Exploitation

UNWHOLESOME

Code broketheatrical Fig.3. TheProduction featuresintocategoriesalong traditionalmoral linesof wholesomeand unwholesome,as wellas or education. by theirfunctionas entertainment regulationfall into the field bound by wholesomewhile the filmscreated by ness and entertainment of unexploiteersfall intothe opposingconjuncture wholesome/education.By suggestingthat education did not have a place on the entertainment screen, Hollywooddrovea majorwedge between theirfilmsand thoseof the exploiteers.Filmsthatfall intothe lowerleftportionof the schematic(unwholecan be seen as manyof the B some/entertainment) moviesmade by the organizedindustry, as well as those pre-PCAentertainments (Mae West, et al.) tagged as unwholesomeby the CatholicChurch and others.LeaJacobs has explainedhow B-films were often labelled'trashy'or 'lurid'by criticsand how Hollywoodmaintainedcertainculturalhierarchies throughitsdistribution and marketing of A and B features43. The upperrightfield (wholesomeeducation) is that ideal that many social and moral reformerssaw as the medium'struefunction.This pairingremainedimaginarysince no groupof theatricalfeaturesever seemed to fall fullywithinthe conjuncture. As Bourdieuhas noted, in mattersof taste, 'all determination is negation'44.Becauseof their'low' categorization(oftenliterallydealingwiththe lower strataof the body in the formof sex, birth,venereal disease) exploitationfilms were the antithesisof what Hollywoodwas constructing as 'betterfilm'. Jacobs has explainedthatthe so-called'betterfilm' movement,which had the supportof the MPPDA, eventuallyformulatedcriteriathat prescribednarrativecoherence, plausibilityand realismas the hallmarks of acceptablescreenfare. Narrativewas

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Once the Breen privilegedover specOffice was in place tacle45. Of course, bexploitation pro*] _~ spectacle was the stock in trade of exducers generally igI noredit, choosingto ploitationfilms.This, release their films coupled with the withoutseals in unafcrude affective refiliated theatres sponse exploitation movies provoked, ratherthan fight for made them diametriapproval. On those occasions when an cally opposed to the definition of what exploitationfilmwas submittedfor a seal constituteda 'better B^ the state's rightsdisfilm'. Censors and I l ' tribution system who held simicritics lar principleshad alworked against the _ ,i ' \ MPPDAin their effways seen their l' a orts to enforce the function as not tei toinB Production Code. merelyone of limiting Since but regional dischoices, through tributors could put in those limitations, scenes or takethem public elevating out- witha largedetaste.MartinQuigley wrote that the funcgree of impunity,the tion of art was to MPPDAwas always at risk when it enoble, or that 'the least thatmay be ex=<s =#/u1 passed a state's it of art is that pected rightsfilm.Theorganshall not debase'46. izationdepended on Allied with the elevreportsfromthe field ation of taste in the 4 cut in excha nge foran MPPDAseal but to convey violations masses was the fear Fig. Angkorwas and those reports it playedunderthe titleForbi'ddlenAdventurein some thatthe spreadof the territories were sporadic at withoutthe required etliminations. unwholesome or [?Warner/Purdon.] best. Some proas such ducers played catdirty, exploitation movies, might and-mousewith the drag down the 'good taste'whichthe morerefined BreenOffice, gettingapprovalfortheirmotionpichad so carefullycultivated.Thusa series of defini- turesbutneveractuallymakingthe cutsdictatedby tions shaped exploitationas unacceptablescreen Code officials.Dwain Esperregularlyengaged in fare. At the same time these negationsserved to thisgame. In 1937 he submittedthe junglepicture reinforcethe conceptionof Hollywoodfilmas some- Angkorto the PCAand agreed to makedeletions, of exposed breasts,in orderto obtain a coherent, primarily thingmorallyunobjectionable,narratively Bourdieu's 17 March1937Joe Breenwroteto Esper and non-educational. seal. On realistic, plausible, observation that 'any legitimate work tends ... to grantingtheseal inview of the producer'sassurance imposethe normsof its own perceptionand tacitly that he would make the requestedcuts. One year defines as the only legitimatemode of perception laterFrancisHarmonin the New YorkMPPDA office the one whichbringsintoplay a certaindisposition wroteto BreenstatingthatAngkorhad been playing and a certaincompetence',wouldseem particularly in some areas underthe titleForbiddenAdventure (Fig.4). Harmontookit uponhimselfto see the film apt in thisinstance47.

Resistingrefinement:the exploitationfilmand self-censorship and reportedthat'a numberof terrible jumpsgave evidence of the censorcuts ... ButI am reasonably sure that in states withoutcensor boards these people are showing thispicturein a formdifferentthan theyagreed to do when the certificate of approval was issued'48. Breen withdrew the certificate49. Duringthe same period the Breen OfficereviewedTheScarletFlower (1937?), originalSwedish titleunknown, aka Man's Way with Women),a filmacquiredby Esper whichcontaineda numberof code violations.The movie was finally certifiedaftermanycuts.Laterin the springHarmoninformedBreenthat the filmwas submittedto the New YorkCensorBoardwithan MPPDA seal butstillcontainingscenes that were to have been scissored50. Breen'sreactionwas as promptas itwas furious:

:

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i

It is so patent and brazen a :A:^ doublecrossthat,immediately upon receipt of your letter, I Fig.5. HedyLamarr's nuderompthroughthewoods in Ecstasy wrotea formalletterto Esper (1933) drewticketbuyersto the box officefordistributor Samuel also attractedthe ireof the MPPDA. advising him that we have Cummins,buwt withdrawnour approval and [? ElectaFiln n/Eureka.] made a demand upon himto On those occasions when exploitationproreturn ourcertificateof approval51. ducerssoughtan MPPDAseal fora moviein order Some exploitationfeatureswhich received a to gain broad distributionand access to better Code seal had cut materialreinsertedbut were theatres- whichwere generallyowned by members nevercaughtby the BreenOffice. AfricanHoliday of the MPPDAor majorchains thatabided by the (1937) was awardeda seal inJuly1937, yet when Code - they foundthe deck stackedagainstthem. SamuelCumminsrea printwas submittedto the New Yorkcensorsa Exploitation producer/importer of publicitywhen he attemptedto monthlaterit was not the same one thathad been ceived a mountain passed by the PCA. New Yorkrequiredvarious bringthe Czech filmEcstasy(1933) intothe United deletions for nudity. African Holiday probably States in 1934. Initiallybarred by the Customs as 'obsceneand immoral',the filmwas played in its uncutversionin manyareas and there Department is no evidencethatthe BreenOfficeever rescinded finallypermittedto enter the countryin December the nextyear it played to huge theircertificateof approval52.Otherfilmsmay have 1935. Throughout been pairedwithsquare-upreels,leavingthemotion crowdsin some cities, whileothertownsbarredthe withthe Code in theory,if movie.Cumminsfoundthat Ecstasy'snotorietyhad pictureitselfin conformity not in practice53.Exploiteerswere able to under- exhibitorsbeating a path to his door (Fig. 5). He Code seal, but minethe integrity of theseal systembutalso to mock submittedthe filmfor a Production was rejected on 28 May 1937. Cumminsapit in the process.

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pealed the decisionto the MPPDABoardof Directors. In a letterto the Board he complainedthat manytheatrescontrolledeitherdirectlyor indirectly by MPPDAmemberswere anxiousto show Ecstasy, but thatthey could not do so untilthe filmhad a Production Code seal. Therefusalof a seal, according to Cummins,caused 'considerableembarrassmentand loss of revenueand has jeopardizedour businessconsiderably'54.When he met with the Boardat the MPPDA'sNew Yorkoffices he found them waiting with plenty of ammunitionto use againsthim.FrancisHarmonwrotetoJoe Breen: When Cumminssaw the two pages of exhibits takenfromhisown advertisingand heardcommentsby Mr. (Sidney)Kentand othersindicating thathis own advertisingconvictedhim,he hopped to his feet and declared that I had been unfairin selectingthese five ads to use beforethe Board,whereuponI hopped across witha stack the hallto my office and returned of advertisinga foot high, which I placed in frontof Mr. Kentwho thereuponhad a very enjoyable time holding up variousads and forcing admissions from Cumminsthat they were all partof hisexploitationcampaign55. Butsuch appeals were rare and the MPPDA to pass judgement was seldomgiventheopportunity the on exploiteers. Bythe late 1930s the economiccircumstances of censorshipwere changing.The cost of multiple printsto suitvariouscensor boardswas stilla concern, but the organized producerswere equally worriedaboutthetollsimposedby stateswithlicensing procedures.Forinstance,the New Yorkcensor board exacted a $2 fee per reel on every film approvedfor exhibitionin the state except newsreels.Thestatemade a netprofitof $204,202 from censorshipin the fiscalyear thatended on 30 June 1936. Varietyestimatedthatcompaniesreleasing fiftyfeaturesannuallypaid morethan$150,000 to havea year'sproductpassed in Chicagoand states withcensorboards.Therewas a growingsuspicion that'otherstates[were]gettingthe yen to grab off that sort of coin', and most film companies felt powerlessto resistsincetheydid notwantto appear antagonistic56.The producers'fears were justified given the economicclimate.While Loew's/MGM, and WarnerBros.were recover20th Century-Fox

ing theirfinancialhealth,the othermajorswere still was feelingthe effectsof thedepression.Paramount justcoming out of receivershipand RKO,which madea slimprofitin 1937, onlymanagedto break even in 1938. Universal,Columbiaand United Artistswere eitheroperatingin the red or scraping by witha slimnet profit.Additionalcensorshipfees would have been an irritation for all of the comat the but for some they could least, panies very have meantthe differencebetweenprofitand loss. Renewedfears of censorshipcoupled with a risein the numberof exploitationfilmsin circulation, theirsubsequentstateand municipalcensorshipand notoriety,spurredanothermajor'clean-up'effortin 1937 whichcontinuedinto 1938. Bythe springof 1937 'a flood of "sex"pictures'sweptovertheatres in the Chicago territory.That flood found Hedy Lamarfloatingin the nude in Ecstasy,two vice films based on the LuckyLucianocase, Gamblingwith Souls(1936) and Smashingthe ViceTrust(1937), while DamagedGoods (1937) servedup venereal disease (Fig. 6), and Dwain Esper'sManiac had witha moremarketabletitle,Sex Maniac. returned Themovieswere successful.When the MotionPictureHeraldarticleappearedannouncingthe 'flood', Ecstasywas in itsseventeenthweek in the Loopand businessfor all the theatresshowing exploitation featureswas described as 'betterthan average'. Twocensorshipbillsthathad been introducedin the Illinoislegislaturewere directlylinkedby observers to the releaseof the exploitationmovies.Theirsponsorsintended'to pointto the"sexpicture" as necessitatingsuch censorship'57.At the same time Hays and leadersof the mainstream were reassurindustry ing St. Louismembersof the MotionPictureTheatre Ownersof Americathatsex was notreturning to the studios58.Hollywoodonce again was forced to painta sanguine, if deceptive, pictureof the situation since they had been unable to exert any controloverthe movieswhichwere causingthe stir. Over the next year the trade press repeatedlyinvokedthe 'success'of the Production Code while it inveighed against exploitationfilms. MartinQuigley's Motion PictureHeraldlet few such opportunitiespass. When a Denver judge, Philip B. the Gilliam,orderedcutsin Smashingthe ViceTrust Heraldquotedat lengthfroma statementthe judge made. GilliamcongratulatedHollywood'sself-censorshipwhich had resultedin 'picturesof a high

filmand and self-censorship the exploitation self-censorship refinement:the exploitationfilm Resisting Resisting refinement:

305 305

Fig.6. SyphiliticGeorge DuPont(DouglasWalton),right,is lecturedon the damage the disease causes to childrenof the infectedin thisproductionstillfromDamagedGoods(1937). [? CriterionPictures.] moralplane'.He asked, 'Why, then,shouldDenver allow the tearingdown of thiscommendableeffort theshowingof suchsex pictures- films by permitting as a whole is against'59? thatthe industry Creationof the BreenOffice, strictenforcement of the Production Code, and effortsto distinguish and educationhad not sucbetweenentertainment ceeded in curbingproductionof exploitationpictures. Such a conspicuous failure promptedthe to change tacticsagain. Instead mainstream industry of targetingthe productionof exploitationfilms,a concertedcampaignwas initiatedto intimidatethe independenttheatresthatexhibitedthe movies.Articlesappeared in the tradeswithtitleslike'Protests Made on Sex Films','Foreignand "SexHygiene" FilmsInviteNew DecencyOffensive','US IsProbing "Lewd" Pictures','CensorshipActivitiesIncrease', Over Sex Films'60.Eachdeand 'New Arguments tailedprotestsand legal action, not to mentionthe arrestsof theatremanagers.Themessage was indione could reap financialrerectbutunmistakable: wardsfromplayingexploitationbutitwas alwaysat

thewrathof thecommunity, theriskof incurring large and the fees and fines, possibleincarceration, legal disapprovalof the organizedfilmindustry.The exhibitorwho chose to runexploitationmovieswas at riskby invitingincreased puttingtheentireindustry stateand local censorship61. In addition to generalized threats,exhibitors who playedexploitationfoundtheirpatriotism questioned. In 1919 NAMPI'scall for '100 per cent on the screen tacitlyassociated hyAmericanism' In 1937 with movies things'un-American'62. giene the appeal to exhibitor'spatriotismand anxiety aboutthe increasinglytensesituationin Europewas farless subtle.Attheclose of thatyearA.L.Finestone reportedin Boxofficeon the Legionof Decency's new offence against sex hygienefilmsand foreign moviesthathad been deemedfilthy.TheLegionwas 'soundingthe tocsin for a publicoffensiveagainst "the major onslaughtfrom Europe"'.Among the foreign productwhich trespassed the bounds of (1933), decency was ThePrivateLifeof HenryVIII JacquesFeyder'sCarnivalin Flanders11935), and

306 306

EricSchaefer Schaefer Eric

Bryan Foy and other exploitationproducers were linkedwiththe 'new film-devil thatcomes fromforeignstudios'63.Associatingexploitation withthe overseas'film-devil' and characterizing itas an infectionof theclean, wholesomeAmerican screenadded yet anotherelementto exhibitor concerns. The commentsmade by Judge Gilliam and Archbishop McNicholas drew clear distinctionsbetween the 'good' movies made by Hollywoodand the 'bad' filmsmade by independentsand foreignersthatserved to reinforcethe organized industry'sculturaland economicdominance(Fig.7). In additionto the aforementionedtactics, the organizedindustryattemptedto deploy the unwholesome/education characterizationto keep exploitationfilmsoff the nation'sscreens. Butthe timingcould not have been worse. In 1936 Franklin Roosevelt's new surgeon general, ThomasParran,had initiateda major publicinformation campaigndesigned to combat venereal diseases. Articleson the subject appeared in popular publications like the ReadersDigestand Timewhile a Gallup poll found that ninetyper cent of respondentsfavouredgovernment distribution of information on venerealdiseases64.Some of the subjectsforbiddenby the Production Code were receiving wide attentionand could no longerbe deemed inherently objectionable,so muchso thatsome state censor boards began passing hygiene films.In 1937 the previouslyintractableNew Fig.7. Clubde Femmes/GirlsClub(1936) withits themeof lesbianism,was amongthe foreignfilms York board licensed Damaged Goods and attackedfor 'filthinessand perversion'by the Legionof DamagedLives,a filmwhich had been denied Decencyin the late 1930s. permitsforfouryears. Boardsin Ohio, Virginia [? ArthurMayerand JosephBurstyn.] and Kansasalso passed DamagedGoods. Yet the PCArefusedto issuea seal forthe picture.In two moviesplayingthe exploitationcircuit,Ecstasy additionto pointingoutthe technicalviolationto the and Club de Femmes/GirlsClub (1936). Arch- film's producer, Joe Breen added, 'Damaged bishopJohn T. McNicholas of Cincinnati,the Le- Goods is not the kindof picturewhich shouldbe gion's executivesecretary,pointedout thatforeign exhibited publicly, before mixed audiences in The Legionof Decency maintainedthat producerswere not boundby the provisionsof the theatres'65. Production Code, 'Hence, all the filthinessand per- the disease filmsmightbe suitablefor specialized versionthathas been so largelywiped outof Ameri- exhibitionbeforeselectedaudiences,butas 'clinical can picturesis appearingin newly-imported films.' studies'they were not entertainment and thuswere Also under attack was the 'increase in offensive 'impropermaterialfora theatrescreen'66.And Quiproductfromsmall independentproducersand its gley'sMotionPictureDailyadvancedthe same posiexhibitionby independentexhibitorsoverwhom[the tion in its review,claimingthe film's'subjectmatter formula Hays Office exercised] no control'.J.D. Kendis, does not properlyfit intothe entertainment

Resisting exploitation film and self-censorship self-censorship Resisting refinement: the exploitation and thatfilmsof the natureof Damaged Goods, therefore,do not belong in commercial theatres'. Clearly, self-censorshipgenerated by the MPPDAno longerreflected the positionof state and municipal censorshipboards- its originalintent- but had adopted the more reactionarystance of the Legion and Quigley68.InApril1938 Will Hayscalled in heads of the major circuitsand remindedthem not to play pictures without a Code seal69.The organizationestimated that there were thirtyexploitation movies receivingwidespread distribution at thetime70.Itwas becomthat there was littlethe clear ing coulddo to preorganizedindustry vent unaffiliatedexhibitors from playing exploitation movies. The Birthof a Baby (1937), a sober, moviewhichstressed unsensational educationand contained virtually no titillationhad received wide play, garnering the support of numerous organizationsalong with many positivereviewsand editorials71.The filmbecame something of a cause c6elbre for those who supporteda" free, or more liberal, j as a ,concrete screen andi served exampleof the draconianposition of censorship heldby thesupporters and self-regulation (Fig.8). Butdue

307 307

\

\

.

: iiiii.... ...

.

... ...... ............

i ; ll

Fig. Despilte itstamead campaignand widespreadeditorial Fi 8. Despi Birthof a Baby(1937) was stillconsidered unwholesome e by the organizedindustry. [American CommitteeforMaternalWelfare.]

to the very natureof its subject - childbirth- it was

stillconsideredunwholesomeby the organized inseemed to have Pressureand intimidation dustry72. littleeffect- a fact finallybeing acknowledgedby the Hays Office. An MPPDAexecutivedescribed how sex filmswere 'barredin 1,200 to 2,000 houses'thatwere operatedby membersof theAssociationand thatthereare 'about800 theatersaffiliatedwithcircuitsbut in which the circuitsmay not holda controllinginterest'73. Thisstillleftthousands of theatresover which the MPPDAhad no direct and Foxattemptedto dissociinfluence.Paramount ate themselvesfrom the exploiteers by adding clausesor ridersto exhibitioncontractsto forbidthe

dualingof pictureswithCode seals withthose that lacked MPPDAapproval. The companies were moved to action when a ShirleyTemple movie, Wee WillieWinkie(1937), was reportedlypaired with Sex Madness (1929). Those instanceswere undoubtedlyrare,buttheydid makeforgood copy and allowed the organized industryto give the appearance to its criticsthat it was takingaction. Still, other majorsexpressed ambivalenceabout contractualmandates,reasoningthat'sucha clause mightbe construedas dictatingwhat the exhibitor could or could not play' and thusmightbe found illegalif challengedin the courts74. The organized industry'sfear of legal action

308 308

Eric Schaefer

Code workerswere concernedaboutthe Fig.9. Some Production 'definiteshadowsof the nipples'on Zorita'scostumein I Marrieda Films.] Savage (1949). [? Futurity was probablythe single largestreasonforthe sudden suspensionof industry offensivesagainstexploitation films. The Departmentof Justice filed the Paramountcase on 20 July 1938, charging the eight majorswithviolationof the ShermanAntitrust Act75.Amongthe countsin the government's billof complaint were that the majors had shut independentsout of the firstrunmarket76.Thoughthe MPPDAwas not namedin the suit,the actioneffectively ended Hollywood'sorganized attemptsto eliminateexploitationmovies. The United States' entryin WorldWar IIrobbedHollywoodof some of the ammunition it had used against exploitationas the industrybegan to openly producefilmswithan avowed moraland educationalintent.Intheclimate of change that followed World War IIthe mainstreamindustry did not mountany seriouseffortsto

purifythe screen.Thisis notto say thatthe majority of exploitationmoviessubmittedto the Production Code Administration were not rejected.Mostwere stillrefusedseals, but in the increasinglypermissive atmosphereof postwarAmericathe stakesseemed smaller,the issues more picayune. For instance, threeCode workersscreened I Marrieda Savage (1949) whichstarredthe stripperZorita,priorto an expected appeal on the denial of a seal. Gordon Whitewroteto Breen: Miss Young felt that the worst of the breast displays, both in the snake dance and in the apartmentscenes, were 'disgusting'.On the otherhand, Arthur [DeBra]did notseem to be worriedat all aboutthesweatercostume... The costumeis certainlynot good, since it shapes

Resistingrefinement:the exploitationfilmand self-censorship the breasts too definitely,and occasionally shows definiteshadows of the nipples. However, it does not seem to me to be nearlyas bad as the worstof the close-upshots in the dance; and the censor boards make no mentionof it77. Discussionsof nippleshadowswere not in the same league as debates about the natureof entertainmentand the missionof motionpictures(Fig.9). Theroleexploitationfilmplayed in the formulawas complex. The MPPDA tion of self-censorship and otherssuchas MartinQuigleywantedto eliminate exploitationand thusprojectthe image of a clean and responsiblebusiness.At the same time theydid notwantto appearto advocatecensorship whichwas an economicand creativedrag on the was the resultingremedy. industry.Self-censorship created muchsoundand fury Theorganizedindustry aboutvulgarexploitationmoviesand theirattempts to eliminatethem.Byperiodicallyraisinga fussover the exploitationindustry theysucceeded in pointing in bringing'highout Hollywood'saccomplishment to millionsof Americansweek quality'entertainment in and week out. Butas HildegardEspertoldme in 1988, the Hays Office could not stop the exploiteers.Vocalelementsin Americansocietymayhave decriedmoviesaboutvice, nudity,sex hygieneand othercontroversial topics,yet a sizeable contingent of ticketbuyerssupportedexploitationmovies by purchasingtickets.Bythe 1950s changesin morals, the FirstAmendmentstatusof motionpictures,and film businesspracticesled to the reintegration of mostof the traditional topicsof exploitationfilminto the mainstream. Thediscoursesof good and bad taste,acceptable and unacceptablescreenfarecreatedby, and apparentlyso obviousto, Quigley,Breenand comBourpany, were not masteredby them,illustrating dieu's statementthat, 'everyessentialistanalysisof the aestheticdisposition,the onlysociallyaccepted way of approachingthe objectssociallydes"right" ignatedas worksof art,thatis, as bothdemanding and deservingto be approachedwitha specifically aestheticintentioncapable of recognizingand conthemas art, is boundto fail'78.Indeed,the stituting classificationspromotedby the MPPDAand other Hollywood institutionswere either lost on most Americans- or simplymay not have mattered- in

309

the long run.We mustbear in mindthat motion pictureshad theirroots in the low cultureof vaudeville and tent shows and that associationswith 'higher' forms like legitimatetheatre and opera came laterin an attemptto securea 'class' rather effortsto cut than 'mass' audience. The industry's between 'Mr. and Mr. distinctions Nice sharp or and were not low, Nasty'79, high easily -made withinthe broadsphereof massculturein the early decades of the century.Not untila large body of filmscould be widelyand consistently equatedwith of the filmmoveart art high (through popularization the auteur and ment, exploitationfilms theory,etc.) were able to shuckofftheirmantleof educationand remainviable, could contrastsbetween high and low motionpicturespenetratedeeply intotheAmerican culturalfabric. The early 1960s saw a new generationof exploiteersemerge at the marginsof the film businessto push the boundariesof 'bad thanever.Gore movieslikeBloodFeast taste'further (1963), and sexploitationfeaturessuch as TheAdventuresof LuckyPierre(1961) and Lorna(1964) were far bolderthananythingthe exploitationfilmmakersof the 1930s had produced.Those early filmswere justthe beginning.* Theauthorwouldliketo thankHenryJenkins,Eithne on this Johnsonand JanetStaigerfor theircomments andMikeVraneyforsupplying manuscript manyof the ad slicksusedas illustrations. A numberof the filmsmentionedin thisarticlehave becomeavailableonvideotapeforthefirsttime. recently contact:Something Forinformation WeirdVideo,P.O. Box 33664, Seattle,WA 98113, USA.(206) 3613759.

Notes 1. Hidegard withtheauthor, 3 Noveminterview Esper, ber1988. 2. JosephBreen,filememo,9 April1935, TheSeventh Production Code Administration Commandment, ArtsSciencesLifile,Academyof MotionPicture PCAfile). brary,LosAngeles(hereafter, 3. In activating the terms'mainstream and industry' I am notonlyreferring to the major 'Hollywood' butalsoto theMPPDA, adproduction companies, MPPDA ditional andfringecompanies members that inthis abidedbyHaysOfficedictates. Alsoincluded formation wouldbe thetradepressandotherinstitu-

310

EricSchaefer tions that operated in supportof the mainstream 13. industry.

4.

PeterStallybrass and AllonWhite, ThePoliticsand Poeticsof Transgression (Ithaca,New York:Cornell Press,1986), 5. University

5.

MichelFoucault,TheHistoryof Sexuality,VolumeI: An Introduction (New York:VintageBooks,1980), 100.

6.

EricSchaefer,'Of Hygieneand Hollywood:Origins of the Exploitation Film',TheVelvetLightTrap(30), Fall1992: 34-47.

7.

Is YourDaughterSafe? (review).Variety,15 June 1927: n.p.

8.

MemofromJason S. Joy to Gov. Carl E. Milliken, 24 June 1927, Is YourDaughterSafe?PCAfile.

9.

Thispointwas drivenhomea decade laterby an writer- and by articlein Variety.LikeJoy, Variety's that thepublicmind others believed to implication, allmotionpicturesweremadeunderthewatchfuleye about of theMPPDA. Thearticledetailedcomplaints filmsand theiradvertising and said, 'the exploitation average individualblamesthe Hays office for [the films]being shown and the advertisingon same. Despitethe fact thatthe Hays office has no direct supervisionor controlover filmsnot passed by the PCAor showinginaffiliatedmemberhouses,itgets stirredup bythesefew screen blamedfortherumpus subjects.Thispartlydue to the factthatreferenceto the Hays office is takenby the publicto meanthe entirefilmbusiness.'Floodof SalaciousAd ComVariety, plaintsCauses Haysitesto Double-Check', 17 August1938:4.

10.

See: 'PaulSeale, 'A Host of Others':Towardsa NonlinearHistoryof PovertyRowand theComining of Sound,'Wide Angle, 13(1) Uanuary1991): 78. Seale describescomplaintsby independentsand tradepracPovertyRowoutfitsdirectedat restrictive tices of the majorsand detailsactiontakenby the inthesummerand fallof FederalTradeCommission Millard's 1927. Although operationwas so smallas to make manya PovertyRow companylook like was incomparison,theFTCinvestigation Paramount macertainlythe singlelargestreasontheMPPDA's noeuversagainst Is YourDaughterSafe?, and subsequentlyagainst other exploitationfilms, were undertaken quietlyand throughothergroups.

1 1.

MemotofilebyJasonJoy,2 September1927; Letter fromAnnaB. HailtoJasonJoy, 9 March1928, Is YourDaughterSafe? PCAfile.

12.

fromtheNationalBetterBusinessBureauissued Letter to BureauManagersand Chambersof Commerce, 1 August1927, Is YourDaughterSafe? PCAfile.

14.

fromMrs.R.B.Lynch, Letter executivesecretaryof the NorthwestFilmBoard of Trade to Jason Joy, 1 September1927, Is YourDaughterSafe? PCAfile. Theterm'MainStreet'houseswas usedto designate cheap, or 'skidrow',theatresin marginalneighborhoods. 'RedFlagon SexMovies',Variety,24 August1927: 5.

15.

EllisPaxsonOberholtzer,TheMoralsof theMovies, (Philadelphia:The Penn PublishingCompany, 1922). Theterm'sex picture'was used looselyat thetimeand couldhavebeen appliedto almostany filmwith sexual content,rangingfromthemesof of veneraldiseases. adulteryto therawpresentation is referring However,itis quiteclearthatOberholtzer to exploitation moviesfromhisdescriptions. Between pages 3 1 and33 he relatesa standardwhiteslavery filmplot and exhibtiontacticssuch as adults-only shows segregated by sex, and acperformances, companyinglectures,whichwere uniqueto exploitationfilms.

16.

Ibid.,33, 39.

17.

Ibid.,42.

18.

Edwardde Graziaand RogerK.Newman,Banned Films:Movies, Censorsand the FirstAmendment (New York:R.R.Bowker,1982), 31.

19.

I have not locatedany filmsfrom1927 or earlier which dealt with miscegenation.It did, however, become an occasional topic of exploitationfilms startingin the early 1930s with movieslike Blond Captive(1932) and Rama(1932, aka Cain;Rama, TheCannibalGirl;Savage Bride)whichdealtwith mates. caucasiancastawaysfallingfordark-skinned

20.

See: FrancisG. Couvares,'Hollywood,MainStreet and theChurch: Tryingto CensortheMoviesBefore 44 (4) the Production Code', AmericanQuarterly, (December1992): 584-616. Couvaresdiscusses Irish-American and Catholicagitationwhichmetthe releaseof MGM'sTheCallahansand theMurphys (1927) withinthe broadercontextof cooperation betweentheChurchand theMPPDA.

21.

to charges Needless to say, theMPPDA's sensitivity of unfaircompetition of tradeprecludes and restraint that the locationof a 'smokinggun',a proclamation the desireto suppressexploitation filmsdirectlymoof the and implementation tivatedthe formulation of theDon'tswas 'Don'tsandBeCarefuls'.'Adoption butall indicationslead to certainlyover-determined, the conclusionthat the eliminationof exploitation filmsplayeda significantrolein theMPPDA's applicationof the Don'ts'.

22.

'New Driveon Sex Films',Variety,21 November 1928 3 + 59.

filmandself-censorship refinement: theexploitation Resisting

311

23.

andSex Films',Variety, 21 November1928: 'Jersey 59.

39.

MemofromMcKenzieto Breen18 April1934, High SchoolGirl(1934), PCAfile.

24.

'IndieExhibits Sore', Variety,21 November1928: 59.

40.

25.

Memo to file by JasonJoy, 6 September1927, Is YourDaughterSafe? PCAfile.

Quoted in LeaJacobs, Wages of Sin: Censorship and the FallenWoman Film, 1928-1942, (Madison:University of WisconsinPress, 1991), 20.

41.

26.

Letter fromJasonJoyto CarlMilliken,15 September 1927, Is YourDaughterSafe? PCAfile.

27.

TheCommunity and the MotionPicture:Reportof NationalConferenceon MotionPictures heldat the HotelMontclair, New YorkCity,September24-27, 1929 (N.P.: The Motion PictureProducersand Distributors of America,Inc., 1929), 51, 53, 6869.

28.

MaryBethHaralovich,'Mandatesof Good Taste: of FilmAdvertisingin the Thirties', Self-Regulation Wide Angle,6 (2) (1984): 50.

29.

Leonard J. LeffandJeroldSimmons,TheDamein the Kimono(New York:Grove Weidenfeld, 1990), 9-14.

30.

'Nudies Ogle Stage Coin', Variety,24 October 1993: 1 +63.

31.

'Nude Cult Newspaper BreaksPep Up H'wood PictureStillPhotogs",Variety26 December1933: 3.

The StephenVaughn,'Moralityand Entertainment: Code', The Originsof theMotionPictureProduction Journalof AmericanHistoryUune 1990): 54. Vaughnquotesfroma memo, possiblydraftedby IrvingThalberg,which attemptedto de-emphasize themovie'sinfluenceovermoralmatters.Thestance was echoed in MartinQuigley'sbook Decencyin MotionPictures (New York:MacMillan,1937): 'the entertainment motionpictureis notto be considered a deliberateagency of propagandaand reformin any province,includingthat of moralities'(14). had a Quigley held thatthe moviesautomatically moralresponsibility and thusdid nothaveto reform, onlynotto deformideas and ideals.LeaJacobshas shown thatthe one factionof the 'filmeducation movement' of the thirties whichhad the directbackdid notseek to use thetheatreas ing of theMPPDA a venue for education.Instead,the TeachingFilm Custodiansemployed edited segmentsof Hollywood filmsto stimulate discussionin the classroom. Formoreinformation see LeaJacobs,'Reformers and Spectators:The FilmEducationMovementin the CameraObscura22 (January Thirties', 1990): 2949, and especiallypp. 36-37.

32.

42. 'BoringButBanned',Variety,21 November1933, p. 31; 'Ban Nudie Pic', Variety,26 December 1934: 14, 'Chi CensorsPink2 Pix;OthersNix Elysia,Nudie', Variety,9 January1934: 4.

PierreBourdieu,Distinction: A SocialCritiqueof the Judgementof Taste, trans. RichardNice, (Cambridge, Massachusetts:HarvardUniversityPress, 1984), 479.

33.

'BryanFoy Would EnjoinL.A.Cops Over Nudist Pic', Variety13 February1934: 7.

34.

'Only 3 Nudie Pix on the MarketBut Beaucop Censor Worries', Variety,23 January1934: 3; CongressmanWrightPatmanof Texas introduced thefederalbillin late 1933. See Haralovich, 'Mandates of Good Taste':54.

LeaJacobs, 'TheB Filmand the Problemof Cultural Distinction' Screen 33 (1) (Spring1992): 1-13. AlthoughHollywoodwould not have willinglylabelled any of the moviesit producedas 'unwholecreatedby distribution which some',the hierarchies Jacobshas described,combinedwithotherfactors, allowedcriticsto markthefilmsas such.

35.

44. See:J. DouglasGomery,'Hollywood,TheNational Adminstration and the Question of Monop- 45. Recovery of theUniversity FilmAssocioly Power',TheJournal ation 31 (2) (Spring1979): 47-52; Haralovich, 'Mandatesof Good Taste':53-54; GarthJowett FilmtheDemocratic Art,(Boston:FocalPress,1976), 244-246 and ThomasSchatz, TheGeniusof the System,(New York:Pantheon,1988), 160.

36.

Haralovich,'Mandatesof Good Taste':54.

37.

'Only3 Nudie Pix'.

38.

'A Self-Regulated Clean ScreenWill Eliminate All Censorship,Itis Hoped, byJune:CleanAdv.Too, Variety9 January1934: 3.

43.

Bourdieu,56. and Spectators':36-37, 44. Jacobs, 'Reformers Jacobsspecificallyrefersto thefilmeducationgroup led by EdgarDale at Ohio StateUniversity which preparedstudy guides and course materialsfor motionpictures.TheDalegroupemphasizedfilmas art. Thesame argumentsthatprivilegecoherence, and realismarestillmadetoday.See, for plausibility instance, Neil Postman'sAmusingOurselvesto Death:PublicDiscoursein theAge of ShowBusiness (New York:Viking,1985).

46.

Quigley,DecencyinMotionPictures,10.

47.

Bourdieu,28.

312

EricSchaefer

48.

Letter fromFrancisHarmontoJosephBreen,1 March PCAfile. Adventure, 1938, Forbidden

49.

Letter fromJosephBreento DwainEsper,11 March PCAfile. Adventure, 1938, Forbidden

50.

fromFrancisHarmontoJosephBreen,2 May Letter 1938, TheScarletFlower,PCAfile.

51.

fromJosephBreento FrancisHarmon,7 May Letter 1938, TheScarletFlower,PCAfile.

52.

AfricanHoliday,PCAfile.

53.

Square-upreelswere single reelfilmswhichgenerally featuredfemale nudityor otherformsof spectacle.Theseshortswere shownto angryticket-buyer who felt they had not seen the forbiddensights promisedby the advertisingof an exploitationfea- 62. ture.Suchreelswere shown'squarea beef'withan audience. The termsquare-upalso referredto the thatopened mostexploitamoralstatement prefatory tionmovies. 63. to LetterfromSamuelCummins,Jewel Productions Boardof Directors,MPPDA,15 December1937, Ecstasy,PCAfile. 64. LetterfromFrancisHarmonto Joseph Breen, 22 December1937, Ecstasy,PCAfile. Sidney Kent and an was presidentof TwentiethCentury-Fox, MPPDA boardmember. 65. 'Censoringa Sweet Racket',Variety,24 March 1937 11. 66. WilliamF. Crouch,'ChicagoGoes Sex as New Threatof CensorshipRises',MotionPictureHerald, 67. 24 April1937: 27-28.

54.

55.

56. 57.

58.

to Studio,Hays 'Sex Not Returning DavidF. Barrett, TellSt.LouisMPTO',MotionPicture Herald,24 April 1934: 14,28.

59.

'JudgeSees No 'MoralLesson'in 'Sex' Films,'MotionPictureHerald,25 September1937: 34.

60.

Made on Sex Films',MotionPicture 'Protests Herald, 20 November 1937: 68; 'Foreignand 'Sex Hygiene' FilmInviteNew DecencyOffensive',Boxoffice, 11 December1938: 12; 'U.S. Is Probing MotionPictureHerald,5 February "Lewd" Pictures', ActivitiesIncrease',Motion 1938: 13; 'Censorship PictureHerald5 February1938: 14; 'New Argu- 69. mentsOver Sex Films',MotionPictureHerald,26 March1938: 26. 70. At timesthe articlesseem to have been consciously Picmisleading.Thearticle'U.S. Is Probing"Lewd" 1938: 13) tures'(MotionPicture Herald,5 February films,"clinical" picturesandothertypes 71. begins:"'Sex" of so-called'adultonly'exhibition... whichforyears havefinally have been plaguingthemotionindustry,

61.

68.

becomethetargetof organized,militant opposition'. Itgoes on to claimthat'fightingfortheirlifeforyears in the face of publicprotest'sex' filmsnow are confrontedwiththe oppositionof the UnitedStates Government'. Ecstasy,TheBirthof a Baby,and two foreignfilmswere mentionedas 'the type of films generallycomplainedof'. Infourshortparagraphs the readeris given the impressionthatthe federal was mobilizingto suppressexploitation government product.Butlaterin thearticleit becomesclearthat the targetof the governmentcrackdownwas the 'stag movie', hard core reels which were sold throughthemailforprivateuse, and notexploitation features.Thiscriticaldistinction wouldhavebeen lost on thereaderwho merelyscannedthearticleoronly readthefirstfew paragraphs. 'AmericanScreen for AmericanIdeas', Exhibitor's TradeReview,16 August1919: 874. Thisidea is developed furtherin Schaefer, 'Of Hygiene and Hollywood'. A.L. Finestone,'Foreignand "SexHygiene"Films InviteNew DecencyOffensive',Boxoffice,11 December1938 12. AllanM. Brandt,No Magic Bullet:A SocialHistory of VeneralDiseasein the UnitedStatessince 1880 Revisededition(New York:Oxford,1987), 138142. Joe Breento PhilGoldstone,12 June 1937, Damaged Goods, PCAfile. Finestone. Daily,22 DamagedGoods(review).MotionPicture June 1937: n.p. Hygieneand otherexploitationfilmswere not the only moviesQuigley attackedfroma positionof growingisolation.GarthJowettnotesthatthe campaignwaged againstWalterWanger'spro-Loyalist SpanishCivil War movie Blockade(1938) was spearheadedby Quigleyat a pointwhenresistance in Europeanconflictswas againstU.S. involvement Atleastone criticat thetimeclaimedthe diminshing. object of Quigley'sattackwas not the film'sproLoyalist positionbutthe verynotionof makingfilms on serioussocial or politicaltopics. See Jowett, 298-299. 'WarnsAgainstCodelessFilms',Boxoffice,16 April 1938 4. 'Paramount JoinsFoxin BarringProductFrom"Sex" Herald30 April1938: DoubleBills',MotionPicture 14. New or Educational'? See, for example, 'Immoral YorkTimes,17 March1938: 20.

filmandself-censorship theexploitation refinement: Resisting 72.

Quigleyand the MotionPictureHeraldtreatedThe Birthof a Babyas ifitwere notonlya threatto public morals,but to the very foundationof democratic government.In a snide editorialTerryRamsaye suggested: 73. to theatre screen the amusement public Asking devoteitsplayingtimetosuchproduct,behinda box officewhichexistson amusementpatronage,is the to a familydinner: social equivalentof an invitation 'Do come overand we'll have a lovelytimetalking 74. of childbirth, syphilisand gonorrhoea'.(TerryRam26 Motion Picture Herald, saye, 'Rock-A-Bye Baby', March1938: 7). Severalweeks laterin an unsignededitorial,prob- 75. ablywrittenby Quigley,theHeraldmadethefollowing assertion: Freedomof the screen,and freedomof the press, are rightsonly so long as theyare used withinthe limitsof the moresof society.Thearts,likepeople, are permitted free expressionuntiltheyget too free withtherightsof others.Thentheyare lockedup. For the artsthatis censorship.Forthe nationthatwould be Fascism- societyin a straightjacket. ('Askingfor Fascism',MotionPictureHerald, 16 April1938: n.p.)

313

Xl'sencyclicalcommentedon the 'lamentablestate intheportrayal of themotionpictureartand industry of sin and vice'. See de Grazia and Newman, 45-47. Fox'.Thefigurewas a conservative 'ParamountJoins one. I wouldestimatethatby the end of 1938 at leastfiftyexploitationmovieswere in release,with perhapsas manyas seventyappearingon screen acrossthecountry. With"Sala'SeekToAvoidCouplingMajorProduct cious"FilmViaContracts'. Boxoffice,16 April1938: 4. MichaelConant,Antitrust and the MotionPicture Economicand LegalAnalysis(Ph.D.diss Industry: of California,1960; Reprint, New York: University ArnoPress,1978), 94.

76.

Billof Complaint',Variety,27 'U.S. Government's July1938L 15+.

77.

LetterfromGordonS. White to JosephBreen, 15 November1949, IMarrieda Savage, PCAfile.

78.

thedominant Bourdieu,29. We can easilysubstitute Hollywoodparadigmfor Bourdieu's'art' in this instance.

Quigley was not only publisherof MotionPicture 79. He did notlimithis Herald,butalso itseditor-in-chief. unsignedwritingto editorialsand the Production Code. Quigleyis thoughtto have played a major roleinwritingto editorialsand theProduction Code. Quigleyis thoughtto have played a majorrole in on motion writingthe firstpapal pronouncement pictures,the VigilantiCura ('WithVigilantCare') encyclicalin 1936. Amongotherthings,Pope Pius

CarnivalCulture: TheTrashing of JamesB. Twitchell, TasteinAmerica(New York:Columbia,1992), 55. Twitchellreformulates and White'sconStallybrass tentionthatthe top attemptsto eliminatethe bottom and in the processfindsthat it depends on it by statingthat,'MrNice andMrNastytraveltogether'. Thiscolourfuldescriptionwould, no doubt, have appealed to the exploiteers.

FilmHistory,Volume6, pp. 314-339, 1994. Copyright? JohnLibbey&Company ISSN:0892-2160. PrintedinGreatBritain

White heroines and hearts of darkness: Race, gender and disguise in 1930s

jungle films RhonaJ.Berenstein I. Thewhitegoddess

officialrecordof any scientificexpedition'3.At no timewas theaudienceinformedthatthewoman-ape GenuineMonster-mouthed UbangiSavages encounter, upon which the film'spublicityheavily World'sMost WeirdLivingHumanfrom was entirelymanufactured and depended relied, Africa'sDarkestDepths racial the actresses were in blackupon disguise: - Circusad fromthe early 1930s face. to Hollywood's Ingagi is a usefulintroduction the springof 1930, Congo Pictureshad a ambivalent of representations race, gender and box-officehit with its new release: Ingagi in (1930, Congo Pictures).Billedas a 'sensa- monstrosity the jungleof the early 1930s. This tion'by publicityposters,Ingagipromisedthe articleprovidesan analysis of the cinematicconsacrificeof a blackwoman to a gorilla,and em- structionsof the 'darker'races and white womanhood as monstroustropes in jungle films. The phasized'the perverseunionof woman and jungle animal'.Whilecrowdsstreamedintotheatresto see genericoverlapbetween 1930s jungleand horror cinemawas, infact,assumedby a numberof critics. Ingagi, the Hays office of the Motion PictureProducers and Distributors of America,the office re- Forexample,Kongo,a 1932 jungleproductionset in Africa,was 4xplicitlyaligned with horrorcinema sponsiblefor approvingand censoringfilms,was in a numberof contemporaryreviews.-JohnS. busyinvestigating Ingagiand discoveredthatitwas a cinematicfraud1.Partsof Ingagi were pieced togetherfromold documentary footage and the illicit Rhona J. Berenstein is an Assistant Professor in scenes of black women in the nude were studiothe Programin FilmStudiesat the University of in black-face2. actresses staged performances by Irvine. Sheis theauthorof theforthcomCalifornia, The Hays revelationhad littleimpacton the ing book Attackof the LeadingLadies(Columbia film'spopularity.In fact, in the fall of 1930 The articlesto Press)and has contributed University cineAction!CameraObscura,CanadianJournalof ExhibitorsHerald-Worldannounced that Ingagi Politicaland Social Theory,Frame-work, and Jourpassed the Ohio StateCensorBoardfor a second nal of PopularCulture.Please address correspondand was an extended run in some time, enjoying ence to RhonaJ. Berenstein,Programin Film the regions.Thecensorsimposeda minorlimitation: of California, HH340C, Irvine, Studies,University inclusionof a leader statingthat Ingagi 'is not an CA92717-2435, USA.

In

darkness315 White heroines and hearts of darkness

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Fig. 1. Ape women demonstratethe 'shrubbery problem'in Ingagi. [01930 Congo Pictures. Frameenlargementcourtesy of EricSchaefer.]

Cohen,Jr. reportedthe followingin the New York Sun:'Thereare horrorpicturesand horrorpictures, but'Kongo'at the Rialtoseems a bit moremeaninglessthanmost'4.Inthe New YorkDailyNews, Kate CameronaddressedKongoas an exampleof failed MissesAs horrorin the titleof herreview:' "Kongo" Good Horror'5. My focus is a selectionof early 1930s jungleand jungle-adventure filmsthatnotonlydepict horror blacksas monstrous,butdo so with the aid of an interstitial white heroine.Despitethe loose generic between jungleand horrorcinema,the relationship of race and the depthsof the jungle representation in many examples of the formergenre bears a to the portrayal of the monsterinthe similarity striking latter6.Thissimilarity is mostapparentin thefilmthat conjoinsthe two genres, KingKong(1933, RKO). Kong'sexploitson his isolatedislandhave muchin commonwiththe representations of the jungleand in less obviouslymonstrous itsinhabitants texts. Moreover,Kong'srapportwith the white heroine, AnnDarrow(FayWray),laysbarethetenuous relationshipbetween race and gender in jungle films.Fornotonlydoes Annserveas Kong'sunwilling victim,the blonde actresswho cowers before hersimiansuitor,butso too is she aligned withthe and darknesshe represents.As I will monstrosity more fully, Ann Darrow, like other white argue servesa contradictory racialfuncheroines, jungle tion. On the one hand, she is an icon of white womanhoodand, on the other,she is a partnerto, and doublefor, junglecreatures.She invokes,and

warnsagainst,the monstrous possibilityof miscegenation. LikeKingKong, Ingagiinvokesthe threatof a cross-speciessexual union,but neverdepicts it. Inthe jungleas a locusof cinemagagi also constructs and racial darkness.Whereasthe lighting tographic in grasslandsequences is sunny and bright,the junglescenes are darkand gloomy. Nude 'black' women in search of theirjungle-lover, the gorilla, amidst shadows and are obstructed appear by shrubsand tree branches.Thequalityof the lighting and camera-work was notedby a numberof critics at the time. While the New YorkTimessimply commentedon the 'extraordinarily bad photography of the film', anotherreviewerexplicitlynoted the shrubbery problem:'Theape womenare seen combutshadowed in a clearing,withthe naked, pletely camera's vision obstructedby thickets'7(Fig. 1). Variationsin lightingcan be explainedby the differentshootingspaces. Thatis, the culleddocumentary footage concentratedon exteriorshots fromtravel moviesand thewoman-apeencounterswere staged expresslyforIngagiinsidea studio. While these cinematographicdifferencesare to limitthisanalnoteworthy,it would be imprudent of to the technical and ysis lighting spatiallimitations associated with the footage. Instead,and in keeping withracistassumptionsof the era, the shadowy and obstructedjunglescenes of femalenudityserve narrativeand visualfunctions:theyembelimportant lishthe risqueand spectacularaspects of the film. For part of Ingagi's draw depends upon only vaguely discerningthe women who travelthrough

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Rhona Rhona J. Berenstein Berenstein

Fig.2. IngagTsfilmmakers maintaina distantcamera positionand obstructedview. [01930 Congo Pictures. Frameenlargementcourtesy of EricSchaefer.]

the jungle, upon not seeing the promisedsexual unionbetween ape and black woman, and upon keepingtheaudience'inthedark'.A distantcamera positionand obstructedview are crucial for the actressesto portrayblacknatives(Fig.2). Inthe contextof Ingagi,the term'darkness'is a brandof racialOtherness. tropeforan inter-species BlackAfricansare conflatedwitha darkanimal:the gorilla.Darknessalso signifiesobstructedvision.The westerneye, via the fake documentaryfilmmaker, providesa blurredview of itscinematicsubject.As a signpostof racialand biologicaldifference(i.e. differencefromwhite humans),and as a metaphor forthe inadequacyof westernprocessesof looking, Ingagi'sversionof darknessrecallsthe horrorfilm. Horrorcinema, too, exploresthe spectacularand of physicaldifferences,and terrifying repercussions the relationshipbetween seeing and not exploits But the seeing. rapportbetweenIngagiand horroris even more direct than the metaphoricsimilarities offeredby the tropeof darkness.Forthe monstrosity of the dark races has a long heritage in white westernhistory.Itis because of thatheritagethatthe images of Ingagi were not viewed as racist by mainstream reviewerswhenfirstscreened,and were deemed spectacular,alluringand culturally acceptable in spiteof theirlackof authenticity. Accordingto a range of racistdiscoursesthat enduredwell intothe twentiethcentury,the darker races are interstitial, able to cross and bridge the distancebetweenspecies withlittleeffort.As Frantz Fanonphrasesit:'Ithas been said thatthe Negro is the linkbetween monkeyand man - meaning,of

of a liminal course, white man'8. The attribution statusto blacksappearedina rangeof discoursesin the UnitedStates, not the least offensiveof which was an exampleof circuspublicitythatputa South Africanman, dubbed 'Clicko',on displayfor predominantlywhite audiences in the 1920s and 1930s. As one ad declared:'He is as nearlikethe ape as he is likethe human... [W]e cannothelpbut wonder if [his captor] Captain Du Barryhas not broughtDarwin'smissinglinkto civilization'9. Clicko's interstitiality correspondedto a link establishedbetween blacks and monstersin the white imaginationfor over two hundredyears. In The BlackImage in the White Mind, George M. Fredrickson describesthe white Americanconstruction of the Negro as a beast in the 1700s and 1800s. Fredrickson linksthatmonstrous tropeto the 'which had conceived of pro-slaveryimagination, the black man as havinga dual nature- he was docile and amiablewhen enslaved, ferociousand murderous when free'10.Theconstruction of African Americansand non-westernblacks as monstrous was notconfinedto writtendiscourse.On circusand sideshow stages from the 1800s through the 1930s, blackswere displayedas exoticattractions, visual spectacles and freaks1. They were consideredappropriatefor publicdisplaysolelyon the basis of race. Therole of blacksin a range of whitewestern discoursesis similarto the positionof monstersin classic horrorcinema. Straddlingthe boundarybetween humannessand that which is not human, blacksland otherpeople of colour)are terrifying to

and hearts heartsof darkness darkness Whiteheroines heroinesand White

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Fig.3. Aggressiveblack malesexualityin the formof the gorillais used as the title art for Ingagi. [?)1930 Congo Pictures. Frameenlargementcourtesy of EricSchaefer.]

theirsimultaneouslikewhitesin theirinterstitiality, ness to and differencefromthe white Anglo-Saxon of monstersas sexually norm.Likethe construction blacks too have been sexualized.Both threatening, discussthis phenomenonin Fanonand Fredrickson termsof black maleness;they describe the links between black male sexualityand fantasizedviolence against white women12.Thisfantasyof viof manyblackmen olenceinforms the representation in junglefilms. Servingas backgroundfiguresin blackmenare depictedas white-focused narratives, inter-racial desires render them whose savages freaks. Thenarrative positionof blacks(andsometimes in Asians) junglefilmsis both like and unlikethe figurationof the monsterin classic horror.Blacks, especiallymen, are constructedas objects of fear and desire,and icons of physicaldifferences(as is the monster).Theyare also often relegatedto secondaryroles.Thus,blacksserveas the junglefilm's brandof fiends in a somewhatabstractsense. In residesless in a singleblack mostcases, monstrosity a fiendish position,than in shafigureoccupying dows and unseenterrain.Connotationsof monstrosity inhere in darkness as a visual trope, an already-codedracialcategory,and a descriptionof the uncivilisedforces thatcrawl throughthe jungle and threatento dislodge whitesupremacy.Themenace of racialOthernessis diffusedbeyond blacks so thatthe jungleitselftakes on a threateningdemeanouras the repositoryforwhite racialand sexualanxieties. Accordingto racistclaims, Ingagi impliesan

aggressive black male sexualityin the formof the gorilla,and a lasciviousblackfemalesexualityrepresentedby the nude women who copulate with theirsimianmate (Fig. 3). However,as the 1930 Hays investigationrevealed,Ingagi'sblackwomen were eitherwhite or light-skinned. They were actressesplayingthe rolesof junglefemalesin blackface. Thelayeringof racialidentitiesinherentin this use of make-uphighlightsa criticalattributeof the junglescenario:at the mostobviouslevel, the ape and black women are icons of sexual depravities associatedwiththeAfricanwilds. On anotherlevel, the film'suse of black-faceintroduceswhiteor lightskinnedwomen intothe racialmix. Unlikethe conventionalfunctionof 'passing', in which a person accesses a culturallyprivilegedsocial, sexual or racialcategoryby pretendingto be someone else, the women in Ingagipass for membersof a darker group, they move down on the ladder of racist racialdemographics. Whereas the racial maskingintroducedin Ingagi is noteworthy,it is more obviousthan in the majorityof junglemoviesfromthe same period. In mostfilmswhiteheroinesare broughtto the narrative and subjectedto the advances and visualforefront, of darkcreaturesof the jungle.Frequently possessing blonde hair, and shot throughfiltersthat enhance the lightness of their skin, heroines are of whitewomanhood,and confirmarepresentatives tions of white manhood.Accordingto PaulHoch, the heroineis an archetypeof white culture:'The conquestof manhoodby the victoryof the white godlikeherooverthe bestialvillainin a lifeor death

318 318 strugglefor possessionof what RobertGraves has called 'The White Goddess' is ... at the heart of

almostall Westernmyth,poetryand literature'13. Hocharguesthatnotonly does the whitegoddess signifythe hero'scalling,she also warnsof the forces of sexualevolution:'Thewhite unrepressible was goddess clearly in danger; her would-beattackerswere super-masculine blackbeasts.Sexuality itselfwas inherentlymale and bestial:a drive always thrustingup fromlower males to higherfemales, and originatingfromthe beasts (or "beast") below'14.Whilethe rapportbetweenthewhitegoddess and blackbeast takesformin junglefilms,the formassumedis inflectedby morethana particular of heritage white(good) vs black(bad)archetypes. Forthe oppressionof blackswithinUnitedStates dimensionto the mythology historylendsa particular in question. This is especially true given the assumptions about uncontrollable blackmale sexualityand pure white female sexualitythat marksocial historiesin theUS. Whitefearsof blackmalesexualaggression manuagainstwhitewomenwere, not surprisingly, facturedby whitesthemselvesin the UnitedStates; first, to justifythe physical and sexual abuse of blacksduringslaveryand, second, to defend lynchto fitthe 'most'heinouscrime5. ing as punishment Accordingto Angela Y. Davis: 'Before lynching could be consolidatedas a popularlyaccepted institution... its savagery and its horrorshad to be

convincinglyjustified.Thesewere the circumstances thatspawned the mythof the Blackrapist- for the rape chargesturnedout to be the mostpowerfulof several attemptsto justifythe lynchingof Black people'16.Althoughresearchby the SouthernComfoundthatof the missionon the Studyof Lynching black menwho were lynchedbetween 1889 and 1929 only a smallpercentagewere even accused of rape, the mythof the blackrapistgroundedand perpetuatedviolenceagainstblackmen7. The mythologicalflip-sideof the black rapist, the white goddess, was also painstakinglyconstructedin discoursesof the era. Forexample, the presidingjudge in the Scottsborotrialof 1931, in which nine black youthswere accused and convictedof rapingtwo whitegirls,had thefollowingto say about the relationshipbetween white women and blackrapists:

Rhona RhonaJ. Berenstein Berenstein 'Where the woman charged to have been raped is, as in thiscase a whitewoman,there is a strongpresumption underthe law thatshe wouldnotand did notyield to intercourse with the defendant,a Negro; and thisis true,whatever the stationin life the prosecutrix may ocwhether the she be most cupy, despised, ignorantand abandoned woman of the community,or the spotlessvirginand daughterof a homeof luxuryand learning'18. prominent Accordingto the white judge, and the dominantvaluesof the period,no whitewoman,regardlessof class, educationor sexualpreferences,would willinglyhave sex witha blackman. As the relationshipbetween black men and whitewomen in US historicaland mythological discoursessuggests,the roleof whiteheroinesin jungle filmsis coded in racial terms- they representthe of theirrace, and theirinteraccivilizing'superiority' tionswithmale nativesand gorillasinvokethewhite black man ravishinga fantasyof an uncontrollable helplesswhitewoman.Thus,the centralpositionof a whiteactressin mostjunglefilmsis farfromneutral in ideologicalterms.Not only does she invokean age-old racistrape fantasy,but her presencealso re-castshistoricalrealities.Inthe historyof American race relations, especially during slavery, black women were victimsof white rapes, attacksthat occurredwellwithinthegeographicalbordersof the UnitedStates.As indicatedby junglemovies,white womenfallpreyto blackcreaturesin thewildsof the thirdworld, far from the racial tensions of their homeland. Fromthisperspective,junglefilmsare products of displacementand projection.Whitemale guiltis conferredupon blacks and white women endure terrorshistoricallyexperienced by black women. Race and biological sex remaincentralnarrative and visualtropes,but theirconfigurations on celluloid are inversionsof historicalevents. Despitethe tenacity of this descriptionof the jungle film, it streamlinesthe complexityof the race and gender of thesetexts.Junglefilmsrelyuponthe permutations of racial differenceas one of their immutability are premises.Blacks,and theirjungleenvironment, threateningto and differentfromwhites. But, the filmsunderconsiderationherealso grapplewiththe dissolutionof that racial and spatial separation,

Whiteheroines heroinesand and hearts of darkness darkness White hearts of especiallyvia whitewomen.Whitecharactersmay sometimespass as white,butoftenpossess heartsof darkness19

While the racialliminality of some whitecharactersdoes not releasethese filmsfromthe constrictionsof 1930s racism,it does throwintoquestion toutedat the time. the claimsof racialdimorphism The racial mobilityin these moviessuggestsa degree of whiteanxiety,at leaston the partof writers, producersand directors,thatblackstereotypes(they are monstersand immutably differentfromwhites) are tenuousat best. These films also suggest a degree of whiteconsciousness,albeit minimal,that the colour line is arbitrary,and that it must be guarded,confirmedand promotedat all costs. Thewhitewomanoccupiesa pivotalrolein the racialcrossingthatcharacterizesa numberof jungle films.Inadditionto herfunctionsas icon of civilizationand victimof blackaggression,she bridgesthe blackand white races, as the case of Ingagiindicates. Thewhiteheroineis a mediatorbetweenthe worldsof the white and black man, withthe latter assumed to include gorillas of all shapes and sizes20.Likethe Negro'sfunctioninwhitediscourses (bridgingsimianswith humans),white women too are interstitial creatures.Theypose a threatof interand inter-racial union- they introducethe species the darkness that which is spatiallyatpossibility tributedto the 'outthere'of the junglealso inhabits the raciallypure'in here'of thewhitedomain. As a recipientof attacks,the whitewoman is thevehiclethroughwhichthreatsof inter-racial union are enactedand displaced.Thedangerand lureof miscegenationare invokedby her sexualizedencounterswith dark males. Often missingfromthis scenario,however,is thatthe heroine'sresponseto these advances is sometimesambiguous,as the discussionof KingKongin SectionIIIwillsuggest,or outrightpositive,as filmslike The BlondeCaptive (1932, Capital Pictures)indicate (Section II).Althoughthreatsof a male/female binaryopposition are invokedvia the heroine'sexchangeswithblack men and monkeys,those encounterscannot be reduced to sexualdifference.Theyare also inflected and species transgression, by racialliminality by the figurationof the heroine as a discursivevehicle throughwhich the conventionalphysicaland psychological distances between white/black, animal/human,and fear/desireare bridged.

319 319 By notingthatthe whiteheroineservesa mediative racialfunction,I riskperforming an important oversightin a significantsegmentof white feminist writings:the conflationof racismwithsexism21.My intentionis notto repeatthatconflation,butto study the convergenceof race and biologicalsex in one textualform.I do notbelievethatwhitewomenand blacksoccupy the same positionin Americanpatriarchyor itsdiscourses,butI do contendthatthey are representedas similarin certainjunglefilms. Moreover,that similarityreinforcesthe ambiguous positionof white women withindiscoursesof race and gender- while theyare subjectto sexismand occupy an inferiorsocial position vis-a-viswhite statusis oftenrecuperated via their men,theirinferior racial when 'superior' membership compared to blacks. Ina piece on cinematicrepresentations of race, Ann Doane describes the similarities between Mary whiteand blackwomenin a slew of westernpatriarchal discourses22.Althoughthe black woman's body, specificallythat of the Hottentot,connoted sexualexcesses in Victorianwritings,whitewomen too were deemed icons of depravityin the formof notesof repressedanimaldesires.As BramDijkstra fin-de-siecle of white women: 'Driven representations as she was by animaldesireand instincts,itwas not surprisingthatwoman foundshe could get along betterwithanimalsthanwithmen'23. The white woman'sdiscursivesimilarity to the blackwomanat particular inwhitewestern junctures historyensuresthatshe occupiesa precariousposition withinpatriarchy.Accordingto Doane, 'what the representationalaffinity[between white and blackwomen]seems to indicateis a strongfearthat whitewomen are always on the verge of 'slipping back' into a blacknesscomparableto prostitution. Thewhitewoman would be the weak pointin the system,the signifierof the always tenuoushold of In many junglefilms,the white hercivilization'24. oine representsthe racial and sexual mobilityremarkedupon by Doane. As a memberof the white race, the heroineis akinto whitemen.As a woman, she is linkedto darkerforcesand is always on the verge of fallingbackwardson a white-biasedevolutionaryscale. Analysingthe white heroine in jungle films necessitatesstudyingthe racialdesignationthathas been constructedas a non-race,as the primary

Berenstein RhonaJ. Rhona J. Berenstein

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racial prototype:the white race. As RichardDyer and they are dark, the intimatecompanionsof notes, the analysisof whitenessis difficultbecause, blacks,animalsand nature. Itfollowsfromtheirambiguousstatusthatwhite 'whiteis not anythingreally,not an identity,not a black fewomen (and theireven-moreunrestrained quality,because it is everythingparticularising are tenderlycourtedby gorillas white is no colourbecause it is all colours'25.Des- male counterparts) pite its prototypicaland unspecifiedstatusin most and darker,primatemales. While the mostwidely of thisattractionis thatthe discourses,a numberof filmssuggestthatwhiteness proclaimedinterpretation is an identityworn by the heroine but it is not heroine'ssimianor blackcourtierstandsin for the necessarily immanentin her. By being simulta- white man, whose animalisticsexualityis safely and/or non-whiteform, neouslyaligned with white men and blacks, the representedin non-human tells only part of this racistand heroine'sracial identityis shaken;whitenessdoes that point-of-view not guaranteea stable racial membership.It is a racial tale. Althoughthis conventionalassumption findssupportin the Tarzanfilms,where the white and disguise. construction cast as an 'ape-man',in otherjungle Ifthe heroine'srace is a construct,itfollowsthat maleis literally the stabilityof white malenessis also throwninto moviesthe heroinetoo is doubled with darkness. question.Many junglefilmsboth invokeand disa- Junglecreaturesdo notalwaysstandin forthewhite vow this horrifying possibilityby placing the white male. Forapes and black men also signifyall the and representing whitemanimagineshe is not,butshouldbe, and all womanat the centreof narratives, a white manwho attemptsto save herfroma 'fate he believesthewhitewomandesiresand resembles. Inracialterms,the heroinehas it bothways. In intotheworldof worsethandeath',i.e. herinitiation blacksand apes. Thus,the heroinefallsfromracial the closing momentsof mostjunglefilms,she takes stability,and male whitenessis left to shore up its her place as the white man'sevolutionarypartner himself and object of desire. Her slippage from white racialgaps. Thewhitemanmustreconstruct as a signifierof the masterrace, usuallyby destroy- humanarms is, however ambiguously,replaced to ing black men and women. Yetthe very revelation withan imageof racialpurity.Thisabilityto return woof white is a trait a and interstitial is whiteness thatfemale position culturally-favoured categorically emasculationof the herohavean manhooddenied blacks. Racismand the stereotheoft-represented unnervingeffecton the positionof the white male. types attributedto blacks are so strongin jungle Forif the heroine'sracialmobilityindicatesthather films,and in the widerhistoricalcontext,thatblacks whitenessis a mask, her white mate is rendered remainlodged withindesignated social positions. As Homi Bhabha argues in anothercontext, no insecure. similarly In describingthe philosophicalunderpinnings matterhow hardpeople of colourtryto mimictheir researchin the UnitedStatesafter colonialmasters,they can, at best, be 'almostthe of primatological the SecondWorldWar, DonnaHarawayargues: same, butnotquite'27. 'The body in western politicaltheory is not capable of citizenship(rationalspeech and

II. The virgin (in the) jungle

'She was discovered,it is recountedand picboy was noto dark mind to tured,when a smallblond-haired (colored) light (man); (woman) the natives. of the black children ticed mind of the to is nature The among (white). body wife of a ship was the his The women white in mother, woman, culture; primitivenarratives, on the was wrecked whose vessel chasm'26. the captain, negotiate the was She before. coast many years rocky Accordingto Haraway,the body is on a par sole survivor,thechildwas by the native'. withdarknessand sexuality,and whitewomenper- Reviewof TheBlondeCaptive28 forma mediativeroleakinto my descriptionof the heroinein junglefilms.Consonantwith Haraway's terms, white heroines exist on both sides of a Inthe early 1930s, the themeof a womanforaging racial/colonial divide: they are white, treasured throughthe depthsof the junglewas a showman's possessionsof white men and the civilisedworld, dream.Thatdreamreachednew heightsinthespring action); the body is merelyparticular... Itis sex

Whiteheroines heroinesand and hearts heartsof darkness darkness White

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of 1932 when TheMotion Picture Heraldprintedreviewsand full-page advertisements announcing The BlondeCaptive.Bankingon the lure of miscegenation,LouisKing'spic- zD]l turepromisedexhibitorsa spectacle of vastproportions. 'TheBlondeCaptiveWho Choseto RemainWithHer Primitive Mate!', heraldedthe publicitylayout in April29(Fig. 4). By May, the postershad become more risque,the lureof sexual depravity moreexplicit.Depictinga drawingof a toplessblondewomanstaringlonginglyat the fierce,war-painted,and black man who drags partially-clad heracross the bottomof the page, the bylinepromised:'AnAbsolutely In AmazingAuthenticAdventure'30. the same ad boasted fine-print, huge audiencesin New York,Chicago, and Washington, DC, drawing 'ravesfromcriticsand crowds'. By 25 June,thecomplicityof theheroine in her captivitywas coupled with veracity:'A White Woman Living With Her Cave Man Mate - And Refusingto Be Rescued!Absolutely Authentic True'31. The Blonde Captive's campaign is a strikingexample of the of the interstitial exploitation qualities outlinedearlier.Playingon a range Fig.4. Connotationsof veracitymarkedthisadvertisement for The of themes,such as the unionof a BlondeCaptive,whichappearedin TheMotionPictureHerald. whitewomanwitha blackmaleand [?)1932 CapitalPictures,Inc.Courtesyof theAcademyof Motion the introduction of the heroine'ssim- PictureArtsand Sciences.] ultaneousattractionto and repulsion from her monstrousprimatelover, King's picture timwas bothhorrifiedand enamouredby the prospromisedto fulfilthe moviegoer'scuriosityabout pect of being held by him.As I willargue laterwith miscegenationand a 'primitive'lifestyle. It also regardsto AnnDarrowin KingKong,the heroineof the mid-pointbevowed to upsetthe narrativeconventionso dear to TheBlondeCaptiveis interstitial, manyotherjunglemovies,namely,the rescueof the tweencivilizationand the primitive. It is importantto address TheBlondeCaptive whitewomanfromher darkermate. In TheBlonde Captive,thepublicitysuggested,the heroinerefused withreferenceto thewiderhistoricalmilieuin which her'proper'racialand sexualrole,and remainedat the movie, and other jungle narratives,emerged. the side of her jungle husband instead. Likethe The 1920s was a contradictory periodin the history infamousKingKongwho appeared the following of white perceptionsof AfricanAmericans.Insome year, the blondewoman'scaptorwas portrayedas sectors,blackswere raisedto the positionof cultural dark,backwards,aggressiveand alluring.His vic- icons:

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RhonaJ. Berenstein 'Inthe 1920s a revised formof romanticracialism became something of a national fad, resulting in part, curiouslyenough, from patronizing white encouragement of the "New Negro" movementand the "HarlemRenaissance". "The New Negro", as perceived by many whites, was simply a patina of the culturalprimitivism and exoticism fashionable in the 1920s'32.

depicted as a victimizer(he dragged the white womanalong the ground),a racialOther(thedarkness of his skin was visuallycontrastedwith the lightnessof hers),and a site of physicaldifference fromwhites (the skinof his body was elaborately markedin some ads, whilethe woman'sbody was As the second and thirdattributes indiblemish-free). the woman the racial cate, signified whiteness, standardagainstwhichthe blackmanwas judged As George Fredricksonnotes, the 1920s wit- to be different. Theimportance of herwhitenesswas nessed a paternalisticelevation of AfricanAmerican confirmed withinthefilm,as the narrator noted:'She white liberals. is a white of the culture, especially music, by woman', 'daughter AlonglordlyCaucaside this suspect appreciation of blacks, the decade and Neanderthal about sian', '[t]here'snothing also markedthe resurgence of KuKluxKlanmember- her'34 Yet the heroinewas also raciallyunstablein ship, especially in south-and mid-westerncities33. the the of 1930s American sothese ads. Likethe blackmanwhose barechestand By beginning was in a racial battle. were ciety engaged full-fledged legs depicted in full-view,so too was the 1931 marked the year of the Scottsboro case, the blondewoman a spectacle of nudity.Furthermore, rape trial mentioned earlier. The importance of the as the bylinesintoned,she refusedto be rescued, trial within American culture cannot be over-esti- she stayedwithhermatein thewilderness.Thus,the mated. It was widely publicised and debated in whiteheroinewas simultaneously likeand unlikeher newspapers across the country, highlightingthe na- monstrous junglesuitor.She was white(thestandard tion's racial fissures. ForAmericanwhites, the Scotts- of civilization) and not-white (sheslippedbackwards boro trial confirmed that black men coveted white on a racistevolutionary scale).Theblondecaptive's women. ambiguousracialstatuswas suggested in contemThe Blonde Captive inserted its perspective on poraryreviews.The Varietyreviewermade the folrace relations into this setting. By promoting a lowing comment: 'She is undeniably of the skewed version of the Scottsboro case - the ads Caucasian race in face and physicalcontour... promised the story of a white woman who was thougha heavytan causes herto resemblea native willingly ravaged by a black man - the picture's as to color'35.MordauntHall,writingfor the New YorkTimes,noted:'[Her]skinis relatively white'36. publicity rode on the racial currentof the day and constructedthe black man as monstrous.Yet the film TheBlondeCaptiveis fascinatingnotonly beis not a simple reflectionof the Scottsboro trial, nor cause of theexplicitness of itsadvertising campaign, of race relationsduringthe early 1930s. TheBlonde butalso because its publicisednarrative was fabriCaptive is in tension and complicity with historical cated. The film's promotionalefforts made The events, pointing both away fromand towards racial BlondeCaptivethe storyof a whitewoman found issues. The filmis but one historicaldiscourse among shipwreckedamongAustralian aborigines.Thesenmany in which racist assumptions emerged, but sational promotionand reception(it was a boxremained in tension with the popular version of office hit)may have been a productof whatJohn whiteness, white femaleness in particular.Tempered Elliscalls a movie's'narrativeimage': 'the direct and proby the movie's internationalscope (it is set in Austra- publicitycreated by the film'sdistributors lia and surroundingislands), The Blonde Captive's ducers;[and] the generalpublicknowledgeof ingproducers exploited contemporary racial issues in redientsinvolvedinthefilm...'37. Forwhatis striking theiraddress to white America. uponviewingTheBlondeCaptiveis it is notprimarBy explicitly painting the heroine's relationship ily about eithermiscegenationor a whitewoman's to her jungle-loveras ambiguous, the publicityunder- refusalto leave the jungleand return to civilization. scored an element only implied in other movies; Instead,TheBlondeCaptiveis a staid and predictnamely, the woman's similarityto her jungle partner. able travelogue,one thatexoticisesnon-whiteculIn the ads that surrounded the film, the chief was turesin Hawaii, Bali, Samoa, Fiji,New Zealand,

Whiteheroines heroinesand and hearts heartsof darkness White darkness and Australia.The inhabitantsof these locales are reduced to ethnocentricstereotypesvia the pronouncements of a racistmalevoice-over38. The film opens on a group of men at 'The ExplorersClub'. Flippingthrougha book entitled Men of the Stone Age, one of the explorersdemale who possesses ridges scribes a pre-historic overhiseyes reminiscent of apes. 'Thisis whatMrs. Neanderthalhad oppositeherat the breakfasttable every morning',the man intones,as an insertof a male fillsthe frame.When the men depre-historic cide to pursuethe rumourthata Neanderthalstill lives in contemporary Australia,the settingshiftsto Hawaiiand thetravelogueportionbegins.Although the posterspromiseda narrativeof spectacularproportions,that story was only marginallytold. Instead, the viewer was treated to documentary footage of nativepeopleson the islandsmentioned, and presentedwith a smatteringof animal tales, suchas a turtlehunt. The closest the film gets to a tale of white female captivityfollows the late and unlikelydiscovery of a blonde boy amidsta group of black children.Afterthe boy is singledout, an Aboriginal man is shown wearing women's underwear.The narrator (LowellThomas)gingerlyinformsus thatthe inquisitiveexplorersfollowedthe man only to discovera womanwithlighthairstandinginfrontof his cave. Despitethe narrator's claimsthatthewomanis between the ages of thirtyand thirty-five, and that she is white,the mopof gray hairon herhead and thedarknessof herskinsuggestthatshe mightbe an older black woman posing as white. While the narrator tellsus thatshe has blueeyes, no close-ups confirmthisclaim.Thoughwe are informedthatshe does notwantto return to herwhitehome,we never hearheruttera word.Thefilmends withthisanti-climacticscenario,and the narrator's pronouncement thatthewhitewoman'seemsalmostas primitive and as theAborigines'. simple-minded Despite the claims to truthsuggested by the film'sposters,thestorymetwithscepticismin 1932. The Libertyreviewer noted that 'you get a few glimpsesof a middle-agedand farfromprepossessing woman with bushy white hair ... Is all this authentic'39? MordauntHallwas so perplexedby thesegmentin questionthathe includeda quotation froma cable sentto the Liberty Theatrein New York City by the head of the filmexpedition:'I hereby

323 323 whitewoman rescertifythatstoryof ship-wrecked cued or adoptedby blacksis based on facts'40.The TheBlondeCapprecisecircumstances surrounding tive will never be known. UnlikeIngagi, the film avoided an official inquiry,perhapsbecause the themeof a whitewoman matingwitha blackman was so embeddedin thewhiteAmericanpsycheas to be completelybelievable(despiteindicatorsthat thesegmentwas constructed)41. TheBlondeCaptiveis an excellentexampleof a filmthattrades in the rhetoricof junglemovies, invokesthe risqu6and monstrous luresof miscegenation,places a whitewomanbetweenthe blackand white worlds,and revelsin promisedrewardsthat are neverfulfilled.It is unclearto what extentthe film's'narrative image', itspublicisedsubject-matter, accounted for its popularitywith audiences. Uninsomefashionto doubtedly,thatimagecontributed the film'sinterestamongwhiteviewers. The same interstitialand masquerade-like qualitieswere heavilyexploitedin anotherfilmof the early 1930s, which appeared only a year before TheBlondeCaptive,and mightwell have influenced LouisKingto promotehis pictureon the basis of the whitewomantheme.Whereas TheBlondeCaptive presentedratherunconvincing documentary images of a white woman amidstAustralianAborigines, MGM's very successfulTraderHorn,directedby W.S. Van Dyke,fictionalizedthe storyof a white womanadopted by a blackjungletribe.Basedon the reminiscencesof jungle-adventurer AlfredAloysius Horn,whose storywas told in a much-read book by EthelredaLewispublishedin 192742, the and film,like TheBlondeCaptive,had the structure contentof a travelogue. TraderHorn'spromotionalcampaignboasted a wildernesssettingwithwhitehuntersin pursuit of a junglewoman43.As one posterfromLosAngeles noted:'Tonight YouMeet theCruelestWomaninAll Africa'44[Fig. 5]. Thefilm'sPressbookis filledwith postersthat proclaimedthe vicious white woman theme:'See the WhiteGoddess of theJungle- as she ruleswiththewhipoverpagan tribes';and 'She Ruleda Nation of Savages'. The 'Catchlines'section of the Pressbookexpanded the promotional angles: e.g. 'Africain hergrimmestmomentsin this astoundingdrama';'Thedramaof white men battling the savage elementsof the DarkContinent'; 'Romancein spots where no white man ever trod

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RhonaJ. Berenstein

effeminate perbefore';and 'Two sona and becomes and a traders heroic. Thus, the white jungle goddess in an adventurethatwill leave you breathless'45. Trader Horn details the advendures Nina's returesof the intrepid peated slaps after Horn explorer he touches her his (HarryCarey), Ni we Hr a persvin cwithout black servantRenmission.The newchero (Mutia Peru i c1 Omoolu)and Peru improved doesn't nor wince, (DuncanRenaldo), does he runaway a young manwho from Nina. Inhas neverventured to Africa before. stead, the mere The men, accomsight of a young a white woman, alpaniedby group beit an aggressive of servants,travel one, brings out throughthe jungle Peru'smachoside. inviewing From a conwildlife digenous ventional perspecand confronting Peru's untamed beasts. tive, is the 'CruelestWomanin All renunciation of Well into the Fig.5. Nina (EdwinaBooth) Trn s y cowardiceand hotravelogueportion Africa'in thispublicitystillfor iderHormnw. s or.Courtesyof theAcademyof mosexual procliof the film, the [?1931 Metro-Goldwyn-MayE MotionPictureArtsand Sciences vities meets a corresponds group to Nina's loss of Missionary Lady (Olive Golden) searchingfor her daughter,Nina jungle life. Peru'sheroismdepends not only on (EdwinaBooth),who was stolen from her when rescuinga white woman (he is given the task of savages attackedherand killedherhusbandtwenty saving Nina while Hornand Rencherodistractthe years before.Thewomanasks Hornto vow thathe savages), but also on the woman's transformation will locate Nina if she cannot. When the Mission- from'thecruelestwoman in Africa'to the prototypi(Fig. 6). Althoughboth transary's dead body is found by Horn,he, Peruand cal heroine-in-distress formations theirentourageset out to locate Nina. appear completeby the conclusion(the One of the moststrikingaspects of thisfilmis couple is, apparently,in love and destinedto travel the transformation thatoccursin Peruonce he meets to the white westernworld),the ending is far from Nina. Beforehisencounterwiththewhitewomanof reassuring.As JohnS. Cohen, Jr. phrasedit in his the jungle,Peruis naive, frightened,and an outright review of the picture:'[A]s a finale, there is a coward (he climbs up a tree when a rhinoceros close-upof the Tradergazing rathernostalgicallyat attacks the group, while Horn bravelyfaces the the steamerthatis carryingaway his young friend, felt, beast). Moreover, his relationshipwith Horn is and his bride- his bridewho, one instinctively a problemforcivilization homoerotic(as Hornnotes early in the film:'some- was going to be as difficult times,of course, it's betterif two fellas runaway as any currenteconomicone'46. ThatNina will not fare well in the white civitogether').Once Nina appears, eventuallyrescuing Hornand Perufromtribalsacrifice,Perudrops his lized world was suggested by the claims of sav-

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While Tarzan agery that punctuated reviewsof the has endured in film:'thewhitegirl contemporary who had become Americanpopular the ferociousgodculture, the white dess of the savjunglewomenwho ages'47, 'she had ha unted the cinema in the grownintoa tribal chieftainess who 1930s have all i4FL was more cannibut disappeared. balishthanthe fesAlthough Trader tooned cannibals Horn was a boxaroundher'48,'she office success and is quite as ferThe Savage Girl ocious as any of depicteda femalethe blacks'49,and versionof the ape'Edwina Booth man, Edwina Booth and Rofa i rly exudes chelle Hudson's cruelty as "the cruelestwoman in starring roles did Itis hard Africa"50. not spawn seto believe that quels, nordid they Nina's coupling lodge themselves with Peruand her in Americanverna. from the .....I ..eS cular for decades. departure in which their jungle, Despite ru(DuncanRenaldo)whose Pe behind relative she livedherentire Fig.6. , Nina. cowers . . obscurity intoa braveheiro precipitatesherembodiment exe transformation next to Johnny * * j couldexorcise r i life, ,' . ot a heroine-mn-distress. ll Weissmuller's sufficentlythe bes- [1931 er.Courtesyof theAcademyof Metro-Goldwyn-MayE and savage MotionPicture films, TraderHorn Artsand Sciences.] qtial and The Savage remarked qualities reviewers. Girl are important uponby likeness to blacks is the consideration of whit te in the Nina's to womanhood Thus,although savage with her romance Peru and depar- jungle. recuperatedby turefromAfrica,she takes her interstitial qualities HarryFraser'sTheSavage Girlsimultaneously withherto hernew whitehome (Fig.7). figuresthe heroineas an object of desire for the on the success of Trader 1932 white heroand a characteralignedwithforcesthat Horn, Following and racialstabilityof white was a banner year for large- and small-budget threatenthe masculinity In addition to The Blonde men53. The films. Captive, Although Savage Girldoes notconstruct jungle MGMreleasedthefirstof a seriesof Tarzanmovies, blacksas eviluntiltheclosingscenes, itdoes elaborrole and portrays which accordingto the tradeswere most popular ate upon the heroine'sinterstitial Pictures and Monarch released the her from (black)savageryto (white)civilizajourney among teens, With film: The Girl. Each of these tion. its less somberapproachthanmostother Savage fantasy-jungle focused on the converlike Trader Horn, movies, junglenarratives,TheSavage Girl both reinforces white with black races via an intermeand streamlinesthe terrorof the black race and of the gence in and takes white Trader Horn The thewhiteheroineto her'proper' Savage painsto return diary figure Girlthatfigureis a womanat home in the jungle51 racialand sexualdomain. The plotof TheSavage Girlis as follows:like and in Tarzan,the Ape Man it is a man raised by the whitegoddess of TraderHorn,the heroinewas his primateancestors:the apes52.

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Fig.7. Nina'sdomesticationappearscomplete,as Peruand Nina partcompanywithTraderHorn(Harry Carey)and his faithfulservantRenchero(MutiaOmoolu). Courtesyof theAcademyof MotionPictureArtsand Sciences.] [?1931 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. bornand raised in the wilds of the jungle.When white huntersenter her home, led by the hero(WalterByron),The Girl(her explorerJimFranklyn name in the opening credits)is tornbetween two worlds- she triesto save her animal-friends from and to understand the fact being captured, attempts that she and Franklyn share the same skin colour. TheGirl'srecognitionof herracialsimilarity to Franklinkedto a lynis strikingbecause it is simultaneously fear of whiteness(she identifieswith her dark,animal compatriotsagainst the white men),and it signifiesherloss of statuswithinthe jungle(she begins to desirethe explorer). The tensionbetween the heroine'sdouble-perspective in the film,as jungleinhabitantand white structures. woman, findsexpressionin point-of-view When Franklyn arriveshe is warned of the Jungle Goddess (Fig. 8). Here, the jungle is linkedto a

female presencethatis threatening(the nativeswill protecther at all costs)and ephemeral(she comes and goes unnoticed).Thus, the environshave a feminineidentityas frighteningas a dark identity. Thatidentityis personifiedby The Girl, who possesses an active gaze. On two separateoccasions she hides behindshrubberyand watches the white huntersfromafar. TheGirlis, however,unableto maintaininquisitivelooking.Afterfreeinga lionfromitscage she is shown talkingto a chimpanzee.A streamof light suffusesherfeatures,and thereis a cut to her pointof-viewof a mirror and a necklace,whichhangfrom a tree branch.Drawnby the reflectedlightshe falls into a trap laid by the hunters.Fromthis moment onwards,TheGirl'scontrolover processesof looking is replacedby herpositioningas an objectof a white man'sgaze, and by heruse of herown look

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Fig.8. Alcoholicexpedition backerAmosStitch(Harry Myers)and heroJim (WalterByron) Franklyn arrivein Africaas a prelude to Franklyn's encounterwith TheJungleGoddess (RochelleHudson)in The Savage Girl. [?1932 Freulerfilm Associates,Inc.]

to romantically TheGirl'stransition pursueFranklyn. to an object of the gaze is effected throughthe a signifierof femalenarcissism. TheGirlloses mirror, her power to look at the white man when her offersa traditionalracialidentity. reflection The very momentthat The Girl occupies the same spatial position as membersof her jungle family(the momentin which she is an animal imprisonedby the white man)is when she begins to behavemorein linewithconventionsof whitefemiThe filmcloses withThe ninityand heterosexuality. Girl and Franklynembracing, thus ensuringthat traditional behaviouris privileged.Despitethisconlike TraderHorn, TheSavage Girlleaves clusion, elementsof thestorylineat loose ends. AlthoughThe are in love by theend, thereis little Girland Franklyn indicationthatshe has access to his language, or thatshe will be able to survivein the white man's world.Thepossibilityremainsthatyou can takeThe Girloutof the jungle,butyou cannottakethe jungle outof TheGirl54. Furthermore,Franklynremains a less-thanappealingfigurebecause he neverforfeitsthe originalpurposeof the safari- to captureanimalsfora zoo. Whilethe herofacilitatesTheGirl'stransition to whitewomanhood,he also capturesher- firstin a cage, thenin a cabin, and, eventually,in his arms. TheGirlremainsbutone type of animaltrappedby the hero. Finally,althoughTheGirlloses controlof thevisualregisteraftershe is captured,thatcontrolis notplaced in the handsof the hero.Instead,Vernuth (AdolphMillar),the evilwhitemankilledat the end,

is the only othercharacterwho is allowed to gaze freelyand frequently.Franklyn strugglesto gain a visualfoothold,to provehis prowessas possessorof the gaze, yet fails to gain masteryover looking relationsin thisfilm. Here,althoughTheGirl'sgaze is diffusedonce she is captured,it remainsmore powerfulthan the hero's.Inone scene, TheGirlsneaksintothe camp, stands outside Franklyn's tent, watches him, and, in to finally,creeps get a closer look. Although returns her Franklyn gaze eventually,he serves as herobject of desire for an extended period. Later, when Vernuthhelps local villagersattackFranklyn's expedition,the hero'shelplessnessis reinforced.He is tied to a stake and preparedto be sacrificed. is minimally effective Althoughhe is saved, Franklyn in hiseffortsto protectTheGirlfromherattackers.In the end, a jungleanimal,and not the hero, dispatches Vernuth. Thus,the heterosexualmale may 'get' The Girlat the end, but he is a less than inspiring signifierof virility,and the alliances between The Girland hersavage, darkjunglehomeare farfrom destroyed. LikeTheSavage Girland TraderHorn,a number of otherjunglefilmsof the era combinedwhite with romance.FourFrightened female interstitiality (1934), People HerJungleLove(1938) and White Hunter(1936), for example, associated white junglewomenwithawakeningfemalesexuality.The combinationof white femininity,jungle darkness, and threatenedwhite masculinityin these pictures facilitatesthe heroines'transition fromfemalesexual

328 innocenceto knowledge.The transitionis effected via the heroines'temporary, yet compelling,indoctriand theirclose rapnationintojungleenvironments portwithitscreatures. Forexample,the jungleaidsJudith Jones(ClaudetteColbert)in FourFrightened Peopleto transition froma homelyschoolteacherto an objectof desire is explifortwo whitemen.Hersexualattractiveness to to to the and linked her jungle, ability adapt citly its mysteriousand frighteningways. In fact, she becomes increasinglyaggressiveand independent as she movesfurtherintothe depthsof the jungle. Theenvironment itself,and notonly itsblackinhabiHer older fetants,precipitatesher transformation. male companion(MaryBoland)also shares in the sexualawarenessthedarklandbrings.She is taken prisonerby a jungletribeand enjoysan affairwith the chief. Noteworthyis that the white women's in FourFrightened transformation Peopleoccursonly aftertheir'half-breed'55 guide, played by LeoCarIt if Colbert and Bolandtake up is as rillo,perishes. the interstitial rolevacated by Carrillo.Theirliminal statusfillsthe mobileracialvoid leftby hisdemise.

III.Theintetptetationof screams 'ThefairestwomencomparedwithSarah are as apes comparedwitha humanbeing. Sarah'srelationto Eveis thesame, and, again, Evewas butan ape comparedwithAdam.' - Commentary on Genesis In her compellingbook, PrimateVisions,Donna amongrace, sex Harawayexploresthe intersections andspecies inthestudyof primates duringthe 1800s and early 1900s. BeforeWW II,westernnations, includingthe UnitedStates, Germanyand France supportedprimateresearchprojects.Inthatresearch, notes Haraway,blacks,women and animalswere conjoinedin fantasyand in the veryworkingcondiThelinkageof theterms'race', tionsof experiments56. 'sex'and 'species',whichHarawaytraces,reminds us thattheirconvergencein Americanjunglefilmsof inwhich continuum the 1930s is partof an historical the moviesplayed butone part. Writingof the key figuresin primatestudiesin the early partof thiscentury,Harawaysummarizes and ape-hunter,CarlAkethe effortsof taxidermist in African Hallin the American ley. Culminating his Museumof NaturalHistory,opened in 1936, Ake-

RhonaJ. Berenstein ley's jungle expeditions in the 1910s and 1920s focused on finding and preserving, through taxidermy, the greatest beasts of the jungle. Akeley adhered to the Darwinianassumptionthat the gorilla is the human forefather,and thus spent years trying to shoot (with a camera and a gun) the perfect specimen. Despite his destructionof apes and other animals, Akeley claimed he wanted to make hunting less attractive.His brand of killingwas differentfrom others because he preserved animals for museums. In keeping with his convoluted rationalizations, Akeley took white women on his gorilla expeditions as a means of dissuading hunting among white men. Like Carl Denham (Bruce Cabot), the film director who employs Ann Darrow to be his lead actress in King Kong, Akeley invited women to the jungle so that they could play a part. ButunlikeAnn, whose rehearsed performances required that she exhibitterrorwhen confrontedwith a monstrousape, Akeley's intentwas for women to become fearless hunters. According to Haraway, his logic was as follows: 'The best thing to reduce the potency of game for heroic huntings is to demonstrate that inexperienced women could safely do the same thing'57. Akeley relied on contradictory logic: women were aligned with aggressive male behaviour and given free rein to interact with fierce gorillas, yet their ability to aggress feminized the sport, renderingit less attractiveto men and implying thatwomen do not need protectionfromapes. While Akeley tried to use white women as huntersin order to make expeditions less appealing, jungle-adventureand jungle-horrorfilms relished the white woman-ape encounter. That encounter was utilized most frequently in two ways: (1) to align heroines with the dark creatures of the jungle, i.e. white women do not need to be saved because they are similarto and desire theirdark aggressors; and (2) to position white women in a more conventional role, i.e. heroines are incapable of defending themselves and must be saved from their racial and primatological inferiors. Akeley's jungle effortsare importantto the consideration of Schoedsack and Cooper's King Kong. First,the particularape he was most committed to preservingwas not unlikethe over-sized gorilla that approaches Ann on-screen. As Haraway asserts: 'There existed an image of an animal which was somehow the gorilla ... That particulartone of per-

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fectioncouldonly be heardin the male mode'58.In minutescreamingsessionforher'60.More recently, a sense, the seeds of curiosityand heterosexual CalvinT. Beck proclaimedWray's vocal powers: romancethatinformthe cross-speciesunionof King 'One of the picture'smagneticattractionsis the fact Kongwere alreadyin operationon Akeley'sexpedi- that Ann Darrow,once she's seen Kong, never tions in the firsttwo decades of the century.For seems to stop screaming'61.The female screamis and FayWray'scontribuAkeleyand KingKong'sdirectors,a white-woman/ significantto jungle-horror, most as to the alliance is tion desirable. is not to be underestimated: Second, male-ape generictrope just the Denrealm 'Monsters womenscream,and when excited KingKongprivileges specular justget (Carl ham goes to the jungleto filmKong and directs this is where Fay Wray came in. Nobody did it Ann'sresponseto the sightof the gorillabeforeshe betterthan Fay Wray ...162 meets him),so too did Akeley'sproductsof taxWhile the female scream may, as Anthony focalize the realm: his were visual idermy Ambrogioasserts, excite monsters,its functionin apes stuffedforan inquisitive humangaze. KingKongis morecomplex,seeing as it is intimately Butthereis a significantdifferencebetweenthe connectedto spectacleand performance.Afterall, displayof Akeley'sapes in the AfricanHalland the Wray'scharacter,AnnDarrow,is hiredas an acof the gorillain KingKong.TheAfri- tress.InThePhilosophy of Horror,Noel Carrolluses representation can Hall is a specularenvironment hauntedby in- theexampleof KingKongto arguethattheemotions completeness,by the very absence of the ape's of horror'saudiences parallelthe emotionsof the physicalmovementand engagementwith specta- fictionalcharacterswho confrontmonsters: tors.Althoughthe animalsdisplayedat the Museum 'In the classic film King Kong, for example, of NaturalHistoryare meantto providethe illusion thereis a scene on the ship duringthe journey thattheyare alive, the museum-setting also confirms to SkullIslandin which the fictionaldirector, thattheyare not, thattheirthreatsto the whiterace, Carl Denham,stages a screen test for Ann especiallyitswomen,are denied the museum-goer. Darrow ... The off-screen motivationsthat DenFromthisperspective,the jungle-horror film,and hamsupplieshisstarletcan be takenas a set of KingKong in particular,more sensationallynegoinstructions for the way both Ann Darrowand tiatesthe relationship betweenthe specularsurveillthe audienceare to reactto the firstapparition ance of the junglebeast and the risqueencounter of Kong'63. betweenthatbeast and a whitewoman.While the which convergenceof women and apes in the studyof According to Carroll,the instructions was limitedby the requisitesof science Denhamprovidesthe audience,via Ann,are direcprimatology and propriety(theunioncouldonlygo so far),King tionson how to be horrified. As Denham'soff-screen loose ina filmicfantasy.(In voice tells her: 'Now you look higher. You're Kongletthatrelationship the censorshipera of the 1930s the filmwas also amazed. Youreyes open wider. It'shorribleAnn, social mores;by theend of butyou can'tlookaway. There'sno chanceforyou, subjectto contemporary the decade, the scene in which the ape gently Ann, no escape. You'rehelpless, Ann, helpless. removesAnn'sclotheswas cutfrommostprints.) There'sjustone chance. Ifyou can scream,butyour LikeAkeley's AfricanHall, the cinema con- throat'sparalyzed.Scream,Ann,cry.Perhapsifyou structsthe ape as a spectacle of vast proportions. didn'tsee it you could scream. Throwyour arms Unlikethe museum'sone-way set-up, King Kong acrossyourface and scream.Screamforyourlife'. relieson the beast'sgaze at the white heroineand Ann is an obedient and responsiveactress. She her returnedlook at him,whichalternatesbetween playsthe partof thevictimto an unseenhorrorwith and fear.AnnDarrow'sstock-in-trade verve,and withDenham'sfinaldirectionAnnletsout inquisitiveness is an ear-piercingscream,which, accordingto re- thefilm'sfirstbloodcurdling, 'FayWrayscream'. viewers,also representedherprimaryfunctionin the Thereare, Ithink,severalways inwhichto read movie.As Louella0. Parsonsnoted, 'MissWray's thisscene in additionto its provisionof instructive chiefdutyis to screamand screamand scream,and emotionaladvice. Thissequence can also be read thisshe does mosteffectively'59. TheVarietyreporter as a metaphorforthefunctionof themaledirectorin confirmedParsons'evaluation:'[Thefilm's]a 96- cinema, especiallyhorrorcinema. Butif Denham's

330 330

Berenstein Rhon aJ. Berenstein RhonaJ.

also indicatethat, leftto her own devices, Ann may not have reacted to Kong in quite the same way. It follows that Ann'sresponseto the creaturewhen they meet is a protractedversionof the performanceshe rehearsed on theship. She looksdown, she looksup and sees Kong, she can'tscream,and finally she screamsbloodymurder. Ann'srepetition and elaborationof her rehearsedresponses lend an air of masqueradeto herfirstmeeting with Kong,and suggest thatthe relationship between the actress and the overgrownape is notsimplythat between a victimand mont e o .. Exi. .... aLster. Thisclaim is reinforced by press and publicitymaterials. Forexample, a few hs t te monthspriorto KingKong's release, LosAngeles readers twere given an intimatepeak V: at Fay Wray at home. The piece was accompaniedby e fascinatedand Fig.9. InthisRKOpublicitystill,FayWrayposes as the a photo of Wray playing startledheroinewho gazes at the off-screenKong. witha dog and thefollowing [?1933 RKORadioPictures,Inc.Courtesyof theAcadlemyof Motion PictureArtsand Sciences.] caption:'Thelatestin canine harmony. Fay Wray has words are to serve this larger role they are am- taughtherpet, Kong, to howlsoprano ...,64. Albiguous.On the one hand, DenhamcontrolsAnn, thoughthe storyranbeforethe filmdebuted, it may decidinghereverymoveas an omniscientoff-screen have contributedto an impressionof ambiguityrevoice to whichtheactressresponds.He does, inthis garding Ann Darrow's rapportwith Kong; like sense, call the shots.On the otherhand, Denham's Wray'sdog, the ape may have been the object of role,hisdirectorial function,underscores heraffection,and not justfear. prescriptive the constructedaspect of Ann'sfear, the artificiality Ann's horrifiedreactionsto Kong were also of the responsesshe is orderedto deliver(Fig.9). tempered by advertisements.For example, three Denhamserves simultaneously as a director days after the premiereof the picture, the Los who manipulateshisactressaccordingto stereotypi- Angeles Examinerrana Luxsoap ad featuringFay cal conventions,and as a signifierof self-reflexivity Wray. Fine-print encouragedreadersto see RKO's in relationto femaleroles.Themereneed forhimto filmand the bylinenoted:'A thousandthrills... and tell Ann what her reactionsare so insistently,to hers the thrillof SupremeBeauty'65.That Wray decide hereverymovein advance, impliesa scepti- promotedsoap and that her appearance in King cismabout her inclinationto react in the way pres- Kongwas linkedto femalebeautytips suggestthat cribedunlesshe tellsherto do so. Thescene might audiencesmay have read her performancein rela.

White heroinesand and hearts heartsof darkness darkness White heroines tion to a range of discourses:e.g. the film itself, movie posters,tie-inads, and star profilesof Fay Wray. LikeWray'scharacter,Kongtoo is associated with the theatreand performancein the film.This suggeststhathe mayhave morein commonwiththe heroinethana conventionalreadingindicates.Before I pursuethisanalysisof the Ann-Kongrelationship, however,Iwouldliketo notethe mostpopular readingof theirrapport,in whichKongis a projectionof two typesof maledesiresand threats:Kong is eithera black rapist66or a projectionof white malevirility67. Of the numerous criticalwritingson thefilmonly Noel Carroll's,'King Kong: Ape and Essence', leavesroomfora morecomplexand subtlereading. As Carrollsees it, 'partof the fascinationof the original[film]was itsopennessto interpretive play'. And he adds: 'Theequationof Kong,who is introduced as the ultimaterapist,withDarrow,an archetypalvictim,is not as perverseas it firstappears. Bothare properobjects of Depressionethos'68.In Carroll'sestimation,King Kong is both a conventionalhorrorscenario,with Kongas an aggressive male figure,and a more malleablenegotiationof sexualand economicrelations. Infact, whereasmostcriticsequate Kongwith the expressionof blackor whitemalevirility,Carroll argues that the movie is markedby a fear-of-sex theme,whichaligns sexualdesirewiththe destructionof masculinity. Carroll'sapproachto KingKong providesa good beginningfor my analysisof the movie.ButwhereCarrolllimitsthefilm'sdoublingof the gorillaand the heroineto theirsimilarstatusin the Depression(she begins the filmin a food-line and he becomes an economiccommodity),closer examinationsuggestsa moreextensivealignment. Kong, like Ann, performsfor an audience. Whereasherdisplayof fear is filmedby Denhamwith male crew memberslookingon - Kong'sappearance in New Yorkis moretheatricalthancinematic.Ann'sfirstencounterwith Kong,however,is chainedperformance in quitesimilarto the monster's the BigApple(Fig. 10). She is tiedwitharmsraised betweentwo long poles, and herprimary audience, Kong, approaches fromthe junglewhich sprawls beforeher. When Kongis similarly chainedon the New Yorkstage laterinthefilm,he enactswhatAnn couldnot. He breaksfreeand attackshisaudience.

331 This reading impliesthat Kong and Ann are both doubles and adversaries,that had she been able to free her handsearlierin the filmshe would have triedto attack(or at least resist)the creature that approached her. Thisinterpretation also sugin acts out what gests that, being doubled, Kong Ann mighthave likedto do to the otheraudiences forwhomshe is a moreor lesscaptivespectacle(the audienceof blackmalevillagerswho kidnapherin orderto sacrificeherto Kongand the directorand crewmenwho watch her performher fear on the ship). Ann's doublingwith Kong is, therefore,a resultof theirsimilarstatusas spectacles,as well as theirinversepositioningas victimand aggressor. Fromthis perspective,Kong'sabilityto fightthose who look at him throughmost of the movie is a surrogateactionforAnn(Fig. 10). Ann'sstatusas a doubleforthatwhichis monstrousand threatening is reinforcedby heralignment with people of colour. That non-whitesand nonhumansare equatedin KingKong'stextualuniverse is a racistattitudenotto be overlooked,and reminds us of the monstrosity of the dark races elaborated upon earlier.Ann'saffinitywith non-whitesis first suggested by Charlie, the ship's Chinese cook. Charlie'sjob implicitly he is resignifiesfemininity; sponsiblefor feeding the men, for preparingtheir food. While Charlie'sfemininerole already aligns himwithAnn,theirdoublingis indicatedmostforcefullyby hiswillingnessto assumeherposition.When he watches herscreen-test,standingon the (proverbial)bottomrungof a ladder,he asks:'Doyou think maybe he [Denham]take my picture,huh'?That Charliewishes to take Ann'splace in frontof the camera solidifiestheiralignmentand confirmsthat people of colour, like white women and racially ambiguousmonsters,are the stuffof which spectaclesare made. Ann'sdoublingwithblackwomenoccursmost obviouslyin the scene in which the Chief, witch doctor, and villagersprepare to sacrifice her to Kong.Annassumespreciselythe same positionin this ritualas that occupied by a frightenedblack maiden in an earlierscene. While we can only assumethatthe blackwoman perishedin herunion with Kong, as a white heroine,Ann'sfate is less dismal. Noel Carrolltakesnoteof thedoublingfunction

.

..

.

332 332

Rhona J. Berenstein Rhona Berenstein

FAY WRAY

* ROBT. ARMSTRONG

nl r) iL

.._r'AnnC, T ;,T-

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.e EDGAR WALACE.l >... ..,.., ?

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Fig. 10. Displayedforan audienceon the New Yorkstage, Kong'spositionrecallsAnn's(FayWray) vulnerablestanceon the jungleisland. [01933 RKORadioPictures,Inc.] of this sequence and of its racial overtones:'Darrow's sacrifice on the island bears a numberof strongformalrelationsto Kong'sexhibitionin New York... IfDarrowis a whitespeck on a darkfield, thenKongis a blackfigureon a whiteground'69.As the preceding examples indicate, the film establishes a congruenceamong people of colour, a white woman, and a simianmonster.Thus,while Ann,Charlieand the blackmaidenare alignedwith femininepassivityand victimization,they are also doubledwiththe darkcreaturewho terrorizesmen and women,and blacksand whitesalike(Fig. 1 1). like otherheroines,Ann'srelationship to Kong is thatof a victimto a monster,a double for the monster,and a potentialromanticpartnerto the monster.The ambiguityof her responsesto Kong was well expressedby the actressin 1969. As Fay Wray noted of her travailswhen clutchedin the

ape's mechanicalpaw: 'When I could see thatthe momentof minimum safetyhad arrived,I wouldcall to the director and ask to be loweredto imploringly the floor. I would have a few minutesrest, be resecuredin the paw, and then the ordeal would begin all over again - a kind of pleasurableordeal'70.AlthoughWray's descriptionof her acting experiencesome thirty-six yearslatermayhave been nothingmorethana publicityploy intendedto sustain interestin the film,she articulatedthe pleasurepain, fear-desiretensionpresentwithinKingKong's fictionalworldand promotedin a range of horror filmsof the same period. Wray's comments reinforce an assumption made by AndrewGriffinin an articleon KingKong. Accordingto Griffin,Kongdoes notso muchpersonify projectedmale desiresas he does femaleones. Kong representsAnn's unconscioussexual desire,

Whiteheroines heroinesand and hearts heartsof darkness darkness White

333

Fig. 11. As thislobbycard forthe 1942 re-issueof KingKongsuggests,the monstrousape terrifiedmen and womenalike. [?1942 RKORadioPictures,Inc.] 'justas big as she feared it would be if she ever wants to see (the view fromthe ship's deck, the gave in to it'71. Griffin'sanalysis furtherproble- villagers'rituals),and she wantsto know(wherethe matizesthe assumptionthat Kong is a decidedly ship is going, what is expected of her). In the male figure.Moreover,the ambiguitiesinherentin second part of the film, which is filled with her withKongcast the heroine'sbouts victimization, Annis punishedforheraggressiveness Ann'srelationship of screamingin a differentlight. In addition to - her scope of experience and abilityto act are servingas signifiersof fear, hervocal displaysmight narrowed. Herscreamsmayalso serveas disguisesforher also be mechanismsof masquerade:her means of with and desire for the fiend her independenteffortsin the realmof desire.Whereas disguising doubling undertheveneerof femininehelplessness. Jack,the hero,declareshisloveforherina romantic Ann'sscreamingmasksa numberof issues,not scene on the ship'sdeck, Anngives littleindication and power of thatshe reciprocateshis feelings. She seems more least of which are the monstrosity women. Heryells, which fillthe second halfof the bored by his declarationthan madly in love. She movie, may functionto divertattentionaway from failsto lookhimintheeye and does notgiveJackan herearliereffortsto gain independence.Throughout explicitverbal or gesturalresponse. Althoughshe the firstpartof the film- the sectionswhich take accepts his embraceat the end of the scene, Ann place in New York,on the ship, and on the island fails to convince that she shares the hero's sentibeforeshe is kidnapped- Ann is inquisitive.She ments.Rightafterthis sequence, however,the vil-

334 334 lagers kidnapher and sacrificeher to Kong. Her removalfromthe white man'sdomainmay be her punishmentfor refusingto reciprocatethe hero's declarationof love. Thatrefusalnot only sends her intoa darkcreature'sembrace,butpositionsheras a properobjectforwhitemaleheroism. Fromthe latterperspective,the exchange betweenJack and Ann on the ship's deck offersan additionalfunctionfor herspectacularscreamsand impendingcaptivity.Not onlydo herdramaticvocal displays disguise female independence and an aversion to heterosexualromance, but they also maskmaleassociationswithfemininity. Indeclaring his love for Ann, Jack occupies a conventionally female positionand equates Ann with a powerful role:it is up to herto accept or rejecthis avowal. In a two-shot, he says: '... I'm scared for you. I'msort

of, well, I'mscaredof you too. Ann,uh.Say, Iguess I love you'. Ann responds:'Why Jack, you hate women'.Jackcorrectsher:'Yeah,I know,butyou're notwomen.Say, I don'tsuppose, I mean,well, you don'tfeel anythinglikethataboutme'? Inhercloseup reactionshot, Annsays nothing.Herlip quivers slightlyand her head shakesalmostimperceptibly, butshe gives no definitiveresponse. The phrasing of Jack's declarationof love underscores Ann'sdifferencefromotherwomenand establishesthathis desire for her is feminized.Accordingto Jack'sromanticschema, being afraidof Ann and afraid for Ann constitutelove. Thisvery same combinationof fear and desire marksAnn's rapportwith Kong. By equatinghis love with fear and desire, and by tellingAnn that she is not a woman,Jack positionsAnnas Kong'sdouble. The monster,likeAnn,also elicitsthe fear and desireof a humanand defies conventionaldesignationsof sexualmembership.InherrapportwithJack,Annis his monsterand he occupiesthe positionof a frightened heroine. The precariousnessof Jack's gender traitsis withDenhamand well representedina conversation the Captainon theship'sdeck.Jackaskswherethe 'What's shipis going. Denhamanswersimpatiently: 'a matterJack?Areyou going soft on me'? When Jack lets him know that he is not concerned for himself,but for Ann, Denhamrephraseshis comment:'Oh you have gone soft on her, eh'? The sexual(and homosexual)connotationsof Denham's wordsare striking. Jackis losinghisphallichardness

Rhon a J. Berens Rhona tein Berenstein throughhis desire for a woman; he is being feminized. Butall thischanges due to Ann'skidnapping, which not only makesher the traditionalfrightened heroinebut also positionsJack as a macho hero. LikePeru'sresponseto Nina in TraderHorn,Jack needs to rescueAnn in orderto be a man. By the second partof the film,afterhavingsaved Annon the island,Jack'sgenderambiguitiesare combined with masculinetraits.Forexample, when Kong is displayedon the New Yorkstage in a gala performance,Jackcomplainsof havingto wear a tuxedo, or as he phrasesit, 'a monkeysuit'.Thatis, he too is alignedwithKong. Butwhatof Kong'sinterstitial position?He is the heroine'ssuitorand is aligned with the black villagerswho worshiphim.LikeJackand Ann,whose the narrative,so gender traitsvacillatethroughout too is Kong an ambivalentfigure, at once agFoxcalls his treatment of gressiveand gentle(Julian Ann 'maternal'72). The Pressbookfor the 1942 rereleaseof KingKongemphasizedthemonster's dual naturein a section entitled'TenderApe'. As the accompanyingstoryproclaimed:'Kongabductsher [Ann] in the jungle,almostdestroysall hercompanions, then treatsher with an immenselyawkward tenderness...'73. Kongis botha masculineaggressorand femininecaretaker. In addition to gender ambiguity,Kong embodies racialand ontologicalslippage- he is similar to and differentfrom blacks and humans. According to Donna Haraway, Kong takes his place in a lineof monstersspawnedby theVictorian LikeFrankenstein's creationhe is a imagination74. who in Louise Krasniewicz and over-reacher, tragic Michael Blitz'swords, 'attemptsto touch across species and racial boundaries'.Krasniewiczand BlitzinsistthatKong'stouchis markedby eroticism: '[Kong]was allowed to touch humanfemales as long as they were black natives,or in the racist discoursesof the 1930s, as long as those women were more or less like him- merelyprotohuman. Touchinga whitewomancaused new problemsbut also suggested new possibilitiesbecause she offered Kongthe opportunity to shiftthe boundaries and the modelforhumanness'75. Kong'sbond withAnnis, therefore,the terrain in whichracialcrossingoccurs.Likeotherheroines, Annis interstitial. She is the mid-point betweenKong

Whiteheroines heroinesand and hearts heartsof darkness darkness White and civilization,betweenblackand whitemen,and between the jungleand New York.Ann's liminal status is figurativelyrepresentedin the scene in which, tied to a stake, she awaits Kong'sarrival. Here,she is representedas a (albeitforced)border between the land where the white men roamand the jungle in which the simian reigns. When the over-sizedape untiesher and carriesher into the depthsof his home, the dividingline between the whiteand blackworldsis dissolved,and the white men,led byJack,enterthe jungleintentuponsaving the heroine. Krasniewiczand BlitzcontendthatKingKong barelystartsthisprocessof boundarytransgression before closing with Ann'srefusalof Kong'stouch. to remember Despitethe conclusion,it is important that Ann's relationshipwith Kong is much more ambiguous and enduring than the conventional values prescribedin the closing momentswould lead us to believe. Afterall, the bond forged between the monsterand Ann not only connoteshis victimization of her, but also intimatesher fascinationwithand similarity to him.Fromthisperspective, Ann Darrow'spositionas a screamingheroineis quite similarto the roles occupied by otherjungle women;likethem,she is a victimof darkcreatures, but her boutsof screamingalso disguisethe possibilitiesthatwomenare monstrous,pose a threatto men, can and do act independently,and thatmen are feminine.One of the latentand enduringmessages of King Kong, then, is that white men and womenare notas differentfromthedarkerracesas has been re-assertedin whitewesterndiscourses.

335 tionforwhiteaudiences,and perhapsblackones as well, is the characterwho lies bleeding on the pavementfarbelowthe pinnacleof the EmpireState Building.Here, one of the spectatorialdelightsof and jungle-horror narratives jungle-adventure maybe their representationof racial and sexual transgressions,and theirvalorizationof the dark and monstrousforces of the jungle, albeit withinthe relativelysafe confinesof a movie theatre.Jungle filmsof the 1930s constructnarrativesin which conventionalrepresentations finda foothold,butare unconventional joined by sex-role, gender, and racialdisplays. In the end, the white heterosexual of thesimian couplesurvives,butso too do remnants and blackmonstersand of the white heroineswho followthemintothe depthsof theirdarkhome. That white women serve interstitialroles in 1930s' junglefilmsby no meansrendersthesetexts ideologicallyprogressive.Infact, theyare markedly complicitwiththe largermappingsof racistattitudes thatpunctuatedthe era as a whole. However,the racialliminality and mobilityof white heroinessuggest that dominantculture'sinvestmentin a racial hierarchy,in assertingthe primacyof whitenessand the masteryof white masculinity,was also under threatfromwithin.By being bothrepresentatives of whitenessand passingforwhite,heroinesremindus of the precariousness of racistdesignations.These filmsinadvertently announce,by theirveryambivalent convergencesbetween race and gender, that the insisted-upon superiorityof whites is itselfthe most elaborate ruse, the masqueradethat keeps passingitselfoff as truth.*

I would like to thank Lia Hotchkissfor her aid in rethis article.Thanksare also due to Ann Dosearching A range of junglefilmsalign monstrosity withdarknahueand MarkLanger,whose carefulreadingsof and nessand positionthewhitewomanas thefigurewho suggestionsfor an earlierdraftof 'White Heroinesand negotiatesthe chasmbetweenthe whiteand black Heartsof Darkness'greatlyimprovedthisversion.

IV.Jungle masks

worlds.Her role is ambiguous.She is underthreat and in need of white male care and she is liminal, Notes aligned withand likenedto monsters,blacks,and 1. The Production Code (MPA)file includesa number junglecreatures.Thefigurationof white heroinesin of memosregardingthe MPPDA's discoveryof Injunglenarrativesunderscoresthe slippage of race gagi's fraudulentstatus.For example, in a letter dated 8 October1930 fromJohnV. Wilsonto Mr and gendertraitsinthesepictures,and highlights the GabrielL.Hess, GeneralAttorneyforthe MPPDA, and monstrous results of of terrifying transgressions Wilsonnotes:'Aftereffortscoveringa long periodI the conventionalboundariesof sex, species and havefinallybeen able to inducethe manwho took race. the partof the gorillain 'INGAGI'to ... [sign an] Ifpopularaudienceaccountsof KingKongare affidavitto certainfacts'.(Production Code [MPAA] LosAngeles).Said files, MargaretHerrickLibrary, correct,the film'smostsustainedlocusof identifica-

RhonaJ. Berenstein

336 affidavit,signed by CharlesGemora, is also includedinthefileand detailsGemora'sgorillaacting travailsin thefilm. 2.

Thismaterialis drawnfroman articleby Gerald Peary 'MissingLinks:The Jungle Origin of King Kong'.TheGirlin theHairyPaw.RonaldGottesman and HarryGeduld[(Eds.) (New York:AvonBooks, 1976), 42. Peary's research suggests that the women who participatedin the filmwere white actressesmadeupto lookblack.However,an article devotedto the findingsof the FederalTradeCommission'sinvestigationinto Ingagiincludedthe following claim: 'Thenativewoman representedas beingsacrificedby hertribeto thegorillaswas a Los Angeles colored woman, while the people representedas 'strangecreaturesapparentlyhalf-human and half-ape'were actuallycoloredpeople livingin LosAngelesmadeupforthepurposeof the picture', FrancisL.Burt,'Officially"Fake" Now', TheMotion PictureHeraldv. 1 1 1, #7 (13 May 1933). Thatat leastone of thewomeninvolvedinthefilmwas black is reinforcedby CharlesGemora'saffidavit(see endnote #1): '[O]ne of these scenes which appeared in said picture,showed him [Gemora] dressedas a gorillaseizingand abductinga native woman representedby a colored actress of Los Angeles'(CharlesGemora,'Affidavit', [8 October, Code [MPA]files,MargaretHer1930] Production LosAngeles).Thecommentsof a conrickLibrary, confusethe matter:'[The reviewerfurther temporary ape women]are not as blackas expectedforthe jungle'(sourceunknown,'Ingagi'[16 April1930], LosAngeles,clippingin inMargaretHerrick Library, Production file).WhileI preferthefindingsof Peary's researchto those of TheMotionPictureHerald,a degree of racialdisguiseis at workin bothcases.

3.

PassesCensorsForSecondTimein Ohio; "'Ingagi" HeraldExtendedRunsForSome', The Exhibitors Worldv. 100, #7 (6 August1930), 34.

4.

Is RevivedWith New JohnS. Cohen,Jr., "'Kongo" Sun(17 November1932). Terrors',

5.

Misses as Kate Cameron,'RialtoPicture"Kongo" Good Horror',DailyNews (17 November1932). also noted AlSherman,whowrotefortheTelegraph, when he delivery Kongo'sdisappointinggeneric inthefilm.AlSherman, to the'missedhorror' referred 'Dialogue is Banal', Telegraph(17 November 1932).

6.

is notlimited Theconflationof racewithmonstrosity to junglemovies;forexampleat thebeginningof the 1930s a seriesof FuManchufilmswere produced and thatstarreda Chinesedoctorwhose monstrosity evil, as well as fascinationwere linkedto his race Dr.FuManchu[ 1929, Paramount], (TheMysterious

TheReturn of Dr. FuManchu[1930, Paramount], and Daughterof theDragon[1931, Paramount]). 7.

New YorkTimes(17 March 1931). The second froman unknown source(16 April1930) quotationis LosAngeles, foundin theMargaretHerrickLibrary, Code [MPAA]file. clippingin Production

8.

FrantzFanonBlackSkin,WhiteMasksCharlesLam Markmann (Trans.) (New York:GrovePress,1967), 30.

9.

HumanOdRobertBogdanFreakShow:Presenting and Profit(Chicagoand LonditiesforAmusement don:TheUniversity of ChicagoPress,1988), 192.

10.

The BlackImage in the George M. Fredrickson CharacWhiteMind:TheDebateon Afro-American terand Destiny,1817-1914 (New Yorkand San Francisco:Harperand Row, 1971), 276.

11.

BogdanFreakShow, 176-177.

12.

inthe of race-writings Forexample,in hisdescription describesthe positionof early 1900s, Fredrickson CharlesCarrollwho claimed:'the apelike Negro of Eve',and miscegenation was the actual'tempter was the greatest of all sins ...' FredricksonThe Black

Image,277.

13.

PaulHochWhiteHeroBlackBeast:Racism,Sexism and the Mask of Masculinity (London:PlutoPress, 1979), 43.

14.

HochWhiteHeroBlackBeast,51.

15.

As ValerieSmithnotes: 'Mythsof blackmale and female sexual appetitivenesswere constructedto enablecertainwhitemenduringslaverytoexerttheir rightsoverthe bodies of blackmenand whiteand TheCase of Interracial blackwomen'SplitAffinities: Rape', Conflictsin Feminism,MarianneHirsch& EvelynFox Keller(Eds.) (New York:Routledge, 1990), 272.

16.

Angela Y. Davis, Women,Race and Class (New York:RandomHouse, 1981), 184-185.

17.

DavisWomen, 189.

18.

Quoted in Dan Carter,Scottsboro:An American StateUP, 1969), Tragedy(BatonRouge:Louisiana the 36. The SupremeCourteventuallyover-turned lowercourt'sruling.

19.

Forthe purposesof thisarticle,I will focus on this phenomenonwithreferenceto whiteheroines,however, therewere 1930s junglefilmsin whichwhite men also crossed the 'colourline': e.g. Kongo (1932, MGM),TheMostDangerousGame(1932, RKO),Prestige(1932, RKO),and WhiteWoman (1933, Paramount).

Whiteheroinesand heartsof darkness 20.

21.

Thisscenariotakes a slightlydifferentformin the Tarzanfilmsof theera, inwhichthewhitemalevies fora mediativepositionwiththewhiteheroine,Jane. Inthisinstance,the herois a moresuccessfulnegotiatorin the sense that his affinitywith apes and blacksis betterdeveloped than hers. DespiteTarzan'smoredistinctassociationwiththedarkerraces, however,he servesa conventionalherorole,often savingJane fromthe (bad)'savages'.Thus,likethe heroinesof otherjunglefilms,Janealso occupiesan mediativepositionbetweenthewhiteand important blackworlds.

337 34.

In Library of Congress,Washington,D.C., microfichefiles.

35.

'BlondeCaptive'Variety(1 March1932).

36.

MordauntHall,'StrangeExperiencesof an ExpeditionIntotheWildsof Northern New York Australia', Times(29 February1932), 21; emphasismine.

37.

JohnEllisVisibleFictions: Cinema,Television,Video (London,Bostonand Melbourne:Routledgeand KeganPaul,1982), 31.

38. As bell hookswrotein 1984: [W]hitewomenwho dominatefeministdiscoursetoday rarelyquestion whetheror nottheirperspectiveon women'sreality is true to the lived experiencesof women as a collectivegroup.Nor are theyaware of the extent to which theirperspectivesreflectrace and class biases,althoughtherehasbeena greaterawareness of biases in recentyears. Racismabounds in the whitesuprewritingsof whitefeminists,reinforcing macyand negatingthe possibilitythatwomenwill bondpolitically acrossethnicand racialboundaries' FeministTheory:FromMarginto Center(Boston: 39. SouthEndPress,1984), 3.

Thegenericboundarybetweenthe junglefilmand the jungletravelfilmis sometimesblurry.Inthecase of TheBlondeCaptive,genericoverlapis created via the tensionbetweenthe film'spublicity,which invokesthe fictionaljunglenarrative,and the film's The content,whichrelieson thetraveldocumentary. early 1930s, likethe precedingdecade, witnessed thedistribution of a rangeof filmsthatfeaturedwhite 'explorers' makingtheirway throughthewildsof the thirdworld.Another1932 releasewas Congorilla (Fox),a travelfilm led by Mr. and Mrs Martin Johnston.

22.

MaryAnn Doane FemmesFatales:Feminism,Film 40. Theory,Psychoanalysis(New Yorkand London: Routledge,1991), 209-248.

23.

BramDijkstraIdols of Perversity: Fantasiesof FeminineEvilin Fin-de-Siecle Culture(New Yorkand Oxford:OxfordUP, 1986), 290.

24.

Doane FemmesFatales,214.

25.

RichardDyer'White',Screen29.4 (Autumn 1988), 45.

26.

Donna HarawayPrimateVisions:Gender, Race, and Naturein the Worldof ModemScience(New Yorkand London:Routledge,1989), 154.

27.

Homi Bhabha'Of Mimicryand Man: The Ambivalence of Colonial Discourse',October(Spring 1984), 126.

28.

'TheBlondeCaptive'TheMotionPictureHeraldv. 106, #10 (5 March1932), 66.

29.

TheMotionPictureHerald(30 April1932), 41.

30.

TheMotionPictureHerald(28 May 1932), 101.

31.

TheMotionPictureHerald(25 June1932), 55.

32.

Fredrickson TheBlackImage,327.

33.

DavidN. Rose 'KingKong:Race, Sex, and Rebellion'JumpCut6 (March-April 1975), 8.

41.

WilliamM. Pizor,'TheBlondeCaptive'Liberty (9 April1932). MordauntHall,'StrangeExperiences of an ExpeditionIntotheWildsof Northern New York Australia', Times(29 February1932), 21. In addition,The Production Code fileforTheBlondeCaptiveincludes a typed reviewof the film,signed by R.E.P.and dated 8 March1932, withthefollowingto say: 'To of thestoryisa littletoosmooth mymindthecontinuity to be trueandespeciallyaroundtheeyes and upper partof the face thewomanseems to be made up'. InMargaretHerrick LosAngeles,Production Library, Code [MPA]file. thefilmwas neverinvestigated on thebasis Although of veracity,it came before the Production Code in 1942, sometenyearsafteritsinitial Adminstration release,to receivea seal of approval.Thissuggests thatthefilmwas notapprovedin 1932, whichis not of the 1930 surprising consideringitstransgressions Production Code: 'Miscegenation(sex relationship between the white and black races)is forbidden' (quotedin 'Appellate'sBrief').Thatthe film was releasedin thheUnitedStateswithoutapprovalby Will Hays'office is due to the fact thatTheBlonde Captivewas producedby an Australian company and distributedby a Britishfirm.In an interesting historical twist,thelegalcounselwhoauthoredCapital Films'appeal to the PCAto approvethe picture in 1942, resortedto anti-fascist rhetoricin orderto critiquethe miscegenationelementsof theCode: 'It is certainlythe mostreactionarystandforthe most towit... tohavewithinitscode progressiveinstitution a prohibition whichabsolutelyenunciatesthe racial

RhonaJ. Berenstein

338 in its inceptionand tendsto barriersdiscriminatory sustainby analogythetheoryof race problemadvocated by Nazi Germanyand againstwhichwe are withoutany todaysheddingthebloodof ourcitizenry distinctionto race, creed or color'. 'Appellate's 51. LosAngeles, Brief',n.d. InMargaretHerrick Library, Code [MPA]file. Production 42.

Thesuccessof Lewis'biographywas remarked upon filmreviewer:'(Trader by at leastone contemporary of the life of the Hornis) a faithfulreproduction famousAfricantraderwhose lifestoryhas captured the imaginationof millionsof book lovers'.'Trader 52. (21 June1931). Horn',MinneapolisSundayTribune

43.

Horn'TheMotionPictureHeraldv. 102, #1 'Trader (3January1931), 71.

44.

TheMotionPictureHeraldv. 102, #8 (21 February 1931), 70.

45.

TraderHornPressbook,inMargaretHerrick Library, files.Inadditionto thecruel LosAngeles,microfiche goddess and romancethemes, the Pressbookintie-insto productsthatappeared cludedexploitation in stillsfromthe film.The productsincludedUnder- 53. Packardcars, LiptonTea, Shell wood Typewriters, MotorOil and SingerSewing Machines.At least one of thetie-insadded someambiguityto thewhite goddess character,played by EdwinaBooth.ActheCotyperfume information, cordingtothepublicity was chosen by Boothas her facalled L'Aimant, vouriteand she tookitwithheron herjungleexpedi- 54. tion.Thus,hercharactermayhavebeen savage, but theactresswho playedher,viewerswere informed, was quitecivilized.

46.

AniJohnS. Cohen,Jr., ' "Trader Horn",or Thrills, mals and Sex in DarkestAfrica',Sun (4 February 1931).

47. 48.

Richard Watts,Jr.,'TraderHorn',HeraldTribune (4 February1931). 55. ' "Trader Anior S. John Cohen,Jr., Horn", Thrills, malsand Sex in Darkerst Africa',Sun.(4 February 1931).

49.

MordauntHall,'AnImpressive JungleMelodrama', New YorkTimes(4 February1931).

50.

RichardMurray,'TraderHorn',StandardUnion(4 February1931). Onlytwo reviewers,of theeleven reviews perused, thoughtBooth was less than Delecredibleas a savage. Forexample,Thornton hantycritiquedBooth'ssnow whiteskin,thoughshe was supposedto have livedin the junglefortwenty Delahanty,'TheNew Film',Post(4 years.Thornton February1931). JuliaShawellwas moresceptical: 'EdwinaBooth... does notonce suggestthe white girlcapturedby man-eatingnativesat infancyand

reared to practicesmore ruthlessthan her fosterpeople' Julia Shawell, 'Screen-views',Graphic (Wednesday,4 February1931). 1932 was also the year in whichErieC. Kenton's Islandof LostSoulswas released.The relationship filmand otherjunglenarratives betweenKenton's is - itexplicitlycastsa female notto be over-estimated role:she is part-animal, figure,Lota,in an interstitial As a viableromantic part-human. objectforthehero for a segmentof the narrative,she is also part-feand part-dark/part-white. male/part-human In TheDevilFindsWork,JamesBaldwinmentions theappeal of Tarzanand Rudolph Valentino's characterinTheSheiktowhiteaudiences:'BoththeSheik and Tarzanare white men who look and act like blackmen- act likeblackmen,thatis, accordingto thewhiteimagination whichhas createdthem:one can eat one's cake withouthavingit, or one can have one's cakes withouteatingit'. TheDevilFinds Work(New York:The Dial Press, 1976), 38. In Baldwin'sterms,Tarzanis whites'projectionof a whitemanposingas a blackman. UnlikeTheBlondeCaptiveand TraderHorn,The Savage Girl,thoughit depicts interstitial qualities, was not popularwithaudiencesor reviewers,as a piece in Variety suggested:"'SavageGirl"is strictly forthelowestbrackets'. Chic., 'SavageGirl',Variety (2 May 1933). Thetitlesof the promotional articlesand catchlines thatappearedinthefilm'sPressbook suggestthatThe Savage Girlwas marketedon the premisethatThe Girlcould not be tamed:'Beautiful White"Savage Girl"More DangerousThan Wild Beasts';'Two WhiteMenanda Savage Beauty'.'TheSavageGirl -white! - beautiful!-alone!- menhuntedherdown - and became ... her slave'! InMargaretHerrick file. LosAngeles,clippingin Production Library, 'Half-breed' is the phraseused byJamesE.Mitchell in his review of the film.James E. Mitchell,"'4 LosAngeles Frightened People"Likedat Paramount', Examiner (26 January1934). Inanothercontemporary review,the preferredphrasewas 'half-caste'. Abel., '4 FrightenedPeople' Variety(30 January 1934). In both examples, Carrillo'scharacteris bestowed a liminalracial statusthat is deemed inadequate,i.e., 'half'vs whole.

56.

HarawayPrimateVisions,20.

57.

HarawayPrimateVisions,34.

58.

HarawayPrimateVisions,41.

59.

and SuspenseFill Thrills Louella O. Parsons,'Horror, Picture',LosAngelesExaminer (25 March1933).

60.

(7 March1933). Bige, 'KingKong',Variety

Whiteheroinesand heartsof darkness 61.

CalvinT. Beck ScreamQueens: Heroinesof the Horrors (New York:MacMillan,1978), 84.

62.

Films'First Ambrogio'FayWray:Horror Sex Anthony Symbol',Erosin the Mind'sEye:Sexualityand the inArtandFilm,DonaldPalumbo Fantastic (Ed.)(New York:GreenwoodPress,1986), 128.

63.

of Horroror Paradoxes Noel CarrollThePhilosophy of the Heart(New Yorkand London:Routledge, 1990), 17.

64.

LosAngelesSundayTimes(1 1 September1932).

65.

LosAngelesExaminer (27 March1933).

66.

Forexample,see RonaldGottesman &HarryGeduld (Eds.)TheGirlin theHairyPaw:KingKongas Myth and Monster(New York:AvonBooks, 1976) and DavidJ. Hogan DarkRomance:Sexualityin the HorrorFilm(New York:McFarland,1986).

67.

68.

339 69.

Carroll'KingKong',233.

70.

Quoted in BeckScreamQueens, 84. Wray cited othercontradictory aspectsof KingKongwhen she wroteof the monster's abilityto elicitsympathyfrom viewers.Usingherown spectatorialresponseas a gauge, she noted:'IfKongwere purelya horrifying and horriblefellow,the sympathyhe evokeswhen finally,he is struckdown,wouldn'texist.Thereis no doubtaboutsuchsympathy.EvenI, seeing the film a year or so ago felta great lumpin mythroaton behalfof Kong'.'HowFayWrayMet Kong,or the ScreamthatShooktheWorld',TheGirlin theHairy Paw, 224.

71.

Andrew Griffin, 'Sympathyfor the Werewolf', (1979), 84. University Publishing

72.

JulianFox, 'TheGolden Age of Terror',Filmsand Filming22 dune-October1976).

Forexample,see Ambrogio,'FayWray'and Robert 73. A. Chaikin,'KingKong- A Re-Assessment', The Reader67.2 (Summer1980). Psychoanalytic 74. Noel Carroll,'KingKong:Ape and Essence',Planks 75. of ReasonBarryKeithGrant(Ed.)(MetuchenNJ: ScarecrowPress,1984), 216, 233.

KingKongPressbook(1942), in MargaretHerrick LosAngeles,microfiche files. Library, Haraway,PrimateVisions,161. LouiseKrasniewiczand Michael Blitz'Reviewof PrimateVisionsby Donna Haraway', Discourse 12.1 (Spring-Summer 1990), 168.

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FilmHistory,Volume6, pp. 340-354, 1994. Copyright? JohnLibbey&Company ISSN:0892-2160. PrintedinGreatBritain

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the on woman The Moral and table: medical discourse exploitation the in cinema FeliciaFeaster one mightthinkof theexploitation cinema of the 1930s and '40s as being builton a subversion of the Classical Hollywood of studio/PCAcensormodel,withoutthe restrictions ship, there is another,less obvious paradigmthat shaped thesefilms:medicaldiscourse.Medicaldiscinemais at thecore of the coursein theexploitation and conventions. Innarrative imagery, genre's formed by a historicalmix of eugenics and the medicalcommunity's evolvingperceptionand controlof the body, exploitationfilmsuse thesescientific tractsto at once defineand legitimizethe presentation of the female body, providinga vision of sicknesswho womanas inerttext,as a performative the to over herself detached gaze of the gives cameraand audience. Unlikethe popularentertainmentformsof the carnivalfreak show, burlesque stage and vaudeville,all experiencinga dwindling by the 1930s, exploitationcinemaof the popularity 1930s and '40s changes the display of the body froma self-awareexcess into a distanced,clinical to the conventionsof boththe voyeurismattributable ClassicalHollywoodCinemaand science. Infact, exploitationtrainsthe viewerto look at the female body as 'parts',prefiguringthe fetishisticlook of laterpornography.Itis thusthis 'bridge'of science whichvalidatesourlookingat the body in a certain

Wehile

way whilealso demandingcontrolof thisgaze. The diegetic doctorand medicalfootage whichaccompany a numberof the filmsdiscussedhere - Mom and Dad (1945) Becauseof Eve(1948); Sex Madness (1937); Narcotic (1934); Road to Ruin (1934); Maniac (1934); Tomorrow'sChildren (1934) - elaboratea notionof differencein woman in fetishizingfemale which has been instrumental sexuality as pathological. The appropriationof venerealdisease and sex medicalreelsof childbirth, education demonstrate how the medical comagendas havefounda venueinexploitation munity's and how a specialized institutional viewpointhas shaped filmicvision.Thesemedicaltractsgenerally eviappeared in the exploitationfilmas instructive female the dence of the tollof venerealdisease for protagonistand extratextualaudience, and were given a narrativesegue by the diegetic doctor whose voice-overnarrationaccompaniedthe footage. The scientificdiscoursewhich objectifiedthe body and relegated its functionsto the medical realminformedthe mediumand defined its repre-

Felicia Feaster, whose work has appeared in Jump Cut and FilmQuarterly,received her M.A. fromEmoryUniversity.Please address correspondence to Felicia Feaster, 1721 N.E. 75th St., Gainesville,FL32601, USA.

Thewoman on the table:Moraland medical discoursein the exploitationcinema

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Fig. 1. HighSchoolgirlJoan Blake(JuneCarlson)danceswithherboyfriendJackGriffith(BobLowell)in Momand Dad. KrogerBabb'shygieneblockbuster Photocourtesyof EricShaefer.] [?)1945 HygienicProductions. sentationalcodes, makingthe female body intoa of vice and licentioustext, the visualconfirmation locationof a medicaldiscourse ness. Exploitation's of differencein thefemalebody continuedan historical linkageof woman with science and sexual inquiry discussed by Michel Foucault, Elaine Showalterand ThomasLaqueur. Butas muchas exploitationsubvertedHollywood convention, it also defined a conventionalized portraitof the female body which only enlargedthe misogynyof Hollywood.Itis important to remember,when examiningany potentially'alternative'cinema- fromtheavant-gardeto theoppositionalappeal of exploitation- thatwhat has often and subversiveis been heraldedas taboo-breaking often accomplishedin the traditional,reactionary defilementof women'sbodies. Theidea of freedom so oftenassociatedwithoutsiderartformsbecomes when its expressioninvolvesthe limitation restrictive of femalesexualautonomyand progress.

Laqueurhas recognized this tendencyto see artisticexcess as transgressive,and in countering such notions invokes Mikhail Bakhtin's'carnivalesque' as justsuchan example. 'Not everyonewill share Bakhtin'scheerfulacceptance of corporeal and mutilation; his blindopenness,dismemberment nessto the brutality of the languagedirectedagainst of the roleof the carniwomen;his romanticization in of the people"'. In the a "life valesque creating same vein,exploitationfilmsshouldbe examinedfor how they challenged the conventionalizedlanguage and subjectsof Hollywood,butwithouteffusivelypraisingtheirRabelaisianmoments. Exploitationfilm demonstrateshow reliance upon a medical discourse constructswoman as Other,as a classifiablecategory of the perverted self, an assertionwhich is thenbacked up by medical and narrative'proof'.Likethe women'sfilm,the majorityof exploitationfilmsrely on female protagonistsand the physicaland mentalillnesseswhich

342 342 typifytheirexperiences.Describingthe medicaldiscoursesurrounding the Hollywoodwomen'sfilmof the 1940s, MaryAnnDoane suggests,'thefilmsof themedicaldiscoursedo notencourageor facilitate withtheirdiseased female spectatorialidentification protagonists.Rather,theytaketheformof a didactic exercisedesigned to producea knowledgeabout the woman'2.Butmedicinein the exploitationfilm exceeds the invasive tendency of Hollywood women'sfilms,concentratingits inquiryless on the woman's psyche than in her body. As Doane implies, the spectatoris encouragedvia the doctor of an objectivescience ('notmerelythe practitioner - he acts as the condensationof the figuresof Father, Judge,Familyand Law... Hisfunctionis of a moraland social order')to assumea medicalized 'look' looking.Doane'sdescriptionof the particular of the spectatorin these filmsclosely parallelsthe appeals of exploitation,which collapse the erotic and medicalintoa sexualizedinvasionand breakdown of what woman means:'Hencethe need, in these films,forthe figureof the doctoras readeror as the site of a knowledgewhichdomiinterpreter, natesand controlsfemalesubjectivity'4. ButwhileDoane'sdoctoris highlynarrativized, as a protagonistin the filmicdramaand oftenthe love interestof the woman,in exploitationhis roleis more marginal.Embodyingmore the elementsof law and authority Doane describes,the doctorperformsa kind of expertwitness role, in the same mannerthatearlyfreakshows used medicalexperts to lendcredenceto theirexhibits.Thisfunctionof the doctoris seen mostclearlyin thoseexploitationfilms whichfeaturechildbirthand venerealdisease footage such as Mom and Dad, Sex Madness and Becauseof Eve.Thedoctor'sfunctionin thesefilms and is to explainthe body spectaclesof childbirth disease and to act as a liaisonbetween narrative and audience. Because the drugs, premaritalsex and surgicaloperationsin these filmsoften entail mysteriousextremesin bodily response - blood, - itis hisduty decay, mania,violence,licentiousness to decode these responses,to read the body as embodimentof these psychicdisruptions. This'translation'of the body is mosttellingin the moments,as in Sex Madness, where a doctordescribesvisual evidence such as syphiliticlesions as a moraldisease, a bodily assertionof sin, 'Herewe see the insidiouseffect of syphilison one dainty finger.

Felicia Felicia Feaster Feaster Hands that rocked the cradle, now pleading for humanity'shelp'. Dwain Esper'sManiac, the dramatizationof a lab assistantnamedMaxwell'smurder of his employer, Dr. Meirschultz,and his subsequentinsanity,is unusualin itsuseof a medical 'voice' to describethe centralmale protagonist.In Maniac, passages from a medical text take the place of a diegeticdoctor,and are appropriatedto explainMaxwelland othercharacters'mentalailments. AfterMaxwell discovers Dr. Meirschultz's plan to use him in his scientificexperiments,Maxwell murdersthe Doctorand the followingintertitle appears: DEMENTIA PRAECOX: Thisis the mostimportantof the psychoses,bothbecause itconstitutes the highestpercentageof mentaldiseases and because recoveryis so extremelyrare.Dementia praecoxpatientsshow blindingof the emotions, serious defects of judgment [sic], developmentof fantasticideas, beliefthatthey are being forced to do thingsor are being with. interfered The often excessive, ambiguousgestures of Maxwellare thusgivenlogicvia theorderingdevice of science, which functionsas anotherdetached, distantvoice withinthe narrative. Moretroublingand regressiveis the invocation of science'sprivilege,in the medicalvisionof childbirth,which allowed the audience masteryof the female form.Mom and Dad is a sex education/ birthpicturethat tells the story of Joan Blake, a middleclass teenagerwhose lackof sex instruction at home resultsin pregnancy(Fig. 1). Vying for influenceoverJoanand theotherboys and girlslike herare the local highschoolteacher(a firmbeliever in sex education, crusadingfor instruction in the motherwho schools)(Fig.2) and Joan'spuritanical usesherladies'groupto fightsuchprogressiveaims. The teacher'splea for educationis made graphifeatures,one shown to a cally in two instructive classroomof girls,featuringvaginaland Caesarian births,and one for boys, on the physicalresultsof venerealdisease. Shown in the roadshowformat, Mom and Dad would be stopped at this narrative midpointand one of several lecturersperforming underthe nameElliotForbeswould.delivera speech on sex educationand pitchsex ed bookletsto the theatreaudience.

Thewoman on the table:Moraland medical discoursein the exploitationcinema

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Fig.2. When DaveBlake(JimmyClark)discoversthathis sisteris 'in trouble'he seeksadvicefromteacher Mr.Blackburn (HardieAlbright)in Momand Dad. Photocourtesyof EricSchaefer.] [?1 945 HygienicProductions. Mom and Dad exemplifiesthe more general trendin exploitationtowardan objective,detached lookat the female body, often throughthe encourtract agementof a medicalizedgaze. Thisnarrative in fact accompanied a social trend identifiedby MargareteSandelowskitowardthe medicalization of childbirth as a meansof raisingthe statusof the obstetrician,fightingmorbidityin childbirth,and the statusof the midwifeand home undermining birth.Partof this modernizingof birthinvolvedthe increaseduse of drugswhichcould only be administeredby a doctorin a hospitalsetting;'usingthe publicforum,includingwomen'sclubs and the lay launcheda successfulcampaign press,obstetricians to sell theirtechnicalexpertiseto Americans... By the 1940s, they had replaced midwivesas chief birthattendantsto all women and had relocated fromthe hometo the hospital'5. childbirth The diegetic doctor who introducesthe filmlike the extratextualForbes (Fig. 3), within-a-film,

explainsand tempersthe graphicmedicalfootage. A sense of escalation is apparent in these filmswithin-a-film fromanimateddiagramsof the reproductive system, charts of the menstrualcycle, medicalfootage of a vaginalbirthand the culminating spectacle of the Caesarian birth.As with the venereal disease film, to be discussed below, a visitingdoctor introducesthe birtheducation film ('TheFactsof Life')to the classroomof girlsand to the filmviewer.Thediegetic doctornarratesthroughoutthe film,as a meansof lendingcoherenceand to oftendiscordantimages, butalso as an continuity assertion of medical authority.He explains and allows us to look at the body withoutguilt. The vaginal delivery(a sequence entitled 'A Normal Birth')begins with a stylizedsilhouettedcadre of doctorsseen througha window, preparingto enter the operatingroomas the narrator states,'Thebirth of yourchildrenina hospitalis to be greatlydesired. A moderndeliveryroomsafeguardsthe life of both

344 344

Felicia Feaster

statusof the doctorwhose billing x i in a way S MONDAY DAY and .EUCLID ?* LEVELAND ,AY,S CAN NO SEE IT FOR YOURS ONE DESCRIBE IT7 eclipses that of 75cAIlnt. Tax) A11Shows the 'show' though his face '" is never shown, * "WHAT IS THIS .Ai ,_"__j_ WORLD only his handiTO?" COMING a Mony m 'A famous work. king tIheis oal to plo didenitying - ryingo M Blaoke rs. to keep hltir gyo as Cirts innocent thrv ignorance. This dory wos ripp A,1UI American surthe head of a Ifrom the Pges of *ery doy tife. ft wil owaken yo child, emanatgeon performsa Caesarian Secfrom some ing contion',the titleasmysterious, I tained place. serts, with the . / ,o, There is no disclaimer, movementor in'Complyingwith ethics of the dication of a AMA and _t.0^ person behind d cr1V-i ebbb _ _" faT W-* -BEy _i the k ne e s ACFS, the surgeon and assissplayed to reFearless PBwerful! 1tl You See For tants requested veal the child. or .Pi.c. Thl lI l Spoakr Truth V YovrsrM Bias no screen This film emPfoLised Hcolih by credits'. This bodies the most ttiO"i* . Do.n' bracketed aside ; restrictive, f, limited percepsuggeststhe seriAWN" -HGSHO ousness of the tion of birthas businessat hand described by Fig. 3. Momand Dadad slickanInouncingthe extratextual and cloaks RobinBlaetz, in presenceof Radio'shygienecornimentator ElliotForbes. medical hype whichnotonlyis [?1945 HygienicProductions.] with an air of the woman's absent fromthe scene, buthervoice, humblenose-to-the-grind-stone. body virtually Emphasisis placed indicative of her subjectivity,is 'obsessively el- on privilegedaccess to these images. An opening lided'6,categoricallyerased by thevoice-overof the crawlpointsto the special confluenceof technology doctor. The doctor's monotonousvoice and the and science in presentingthisspectacle:'TheMagic cloaking sheets change what is 'real', the act of Eyeof thecameramakesit possibleforyou to learn, giving birth,into thatwhich is Other.Again, Luce throughvisualeducation,how a baby is born by 'lack' Caesarian section'. The audience of doctorswho Irigaray'srecognitionof the culturally-defined of woman is visuallyexplicated in exploitation, watch the procedurefrom an observationdeck, 'woman'ssexualorgansare simplyabsentfromthis doubling the film audience, are an indicationof how we are supposedto watch thismedicalevent. scene: theyare maskedand her 'slit'is sewn up ... thissex organ whichoffersnothingto the view has Thereis a suddenoverheadview of the operating no distinctive formof itsown'7.Thebirthfilm,infact, table, suggestingthe visionof these observers,and makes one 'slit',the vagina, inseparablefromthe thena cut to an extremeclose-upof a knifeslicing other,the incisionof the surgeon'sknife,suggesting througha draped and unrecognizableportionof the inescapabilityof her body as a medicalcondi- fleshwhichis slicedopen and retractedwithdiscontionand text.Birthin theearlyyearsof the twentieth tinuousshotsof nursesand an anaesthesiologistto intones: centurywas being definedas an aberrantcondition. establishplace and time.Thenarrator The next sequence in Mom and Dad, of a As you view these pictures,all of you certainly Caesarian birth, emphasizes the emergent 'star' mother and child'. A shot of a doctorpreparing his instrucuts ments immediately to an expanse of white sheet, which reveals

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345

sedated, compliantwomanwho lets the doctordo thework,again insuring thecentrality of hisrole.The failureof the woman to have any controlover her own body, as a druggedbystanderto the eventof her own child's birth,suggests the place of the female spectatorin the audience. The Caesarian birth,likethat in Mom and Dad, totallyeliminates any glimpseof the woman, herfleshvisibleonly in the incisionwhicheventuallygives way to the child appearingfroma canvasof white. What is more,the concealmentof the pregnant woman'sface and body withan evisceratingsea of white suggests the primary,fetish appeal of the spectaclebetweenherlegs and of the inconsequential meaning of any one woman when placed beside the body of Woman unknown.Irigaray's of the vagina, suggestionof the unrepresentability 'thehorrorof havingnothingto see'8, is dramatized in exploitation,which,forthe malespectator,gives a 'meaning'to womanand hergenitalsin childbirth butstillbelies an emptinessand incoherenceof the femalesex whichthe maledoctor'svoice-overnarrationattemptsto override.Thesescenes of childbirth at once makewomanan enigmawhileclaimingthat sourceof mystery.Theexpansivenessand sourceof life in the birthfilmis sealed off by sheetsor words to containa site of narrativedisturbance,to restrict woman'spower. Ifitcannotbe understood,itwillat leastbe offeredupas somethingto be capturedand viewed. Theneed forscience to claimthe body as itsdomainis nota modernphenomenonbutis well illustrated by images from 16th and 17th century medicalautopsies,where:

The child is delivered, the wound stitched closed usinga special techniqueinnovatedby this 'famousAmericansurgeon'involvingbuttonseasing the tensionof the sutures.The narratorcontinues, 'When we considerthe long and costlyyears of traininga young manmustgo throughto becomea physicianand the additionalstudyrequiredto be a successfulsurgeon,pictureslikethese whichenable the publicto witnesstheirgreat skillmake us fully The appreciateournation'sgreatmedicalfraternity'. sense of healthcare as a special privilege,and the male doctoras enactinga kindof noblesseoblige informsthisdidactictract,and suggestsa new position forwomento take, of extremegratitudefor his services.Thatthe woman's 'labour'is neitherwitnessed noracknowledged,while the doctor'swork is over-emphasized,suggests this unequalplaying field.Thelackof any imageof a face, of an actual womanbeing acted uponby thesedoctors,encourages a female audience to put themselvesin the picture,to imagine the experience presentedas potentiallytheirown. Anotherbirthfilm,Becauseof Eve,uses similar conventionsof displacingan actualwomanfromthe event of her own giving birth.While it could undoubtedlybe argued thatconventionsof the birth filmsuchas the elisionof the woman'sface are the resultof more pragmaticconcernsof insuringher ... a great concourseof assorted observers privacy, the natureof their origin and intentas lookson. Thisis a picture,in short,about the medical productionsdoes not change their final majesticpower of science to confront,master effect. Because of Eve featuresa sketchystoryline, and representthetruthof the body ina self-conabout a husbandBob and wife Sally'simpending sciouslytheatricaland public fashion ... The parenthood,and their various meetingswith the picturemay seem to be, more narrowly,an familyphysician(Fig.4) which serve as segues to assertionof male power to know the female the essence of the film:reels of venerealdisease, body and hence to know and controla feexplanationsof sexual reproduction,a Caesarian minineNature... her face mysteriously veiled and a normalbirth.Thebirthsequencebeginswith so as to emphasizetheaccessibilityto herbody a mediumshot of a woman'ssplayed legs in stirto the malegaze9. rups, her entirebody invisibleexcept for the narrativefocus of hervagina, followedby a cut to an Sixteenth-century physician Charles Estienne, extremeclose-upof hervagina as the childis born. 'cautionshis studentsto hide the face and private Theabsence of movementand participation of the partsof theircadaversso as notto divertthe attenunconsciouspatientin the birthsets a standardof a tion of spectators'.This isolationof the body to

346 346

FeliciaFeaster

Fig.4. DoctorWest instructs newlywedSallyin Becauseof Eve. PicturesInc.] [?1 948 International

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Thewoman on the table:Moraland medicaldiscoursein the exploitationcinema

347

Woman'sbody, as thissequence illustrates, is not merelya comparativetextbuta scientifictract, bodily evidence of how biology guaranteesher social role. As feminismhas always declared,and Laqueur explicates,'it is always women'ssexuality that is being constituted;woman is the emptycategory.Womanalone seemsto have 'gender'since the categoryitselfis definedas thataspect of social relationsbased on difference between sexes in which the standard has always been man'1. Whetherin theone-sexor two-sexmodel,difference is coded as woman,whose fluid,sexual, opened, incised,displayedbody provesitsdistancefromthe closed masculinebody. Beforethe nineteenthcentury,the one-sex modelsaw woman'sbody as an inversionof man's:herovaries,vagina, all internal replicationsof man'sexternalgenitalia. 'Woman' was a concept defined, then, throughsocial relations ratherthanthe post-Freudian prioritygiven the reproductive organsin assuringhergenderrole.This approacharose not because of medicaladvances, butbecause of social and ideologicalshiftsand the role of science in confirmingdifference,'Theylent their prestige to the whole enterprise;they discovered or bore witnessto aspects of sexual differencethathad been ignored'12. ThomasLaqueur's discussionof the transition fromthe one-sexmodelis important as a meansof thisfilmiccompulsionto presentdifunderstanding ference anatomically.In many ways exploitation demonstrated notonlythedifferenceof woman, but how heractionsand herbody couldtrapherperpetuallyin sexualmeaning.Pregnancyor disease and themanypitfallson theroadto healthymaturity were oftenthe inevitableresultof being a woman.While Laqueur's proposition- demarcatinga specific historicalmovement- mightseem removedfromthe sexual constructionsof the twentiethcentury,his modelof how biologycame to confirmdifferenceis Considerthe male body ... the highforehead, for demonstrating how representation of bicrucial, the wide jaw, the broad shoulders,the flat in difference the ological/physical exploitation chest, the shorttrunk,the narrowpelvis ... the woman similarvisualasanticipated pornography's stronglean body of the worker,the protector. sertionof difference. the body Itwas exploitation's assertionof thecentrality of Now, forcomparison,let us construct of thetypicalfemale.Note the lowerforehead, sex in definingwoman - as being her destinythe narrowerjaw, the narrowshoulders,hereis which paved the way for pornography'sconstructhe body of the mother,the incubatorfor the tionof the excessivelylibidinal,perverselyand perhumanegg. petually sexual woman, whose body ruled her function.By the 1930s, unarguably,sexual dif-

spheresof interestis crucialwhen lookingat exploitation, which uses similardevices to dehumanize and draw attentionto fetishized portionsof the femaleanatomyunderthe guise of 'science'. Demthe masteryof science and medicineover onstrating birthfilm, in exploitation,becomes a the nature, as in graphicspectacleof differenceand disruption, is a birth where discontinuous Caesarian Narcotic, insertedawkwardlyintothe narrativepurelyfor visual shock(Fig.5). Exploitation's appropriationof medical tracts also broughtabout a change in the perceptionof the female body beyond the consummatefeminine act of giving birth.Her body became a site of differencebased on social and medicaltrends.In exploitation,flesh became moralizedand mediand sexualityshowed up calized so thatpromiscuity on women. One casual affair,one instantaneously wrong turn,inevitablyresultedin a body betrayed by disease or a swollenbelly.Exploitation displays a fascinationwith the body as metaphor:through or painor sex, the body evokessome truth deformity aboutthe worldwhichthe narrative or performance elides. ThomasLaqueur,tracingthe shiftin notionsof sex and genderin the late 1800s, has observedthe tendencyof science, withthe shiftfromthe one-sex to thetwo-sexmodel,to affirmdifferencethroughthe body as text. Laqueurposits a change, fromthe eighteenthto thenineteenth century,in how sexuality was perceivedand especiallyhow womanbecame synonymouswiththe body, hergendernota social construction butone based on biology. Becauseof Eveexemplifiesthistrendin the two-sexversion,to see the body as determiningsocial role, of being builtforspecificcultural tasks.Thenarrator of thesex educationreel which the doctorshows the couple describesfirstthe male body, thenthefemale:

348 348 ference was biologicallyembedded, but it was exploitationwhich usheredin a popularvisualaffirmationof this differenceand transformedit into accessibleto a massaudienceof both pornography menand women.Exploitation visuallyexpandedon the sexual differenceand meaningof woman and herbody, whichbecamea fleshyspectacle(Fig.6). Infetishistic camera-work and imagery,exploitation assertedwoman'sessentialstrangeness. Thesemedicalfilmsof birthand disease sought to solidifycontrolover primarily democraticforms, it: it would look like, what likebirth,by envisioning it and who how would happen would controlit. Thereare other instancesof the image being invoked to prove what science hypothesizes.In his provocativestudyof the historicalmeaningof photographs, Alan Trachtenbergdescribes a photographicand scientificexperimentgroundedin the same notionof bodily'evidence'inherentin exploitationl3.HarvardscientistLouisAgassiz, attempting to prove an intrinsicdifferencebetween the black and whiteraces,commissioneda seriesof photosto be taken in 1850 of slaves which would provide bodilyevidence of thatvariance.Thisconflationof thevisualwiththescientificand thescientist'srecognitionof the power of his voice to be enunciated and validated by the photograph/filmis true of exploitation'smethodologywhichused the medical femaledifference. figureand voice to illustrate Butthereis a distinctionbetween such potentiallysubversivevisualimageryand the exploitation cinemawhichAgassiz'sslave photosindicate.The unwavering,direct gaze into the camera of the slaves strippedof theirclothingand dignity,Trachtenbergshows, breaksdown the barrierbetween the staticimage and the activeviewer, implicating the viewer in the act of looking.The potentialfor suchaudienceacknowledgement largelyvanishesin the exploitationcinema. On the contrary,exploitation- by fragmenting thefemalebody, oftentimes cuttingoff herface/suband narrative- createsan artifijectivityin framing cial unawarenessof the genre's woman. While certain momentsin certain exploitationfilmscan subvertthis one-way looking,as in the nudistfilm Elysia(1934) in which an academic expert on nudismshows a reporternewsreelimagesof naked Africans(includingseveralwomenwho confrontthe camera'sgaze witha distinctdispleasurein being

Fe/ida Felicia Feaster Feaster photographed),by and large these 'real'moments are outweighedby theconventionof filmstorytelling which rulesout such directfemale address of the camera. As the bodilytaboo movedintothevastlydifferent presentational mediumof the cinema,an added inflects audience reception.Viewersare voyeurism to take theobjectivegaze of science in encouraged at the female looking body, not as individual woman but Woman as anatomicalsubject. The influential power of such exhibitionis underscored by LauraMulvey's suggestion of the profound meaningof the dimlylit, alienatingfeaturesof the movietheatre: A hermeticallysealed world which unwinds magically, indifferentto the presence of the audience,producingforthema sense of separationand playingon theirvoyeuristic phantasy. Moreover,the extremecontrastbetween the darknessin the auditorium (whichonly isolates the spectatorsfromone another)and the brillianceof theshiftingpatternsof lightand shade on the screen helps to promotethe illusionof voyeuristic separation.Amongotherthings,the of position the spectatorsin the cinemais blatantlyone of repressionof theirexhibitionism and projectionof therepresseddesireon to the performer14.

While exploitation incorporatessome selfcinema, it reflexive,open traditionsof the primitive also movesthe body intoa cinematicworldwhere its functionchanges. While performing, the female the in the elicits audience's gaze unfolding, body disdistancednatureof the cinema.Thisvoyeuristic when sexualdistance has additionalramifications play and provocation are at the core of the cinematicexperience.As SusanGriffinhas statedof the pornographic voyeur's impulse, '... the voyeur

when he sees a photographof a woman'sbody, keeps these depthsat a distance.An invisibleline separateshimfromthe image he perceives.He will notbe overwhelmedby thepresenceof herflesh'.15 Theexploitationfilmencouragesa distancefromthe female body, a deconstructive,medicalizedgaze of controlor whichalso stripsthe femaleperformer film of involvesa function The very subjectivity. closed-offexchange of unreturnedglances, and botha consummategain of power (seeing without

Thewoman on the table:Moraland medicaldiscoursein the exploitationcinema being seen) and lossof power(lackof controlof the image)forthe spectator. Thetitillating unveilingof the flesh,traditionally associated with Salome and sexual provocation, has a long history,as Showalterand Laqueur point of medicine,the female out. In the representation body is often literallypresentedto science from beneatha liftedveil, as in the statueLaNaturese devoilantdevant la science exhibitedin Parisin 1895 by LouisErnestBarrias.The statue, 'Nature UnveilingHerselfBeforeScience' which depicts a woman, eyes downcast,pullingback her gown to revealher naked body, deliversa stripteasewhich serves greater medical inquiryand knowledge16. Some of the intrusiveculpabilityof science or the audience is thusremovedwhen the subjectparticipates or allows the look. Such is the case in the venerealdisease portionof Mom and Dad, when bodies are displayedoutright;theirmouthsopened and armsraisedto showthelesionsand soreswhich plaguethem. As with Mom and Dad's birthsegment, the filmicdoctor (an experton venerealdisease) addressesa classroomof boyswitha briefintroduction entitled'Seeing is Believing'whichemphasizesthe sense of seeing as curative.The fictitiousdoctor's voice-over accompanies images of a military veteranin a wheelchair,doctorsexamininga patient, medical texts, diagrams, and a streamof images that occasionallycoincide with the narration.The behind-the-scenes glimpsesof the medical at workare followedby the heartof the community filmand pay-offto the patientviewer:a montageof extremeclose-upsof lips,arms,legs, backs,mouths, all eaten away by venerealdisease. Thesex of the patientscan at timesbe glimpsedas bothmaleand female. Thesegrotesqueimages take on a magnitudeand gravitywhichis exploitedin the narration: 'Now I wantyou to see foryourselvesjustwhatcan happen if you are sillyenough to joke and make lightof these diseases ... These picturescertainly speak the truth... Afteryou have looked at these pictures,I knowyou will realize the great benefits thatcan come to allwho livea clean, morallife'.Just as the birthsequence built in visual shock, from normaldeliveryto Caesarian,so does thepathological footage escalate, fromtheaforementioned body partsto a surrealistic imageof a man'seye, theflesh eaten away fromthesocketand decayed at the rim.

349

Thisfrightening'decay of vision'deliversa joltof specialsignificanceto thespectator,and hintsat the film abilityof the imageryto deform.Exploitation a the contamination of the notion represented eye, that certain groups, already genetically 'weak' could be made more so by exposureto morally assaultiveimagery. Thefinaldisease sequence escalates fromimages of infectedbabies to an image of a woman. Thecamerapans up hertorsoand thencutsto her pubicarea seen in profile,and thento herbreasts. Our understanding of hersexual partsis mediated the voice of the doctor and the marksof disease by untilher subjectivity and 'femaleness'are asserted withan armmodestlymovedto conceal the private partsof her body. Thisgesture,unlikethe veil lifted to reveal in La Nature se devoilant devant la science, questionsourrightto lookand suggeststhe beyondmedicalsubject,of a womanemhumanity barrassedat her body being so overtlydisplayed. Thissmallmomentof truth,however,is all butlostin a filminwhicheveryattemptis madeto distanceour visionfromthe humanelement. Theescalationinthedisease footage- fromthe generalizedmass of bodies to the specific sexual spectacleof a woman'sbody - makesthisdisplay the most importantand most revealingfeatureof exploitation.Thediseased, nudefemaleformis the climax,ina sense, to thefilm:thebestsaved forlast. close examinationof the successive Interestingly, images of the woman'spubic hair, buttocks,torso and breastsin Mom and Dad revealsthat these shotshave been composedfromthe bodiesof different women into a Kuleshovian assemblage of the bodies of women, intoWoman's. Showalterprovidesfurther evidenceof the eroticized femalepatientin describingeighteenthcenturymedical training:'Europeanmedical students studiedthe internalorganswiththe aid of "Anatomical Venuses",... the Venuses ... simultaneously evoke an abstractfemininity,equate knowledge with lookingdeeply intothe body, and emphasize women'sreproductive destiny'. Thenotionof a certainkindof lookingas being a revelationof the unseenas containpornographic, the seed of sexualfascination,is a featurewhich ing the exploitationfilmcollapses in its disparatemedical reels, cornystripteaseand female bodies glimpsed in shadowyoutline,intoa specializedkindof

350 350

Felicia Feaster

'dirty'looking.As the body became a private,scientific, commodifiedobject, men and even women were encouragedto distance themselvesfromthe female Other. Woman became an image consumed illicitly,with the scorn of the communityalways hoveringaroundher. As MichelFoucaulthas statedof the medicalizationof the body:

body. Initialscenes featureclose-upsof a sturdy male forearmengaged in arm wrestlingand then cutsto a close-upof a maletorso,legs and head not visible. Off-screendialogue asserts that the firm body belongs to the idealisticdoctor, 'With that

The body as steeped in deviantmeaningwas re-established again and again in exploitationfilms whichsoughtto locate moralityin the corporaltext. In Esper'sNarcotic,the storyof a medicaldoctor, WilliamG. Davies,who becomesan opiumaddict, the doctor'smoralfibre is establishedvis-6-visthe

We mustlookahead, and each of us mustaid inthedevelopmentof a healthprogramthatwill resultin clean minds,highmoralstandardsand good stronghealthybodies. Our playgrounds and oursportsprogramsall helpin thedevelopmentof ouryouth.We mustall co-operatewith

physique plus his mentality... Davies should go far'.

The couplingof bodies rackedwith venereal disease inMomand Dadand subsequentimagesof ... the odditiesof sex reliedon a technologyof bodiesat play- stockfootage of childrenand adults healthand pathology.And conversely,since engaged in a varietyof sports(swimming,archery, sexualitywas a medical and medicalizable bowling, trackand field, marchingsoldiers)- emobject, one had to try and detect it - as a phasizeshow physicalhealthcan be readas moral lesion, a dysfunctionor a symptom- in the strength.A fascisticassertionof the integrityof the depthsof theorganism,or on the surfaceof the body in voice-overaccompaniesthe imagery: skin,or amongall the signsof behaviour18.

Fig.7. One burlesqueshow inspireslesbianismin the 1937 filmSex Madness. [?1973 New LinePictures.]

Thewoman on the table:Moraland medicaldiscoursein the exploitationcinema ourhealthdepartment to bringgonorrhoeaand under control. syphilis Inexploitation,it is women'sbodiesthatremind viewers of the dangers of an unclean life. Sex Madness, which describes showgirl Millicent's downwardspiralaftercontractingsyphilis,suggests the permanentdamage done to husbandand child by the woman's sexual transgression(Fig. 7). Althoughin exploitation'stypical patchworkconclusion a cure is 'found'within the film's last few minutes,the notionthatone's sexualdishonourand historycan be wornon the body likea scarletletter or a witheredlimbis a powerfulreminder of the folk traditionswhich posited that maternalshock and experiencewas oftenregisteredin the infant'sbody. Describingthe pre-turn-of-the-century equation of withdeformity,Laqueur maternalimpurity states: Forwomen bearing children... it musthave been considerablyless than joyfulto experience a world in which any perturbation of accepted order- wicked thoughts,moralculpability, chance encounterswith people or things,untimelyor improperly positionedintercourse- could imprintitselfdisastrously on the fleshof theirchildrenin utero19.

351

of the film, in which Anne dies from an illegal abortion,suggeststhe inevitableprice paid for an alternativelifestyle.The sense of femaleculpability forsexualityand her punishment forsex outsidethe of wedded unionis obparameters monogamous, viousin the painand distress,notto mentiondeformity, disease, sexual degeneracy and pregnancy, thatresultfromone sexualtransgression. Maintainingthe codes of melodramaoutlined Peter Brooks,the exploitationfilm transposes by and on to the physical,on morality meaning-making to woman. He writes,'Anotherdimensionof signs appearsin thechoice of extremephysicalconditions to representmoralstates:the halt,the blindand the mute people the world of melodrama, striking and mysteries'20. Buildexamplesof pastmisfortunes ing upon conventionsof the melodrama,exploitationprivilegesthe physicalto an uncannydegree: it is a motivatingfactor,narrativedevice and turning point.InChildBride(1941) it is notuntilJakeVolvy surreptitiously glimpsesthe naked childJenniethat hisdesireto 'have'heris turnedto action. InTomorrow'sChildren(Fig.8), a bare-bonesparableabout forcedsterilization, the physicalis lingeredoverto a fetishisticdegree as we anxiouslyawait the judge's decision to save Alice Mason's reproductive future whilethe surgeon'sknifeslowlydescendson to her flesh. is the outpouringof a kindof sexExploitation ualityas pure sign. The configurationof sex in or havingto do with exploitationis nevertraditional 'sex' in the coital, reproductive sense, butwith the culturaldefinitionof sex as anythingrepressedas bodily taboo as that comprisingsex: voyeurism, are signs and tracingsof sex far disease, childbirth removedfroman intercourse-centred definition,and one outsidea romantic,representational one. Obto films could therejections particularexploitation fore be raised, notdue to overtpresentation of the body buta discourseof sex, a fixationwithsex often centredin a 'morbid'medicaltreatment. The Child ConservationConference,quoted in a 1938 Varietyarticlestatedthatthe sex educationfilmBirthof a Baby 'catersto a morbidcuriosity,is an insultto innatemodestyof refinedwomen, and physicians and nurses do not need the informationcon-

Witha logic backed by medicalscience, footage such as the decayed faces of babies in Because of Eveassertedthat'sin'was an image:one which successive generations might wear. And while venerealdisease might'go underground' (as Becauseof Eve'snarrator describesthe movementof syphilisfromvisiblesign to hiddenthreat),it would inevitablyresurfacein blindness,death, birth.So too, exploitationsuggeststhe femalebody is repositoryand sign of herpastexperiences,and 'givesup' its meaningto the observer.In Road to RuingirlfriendsAnne and Eve find theirlong journeyfrom innocence to sexual debasement ending with a physicalexaminationat the crime preventiondivision of the local jail which termsthem 'sex delinquent[s]'.Thisterm,signallingloss of virginityand is enteredupona physicaldocumentto promiscuity, be permanently of kepton file, an indeliblereminder the sins of theirpast. While Eve'svenerealdisease can be treated,and her body in thisrespectwiped 1 clean, the taintof sexualdegeneracywill notdisap- veyed'2 Bannedin New Yorkin 193722, Tomorrow's conclusion pearfromthe records.Themelodramatic Childrenepitomizedthe moralists'attitudetoward

352 352

Felicia Felicia Feaster Feaster

Fig.8. Aliceawaitssterilizationin Tomorrow's Children. [01934 BryanFoyProductions.]

exploitation.At the timeof its production,27 states dure performedon a varietyof persons, including had sterilization laws on the books, withthe proce- the syphilitic,the epileptic,the childrapist,recidivist

Fig.9. TonyKilonis(WillyCastello)leavesMarjorie(ConstanceWorth)withFatPearl(ClaraKimball Young)at a brothelin WillisKent'sTheWages of Sin. [?)1938 RealLiveDramas.Photocourtesyof EricSchaefer.]

Thewoman on the table:Moraland medicaldiscoursein the exploitationcinema

353

and murderess,uses a similardevice, of prostitute calendarpages turnedto indicatethe unrepresentable ravagesof sin on Marjorie'sbody, and more perversely,her growing accustomedto her boyor explicitly, friend'ssellingof her body. Implicitly the female body is caught in sexual meaning (Fig.9). Usingthe languageof science and educationa claim invokedthroughout the historyof the 'blue' of manyfacts Theteachingand demonstration movie - exploitationfilmsexplainedverballyand may be necessaryto the classroomof the law tendedto visually,thefemalebody. Ifearliercultures school, the medicalschool and clinic, the re- blurthelinebetweenmaleand femaleintheone-sex searchlaboratory,thedoctor'soffice,and even moderntimesand exploitationrigidizedand the theologicalschool, which are not proper model, made distinctthe two. Femalesexuality,birthand subjectmatterforthe screen24. pregnancyhave become grotesque,fearful,a sexthe with film's thematic sex ual fetish;the mysterious concern Secondly, impenetrablebody in disand sexualsurgerysuggestedthe possibilityof even ease and birthbecomes visuallyarousingsolely sex incensingmoralstand- because society shuts the door on their reprea non-representational ards. TheNew YorkStateSupremeCourtstatedof sentation.Exploitation filmstookthe sexualfascinaTomorrow'sChildren: tion of Hollywood'sglamourideal, melded with overtdisplaysof the body, and createda fetishized the picturethe mindsof the audiThroughout woman:womanas 'freak'.* ence are centredupon the subjectof sterilizationof humanbeings, curiosityis arousedas to the operationon the sex organsand the effect of sterilization,and the audience awaits the Notes 1. ThomasLaqueur,MakingSex: Body and Gender picturizationof the operation on the young Fromthe Greeks to Freud(Cambridge:Harvard criminaland thatis aboutto be performedon Press,1990), 121. University the sex organsof the younggirl25. sex criminals,and 'thefeebleminded,[who]would produce childrenwith an inheritedtendency to crime, insanity,feeblemindedness,idiocy or imbecility'.One of the mostinnocuousexamplesof the genre, the film'sscandal seems to lie largelyin the The court'sobsexual connotationsof sterilization. in whichthe film first the centred on context jections was exhibited:

2.

Concernednot only with graphicvisualspectacles, censorsand audiencescould also focus on the unseen,the subtextof disease and dishonour.In 3. Sex Madness the burlesquedancer Millicent,in4. fected with syphilis,wears a hidden markof the illnessand becomes a representational icon of dis5. eased woman. Herbody is suggestivelylinkedwith the 'real'syphiliticbodies revealedearlierin the film in the medicalfootage. Millicentis alignedwiththe faceless womanwhose diseased legs are takenin 6. by a slow pan fromfeet to thighs,and suggestsa visualsign forsin - femalelegs - a continualtrope of sexualmisbehaviour in exploitation,nowwearing 7. the imprintof sin. As narrativetime elapses, expressedin the ellipticalflippingof calendarpages, the viewer is continuallyremindedof how time is measured:by Millicent'sbody, the progressof her 8. disease. Her unseen body becomes the driving 9. forceand centraltextof the narrative.Wages of Sin 10. into a (1938), about a good girl'stransformation

Mary Ann Doane, The Desire to Desire: The Woman'sFilmof the 1940s (Bloomington: Indiana

Press,1987),67. University

Doane, Desireto Desire,63.

Ibid.,43. MargareteSandelowski,Pain,Pleasure,and American Childbirth: Fromthe Twilight Sleep to theRead Method, 1914-1960 (Westport: Greenwood

Press,1984),46.

RobinBlaetz,'InSearchof the MotherTongue:

Childbirth and the Cinema',TheVelvetLightTrap, Number29 (Spring1992), 17.

LuceIrigaray, 'ThisSexWhichIsNotOne',New French eds.Elaine Marks andIsabelle de Feminisms, Courtivron (New York:SchockenBooks, 1980), 101. Irigaray,'ThisSex WhichIsNot One', 101. Laqueur, MakingSex, 72. Ibid., 130.

354

Felicia Feaster

11.

Ibid.,22.

19.

Laqueur, MakingSex, 121.

12.

Ibid., 153.

20.

13.

AlanTrachtenberg, ReadingAmericanPhotographs: Imagesas History,MathewBradyto WalkerEvans 21. (New York:Hilland Wang, 1989), 53-54. 22. LauraMulvey, 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema', FilmTheoryand Criticism(3rd edition), eds. GeraldMastand MarshallCohen(New York: 23. OxfordUniversity Press,1985), 806-807.

PeterBrooks,TheMelodramatic (New Imagination York:ColumbiaUniversity Press,1985), 46.

14.

15.

and Silence:Culture's SusanGriffin,Pornography RevengeAgainstNature(New York:Harperand Row, 1981), 34.

16.

ElaineShowalter,SexualAnarchy:Genderand CultureAttheFinDe Siecle(New York:PenguinBooks, 1990), 145.

17.

Showalter,SexualAnarchy,128.

18.

MichelFoucault,TheHistoryof SexualityVolumeI: An Introduction (New York:Vintage,1990), 44.

Variety,23 November1938, 17. Edwardde Graziaand RogerK.Newman,Banned Films:Movies, Censorsand the FirstAmendment (New York:R.R.BowkerCompany,1982), 215. Committeeof the AmericanNeurologicalAssociof EugenicalSterilization, ationforthe Investigation A Reorientation of the ProbEugenicalSterilization: lem(New York:Macmillan,1936), 5-10.

24.

De Graziaand Newman, BannedFilms,216.

25.

FilmExchangevs Ltd.and Principal FoyProductions of the of Education FrankP. Graves,Commissioner Stateof New York.253 A.D. 475; 3 N.Y.S. 2d 573, 16 March1938.

FilmHistory, Volume6, pp. 355-381, 1994. Copyright ?John Libbey&Company ISSN:0892-2160. PrintedinGreatBritain

MAKE LOVE MAKE WAR: Cultural confusion and the biker film cycle MartinRubin central set-piece of Tom Wolfe's counterculture epic TheElectricKool-Aid Acid Test(1968) is a recountingof the momentousmeetingbetweenthe Merry Pranksters and the Hell'sAngels.ThePranksters, led by novelistKenKesey,were a smallbut influential group of psychedelicpioneerswho did muchto popularizethe use of LSDand to definethe day-glo, look thatwouldadornthe grab-bag,costume-party and other enclaves of hippiedom Haight-Ashbury the late 1960s. The during Angels,of course,were the world'smostnotoriousoutlawmotorcyclegang, ridinga wave of sensationalizedmediacoverageof theirrecentcriminalrampages,in which they had allegedly raped and pillaged their way through small-townCalifornialike a horde of modern-day barbarians. In San Franciscoin August1965, Kesey ran into HunterS. Thompson,who was ridingwiththe Friscochapterof theAngelsas researchforhisbook Hell'sAngels:TheStrangeand Terrible Saga of the Outlaw MotorcycleGangs (1967), a classic of thatwas publisheda few participatory journalism monthsbeforeWolfe's book and formsa darkflip side to itsportrait of DionysusRisinginthe BayArea. invited Kesey Thompsonand his Angels acquaintances to spend the weekend at Kesey'sspread in nearby La Honda. The impendingculturalclash betweenvanguardflowerchildrenand atavisticmotorcyclethugshad the all makingsof a massacre, especiallyif Kesey'stroops,as was theirwont, fed LSDto the Angels- who knewwhat monstersfrom

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their already under-restrained ids might be unleashed? Instead,the bikersblissedouton the Pranksters' acid, wanderingaroundin a pacifiedstupourand groovingon the mantrasof fellowguestAllenGinsberg, while the good citizensof LaHonda locked theirdoors tight, and the revolvinglightsfroma defensivecordonof police cars cast a psychedelic glow on the proceedings. Other Angels started droppingin at LaHonda,severalbecomingserious heads, theirmindsso blowntheycouldbarelyclimb on to theirmotorcycles1. Thelinkforgedherebetweenthe Hell'sAngels and the burgeoningBay Area counterculture continuedand expanded. VisitingAngels became fixturesin the Haight-Ashbury, at hangingoutregularly BenchesPizza Parlor,scoringdrugsand women, sometimesactingas a kindof unofficialpoliceforce at varioushippie functions(such as the epochal January1967 'HumanBe-In'in GoldenGate Park). One biker known as Chocolate George (for his fondnessforchocolatemilk)was a special favourite of the flowerchildren,manyof whomattendedhis funeralfollowinga fatal trafficaccident;the New

Martin Rubin's most recent book is Showof Specstoppers:BusbyBerkeleyand the Tradition tacle (NY:ColumbiaUniversity Press,1993). Please address correspondence to Martin Rubin, 824 Brookhurst Dr., DallasTX,75218, USA.

356Martin 356

Martin Rubin Rubin

*,'.''M..i,

," ~'M.'

'

'

.

DON STROUD LUKE DALY ASKEW LARRY TYNE BISHOP ALDO RAY

COLR ;p __ _______ ______ __ Fig. 1. ThisposterforAngel Unchained(1970) displaysthe typicalexploitationearmarksof biker-film bikers,thrustingmotorcycles,loosewomen,and vulnerablevirgins. promotion:neanderthalish [?1970, AmericanInternational Pictures.]

Leftorgan BerkeleyBarb ran a commemorative occasionally employing them as actors and addrawingof the fallen Angel with a halo over his visers)formsa comparablyodd and contradictory head2. This 'unholy alliance'3 between pacifist cinematicphenomenonof that exceedingly tumulmiddle-classbohemians and neo-fascist lumpen tuous era in Americanfilm history.This series of bikerswas one of theoddestand mostcontradictory roughlythree dozen filmssquat in all theirhairy, culturalphenomenaof that exceedinglytumultuous noisy,greasy gloryon the exploitationfringeof the era in Americanhistory,althoughat times the al- commercialcinemaduringthe late 1960s and early liance'sunderlyingcontradictions brokethroughthe 1970s. film'is a vague and loaded term, surface,as when the Angelsbashed peace march'Exploitation ers at a 1965 Oakland demonstrationor, more much more so than, say, B-movie,which merely apocalyptically, presided over the Altamontde- indicatesa specific economic niche in the Hollybacle. wood system. It involveshighlycontext-dependent Aroundthe same time that the Hell'sAngels and often judgementalcriteriaregardingcontent, were establishinga shaky rapportwith the psy- quality,productionconditions,and, perhapsmost chedelicvanguard,theywere being introducedinto crucially,the exhibitionsituation.Despitethe impreanotherpleasure-basedCaliforniasubculture farther cisionof the label, bikerfilmsseem eminentlyqualisouth:the movie industry.The cycle of bikerfilms fied to wear it, by virtueof severalprestige-negating inspiredby theAngels'sensationalizedexploits(and factors:

MAKELOVEMAKEWAR:Culturalconfusionand the bikerfilmcycle

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(1) subjectmatter(an unsavourylifestylebased was bothextendedand dissipatedby itspositioning crosscurrents of the period. heavilyon violence,rapeand poorgrooming); amongthe contradictory This articleaddresses some of the problems (2) styleof promotion(bikerfilmposterspromiposed by the bikerfilm'spositionwithinthe film nentlyfeatureneanderthalishbikers[THEY'RE and withinthe general cultureof the late THEWILDEST OFTHEWILDONES!],thrusting industry it exploreshow changingpat1960s. Inparticular, motorcycles[HOT STEELBETWEENTHEIR ternsin American society,generalfilmpractice,and ON THEOUTLEGS],loose women[LEATHER to the compositionof the filmaudiencecontributed and WOMAN ON THEINSIDE!], SIDE... ALL the riseof the bikerfilmcycle at a particular pointin vulnerablevirgins[AN INNOCENTGIRLIS film historyand helped to shape the somewhat GAME EVER FIRSTPRIZEIN THE DIRTIEST and amorphousformof the filmsthemcontradictory 1); PLAYED!])4 (Fig. selves. Inorderto do so, I willattemptto definethe narrativeand stylisticpatternsof the (nofilmof the bikercycle characteristic (3) levelof production bikerfilmand to tracethosetrendsin filmproduction was made or releasedby a majorstudio)5; and exhibitionthatdeterminedthe bikerfilm'scom(4) exhibitioncontext(theredneck,white-trash, mercial identity.First,however,it will be usefulto drive-incircuit);and and blue-collar examinenot onlythe originsof the bikerfilmsthem(5) criticalopprobrium(one can hardlyfinda selves, butalso the evolutionof outlawmotorcycle reviewthatdoesn'tapproacha bikerfilmas if gangs and some of the key meaningsand images pilewitha long associated with them in the media. The bikerfilm pokingat a suspicious-looking stick;even favourablecommentsare heavily can best be understoodnot only in relationto its immediatecontextof the late 1960s, but also in qualifiedand apologetic)6. relationto earliertrendsin postwarAmericanfilm Atthe same time,thereare significantpointsat to cerand society, and, perhapsmostimportantly, whichbikerfilmsappearto bleed acrossthe bordertaintensionsand overlappingsbetweenthe present and lines of theirexploitationniche, intermingling and the recentpast. sometimessharingpersonnelwithother,oftenmore reputablecontemporariessuch as the revisionist Prehistory,1945-1965 genrefilm(Bonnieand Clyde, 1967; TheShooting, Outlaw gangs came intobeingsoonafter motorcycle 1967), the youth protest film (Getting Straight, the end of the Second World War. Their early 1970), the Hollywood'artfilm'(EasyRider,1969; consistedmainlyof rootless,restlesswar membership Two-LaneBlacktop,1971) and the counterculture veterans8.Thefirstchapterof the Hell'sAngelswas drug-hippie film (The Trip, 1967; Psych-Out, formedin Fontana,California,sometimein the late 1968)7. In particular,the bikerfilmsharescertain 1940s9. Theoriginof theirnamehas been variously general aspects of characterization,theme and attributed to the 1930 HowardHughesaviationfilm, with some of the foreign-influenced, structure antia squadronof thefamousFlyingTigersfighterplane 'New Hollywood'filmsof heroic,anti-establishment group,or one of severalbombersquadronsbearing thatera. Reflectedin thiscross-fertilization were, on thatmoniker'0. of these Any possibilitiesconnectsto the one hand,shiftingtrendsin theyouthmarketthat similarpatternsof significancein the bikerlifestyle: movedthe exploitationfilmto expand its aesthetic the fly-boyrecklessnessand tomorrow-we-die fatalvocabularyand, on the otherhand, upheavalsin the continued of veterans in the ism; highproportion censorship standards and mainstreamaudience in of biker later and the groups yearsl ; tastethatenabledprestigefilmsto coopt muchof the membership selective incorporation of militaristic elementsinto sex and violenceappeal fromthe exploitationfield. ritualsand regalia(includingprominent use Intheagitatedcontextof thelate 1960s, filmmaking Angels of the aviation-derived 'wings' insignia,appropriboundarieswere greatly in flux, includingthose ated by the Angelsto signifyvariousstylesof going betweenexploitationmovies,the commercialmaindown ratherthangoing up)12. stream,and art cinema. The formof the bikerfilm Also establishedsoon afterthe war were two importantshadow relationshipsthat would pursue

358 358 the outlaw motorcyclegang throughoutthe next (By shadow relationships,I mean quarter-century. thattheyinvolveelementsthatintersect,conflictand run parallelwith each other.)One was with the demographic phenomenon known as the baby boom. Theotherwas withthe bohemiansubcultures movementof the the beat-hipster of theera, primarily 1940s-1950s and the hippie-NewLeftcountercultureof the 1960s. As a postwarphenomenoncentred(bothstatison the promisedland of Caliticallyand mythically) forniaand capitalizingon the mobilityof postwar automotivesociety, the motorcyclegangs were a productof some of the same social factors that producedthe suburbsthatspawnedthe baby boom generation that formed the critical mass of the As LangdonY.Jonesnotesin 1960s counterculture. his historyof the baby boom, Great Expectations,

Martin Rubin Rubin Martin the massivemigrationto the suburbsafterthe war representedtheopeningof a new Americanfrontier, of autoone heavilydependenton the consumption mobiles,the expansionof the highwaysystem,and the artificialrestraintof gasoline prices13.The outlaw motorcycleclubsalso partookof thisinternallycombusted revival of western mythology (the analogy between the biker'smotorcycleand the westerner'shorse is a commonplaceof biker litthat erature),and it is apparentin thisconfiguration in the settlers the covered the suburbanites represent wagons, whilethe bikersinheritthe mythologyof the scum'(i.e. thefringeof outlaws,gunslingers,'frontier riff-raff thatprecededthe advance of morecivilized elements),and even, in some respects,the threatened and threatening AmericanIndians. At the same time, the highways of postwar Americawere providingan arena foranothersmall

Fig.2. Theinvasionof small-townAmericais a classicbikertheme.InDevil'sAngels(1967), vengeful annualpicnicfestivities. bikersprovidea bloodyclimaxto Brookville's Pictures.] [?1967, AmericanInternational

MAKELOVEMAKEWAR:(ulturalconfusionand the bikerfilmcycle I thenmakinga dent in the butflamboyantsubculture monolithic facade of 1950s America.Muchof beat stylewas forgedon the road, as such pioneersas Neal Cassady,Jack Kerouac,AllenGinsbergand HerbertHunckewanderedtheirbeatitudinous way between the antipodal hipstercapitals of North Beach and GreenwichVillage.Althoughobviously quitedifferentin manyrespects,the beats'grooming habits,rovinglifestyle,marginaleconomicposition, and flirtationswith drugs and criminalitycorresponded broadly with biker traits;togetherwith bikersand juveniledelinquencyand jazz subculture, beats were among the few nonconformist styles visibleduringthe period14.SociologistJ.MarkWatson classifiesoutlawmotorcyclist lifestyleas 'a lower class variationof bohemian,"dropout" subcultures', witha similardisdainforsteadyemployment,cleanliness and orderliness(butalso, Watson notes, a lackof bohemianhumanist values)15.Thebeats later

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served as majorland sometimesdisavowed) progenitorsof the hippies'6. All these paths- bikers, boomers, bohemians - would cross and tangle again in the 1960s. Itwas in the roleof rampagingsavages thatthe motorcyclegangs firstattractedwidespreadpublic attention.Duringa 4 July 1947 motorcyclerallyin the smalltownof Hollister'7,two pre-Angelsgangs knownas the Booze Fightersand the P.O.B.O.B.s ('PissedOff Bastardsof Bloomington')reportedly 'tookover'the town, looting,brawling,intimidating citizens,turningthe mainstreetintoa drag strip,and overwhelmingthe local police untilreinforcements were called in. Thenextyear, anotherFourth of July motorcycleevent in Riversideresultedin a similar assaulton commondecency8. TheHollister and Riverside incidentsestablished thesackingof theAmericansmalltownas one of the two mostdurablethemesof bikermythology,bothin

Fig.3. MarlonBrando'shipsterstylesets himapartfromhis bikercomradesin TheWildOne (1954). [?1954, ColumbiaPictures.]

360 360 printand on screen (Fig. 2). (Theother, closely relatedtheme is gang-rape,typicallyimaginedas the bestialdefilingof a virginaltownie.)Itwas the themethatformedthe basis of the first town-sacking of the motorcycle artistic significant representation Frank Rooney'sfrequentlyangang phenomenon: short story, 'Cyclists'Raid', which apthologized in peared Harper'smagazineinJanuary1951. Rooney'sstoryis a parableof fascism,conformismand liberalbad conscience. Its bikersbear littleresemblanceto eithertheirreal-lifemodelsor theirfictionalizedcinematicsuccessors.The gang, called the AngelenoMotorcycleClub,is composed of clean-cut,sinisteryoungmen,dressedneatlyand identically.Theirdisciplineand precisionevoke a militaryunit,while theireerie manner(theyall wear largeopaque goggles and move in seeminglytelepathic unison)prefiguresthe zombiefied hosts of such 1950s science-fiction classicsas ItCame from OuterSpace (1953), InvadersfromMars(1953), and Invasionof the BodySnatchers(1956). 'Cyclists'Raid' in turnbecame the credited of The sourceforStanleyKramer's1954 production Wild One, by far the mostfamousbikerfilm.John Paxton'sscreenplaytakes littlefromRooney'sstory save fora few characternames,the basic themeof a cyclistgang barging into Smalltown,USA, and thecentralplotelementof a local maidenthreatened in Rooney'sstory)by the invaders.The (non-sexually to the factualsourcesof 'Cyclists' Wild One returns moredetailsfromthe Hollister Raid',incorporating incidents.Italso enhancesauthenticity and Riverside by scrappingthe story'soverlyabstractimage of a buttoned-down,science-fictionoidbiker gang. Althoughthe membersof the film'stwo bikergangs mannerreminisoftenbehave in a conventionalized cent of the Dead EndKids(notableexceptionsare wild men LeeMarvinand TimothyCarey),the beof MarlonBrando'sperformance forge bop rhythms a moreplausibleand relevantlinkto authentichipsterstyle19(Fig.3). Anothercrucial differencebetween film and putativesource concerns point-of-view.'Cyclists' Raid'is stronglycentredon a local burgher- the town's hotel owner (and father of the martyred youngwoman)- who reactswithhelplessness,outrage and finallypointlessviolenceto the sorryspectacle of rampagingbikersand vacillatingcitizens. The Wild One, on the other hand, is generally

Rubin Marlin Martin Rubin objective,balancedamong multiplecentres,witha slightemphasison Cathy,the local girl played by MaryMurphy,who is able to mediatebetweenthe lawself-righteous squaredomof voice-of-authority manJay C. Flippenand the sociopathiccool of bad-boybikerMarlonBrando.Thedevice of splitor would be developed furunemphaticidentification therin the bikercycle of the late 1960s. A general area of correspondencebetween TheWild One and 'Cyclists'Raid'is theirconcern withmoralambiguity.Althoughthisaspect is diluted somewhatby the film'sfinger-waggingconclusion, The Wild One effectivelyorchestratesa series of unexpectedequivalencesand rolereversalsto complicate the central conflict between rebels and citizen and a straights,as when a self-righteous in rowdy bikerend up the same jail cell, when Cathyglumlyrealizesthe affinitybetweenhervacilfatherand hermoodybikerGalalatingtown-sheriff had ('He's a fake, like you'), and when she respondsto the Brandocharacter'sadvances with franksexuality,which is more her own refreshingly than he can handle ('lt'scrazy - you'reafraid of me', she realizes).Thismoralcloudinesswill also feature prominentlyin several biker films of the 1966-71 era, usuallywitha more nihilisticinflection. Curiously,despite its tremendousimpact on pop-cultureiconography,The Wild One did not inspirea significantseries of bikermovies in the 1950s. The Wild One derivedfromthe postwar social problemfilmthatproducerKramer pioneered, and, by giving the social problemfilma morally ambivalent,antiheroicedge, it fed intothe upcomcycle, initiatedthe following ing juvenile-delinquent yearwithBlackboard Jungle(1955) and Rebelwithouta Cause 1955). Thesewere followedby a rash of j.d. and criminal-youth films, but only a few minor extremely (e.g. Motorlow-budgetproductions TheHot 1958; Riot, 1957; Dragstrip cycle Gang, involved 1958) motorcyclegangs. The hot Angel, rod remainedthe screen delinquent'svehicle of choice duringthisperiod,even thoughbikerswere in the headlinesagain in 1957 as the resultof a bloodyriotat AngelsCamp, promptingthe California attorneygeneralto declare thema publicmenace20

The Wild One exerteda continuinginfluence on thepopularimageof outlawmotorcyclegangs (a

MAKELOVEMAKEWAR:Culturalconfusionand the bikerfilmcycle 1965 Newsweek expose of the Hell'sAngelswas titled'TheWild Ones', and its Timecounterpart, 'The Wilder Ones')21,on the evolving style and self-perceptionof bikers themselves (who were reportedlygreat fans of the film)22,and on the post-1966 bikerfilmcycle, whichperpetuatedmany of the patternsit had established(suchas the smalltowninvasionscenarioand the isolationof thegang leader). But historicallyit also stands somewhat apartfromthe subsequentbikerfilmcycle, remaining virtuallysui generis until1966. Duringthis interim,the bikerfilm lay dormant,its traces most visiblein SteveMcQueen'spatrioticconscriptionof rebel cool in The Great Escape (1963), Harvey Lembeck'sparodicEricvon Zipper(who resembles a stock dum-dumgangster more than a Brandoesque biker)in the AIP'Beach Party'cycle of the early 1960s, and KennethAnger's avant-garde

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mythologizingof the bikermystiquein ScorpioRising (1963). In 1964-65 outlawmotorcyclegangs roared intothepopularconsciousnessagain witha wave of sensationalizedpress coverage centringon three events: (1) an alleged September1964 gang-rapeof two local girls by Hell's Angels in Monterey (luridlyexaggerated by press and police, chargessubsequently dropped); (2) a highlypublicizedreportissued in March 1965 by CaliforniaAttorneyGeneralThomas C. Lynch,detailing the sordid historyof the Hell'sAngels(thisreport'srelianceon exaggerations, manipulatedstatistics,and dubiousresearch has been relatedby Lavigne,Murray, and especiallyThompson); I

Fig.4. Sensationalizedpresscoverageof the Hell'sAngelsprovidedthe directinspirationforthe biker filmcycle.Severaldetailsin TheBornLosers(1967), includingthe bizarrepaintingon thewall of the bikers'clubhouse,previouslyappearedin a 1965 SaturdayEveningPostarticle. [01 974, AmericanInternational Pictures.]

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MartinRubin Martin Rubin (3) a June 1965 motorcycleriot in Laconia, New Hampshire(blamedby local officialson the unlikelycombinationof Hell'sAngels and Communists, althoughno Angelswere actually present)23.

storieson thisnew 1965, titillating Throughout in a number of high-profile menace appeared public the New York Times(16 publications,including March1965), Time(26 March1965), Newsweek (29 March 1965), The Nation (17 May 1965), True(August1965), and the SaturdayEveningPost that,during (20 November1965). Itis remarkable a year of risingcivilunrest(includingthe WattsRiot an extraand thefirstmajorantiwardemonstrations), of was amount attention being exordinary press a small the threat on group of posed by pended bikerswhose activitieswere largely confined to marginalurbanneighbourhoodsand remotehigh(Fig.4). ways in California24

Thebikerfilmcycle,1966-1971 paradingin Along with the image of motorcyclists brazen, ear-splittingeffronterydown Main Street whiledecent folkcower behindtheirshatteredwindows, and the image of a screamingvirginbeing dragged intoa welterof slaveringhoodlums,there is anotherkey image that recursin biker representationsin the media, perhapsnot as oftenor as centrallyas the othertwo, but with increasingfrequencybeginningin the mid-1960s.Thisis one that in a moredignified, shows the outlawmotorcyclists humanizedlightthanthe firsttwo: the image of the bikerfuneral.Init,thebikersappear inan impressive theirmotorcycles massedformation, chuggingslowly behind the hearse or pallbearers,theirold ladies perchedgravelyaft, theirusuallysinisterNazi and befittinga burial military insigniatakingon a formality withfullhonours.Theforcesof anarchyand mayhem are broughtto solemnorderinthepresenceof death, in turn,temperthe customarydiswhile journalists, taste and sarcasmof theirreportson motorcycle gangs. As an additionaltwist,theseimagesbeginto cropup inthe mid-1960s, when itwouldhavebeen difficultnot to associate them and their vaguely military stylewithanotherimagethatwas becoming morecommonat the time:the funeralof the soldier killedin Vietnam. Bikerfuneralsappeared in the SaturdayEve-

ning Post(20 November1965), Time(21 January 1966), and Life(28 January1966). TheLifeversion (a photo-plus-caption depictingthe funeralcortege ofJames'Mother'Miles,a SacramentoHell'sAngel) came to the attentionof AmericanInternational PictureschairmanSamuelZ. Arkoff.He showed it to house directorRogerCorman,and it formedthe germof TheWildAngels,releasedin the summerof 196625.TheWildAngelsbecamethe highest-grossing filmin AlP'shistoryat thattime,placingtwelfth on Variety'slistof the year's box-officechamps(an film unusuallyhigh positionfor a non-major-studio that received much of its play in lower-echelon venues traditionallyunderreported by Variety).Its success begat the bikerfilmcycle that produced 35 filmsbetween 1966 and 197126 approximately (Fig.5). Theprimarymethodof classifyingthese filmsis in termsof whetherthe protagonistis a bikeror a non-biker. When the protagonistis a non-biker, the is the biker antagonist inevitably gang, producing what is generallythe simplesttype of plot opposition, in whichthe bikergang functionsas the externalthreat,muchinthemannerof theIndiansin many traditionalwesterns,the enemy armyin manywar films,and the criminalgang or syndicatein many cop films.Examplesof this scenario include The BornLosers,TheCycle Savages, Hell'sBelles, The Peace Killers,RebelRousers,Satan'sSadists,Savages fromHelland Wild Wheels.Two minorvariants are (1) the protagonistis pretendingto be an outlaw motorcyclistas part of an undercover scheme,as in TheWildRebels,TheHellcats,Hell's Angels '69, Chromeand Hot Leather,and a late revivalof the bikerfilm,StoneCold (1991), and (2) the protagonistis a formerbikerwho has left the gang (in whichcase the plotsituationrecallswesternsand crimefilmsabouta formeroutlawor gangstertryingto go straight),as in Angel Unchained, Run,Angel, Run!and C.C. and Company. It is when the protagonistis a memberof a bikergang thatmorecomplexand unconventional identification-schemes usuallyoccur.Theseconfigurationsare oftenderivedfromthe Ur-biker film,The Wild One. One such configurationhas the biker withhis gang in a morally protagonistparticipating cloudedstruggleagainstthecivilianworld,whichis presentedas a site of hypocrisyand injustice,althoughnot unequivocallyso. In this type of biker

MAKELOVEMAKEWAR:Culturalconfusionand the bikerfilmcycle film, there is neithera decisive rejectionof mainstreamsociety (as there is in Bonnie and Clyde, Easy Rider,and othersixtiesoutlaw films)nor an eventualendorsementof it (as in The Wild One). The lines between victimand victimizerare often hopelesslymuddled- a positionstakedout in 'Cyclists'Raid'and continuedin TheWildOne (atleast is broughtin for the untilSheriffDeus-ex-Machina end witha plaguefinalreel).Thesefilmsfrequently on-both-their-houses feeling. Examplesinclude The Wild Angels, Hell's Angels on Wheels, Devil's Angels,AngelsfromHell, Hell'sAngels '69 (a distinctivevariation,in whichthe Hell'sAngelsfunction than as rampaging more as agents of retribution Die Hard,Angel Unchainedand outlaws),Angels TheSavage Seven27. The last two examples introducea variantin whicha thirdgroupis caughtbetweenthe equally unpalatablealternativesof bikersand straights(in

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Angel Unchained,thisgroup is a hippiecommune thatill-advisedly enlistsa bikergang to defendthem against local rednecks;in The Savage Seven exploited Indianson a reservationare caught in a similarbind). An early anticipationof this type of situationis foundin TheWild One where Cathyis dismayed by both the stultifying conformityof the straightworld and the causeless rebellionof the bikergang - in the monolithic1950s, what's a restlessgirlto do28? A morecommonconfigurationhas a bikerin the in-betweenposition.Once again, this position was stakedoutby TheWildOne, whichcontinually emphasizesthe Brandocharacter'sisolationfrom (andimplicitsuperiority to)the restof hisbikergang. Insubsequentbikerfilms,isolationoften gives way to outrightconflictbetweena bikerprotagonistand othermembersof his gang. Severalbikerfilmsfeaturea leadershipcrisis in which the gang leader

iigR

Fig.5. TheWildAngels(1966), firstfilmin the 1966-71 bikerfilmcycle,was inspiredby presscoverage of a Hell'sAngelsfuneral.[?1966, AmericanInternational Pictures.]

364 364 (who may or may not be the protagonist)is portrayed as a moderatetryingto restrainthe more violenthard-liners underhistenuouscommand29.For example, in Devil'sAngels (AIP'simmediatefollowup to TheWildAngels),the protagonist,played by John Cassavetes, is the battle-wearyleader of a gang called the Skulls.TheCassavetescharacteris unableto preventextremistsin his group fromransackinga town,and, at theend, the entiremembership(evenhisold lady!)declineto followhimfurther. He removeshis Skullsjacket,climbson hischopper, and rides off alone. Other examples of the isolated/moderate/beleagueredleaderthemeinclude Angels Die Hard, Chromeand Hot Leather,Hell's Angelson Wheels,Hell'sBelles,RebelRousers(Fig. 6), TheSavage Seven, TheWildAngelsand Wild Wheels30. As notedabove, bikerfilmswithnon-biker protagonistsusuallypresenta clear-cutconflict,withthe

Martin Rubin Rubin Martin bikergang cast as the enemy. However,as faras I have been able to determine,the inverseproposition does not exist. I have yet to see a bikerfilmwitha clear-cutconflictin which mainstream society is the is unmistakably enemyand identification (thoughnot necessarily simplistically)created for the bikers' side31.Instead,as we haveseen, suchidentification is variouslydiluted,divertedand divided- by making the bikers barely if at all preferableto the straights,by shiftingidentificationon to a third group,and by placingthe bikerprotagonistin conflictwithhisgang as well as withthe straights. Inotherwords, thereis no real biker-film equivalentof such contemporaneousanti-establishment filmsas Bonnieand Clyde, TheWildBunch(1968), ButchCassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), or even (despitethe obviousinfluenceof bikerfilmson it) Easy Rider.The Hell's Angels and their biker brethrenwere apparentlyconsideredtoo threaten-

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leadershipcrisis:moderategang leader(BruceDern)attemptsto restrain Fig.6. A characteristic over-zealousmember(JackNicholson)frommolestinga hostage(DianeLadd)in RebelRousers (1967/1970). [?1970, FourStarExcelsiorReleasingCompany.]

MAKELOVEMAKEWAR:Culturalconfusionand the bikerfilmcycle I and downrightnastyto support ing, problematical, identificationen masse, even in the exploitation undersideof the filmindustry duringa periodexceptionallyreceptiveto outlawheroes. of the narratives does However,a classification notprovidean adequatemethodof describingbiker films,because manyof themare weaklynarrativized Hollywoodstandards.Not reflectedin by traditional above schemais theway 'central'conflictsare often dropped, shifting,vague, sporadicallydeveloped, or not apparentuntillate in the film.And these are farfromtheonlyways inwhichbikerfilmsdilutetheir narratives. When one watches a large numberof biker filmsin a shortperiod,one is likelyto be astonished amountof screen time that by the extraordinary manyof the filmsdevote to footage of the bikers... just ... riding around ... on their bikes ... hair streaming,mamas clinging, highways unrolling, cameras truckingand zooming, usuallywhile an

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Technolinsipidrocksong droneson thesoundtrack. ogy aside, one sometimesgets the feelingof having regressedto the earliestdays of film history,the era of of Lumiere and Edison,when a pre-narrative filmmightconsistentirelyof a view froma camera mountedon an elevatoror a movingtrain,and the sheer spectacle of recordedmotionwas attraction enough to constitutea cinematicexperience32(Fig. 7). Bikerfilmsfrequentlygive the impressionthat theyare being addressedto an audiencethatcares littleabout plot and mainlywants to see big guys ridingaroundon big motorcycles,knucklescolliding with noses, and women, both pure and tainted, being treatedlikedirt.AsJoe Solomon,a producer who specialized in bikerfilms,put it, 'Youtake a motorcyclegang. They'reputtingdown cops, smoking grass, laughing at the law. They're taking womenby force.Carnage!Pillory![sic]They'vegot money,guns. Some guy on a bikegrabs a girland

interludescontributeto the bikerfilm's Fig.7. C.C.and Company(1970): Leisurely motorcycle-riding diminution of narrativeintensityin favourof lifestyledepiction.[?1970, Avco EmbassyPicturesCorp.]

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screws her. No consequences,no kids, ridingoff Thisoffhandqualityextends to anotherstock free ... 33. In otherwords, a primarypartof the scene of bikerfilms:the orgy. Nearly every filmI bikerfilm'sappeal is its presentation of the legend- have seen fromthe bikerfilmcycle, beginningwith ary bikerlifestyle,fascinatingly appallingand vicari- TheWildAngels,has thistypeof scene: usuallyset ously appealing, sensationalizedby the popular in an Edenic outdoor location, by a lake or a pressand given cachet by moreimpressivecultural stream,with beer-guzzlingbikersand theirwanton figuressuch as TomWolfe, Ken Kesey, HunterS. women loungingin variousstates of undressand to such Thompson,KennethAnger,AllenGinsbergand Mi- two-backedinteraction, seeminglyindifferent chael McClure.Describingthe firstfilmin the biker nicetiesas privacyand comfort.Sex among movie filmcycle, TheWildAngels,directorRogerCorman bikerstendsto have an impersonal,casual quality, adven- except when it goes to the opposite extremeof said, 'Themoviewasn'tso mucha single-plot tureas a stringof experiencesthatportrayeda way cruelty(Fig.8). of life'34.Corman'sexamplewas followedby most Rape(especiallygang-rape)is a centralingreof the subsequententriesin thecycle. dientof the Hell'sAngelsmystiqueand an important Inadditionto thegenerousdoses of motorcycle contributor to the exploitationappeal of the biker noted the the delineation of biker film. above, riding Hystericalpresscoverage of the 1964 Montethose two lifestyleencompasses exploitationstaples, rey 'rape'incidentcatapultedthe Hell'sAngelsinto sex and violence,oftensomewhatdetachedin tone nationalprominence;HunterS. Thompsonattributes and incidentalin relationto the narrative. Thereare the Angels' celebritystatusalmost entirelyto the in to be 'curiousrape mania'of Americanjournalism36. biker but these tend films, fistfights a-plenty a of sense oddlyweightlessaffairs,lacking brutality Rape or its suggestion, often of the gangand frequently accompaniedby incongruous-seem- variety,is a featureof nearlyeverybikerfilm,often music. Thislack of intensityextendsto moreas a lifestyleelementthan as a centralplot ing bubbly othertypes of action scenes. Forexample, the cli- device (Fig. 9). The theme begins rathermildlyin macticdesertchase of Hell'sAngels'69, one of the TheWild One (a filmof remarkable sexualsophistimoreaccomplishedbikerfilms,dissolvesmuchof its cation, in relationboth to its period and to subsense of urgencyin extended, contemplativeheli- sequentbikerfilms),when the heroineis menaced coptershotsand a lightflutescore, endingup more by a group of rowdy bikers. The Wild Angels as distancedspectaclethannail-biting containsa sexualassaulton a blacknurseand, most suspense. Bikerfilmsfor the most part have a curiously outrageously,theconsolatoryrapeof a biker'sberedetachedquality,in termsof bothtone and charac- aved widow (DianeLadd)duringthe funeralservice teridentification. This,togetherwiththeirloose struc- by hisconcernedcomrades('Let'sputheroutof her themfromthe narrative tures,differentiates tightness misery').Thethemereceivesits mostextendedand and romanticlyricismof theirprogenitor,TheWild questionabletreatmentin The BornLosers,which while presenOne, despitetheirheavyindebtednessto manyof its mixesprurienceand self-righteousness plot elements.These qualitiesalso set bikerfilms tinga seeminglynon-stopseriesof rapesituationsas apart from the most characteristicyouth-oriented a meansof testingthe mettlebothof thevictimsand filmsof theirown era - theyare cool in an age of of theirwould-bedefenders(Fig. 10). The Hell's Angels rape stories reported in the press and passion,detached in a timeof commitment. A furtherindicatorof the anti-romantic tone of eagerly recreatedin bikermovies seem to have - a new twiston theold diffidentand/or been heavilymythologized manybikerfilmsis theirfrequently The Americanid-projection of thewhitevirgininthearms pessimistictreatmentof romanticrelationships. tone is set in The Wild Angels, when the biker of theduskysavage. Moreauthenticis the depiction of womenon a protagonist(PeterFonda)apatheticallydisconnects of the bikers'demeaningtreatment fromhis old lady (Nancy Sinatra)at the end of the day-to-day basis, especially their own women, film('Beatit- I don'twantyou').Severalotherbiker whetherexclusivepartners('oldladies'),gang chatwherethe partiesinvolved tel ('mamas'),or curiosity-seekers filmsfeaturerelationships ('strangebroads'). low esteemof women is an integral driftapart, with littleCasablanca-likesense of roExtremely manticsacrificeor poignancy35. by thisreprepartof the bikerlifestyle,as illustrated

MAKELOVEMAKE WAR: Culturalconfusion and the biker film cycle sentativequotation:'If I could find a man with a pussy,I wouldn'tfuckwithwomen. I don'tlike'em. Thisis one aspect of They'renothingbuttrouble'37. the biker lifestylethat is usuallyaccuratelyrepresented in bikerfilms,althoughexaggerationhardly seemsnecessary.InTheSavage Seven,a womanis auctionedoff by the bikersfor 26 cents, and in Hell'sAngels '69, a womanis tradedfora pack of cigarettes;nearlyidenticalincidentsare reportedby Naked Angelscontainsa Murrayand Thompson38. sordidimage of a bikermamawith the inscription tattooedon herback'PROPERTY OF THEANGELS' to side; according Thompson,thisstyle of decorationwas commonlyemployedon theirwomenby a motorcyclegang knownas Satan'sSlaves39.Even sensitivegang leader played by John the unusually Cassavetes in Devil's Angels remains authentic enough to say things like, 'When God created women, he made 'em prettystupid'.Because the

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modernfeministmovementwas still in its infancy duringthe bulkof thebikerfilmyears,thesemisogynistelementsseem less the resultof a backlashthanof the anti-romantic tendency mentionedabove. Like Italianwesterncycle, the biker thecontemporaneous filmseemed eager to scuttlemuchof the sentimental baggage withwhich action genres had been saddled duringthe bygone reign of the Production Code and the familyaudience40. As a furtherindicationof theircool temperament,bikerfilms(especiallythosewithbikerprotagonists)seem to progress not so much toward a resolutionbased on conflict strongpsychodramatic and identificationas towarda type of distanced, emblematicfinalshotthatcould be called the 'nihilistic tableau'. The Wild Angels concludes with a high-anglelong shot of disconnectedgang leader PeterFonda ('There'snowhereto go') alone in a ransackedcemetery,shovellingdirtintoa grave as

here by one of several Fig.8. Anotherexpansivelydepictedlifestyleactivityis the pastoralorgy, illustrated suchscenes in TheGloryStompers(1967). [?1967, AmericanInternational Pictures.]

368 368

Martin Rubin Rubin Martin

Fig.9 (above).Rapewas a heavilymythologizedbikerlifestyleelement.Thistrumped-uprape situation (MimsyFarmer)in Devil'sAngels(1967) was patternedaftera 1964 involvinga localcuriosity-seeker American International incident. Pictures.] [?1967, Monterey A coed faces imminentviolationin TheBornLosers(1967), perhapsthe most 10 Fig. (below). vacationing Pictures.] rape-obsessedof all bikerfilms.[?1974, AmericanInternational

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police sirenswail in the distance.Thefinaleof The in leisurehabits,producinga precipitousdecline in Savage Sevenis a zoom backon theIndianreserva- the movieaudience.Thisdeclinewas centredin the tion in flames,the fightingstillgoing on in a three- over-25population;the teen and youngadultaudicorneredstrugglethathas lefteveryside the loser.In ence, always overrepresentedin movie revenues, Angel Unchained,a similarlong shot shows the became more crucialthan ever. Hollywoodwas kneelingstunned,theirleaderdead, slow to acknowledge this trendand continuedto hippiesurvivors their commune in flames, while their redneck chase after a dwindlingfamilyaudience. By the enemies and biker 'protectors'ride off41. Naked mid-1950s, desperateexhibitors were cryingoutfor with ends a shot of the Into this breach stepped Angels high-anglelong gang youth-oriented product42. in stranded the tentafollowed rival studio AlliedArtists members, desert, gathering AlP, by low-budget around their moderate who and like Sam Katzman and new, leader, tively independentproducers kneelsdefeatedand doubledoverin painwhilethe AlbertZugsmith,with a series of cheaply made aimed at such gang's psychoticformerleader ridesoff alone. The exploitationfilms opportunistically conclusionof Hell'sAngels '69 is a helicoptershot teentrendsas rock'n'roll,juveniledelinquency,and thatpullsway backas theavengingAngelsrideoff, what passed for sexual franknessin the waning Code. leavingthe survivingprotagonistsin the middleof yearsof the Production the desert withouttransportor water (shades of AlP's continued success in the 1950s and Greed).Themoodconveyedby thesefinaltableaux 1960s was dependenton its abilityto anticipate is oftenapocalyptic,the sense of closurerelatively changing tastes in the fickleyouthaudience. The weak, thefuturebleakand uncertain,thefatesof the monstermoviesand crimefilmsof the 1950s were maincharacterslargelyunresolved,the moralout- followedby profitableforaysintoItaliansword-andcome clouded, the earth scorched, the feeling of sandal epics, gothic horrorfilms,and beach party movies.Bythistime- the mid 1960s - theall-imporfutility overwhelming. A characteristic entryin the 1966-71 bikerfilm tantyouthaudiencewas being inflatedby another as follows:an anti-roman- factor:the baby boom. The spawn of the biggest cycle can be summarized tic exploitationfilmthatis less a linearnarrative than populationexplosionin recenthistorywere entering a seriesof looselyconnectedvignettesillustrating a intotheirprimemoviegoingyears.A significantnumin a final,nihilistic tableau. berof themwere also participating inthecreationof lifestyleand culminating Thispeculiarformatin some ways reflectsthe most a counterculture whose scale and impactwere unsophisticated new directions in the commercial precedented in Americanhistory.These factors cinemaof the period;in otherways, it seems retro- together(a youthaudience enormousin size and to jettisonthe mainstream cultural values grade and extraneous.Some explanationsfor the threatening bikerfilm'sproblematical formmay be foundin its thatthe filmindustrywas best equipped to serve) relationto certain trends in film productionand exertedextraordinary tensionon the Hollywoodsysexhibitionin the late 1960s. tem, which seemed overstrainedin its attemptsto absorbthembutcouldnotignorethemwithoutsacriaudificinga largesegmentof itsalreadyshrinking ence. and 1945-1972 art, Exploitation Itis fittingthatthe firstfilmin the bikerfilmcycle, The Amidthe emptyseats and shutteredtheatresof Wild Angels, was producedby AmericanInterna- the postwarfilm industry,there was one notable tionalPictures,and thatthey producedand/or dis- area thatescaped the generaldesolationand even tributedmanymorebikerfilmsthanany othersingle thrived:the drive-intheatre.Unlikethe ailingdowncompany.AIPwas the firstfilmcompanyto cater town theatres,the drive-inswere well suitedto sersuccessfullyto the postwar youth market,which vice theshiftingpopulation:theywere locatedcloser exerted unprecedentedinfluenceon both the film to the suburbanenclaves, and they could more industryand Americansociety at large duringthe cheaply and convenientlyaccommodatethe prolif1960s. eratingchildrenwho were keepingcouplesat home One well-knownresultof the postwarmigration ('Bringthe whole family'!was the majorthemeof to the new frontierof the suburbswas a radicalshift drive-inpromotions43). Youthwas servedalso by the

370 drive-in'slegendary passion-pitappeal, which, along withotherfactorssuchas itslowerticket-prices and group-orientation (drive-inpatronson the averattended as of part a largergroupthan'hardage top' patrons did), helped to secure the pivotal audience44. teen/young-adult To a certainextent,drive-inscounterbalanced and the generalpostwardeclineof the filmindustry Ina its a of audience45. straying recaptured portion theatres were movie when closingin hardtop period from 100 in situations boomed drive-in droves, 1946 to over4,000 by 195846. Duringthe 1950s and 1960s, drive-instypicallyaccountedfor 20 to 25 per cent of the totalUS box office; it was not unusualfordrive-inaudiencesto outnumber hardtop audiencesduringthe peak summermonths47.Lowbudget, non-majorproducerslike AIPwere especiallytied to thedrive-inmarket,in partbecause the majors,underpressurefromhardtopoperators,enforceddisadvantageoustermson drive-ins,and in partbecause drive-inaudienceswere perceivedas theirattendancemotivatedmore less discriminating, by a generaldesire for 'a nightout at the movies' than by the prestige of particularmovie titles48.

Althoughthe 1950s are often nostalgicallyrecalled as the golden age of drive-ins,BruceA. Austin,in his authoritative studyof the subject,observes that the 1960s were actuallythe drive-in's mostsuccessfulperiod, peaking in 1967 and declining slowly thereafter4. However, this period was also markedby a shift in the natureof the were drive-inaudience. Duringthe 1950s, drive-ins the whole toward oriented family, drawing primarily with a primaryfocus on young, moderate-income coupleswithsmallchildren,and a secondarybutstill significantfocus on teenagers. Althoughlittleresearch has been done on the subjectsince 1960, and the few scatteredsurveyssometimespresent findings,the consensusseems to be contradictory thatthe drive-inaudience after 1960 driftedin a directionthatwas generallymorelow-income,nonand poorlyeducated,with family,male-dominated, in blue-collar,pink-colincrease a particularly sharp larand unemployedpatrons5. Inaddition,drive-ins continuedtheirtrendof being concentratedin less urbanizedareas, withthe largestshareof revenues coming from the Central South (Kentucky,Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi)and the smallest

MartinRubin share fromthe Middle Atlanticstates (New York, New Jersey,Pennsylvania)51. Suchwere thetrendsin progresswhenthe biker filmenteredthe scene as a new staple of drive-in moviefare in the mid-1960s. As SamuelZ. Arkoff noted, 'Our motorcyclepictureswere picturesthat the young men would buy ... The motorcyclepicturesneverdid too well in thebig cities.Theydid the best, really,in the drive-ins.In,let'ssay, the Middle West, the South,smallertowns'52.Ina 1969 overview of teen exploitationmovies,RichardStaehling observed that the currentaudience for bikerfilms was predominantlysomewhat older than teenaged53. Meanwhilethe general movie audience was becomingincreasinglydominatedby a group thatwas younger, moreaffluent,bettereducated, more middle-class,and more receptiveto artier, moreovertlysophisticatedalternativesto the standardyouthexploitationfare54. Inadditionto drive-ins,therewas anothercategory of movie theatrethat flourishedagainst a backdropof generalaudience decline55.Thatcategory was the art house, specializing in foreign films.The art house boom materializedabout a decade laterthanthedrive-inboom, increasingfrom 200 art houses in 1956 to over 1,000 in 1970, withthe periodof mostintensivegrowthoccurringin the late 1960s56. The impact of art cinema was not

confinedto these specialized theatres.By the late 1960s, filmsby superstarforeigndirectorssuch as Fellini,Bergmanand Bunuelwere appearingregutheatres57.Inaddition,foreign(espelarlyin first-run filmstylewas exertinga directand European) cially influence on American heavily-commented-upon movies,includinga groupof groundbreaking major hits with special appeal to the expanding youth market:Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Easy Rider,etc. Inpart,thiswas a symptomof a long overdue shift in youth and exploitationfodder, and of a of the lines begeneral blurring-cum-realignment tween exploitationfilms,youthfilms,art filmsand commercialgenres duringthis exceptionallyunsettled period of Americanfilm history.Just as the successes of the NouvelleVague-ishA HardDay's Night(1964) and Help(1965) had antiquatedthe Sam Katzmanand BeachPartyyouthmovies,so the mainstreamsuccesses of Bonnie and Clyde, The WildBunchand MidnightCowboywere providing

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doses of sex and violencethatobliged the exploita- face of 'New Hollywood'?Equivocally. One way of tion marketto up the ante, in termsof not only approaching the question might be to quote a explicitnessbutalso culturalcachet and perceived couple of representative descriptionsof the basic hipness (e.g. the impact of cult/criticalfavourites qualitiesof Europeanart filmsand/or their'New George Romeroand RussMeyeron the horrorand Hollywood'counterparts: sexploitationgenres, respectively).In 1967, Sam In Europeanfilms there was a looser, more Katzman's lumbering expos6 of theyouth-protest-LSD tenuous linkageof narrativeevents, for which scene, Rioton SunsetStrip(completewitha middleabsolute closure was not necessary. Stories narrator aged cop hero and a voice-of-authority were locatedin realsettingsand dealtwiththe intoningominous warnings about 'irresponsible, (oftenpsychological)problemsof contemporary wild, beat, protestyouths')was overshadowedat confused, ambivalent,and alienated characthe box office by anotherAIPrelease, RogerCorters. Whereas charactersin the Classic Hollyman's artier and trippier The Trip.The fading wood cinema had to be well rounded, schlockmeister complained,'Theday of theexploitaoperating with clear-cut traits and charactionpictureis gone ... AIPis tryingto go muchmore teristics,the Europeaninfluenceallowed forthe highbrow,'but all that Katzman'sgrumblingreally possibilityof confusedcharacters,withoutclear meantwas thathis brandof exploitationhad been goals59. (Fig. 1 1). givena BeachBlanketBurial58 Allseven of the above [new Americancinema] Andhow did the bikerfilmfitintothe changing

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372 372 filmscontainsome seeds of the period'svalues: the offbeatantiheroprotagonist;the sterilesoof him;theexplicittreatment cietythatsurrounds sexualconflictsand psychologicalperversities; the glorificationof the past and the open spaces; theslickbuttawdrysurfacesof contemporaryreality;the mixingof the comic and the serious;the self-conscioususe of special cinematic effects ... All seven of the films give evidence of the two clichesthatcriticsused to describefilmsof the era: sex and violence ... of the filmswere social misfits, the protagonists deviates, or outlaws... The surprisewas that these new murdererswere also charming, warm, loving, compassionate, good-humored60.

Generations, 1940-, 1946-

Withone footfirmlyinthedrive-in/exploitation/bluecollarcamp and the otherfoot somewhatless firmly in the art-house/counterculture/middle-class camp, the bikerfilmcycle became a site forthe inscription and generationaltensions.TheGeneration of cultural Gap was a shibbolethof thelate 1960s, as middleaged Americans,havingenduredthe Depression, foughtthe War, and stood vigilantagainstCommuwithoffspringwho nism,foundthemselvesconfronted seemedperverselydedicatedto rejectingthe perfect for worldtheirparentshad so arduouslyconstructed them.However,therewas another,less publicized 'generationgap' operatingat the same time,involving somethingless thana fullgenerationand constitutingmoreof a frictionthana gap. At issuehereis betweenthe baby boomgeneration the relationship GenerWiththe notableexceptionof thatfinalremark and what langdon Jones calls the 'Left-Out aboutthe compassionate,lovingside of the outlaw ation',meaningthatgroupbornduringor justbefore hero, all of the art filmand New Hollywoodele- the War. Thiswar baby grouphas an ambivalent ments in the above quotationscould be applied relationto the boomergeneration,moreone of older almostverbatimto the bikerfilm(as describedin the to youngersiblingsthanof parentsto children.Like previoussectionof thisarticle).EasyRider(drawing the boomers,thewar babies grew up aftertheWar of PeterFonda,Dennis and the Depressionand so fall to the same side of on the biker-film backgrounds and Kovacs JackNicholson)is com- that dividingline, but they also lack the numbers, Hopper,Laszlo as a synthesisof biker/exploita- impact,and overallidentityof thebabyboomgroup. monlyinterpreted tion and New Hollywood/art film ingredients, As Jones writes, 'Theywere teenagerswhen teencon- agers were stillan emotionallydeprivedclass. They absorbingbikermythologyintoa counterculture of interest Pranksters text, muchas KenKeseyand his Merry thoughtof themselvesnotas a community with individuals as but rather to see had done fouryears before. It is possible wrestling personlonely bikerfilmsas pointingtowardother antiestablish- alityproblems'64. The bikergangs that attainedcelebritystatus mentclassics - such as The Wild Bunch,Performance (1968/1970), and A ClockworkOrange duringthe late 1960s were predominantly aligned, Gener(1971)61. Thisis not to say that bikerfilmswere in termsof styleand age, withthe 'Left-Out the of that most observes Angels incipientartfilmsoreven thattheirpossibleinfluence ation'.Thompson on Hollywood'art films'extended much beyond were war babies at the timewhen he was riding some surfaceelementsand sharedcredits.It was with them65.Eventhe Angels' partlyself-cultivated perhapsmorea case of theirnoddingtowardcon- 'loser'image (reflectedin suchbikerfilmtitlesas The temporarytrends,as a meansof coveringtheirbets BornLosersand The Losers)seems to address the in responseto the confusingsignalsbeing sent by self-imageof a generationdestinedto be upstaged Never- by the more massive numbers,more flamboyant the shiftingyouthand exploitationmarkets62. theless,thereis stilla certainamountof homology(in style, and more pressing politicaland economic successors66. termsof style, narrativestructure, characterization, demandsof theirall-too-immediate to take intoaccountthe fact Itis also important themesand moralambiguity)beantiestablishment Ameri- thata large numberof the boomercontingentthat tween bikerfilmsand the foreign-influenced can filmsthatwere havingan unprecedentedand dominatedthe late 1960s movieaudiencewere not college-educated highly publicized impact on the commercial affiliatedwith the predominantly and were oftenvehementlyopcinema63. youthcounterculture mostof posed to certainaspects of it. Throughout

MAKELOVEMAKEWAR:Culturalconfusionand the bikerfilmcycle of Americanyouthsupported thisperiodthe majority numberof them theVietnamwar;a disproportionate also backedGeorge Wallace in his 1968 Presidential campaign67.In addition to the tender-aged Wallaceites, there were a substantialnumberof boomerswho formedthe youthfuledge mainstream of Nixon'sSilentMajority,and manyin boththese groupsprobablyfelttheyhad morein commonwith theirwar-babyelders (possiblyeven withthe Hell's Angels!)thanwiththeirhippieand New Leftcontemporaries.Accordingto reporterSol Stern,the huge crowd(ca. 300,000) at the ill-fated1969 Altamont concert had a distinctlyredneck,blue-collar,nonof working-class hippiequality,composedprimarily 'the sons and and daughtersof the silent youths the more bourgeois-bred contrast to majority'(in crowd at the hallowedWoodstockfestival).They were, Stern noted, 'the kind of kids you see at drive-ins'68 The confrontationbetween the Hell'sAngels recountedat the beginning and theMerryPranksters of this articleis emblematicof the underlyingtensions - generational, class, racial, sexual - that

were temporarily obscuredin the utopianeuphoria of the counterculture and papered over in printby suchlabelsas counterculture, youthmovement,youth audience. Althoughthe importanceof the youth audience is universally acknowledgedin accounts of Americancinema in the late 1960s, thereis a tendency to conceive of that youth audience in overly monolithicterms.As we have seen, there were several distinctyouthgroups (includingpreboomer, countercultural-boomer,conservativeboomer), each with overlappingand conflicting interests.One would expect to find this type of situationin any period,butthe distinctive configurationof the late 1960s, withthe massiveinfluxof the baby boomgeneration,the riseof theyouthcounterbetweenthe culture,and the ambivalentrelationship war babies and the boomers, accentuatedsuch tensionsto an unusualdegree. The popularfascinationwiththe Hell'sAngels in the late 1960s was one arena in which these tensions,overlappingsand evasionssurfaced,and an important functionof bikerfilmswas to register the generationaland culturalfaultlines underlying the bikerphenomenon- in a sense, the bikerfilm's characteristicamorphousnessallowed them more 'play'. Both on-screenand and off-screen,repre-

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sentationsof bikergangs sentout a riotof clashing signifiersand crossed signals indicativeof generationalconfusion,conflictingculturalstyles,and irreconcilablepoliticalpositions. For example, the description of the Hell's Angels in the 1965 LynchReportserves up a flagrantconfusionof rightand leftsignifiers,careening fromstormtrooperto stereotypicalhipster/hippie, as indicatedby theseexcerpts: '... varioustypes of Luftwaffe insigniaand reproductionsof German IronCrosses. Many affectbeardsand theirhairis usuallylong and unkempt.Some wear a single earring in a piercedearlobe ... belts made of a lengthof polishedmotorcycledrivechainwhichcan be unhookedand used as a flexiblebludgeon... tattooed ... theirgenerallyfilthycondition... 69 badly in need of a bath ... marijuana...

The 1967 autobiographyof the Hell'sAngel knownas FreewheelinFrank(publishedby trendy GrovePress)is a similarjumble,incoherently mixing was justso groovy','Iwent hippiespeak('Everything on LSDagain and saw the Light.Father.OurFather. God ... God is Love')withKlan-like diatribes,exultantviolence and vicious misogyny70.Apparently, such a contradictory profilewas overwhelmingfor the sheriffof Laconia,N.H., who conflatedHell's Angels, Communistsand marijuanaas the intertwinedcauses of the 1965 riotthere71.TheAngels' unlikelyalliance with Ken Kesey's counterculture shock troops, the bikers'temporarytransformation intowastedacid heads, and theiredgy rapportwith have already the hippies of the Haight-Ashbury been described.The Angels antiestablishment lifestyle, heavy drug use, and hatredof the police, in tandemwiththeirzealous patriotism, unquestioning supportforthe war, and alliancewiththe Oakland police againstthe BlackPanthers,providedanother richsourceof paradox72. Thisimagisticanarchyis carriedover intothe bikerfilms,which play up the resonantclash of swastikasand love-beads,tattoosand body paint, gang-rapesand free love, beer-chuggingand potsmoking.When cast in TheWildAngels,lead actor PeterFondaasked to change the nameof his character fromthe ominousJack Blackto the groovy moniker derived HeavenlyBlues- a mostunbikerlike froma type of sunflowerseed used to producea

374 374 mild psychedelic high73. Even if this association remainedobscureto theaudience, Fonda'sappearance in the film - slender frame, tinted glasses, (or mop-tophaircut- seems more Haight-Ashbury perhaps,at thisearlydate, SunsetStrip)thanHell's Angels,and the same basic lookwas carriedover, witha few additions,to Fonda'sbike-riding hippiesaint in Easy Ride?4.Alreadymentionedhas been thestockscene thatcouldbe called the BikerLove-In (Fig. 12) - a blendof nudity,casualsex, rockmusic, and (whenindoors)psychedelicdecor pot-smoking, that often differslittlefromthe hippie lifestylesdepicted in such contemporaneousfilmsas The Trip (1968) and Wild in the Streets (1967), Psych-Out of biker the musicalsoundtracks In addition, (1968). filmslean heavilytowardacid-stylerockby groups and such lesserlightsas likeCream, IronButterfly, the PeanutButterConspiracy,the LollipopShoppe, the Poor,Thirteenth Comthe AmericanRevolution,

Martin Rubin Rubin Martin and Mad Dog. As the mittee,Jerryand the Portraits, 1960s wounddown, thedepictionof bikersin biker filmsand in the media seemed on the verge of - a turningthemintoa strangetribeof killer-hippies that the establishment far-fetched association fairly presswas nevertheless eager to draw,finallyfinding its made-to-order pin-upboy, CharlesManson, in 196975 Fig. 13). As the bikerfilmcycle unfolded,the Vietnam War escalated, becoming an ever more central focusforthe typesof generationaland culturalconflictsindicatedabove. TheWildAngels,firstfilmin the cycle, containsa fleetingreferenceto the war: duringa typicallyapatheticlove scene with Peter Fonda,Nancy Sinatraturnson a radio,whichemits a news reporton fighting near Da Nang; she quicklyswitchesto a stationplayinga sentimental rock ballad. Subsequentbiker films occasionally evokedthe war in a moredirectmanner,usuallyby

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Fig. 13. AngelsfromHell(1967): Bikerscommunewithhippiesand listento the typeof psychedelicband thatusuallyaccompaniedbikermovies.[?1968, AmericanInternational Pictures.] utilizingVietnamveteransas centralcharacters.As MarkWalker notes in his book, VietnamVeteran Films,duringthe late 1960s and early 1970s (a period duringwhich the war was conspicuously avoided in Americanmovies)bikerfilmswere the mainvehicle for representingVietnamveteranson the screen76.With the exceptionsof Angels From veteranis consumedby Hell(inwhichan embittered a megalomaniacplanto uniteall motorcyclegangs in a jihadagainstestablishment) and Hell'sChosen Few(inwhicha veteranbattlesbotha corruptsheriff and a predatorybiker),bikerfilmsuse war veterans as non-outlaw protagonistsin directconflictwiththe bikergang (as described on p. 362). Examples includeTheBornLosers,Satan'sSadists, TheHard Rideand Chromeand HotLeather. film Inkeepingwiththeircontradiction-saturated can function as outlaw motorcyclists implicit image, analogues for both sides of the war: eitheras US troopsin theirworst light, rapingand razingtheir way throughsurrogateMy Lai'salong the American highways77,or as Viet Cong on motorcycles, against whom the returningVietnamveteranfinds himselffightingthe war all over again. Thissliding associationof movie bikerswith both GI Joe and

VictorCharlieis mostexplicitlyrealizedin Chrome Thefilmbeginswithwhatappears and HotLeather. to be a guerrillaattackon Americansoldiersin the Vietnamesecountryside.This is revealed to be a trainingexercise at a statesideMarinebase. The Marinesergeantbarks,'Troop,move out'!A slow dissolve then reveals William Smith leading his 'troop':a platoonof outlawmotorcyclists movingout down the highway.Bythe end of thefilm,however, theirsymbolicaffiliation, the bikershave transferred as they are routedby revenge-bentGreen Berets and led off in sullenprisoner-of-war style like capturedCong on the eveningnews78. Suchexplicitsocial relevanceis not typicalin the bikerfilmcycle; however,as inany genreor film cycle, it is theimplicitconnectionsand theirpotential resonance that are generally most crucial. Using ThomasSchatz's model from HollywoodGenres, Walker, in his book on Vietnamveteranmovies, interpretsbikerfilmsto be akin to gangster films, detective films and especially westerns, because theytake place in 'contested'ratherthan 'civilized' spaces: smalltowns, beaches, deserts79.Itwould be probablymoreaccurate, however,to describe these not as 'contested'butas 'left-behind' spaces.

376 376 Bikerfilmsare rarely,if ever, set anywherenearthe 'new frontier'of postwarsuburbia(or its lateroffshoot, urbangentrification). Instead,they gravitate towardthe 'old frontier'of the westerndesert- a frontier now aged and emptiedout.Civilizationisn't at contesthere; it has movedon, leavingbehinda desiccated landscapeof zero-growthcommunities, scatteredtruckstops, crumblingadobe ruins,dusty ghost towns, rustingdebris, scrubbyarroyosand worked-out mines.Thislandscapehas morein common withthe post-apocalyptic wastelandsof Road films thanwiththe pregscience-fiction Warrior-style nantpromiseof the westernfrontier,not to mention the realbattlegrounds, whetherdomesticor foreign, the 1960s. of late Neitherin theirluridpressclippings,norin the filmsdepictingthem, do outlawmotorcyclists ever seem to wreaktheirhavocon a middle-class suburb, even thoughthiswould appear to be the primary sourceof theirsocial exclusionand the moreappropriatetargetfor theirwrath80.Insteadtheyconfine theirforaysmainlyto isolatedsmalltowns, remote beaches, backwoods resorts.The biker 'menace' sealed-offin thusbecomes neutralized,hermetically a battle between anachronisms:on one side, a outdegenerateversionof the old-styleindividualist law/gangster/cowboy (with linksto more recent but stilloutdatedavatarssuch as the hipsterand i.d.), and, on the other, a decaying remnantof America.The bygone rural/small-town/Main-Street resultis an Armageddonin a cul-de-sac,a seriesof furiousshowdownsin the middleof nowhere. By 1967, the two most pressing issues in Americahad become thewar and thecities81.Born in the sensationalpressin 1965, when urbanriots were beginningto deand antiwardemonstrations flatethe GreatSociety,the Hell'sAngelsphenomenon was principallya sideshow, a distraction,a bypass.Thebikerfilmcycle carriedon thatheritage of displaced conflict,and, unlikethe western,then enjoyinga richsunset,or the horrorfilmand the cop film, then both risingquicklyin the generic firmament, its indirectiondid not enable it to connect resonantly enough with the central underlying anxietiesand dreamsof its era. Thishelps to accountfor the bikerfilmcycle's minorartisticimportance, limitedpopularity,marginalpositionin the filmindustry, and easy replacementby otherexploitationand actionfare.

Martin Martin Rubin Rubin Thebriefvogue of the bikerfilmrepresentedan attemptto establisha new exploitation genre, drawon American traditions of ing long-established the wilderness and rugged individualism, savage sexualmyth,while at the same time respondingto highlypublicizedrecentevents, currentsocial tensions (especiallyin regardto the generationaland countercultural groupsat the heartof the youth/exploitationaudience),and changingdirectionsin the filmindustry.The resultswere generallyunwieldy. Straddlingdifferenttrendsin the volatilecinema of the late 1960s, thebikerfilmstretcheditselftoo thin, never crystallizinginto a sustainedand coherent genre (oractionsubgenrel.Itwould be moreaccurateto label it a cycle ratherthana genre, and that is how it has been designatedthroughout thisarticle. Its basic formshaped loosely by both drivein/action/genre/exploitation and art-house/ youth/counterculture/New-Hollywood imperatives, the bikerfilmworkeditselfintoa dead-end,neither innovativeand left-oriented enoughforthe hipyouth heroicand identificationaudience,nortraditionally orientedenough for the blue-collardrive-inaudience. Thelatterpositioncouldbe achievedprimarily outsidethe bikergang and by placingidentification castingthemas externalvillains- in whichcase, the bikerfilmloses muchof itsdistinctiveness and rationale, becomingessentiallya westernor war or gangsteror cop movie in bikerdrag, with a littlerape thrownin on the side82.Thelaterentriesin the biker filmcycle oftenseem to acknowledgethisdevelopso thatwhat ment,sometimesquiteselfconsciously, had been moreor less implicitassociationsin the earlier films become arch and over-explicit:The Losers(1970) literallysends its bikers,DirtyDozenstyle, intoVietnamand Cambodia;the dialogue in C C. and Company(1970) coyly refersto earlier 'Youguys gonna sit there bikerfilms(Ann-Margret: likethe Wild Ones, or are you gonna give a girla hand'?);AngelsHardAs TheyCome(1971 ) sets its actionin a disusedwesternmovieset; Chromeand Hot Leather(1971) has uniformedGreen Berets 'pacifying'bikersas if they were VietCong. In its waningyears,thebikerfilmcycle tendedto distance fromthe bikersthemselvesby itselffurther and further abstractfiguresof evil, by them increasingly making them and by bootingthemintoother camping up, contexts horror,western),as if to (war, generic

MAKELOVEMAKEWAR:Culturalconfusionand the bikerfilmcycle acknowledgethey no longer meritedone of their own83. Theelasticlate 1960s audienceforactionfilms seemed to be tighteningup, too, resultingin a of productand less effortat clearer stratification or synthesizing straddlingdifferentprecinctsof the market.Althoughsomeof youth/action/exploitation the old outlawspiritlingeredon in hitslikeA Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Getaway (1972), the driftof the futureseemed to be representedby a polarizingof the action marketinto, on the one' hand,big-budget,prestigious,and/or moreconventionallyheroicactionfilms(TheFrenchConnection, 1971; DirtyHarry,1971; TheGodfather,1972) and, on the otherhand, low-budgetblaxploitation and kung-fufilms aimed at a narrowlydefined, primarilyurban market.Despite the crucial differencesnoted above, therehad stillbeen a great deal moreaffinity(in termsof bothformand audience appeal) between,say, EasyRiderand Angels fromHell, or The Wild Bunchand The Savage Seven, thantherewas between TheGodfatherand Black Caesar (1973), or The FrenchConnection and The Chinese Connection(1972). The mainstreamfilmindustry was becomingever morereliant on big-budgetblockbusters,with a trendtowards fewerand moreexpensivefilms84. Meanwhile,blaxof AlP, ploitationbecame the meat-and-potatoes and smokey-style road-chasefilmsinheritedmuchof the old AIPdrive-inaudience85. The biker film cycle filled an equivocal but viablepositionat a timewhen the interrelated areas of generation,filmmaking and audience categories compositionwere exceptionallyfluidand ambivalent. Alwaysmoreamorphousthanflexible,the biker filmlostitstenuousnichewhenchangingpatternsin taste,audience,and production obliged it to define itselfmorenarrowly.Itwas also handicappedby its dependence on the vogue of the outlawbiker- a muchmore limitedand ephemeralicon than, say, the cowboy or the gangster.Scatteredremnantsof the bikerfilmhave cropped up occasionallyin recent years, primarilyas retroor camp referencepoints86.Bikerfilmswere by no meansamong the mostimportant filmsof the 1960s, buttheirflirtation with genuine incorrigibility- their self-imposed missionto venture,howevererratically,beyond romanticantiheroism intothe bleakregionsof thetruly nihilisticand antisocial- stillcommandsattention,if

377

onlyforthe way it pointstowardmorerecent,adamantlytroublingculturalstyles, such as punk,skinhead and gangsta.*

Notes 1.

AlienGinsberg,'First Partyat KenKesey'swithHell's Angels', PlanetNews (San Francisco:City Lights Books, 1968), 104; HunterS. Thompson,Hell's Saga of theOutlaw Angels:TheStrangeandTerrible MotorcycleGangs (New York:BallantineBooks, Kool-Aid 1967), 292-302; TomWolfe, TheElectric Acid Test(New York:FarrarStrausand Giroux, 1968), 173-187.

2.

Todd Gitlin,The Sixties:Yearsof Hope, Days of BantamBooks, 1987), 210-21 1; Rage (Toronto: AllenJ. Matusow,The Unravelling of America:A in of Liberalism the 1960s (New York: History Harper& Row, 1984), 301; CharlesPerry,The A History(New York:Random Haight-Ashbury: House, 1984; Vintage Books, 1985), 27, 94, 115-117, 126, 232-233; Nicholasvon Hoffman, We ArethePeopleOurParentsWarnedUsAgainst (Chicago:QuadrangleBooks, 1968; New York: FawcettCrestEdition,1969), 28, 51, 156.

3.

Wolfe,185.

4.

Phrasestakenfrompostersfor TheWildRebels

(1967), TheCycle Savages (1969), TheHellcats (1968), and TheBornLosers(1967), respectively. 5.

Theonlyentryinthebikerfilmcyclethatapproached the mainstream was the atypicallyblandC.C. and Company(1970), releasedby AvcoEmbassy,star-

andAnn-Margret. ringJoeNamath

6.

The Wild Angels (1966) has meritedsome more

inthecontext attention of auteurist studies respectful of RogerCorman;the same is true,to a lesser degree, of RichardRush'stwo bikerfilms, Hell's Angelson Wheels 1967) and TheSavage Seven (1968). 7.

Forexample,Monte Hellman,editorof The Wild BlackAngels,directedTheShootingand Two-Lane top.BruceKessler,directorof AngelsfromHell,was stuntcoordinatorfor Bonnieand Clyde. Directors RogerCorman(TheTrip)and RichardRush(PsychOut)bothshiftedgears frombikersto hippies;Rush also directedGettingStraight.The pre-EasyRider bikerfilm credentialsof Peter Fonda (The Wild Angels), Dennis Hopper (The Glory Stompers, 1967), JackNicholson(Hell'sAngelson Wheels; RebelRousers,1967/1970), and LaszloKovacs (Hell'sAngels on Wheels; Hell's Bloody Devils, 1967; The Savage Seven) often have been remarked.

378 8.

9.

MartinRubin Yves Lavigne,Hell'sAngels: 'ThreeCan Keep a 21. SecretIfTwoAreDead'(NewYork:CarolPublishing Group,1987), 23-27; Thompson,81. 22. 1948, accordingto Lavigne(23); 1950, according to Thompson(90) and William Murray,'Hell's 23. Angels: OutlawMotorcycleGang in California', SaturdayEveningPost238 (20 November1965): 24. 37.

10.

Lavigne,24-27; Thompson,90.

11.

In 1964 Hell's Angels presidentSonny Barger 25. claimedthatover 90 per cent of the membership were veterans(Lavigne,33).

12.

See Lavigne(80) fora menuof same.

13.

Y.Jones,GreatExpectations: Americaand Langdon the Baby Boom Generation(New York:Coward, McCann& Geoghegan, 1980), 38-40.

14.

Other correspondencesoccurredon the level of artisticrepresentation and intellectual interpretation. Marlon Brando'scelebrated performancein the pioneer biker movie The Wild One (1954; discussed below)draws heavilyon hipsterstyle.NormanMailer's1957 essay 'TheWhite Negro' (first publishedin theMarch1957 issueof Dissent,later includedinMailer's1959 collectionAdvertisements forMyself,one of themostimportant interpretations 26. of beat-hipsterstyle, invokesconcepts of psychoviolence,and vecriminality, pathy,barbarianism, locitythatoftenseem as applicableto bikersas to hipsters.

15. J. MarkWatson, 'OutlawMotorcyclists: An OutConcerns',Deviant growthof LowerClass Cultural Behavior2 (1980): 31-48; reprintedin Delos H. in the Kelly,ed., DeviantBehavior:A Text-Reader Sociology of Deviance, 2nd. ed. (New York:St. Martin'sPress,1984), 133. 16.

Thefirstnewspaperarticletotakenoticeof thehippie phenomenonwas headlined'A New Haven for Beatniks'(Perry,19).

17.

Alltownsmentionedin thisarticleare in California, unlessotherwisenoted.

18.

Lavigne,21-22; Murray,34; Thompson,88-89, 139-140.

19.

'The hipsterhas that mutedanimal voice which shiveredthe nationalattentionwhen firstused by MarlonBrando'.- NormanMailer,Advertisements forMyself(New York:G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1959; SignetBooks,1960), 335.

20.

Lavigne, 29-30; Thompson,211; 'The Underground: Avenging Angels', Newsweek 75 (5 January1970): 16.

Newsweek65 (29 March1965): 25; Time85 (26 March1965): 23B. Thompson,85. Lavigne,34-36; Murray,34-35, 39; Thompson, 23-31, 36-54, 278-289. estimatedall outlawmotorcycle Thompson gangs to totalless thana thousandmembers,of whomca. 150 were Hell'sAngels(100). RogerCormanwithJimJerome,How I Made a HundredMovies in Hollywoodand Never Losta Dime (New York:RandomHouse, 1990), 132; MarkThomasMcGee, RogerCorman:TheBestof the Cheap ActsUefferson, NC: McFarland& Co., 1988), 55. Otherfilmswithbikerfuneralsare: Hell'sAngelson Wheels,TheHellcats,AngelsDieHard(1970), The WildRide(1971 ), Mastersof Menace(1991), and Stone Cold (1991). Piquantdetails includegang membershonorifically urinatingintothe grave of a fallen comrade (a bikerversionof the traditional 21-gunsalute,perhaps)in AngelsDie Hard,and a grievingmamasolemnlyremovingherbrassiereand placing it atop the departedbiker'scasket in The Hellcats. Followingis a listof bikerfilmtitlesencounteredin the courseof myresearch.Thelistis limitedto films madebetween 1966 and 1971. Someof thelisted titles(notablyHell'sBloodyDevilsand TheAngry Breed)mightbe consideredborderlinecases. In to the addition,threefilmswitha loose relationship bikerfilmcycle (Angels'Wild Women,BuryMe An were releasedin 1972. Angel,Psychomania) 1966: WildAngels(AIP). 1967: TheBornLosers Devil's (akaBornLosers) (AIP), (AIP),Hell'sAngels Angels(AIP),TheGloryStompers on Wheels(U.S. Films),Hell'sBloodyDevils(IndeOutlawMotorcycles (Gillman pendentInternational), FilmCorp.),TheWildRebels(CrownInternational). 1968: Angels fromHell (AIP),The AngryBreed (Commonwealth United),TheHellcats(CrownInterInternanational),Hell'sChosen Few (Thunderbird tional),TheSavage Seven(AIP),Savages fromHell (aka Big Enoughand Old Enough)(Trans-lnternaon Wheels(Mayflower). tional),She-Devils 1969: TheCycle Savages (AIP),Hell'sAngels '69 (AIP),Hell's Belles (AIP),Naked Angels (Crown International), Run,Angel, Run!(Fanfare),Satan's Sistersin Leather Sadists(Independent International), Wild Wheels (Fan(SackAmusement Enterprises), fare). 1970: Angel Unchained(AIP),Angels Die Hard (New World),BlackAngels(Merrick International), C.C. and Company(Avco Embassy),The Losers RebelRousers(FourStarExcelsior). (Fanfare), 1971: AngelsHardAs TheyCome (New World),

MAKELOVEMAKEWAR:Culturalconfusionand the bikerfilmcycle Chromeand HotLeather (AIP),TheHardRide(AIP), ThePeaceKillers Werewolveson (Transvue Pictures), Wheels(Fanfare). 27.

28.

The less frequentcase where the mainconflictis betweenrivalbikergangs sidestepsthe bikers-vs-society issue. ExamplesincludeAngelsHardAs They Come, The GloryStompers,Naked Angels, and She-Devilson Wheels.A special case is posed by 36. BlackAngels,where the centralrivalrybetweena whitegang anda blackgang initselfevokesa wider 37. social conflict,reinforcedby the hoveringpresence of a sinisterpoliceman(thetrue'blackangel' of the film'sambiguoustitle). I like to imagine that, after the end title, Cathy hoppedthe nextbusto Frisco,beddeddownwitha and ended up runninga hipstertrumpet-player, macrobiotic cafe intheHaight-Ashburymaybeshe even serveda tofu-burger to KenKesey!

adorn Thompson,21 8. Similarproprietary markings bikerwomen in AngelsDie Hard,C.C. and Company, and StoneCold.

Thethemeis conspicuously absentfromHell'sAngels '69, apparentlytheonlyfictionalbikerfilminwhich themainmotorcycle gang is playedentirelybya real motorcycle gang (theOaklandHell'sAngels,including AngelspresidentSonnyBargeras the convincleader). inglyuntroubled

31.

A special case is posed by TheLosers,a hybrid for war/bikerfilmthatcreatesstrongidentification the bikergang intheirconflictagainst... Communist forces in SoutheastAsia. Thishardlyqualifiesas mainstreamsociety, and, in fact, the regularUS soldiers,aftera littleinitialfriction,come to admire theirbikercomrades-in-arms.

32.

Thiswoulddistinguish bikerfilmsfromwesterns(proorotherwise), whichresembletheminsome grammer Westrespectsbutare generallymoreplot-driven. ernsmayhaveextendedchase sequencesbutdo not typicallyinclude long, contemplativestretchesof foritsown sake. horseback-riding

33.

RogerEbert,'JoeSolomon:TheLastof the Schlockmeisters',Esquire(November1971); reprintedin ToddMcCarthyand CharlesFlynn,eds., Kingsof 41. theBs:WorkingwithintheHollywoodSystem(New York:E.P.Dutton&Co., 1975), 144.

ExamplesincludeDevil'sAngels, Hell'sAngelson Wheels,AngelsfromHell,TheSavage Seven,Hell's Angels '69, Hell's Belles, Naked Angels, and

Watson, 118. Similarsentimentscan be found the autobiography of FreewheelinFrank throughout (see below)and in the Angels'own vanityproject, a disjointed documentarycalled Hell's Angels Forever(1983).

39.

30.

35.

Thompson,24.

Murray,37; Thompson,104.

A lesscommonvarianthastheleaderas a hard-liner 40. oroutright psychoticwho losesthesupportof hisless minions.Examples areAngelsfromHell, bloodthirsty Hell'sBellesand NakedAngels.

EdNaha, TheFilmsof RogerCorman:Brilliance on a Budget(New York:ArcoPublishing,1982), 6061.

Chromeand HotLeather. A ne plusultraof sortsis achieved in TheLoveless(1983), Kathryn Bigelow and MontyMontgomery's artymeditationon biker films,which climaxeswith the self-absorbedbiker protagonist(WilliamDafoe)watchingimpassively whiletheteen-tramp towniehe'ssleptwithblowsher brainsout.

38.

29.

34.

379

42.

However,thereare two mainareaswhereeven the limitedaccuracyof thesefilmrepresentations of biker women breaks down in order to accommodate lingeringtraces of traditionalmovie romanticism. One (oftennoted in reviewsof the films)is that, womenare oftenreasonalthoughthe background ably grungy,theleadingfemalebikerroleis usually played by a neatlydressed,coiffed,and made-up actresswho looks likea fashionmodelor Nancy Sinatra.Inthisrespect,specialnoteshouldbe made of Hell's Angels '69, whose female bikerlead, vigorouslyplayedby ConnyVanDyke,is sufficiently stockyin physiqueand toughin mannerto suggest shecouldactuallysurviveformorethana few minutes in sucha group. Theotherarea of lingeringromanticism is theoccasionaluse of the stockplotdevice of rivalryoveror of a womanto generateconflict(as in Hell's pursuit Angelson Wheels, TheGloryStompers,TheCycle Savages, NakedAngels,Chromeand HotLeather). AsJ. MarkWatson notesin his sociologicalstudy, 'OutlawMotorcyclists', real bikerswould probably not considera woman worthfightingover (120). Once again, thispitfallis avoided in Hell'sAngels '69, probablythe mostauthenticbikerfilmin terms of itsrepresentation of the motorcycle gang. Thisis followedby an atypicalfinalclose shotof the ex-bikerprotagonist (DonStroud) lookingdevastated and confused.Other bikerfilms(suchas Devil's concludewith Angels,BlackAngels,and TheLosers) similarto thoughforimages thatare thematically mallysomewhatdifferentfromthese nihilistictableaux. A Survey(Belmont, DouglasGomery,MovieHistory: Calif.: WadsworthPublishingCompany, 1991), 304-305; DouglasGomery,'TheTheater:IfYou've

380

MartinRubin

44.

Seen One, You'veSeen theMall',in MarkCrispin Miller,ed., Seeing ThroughMovies (New York: PantheonBooks,1990), 64-65; GarthJowett,Film: Art(Boston:Little,Brownand Com- 59. TheDemocratic pany, 1976), 429-430. 60. and Declineof BruceA. Austin,'TheDevelopment the Drive-In MovieTheater',in CurrentResearchin Film:Audiences,Economics,and the Law,vol. 1, 61. ed. BruceA. Austin,(Norwood,NJ:AblexPublishing Corporation,1985), 65-67; Douglas Gomery, A Historyof MoviePresentation in SharedPleasures: theUnitedStates(Madison:University of Wisconsin Press,1992), 92; Gomery,'TheTheater',66. 62. Austin,74.

45.

Ibid.,67.

46.

Jowett,482; RobertStanley,TheCelluloidEmpire: A Historyof the AmericanMotionPictureIndustry (New York:HastingsHouse, 1978), 243.

47.

Austin,64; Gomery, Shared Pleasures,91-92; Gomery,'TheTheater',66.

48.

Austin,69, 73, 85; Gomery,Shared Pleasures, 93n26.

49.

Austin,64, 67, 68.

50.

Ibid.,73-79.

51.

Ibid.,68.

52.

LindaMay Strawn,'SamuelZ. Arkoff',in McCarthy and Flynn,261.

53.

RichardStaehling,'FromRockAroundthe Clockto Stone AboutTeenMovies',Rolling TheTruth TheTrip: inMcCarthy no. 49 (27 December1969), reprinted and Flynn,239.

43.

54.

DavidA. Cook,A Historyof NarrativeFilm,2nd ed. (New York:W.W. Norton& Company, 1990), 874.

55.

Yetanothercategoryof theaterthatflourished during the period,the pornohouse,is outsidethescope of to thisdiscussion,althoughnotnecessarilyirrelevant

noting'the produceras a eucalyptustree (Perry, 229-231). Gomery,MovieHistory,313-314. GeraldMast,A ShortHistory of theMovies,4th. ed. (New York: Macmillan PublishingCompany, 1986), 422-424. Performance can even be seen as a gangstervariation on the Pranksters-Angels with confrontation, British mobstersinsteadof bikers,and MickJagger's forthe polymorphously perversemenagesubstituting Pranksters. The inputof youthfuland presumablyadventurous creativepersonnelsuchas LaszloKovacs,Richard Rush,JackStarrett (directorof TheLosersand Run, Angel, Run!),and PeterBogdanovich(an important on TheWildAngels) collaborator thoughuncredited an important was undoubtedly factor,too.

63.

As furtherevidence of the bikerfilm'sart/schlock ambivalence,TheWildAngels,whileintheprocess of conqueringthe drive-inmarketin the US, was selectedas theopeningnightfilmfortheVeniceFilm Festival.

64.

Jones, 111.

65.

Thompson,197.

66.

See Thompson(75, 332-334) and Watson(116, 121) for a discussionof the 'loser'aspect of the bikers'image. Biker-film Joe Solomonconproducer sidered The Losersto be the perfecttitlefor such moviesand regrettedthathe coulduse itonlyonce (Ebert,'JoeSolomon',140).

it.

56.

Gomery,MovieHistory,349.

57.

Cook, 876.

58.

MarkThomasMcGee, Fastand Furious:TheStory Pictures(Jefferson,NC: of AmericanInternational McFarland& Company, 1984), 178. In August Katzman's 1967, to commemorate equallysquare (1967), Haight-Ashbury 67. hippieexpose, TheLove-ins denizens held a derisiveSam KatzmanMemorial Fair,whichclimaxedwithlocal magicians'reincar-

Thereisalso, of course,an important classdimension to thesesocialtensionsthataccompaniesthegenerationaldimensionand coincideswithit to a certain extent(i.e. suburban middle-class stylebecamemore hegemonicduringthe baby boomera; the majority of hippiescame fromthe middleclass).One should be careful,however,to see the outlawmotorcycle gang's deviantstyleas beingdefinedby itsrootsin normallower-classbehaviourratherthansimplyby its negative oppositionto the middle-classhegeof these issues,see Watson, mony.Fora treatment and the important 'OutlawMotorcyclists', essay on which manyof Watson'sobservationsare based: WalterB. Miller,'LowerClassCultureas a Generating Milieuof Gang Delinquency',TheJournalof SocialIssuesvol. 14, no. 3 (1958): 5-19. Thomproots son'sdiscussionof theHell'sAngels'white-trash 1198-203) is also relevantto these issues. DavidCaute,TheYearof the Barricades: AJourney Through1968 (New York:Harper& Row, 19881, 21; Jones, 98-99; WilliamL. O'Neill, Coming

MAKELOVEMAKEWAR:Culturalconfusionand the bikerfilmcycle Historyof Americain the 1960s Apart:An Informal (Chicago:QuadrangleBooks,1971), 146. 68.

PearlHarborto theWoodstock Sol Stern,'Altamont: of Ramparts, eds., Conversations Nation',in Editors Revwiththe New Reality:Readingsin the Cultural olution(SanFrancisco:CanfieldPress,1971), 5051.

69.

Thompson,17-18.

70.

FrankReynolds,as toldto MichaelMcClure,FreewheelinFrank:Secretaryof theAngels(New York: GrovePress,1967), 35, 60.

71.

Murray,39; Thompson,279.

72.

Lavigne,33-34, 44; Thompson,304, 312-323. In 1965 SonnyBargersenta famoustelegramto LBJ theAngelsfordutyas a 'crackgroupof 79. volunteering trainedgorillas[sic]'behindthelinesinVietnam.He never receiveda reply, but Barger'sfantasywas acted out on-screenin the biker-'Namsaga, The Losers.The extremejingoismof Barger'sOakland chaptermay not have been typicalof otherbiker 80. groups- see Reynolds,131-132.

73.

Corman,153; Naha, 63.

74.

To furthermuddyculturaldistinctions,duringthis periodthe same actors(PeterFonda,DennisHopper,JackNicholson,AdamRoarke,BruceDern,etc.) oftenplayedbothhippiesand bikers,andtheywere more convincinglycast to type in the formercaveteranWilliam tegory.Massive,moodybiker-film Smithwas perhapstheonlyactor(otherthanSonny Bargerplayinghimself)who played a bikergang leaderwithoutlookinglikehe wouldimmediately be stompedto a pulpby real-lifebikers.

75.

76.

Thisassociationis especiallystrongin filmssuchas TheSavage Sevenand Angel Unchainedthathave a 'peasant'community destroyedin the cross fire betweenopposingforces.

78.

biker Walker,29, observesthattheveteran-centered filmsets the returning veteranin conflictwithsocial

outcastsratherthanwithsociety itself(unlikemany veteranfilms).Thissuggestsa theraotherreturning films.Somepeuticfunctionto the biker-vs-veteran what likethe laterPOW recoveryfilms(Missingin theAction,1984; Rambo,1985, etc.),theyenable the unvictorious Americanforces to redeemthemselves by restagingthe conflicton more advantageousifanarchicterms,withthebikersfunctioning as convenient,homegrownscapegoats. However, the ambivalentnatureof moviebikersalso enables themto cross over and redeemthemselvesin the literalized TheLosers,inwhicha bikergang bizarrely is whisked,lock,stock,and choppers,to the jungles of Vietnamand Cambodia.Theretheyall die herofashion- pointicallyand - in nihilisticbiker-film CIA lessly,as theirmission(to rescuean unsavoury operative)is revealedto have been a mistake. Walker, 18. The relevantpassage from Schatz occursin HollywoodGenres:Formulas, Filmmaking, and the StudioSystem(New York:RandomHouse, 1981), 29. Earlier dramaswere notso reluctant delinquent-gang to strikedeep intothe suburban/middle-class heartland - see, for instance,The Night Holds Terror (1955), Key Witness(1960), Kittenwitha Whip (1964).

81.

GodfreyHodgson,Americain Our Time(Garden City,NY: Doubleday,1976), 318. Thenas now, 'cities'oftenfunctionedas a euphemismfor racial and class conflicts.

82.

Forinstance,therecentStoneColdis preciselythat: a super-hero cop filmin bikerdrag.

83.

Forexample,Werewolveson Wheelsis as mucha horror film,Hell'sBellesas mucha western,and The Losersand Chromeand Hot Leather as muchwar filmsas theyare bikerfilms.

EvenbeforeManson,violentcrimesinvolvinghippies and linkedto the use of hallucinogenic drugs were givendisproportionate and oftenexaggerated 84. coverage in the press.See, forexample,'Deathof a FlowerBaby',Time90 (1 December1967): 18; Jay Stevens,StormingHeaven:LSDand theAmerican Dream(New York:Harper& Row, 1987; 85. PerennialEdition,1988), 274-279; Thompson, 302; 'Troublein Hippieland',Newsweek 70 (30 October1967): 84, 87. 86. MarkWalker,Vietnam VeteranFilms(Metuchen, NJ: ScarecrowPress,1991), 15.

77.

381

Cook, 887. Thiswas, of course,in the era before the adventof boutiquecinema,based on suburban and video stores. multiplexes JohnIzod, Hollywoodand the Box Office 18951986 (New York: Columbia UniversityPress, 1988), 189. includethehyper-atmospheric TheLoveless Examples (1983), the StallonesqueStone Cold (1991), and thefarcicalMastersof Menace (1991 ). these filmsare all set in the South(as Interestingly, axis of opposed to the California-Nevada-Arizona the 1966-1971 cycle), as if movie bikershad migratedsoutheastwardto follow theirdwindling drive-inconstituency.

FilmHistory,Volume6, pp. 382-404, 1994. Copyright?John Libbey&Company ISSN:0892-2160. PrintedinGreatBritain

I

The

trope

I

of

in Blaxploitation critical responses to Sweetback Jon Hartmann and resistance I. Blaxploitation The Baldwin theater in Los Angeles, which shows black movies to blacks, is loud and always crowded.Audiencesdo not hesitateto expresstheiropinionof what is happeningon thescreen,whetherwithcheers,jeers,or verbal disagreementwiththeactors.Whatparticularly annoysthemis a black loser:Whiteymustbe sentup, putdown, stompedor shot. 'Lifebeing whatit is, we dreamof revenge'.TheGauguin quotationseems especiallyappositeto thefilms on view, mostof themthe resultof the industry's discoverythatthereis a buckto be made from blackness.

VanPeebles'independentfeatureSweet Sweetback'sBaadasssss Song (1971) has drawn critical attentionforitsinnovativemethodof targetingand attractingAfricanAmericanson a massivescale2. Thenoveltyof Sweetback'sspecific yet large-scaleaddress to a Black working-class audience lent the name Blaxploitation Filmto the film's Hollywood imitations,if not to Sweetback itself3(Fig. 1). While the analysisabove came from theconservativeNationalReview,a somewhattypical mainstream reportechoed the Reviewin finding Sweetbackexploitativein termsof 'sex, violence,... jive, ... racial stereotypes... and "revolutionary" Butwas thisworkessentiallyan expose-striking'4. film? Publications whichdid not raisethis ploitation often question simplyignoredVan Peebles'filmor confusion over itsradicaland hyperbolic expressed on certain expansion HollywoodChase, Western, and FilmNoir motifs.Thosecriticswho did ask to whatdegree and to whatends Sweetbackexploited its Blackworking-classtarget audience rarelyacSweetback's knowledgedother issues surrounding relationto America'ssocial and industrialframework.Inorderto examinethe tropeof Blaxploitation in Sweetback, this essay will take a more critic-

Mvelvin

Withcinemaadmissionsdown by fiftymillion since the 1950s and MGMauctioningoffJudy Garland'sshoes fromtheWizardof Oz, Hollywood has been seeking freshways out of its financialtrauma.One suchis the 'classappeal' movie, aimed at specialized sections of the - ouryoung, ourhomosexuals,our community and so on - marketswhichin sado-madochists mostcases have provedillusory.Blacks,however,havebeen foundto attendthemoving-picturesout of all proportionto theirratioin the population,forvariousreasons.Itall adds up, as they y on MadisonAvenue,to the selling of a figurewith terrificidentification-potential knowninghettoparlanceas SuperSpade1.

Jon Hartmann holds an MA in Cinema Studies from New York Universityand is a Lecturerin Englishat LongIsland University.Please address correspondenceto Jon Hartmann,58 W. 8th St., Apt. 4F, NY, NY 10011, USA.

The tropeof of Bloxploitation to Sweetback383 The trope critical responses Sweetback responses to Blaxploitation in critical

383

Fig. 1. Sweetback'sdirector,MelvinVan Peeblesas his protagonistSweetback,makingthe transitionhere fromsex-showperformerto actionheroand potentialrevolutionary by usinghis handcuffsto takerevenge on two brutallycallouspolicemen. centredapproachthanhave previousstudies,sampling a wide spectrumof the Americanprintmedia. Amongthe mediaexaminedare: (1) the alternative and Leftpresses, (2) otheractivistorgans and the businesspress, (3) the mainstreamand the Black presses, and (4) the academic publicationswhich addressed Sweetbackfrommore distantpoints in time5 While the specific term'exploitationfilm'has been employedby filmcriticsforonlythe lasttwentyfiveyears,thesecriticshave graftedthetermon to a lengthyhistoryof productionswhich stretchesfrom turn-of-the-century single-shotpeep-shows to hardcore pornographyand video voyeurism.According to exhibitorDavid Friedman,the real businessof crankingoutexploitationfare began withthe travelling carnival,as evidenced by the exhibitors'descriptionof theirworkas 'a flimflam','a three-card monte',and 'a con merchant'sdream'6.However, the 1934 restrictions imposed by the Hays Code ironicallyopened up a new marketto the purveyor

of exploitationfilm not unlikethe black marketin five liquorwhichhad been introducedby Prohibition earlier. Exhibitors this window of years exploited in each of their opportunity merelyby denouncing, of theirtaboo subject. For pictures,the immorality one example, prominentshowman, Howard W. to unravelthe Babb, exhibiteda filmthatpurported of birth. Babb's mysteries posterhyped his product withthe followingwords:'Momand Dad:Women Cry. Men Get FightingMad. You'llGasp, You'll Wince, You'llShudder- ButYou'llSee Truthsand You'llLearnFacts'7.Suchboldfacedclaimsof edificationwere the hallmark of the classic exploitation filmwhich, accordingto Friedman,may have died withthe recentadventof home video. An essential to the exploiteers'carnivalmethodsof counterpart roundingup audienceswas theirequallydramatic pitchto theatremanagers:'IFYOURBUSINESSIS GOOD - YOURPROFITS ARENORMAL- AND HATESHOWMANSHIP YOUSTILL AND EXPLOITATIONTHENTHROWOURAGENTOUT'8!

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Jon Hortmonn Hortmann

Van Peebles' masteryof Babb and Friedman- BlackPanther,declaredSweetbackto be a service like business techniquesclearly exploited certain to, and requiredviewing for, BlackAmerica.My taboos. As an independentproducertryingto gain analysisof Sweetback'sreceptionin the foursectors a footholdin Americanmoviehouses, he relied,in of theprintmediaoutlinedabove willsuggesta high withinSweetback'sexploitaadvertisingSweetback,on sensationalplays to eth- levelof self-awareness, nic and socio-politicalfears and fashions.Accord- tionalscheme,thatthisschemewas itselfreproducing to nearlyevery reviewerin all fourcategories, ing the social inequitieswithinAmericansociety. Van Peebleswas a GrandMasterwhen it came to Thisself-awarenesson the partof Sweetbackmotipublicity.Similarly,therewas a generalconsensus vatedthe mostpoliticallyfocusedreviewers,suchas thatVanPeeblesexcelledat takingadvantageof his HueyNewtonand theLeftpress,to takeclearstands and technicalcrew in orderto grindout on the film.Politically committedreviewerssuch as performers hispersonally-owned thattheywere penetrating product.While Sweetbackfol- thesegave theimpression lows the firstexploiteers'and critics'definitionof the moresuperficialaspects of Blaxploitation to adcinematicexploitationas a low-budgetdistillation of dress the societal schismsdramatizedby Sweetold-timecarney schemes, one mustalso keep in back. minda second, broaderdefinitionof exploitation: An immediatelyapparent strategyby which Allmoviesare money-making operationswhichcan Van Peebles'filmdirectsits exploitationof cultural be seen as exploitationfilmsin thattheynecessarily taboo is, withtheexceptionof itsfirstten minutes,its promisemore than they deliver.Forexample, the almostcompleteabsence of linearplotprogression. starcloseup withwhichwe exchange kissesis not Sweetback includes enough circular, repetitive entirelyreal, but ratherthe productof cinematic sound and image to be treatedas an angry jazz technologyand ourown willingimagination.While revisionof generic Hollywoodmotifs.Yet in the criticshave fromtimeto timeseen fitto underlinethis minds of criticswritingin 1971, these elements generaldefinitionof the term,it was actuallya third stoodout: formof exploitationthatmostovertlyconcernedreProtagonistSweetback,a Watts 'freakshow' viewersof Sweetback:the immediateand historical performer-cum-pimp, departs(in Van Peebles' and fact of the material exploitation of the Black HueyNewton'sanalyses)fromhis initialpositionof masses9.Thisfinalconcernis addressedby the 'split complete alienation from any kind of political audience'phenomenondescribedby Ed Guerrero, awareness- manifestedin his passive compliance a concept which would label Sweetbacka proto- withthe police- to a personalunderstanding of his filmbecause of its potential positionin a racistsociety. For Sweetbacksoon typical'Blaxploitation' racial polarizationof audiences identifyingthem- rebels,againstpolice brutality at least, by usinghis selvesas Blackor White0. handcuffsto smashthe officerswho are beatingthe While the termBlaxploitation was not yet in BlackactivistMoo-Moo.Themostimportant scene, 1971 Sweetback's first rounds of exfor reviewers of the character's Sweetback, vogue during depicts via a cinematicdissolve,atop hibition, membersof the Americanprint media physicalmaturation, who have nurtured him.'Oh, generallyagreed - in theircomments,and perhaps one of the prostitutes moreby theirsilences- thatSweetback'spredomi- you'vegot a sweet, sweet back, Sweetback'!cries nantlyBlack, workingclass audience was being thiswomanas theboy Sweetbackmovesuncertainly hustledby Van Peebles11.Butnumerous betweenherlegs (Fig.2). Thewomanscreamsin a masterfully reviewersconsidered,at leastforan instant,splitting silent ecstasy that is alarmingin its exaggerated themselvesoff fromthe main by regardingSweet- persistence,achieved by the repeated insertionof back as an anti-colonialculturalproductstruggling freeze-frames intothe sequence. Insteadof hearing for existence within the American commercial thiswoman'sscream,we perceivethe instrumental cinema. While the alternative,Black and main- rhythms of the musicalgroupEarth,Wind and Fire streamprintmediawere ambiguousconcerningVan while the title 'STARRING THE BLACKCOMPeebles' exploitationof his targetaudience, busi- MUNITY' stretchesacrossthe screen.While Melvin ness-orientedjournalssuch as JEToverlookedthis Van Peeblesportraysthe adultprotagonist,his son charge,and at leastone left-wingactivistorgan,The Marioappearsfirst,as Sweetbackthe child.

The tropeof Blaxploitationin critical of Blaxploitation criticalresponses responsesto Sweetback The trope

385 385

: . s.

- of the exploited?whichboreVan Peebles'hyperboliccaption. Fig.2. Theface - of community? Althoughvariousresidentsof Watts lendassistance to Sweetback in his lengthyflightfromthe police, most reviewersinsisted,with varyingdegrees of certainty,thatthe exploitationalpotentialof Sweetback'sdepiction of such a communityoutweighed itsabilityto speak politicallyto the general publicand to itsspecifictargetaudience, the Black workingclass. Highlightingthe issue of audience exploitationoffers importantclues as to each reviewer'ssplintery stakeinthe politicsof filmcriticism.

II.'It'sthefirstfilmfor a Blackaudience': reactionof thealternativeand Leftpresses Thealternativepress

Twosectorsof the printmediawhichoftenidentified themselves with such anti-establishmentacts as Sweetback'son-screenrevoltwere the alternative and the Leftpresses.But (alsocalled 'underground') less while these two groups cried 'Blaxploitation' often, in response to Sweetback, than the other membersof my sample, only the second of them

delivered ideologically focused pronouncements. The alternativepress, on the other hand, was extremelyambivalentconcerningissues of race and revolution.Thusa writerfor the Underground Press declare, in SyndicateDirectorycould optimistically what now reads as a pastiche of the poet Allen Ginsberg,that: ... the underground press is the lovingproduct of the best mindsof my generation,running screamingthroughthe negro streetsat dawn lookingforan angryprintingpress12. The 'lovingproduct'thatconstitutedthissector of the printmedia was most confused and amof Sweetback.While struggbiguousin itstreatment ling to endorse the anti-establishment messages providedby Sweetback,the alternativepresscould notfullyidentifywiththe young blackurbanspectatorwho seemed to be Van Peebles'primarytarget. Of course,unevenand infrequent publicationdates were anotherfactorwhichweakenedthe alternative press' printedresponseto Sweetback. Hence, the

38b 38,5 alternativepress, which often presenteditself as being extremelyopen-minded,was one of the groups most visiblyshocked by the identification strategiescoded intoVanPeebles'film. Throughthe ambivalenceprevalentin mostalternativepressresponsesto Van Peebles'identificationstrategiesrunthreemajorthreads:the idea that his filmexploitswomen as well as AfricanAmericans, the declarationthatthe filmdoes not offera coherentpoliticalmessage, and a certaininsistence Sweetback that,despiteits perceivedshortcomings, does indeed offer Blacksa strong model which could inspirethemto collectiveaction. While this laststrandof thoughtis the mostcommon,it is also the leastwell supported,as evidencedby a review fromthe San FranciscojournalGood Times.Here someone with the byline MARCIAexplained her ambivalence:

Jon Hartmann Sayer's apparent identificationwith the victimized'pig', likeMARCIA's surpriseat Sweetback's of intensity perspective,typifiesthe feeling, on the partof alternative pressreviewers,thattheywere not partof Van Peebles'specifictargetaudience.After sensinghimselfverymuchthe object, ratherthanan allied subject, of Sweetback's fury, Sayer demanded furtherpolitical engagement from Van Peebles'protagonist: 'Lookout,a bad ass [sic]niggeris comin'back to collect some dues', the screen flashes. When? And what's he going to do?' I don't pretendto knowthe answerand I don't think Peeples[sic]does either.Offingpigs is theonly thingthe moviehintsat. ThreeblocksfromthetheatreIsee some pigs in an animatedconversationwith some blacks; two moreblocks- uniformed officersin a VW.

Huey Newton wrote a 14 page review of Sweetback,get yourass back here5. [Sweetback]in the BlackPantherpaper, heralit a as film Section II, ding revolutionary [see Sayer, althoughjustas perplexedas MARCIA below]. So I went, hoping to see something Sweetback's by messages,is somewhatmoreanalyright-on,packaged for every neighborhood tical in withthe documentingnotonlyhis discomfort audience ... My reaction to the movie is very racialrole-reversal whichhe has enduredduringthe mixed. I didn'tdig it. It's nice to see a film butalso his subsequentdismayover the where the pigs get offed ... It'sa whole differ- screening, rather thanpoliticalsolutionofferedby the ent viewpoint,and white people shouldsee it personal, characterSweetback'sresortingto violence.While ... It'sthe firstmoviefora blackaudience3. Sayer'spartingrequestmay suggest a certainwillThusMARCIA,thoughsensing - quite accur- ingnessto supportAfricanAmericansin confronting the 'pigs', one mustrememberhis comparisonof ately,to judgefromtheexpectationsshe describesthatVan Peebleswas not speakingdirectlyto her, himself,in his thresher analogy, to a victimizedpig. felthis filmhad some kindof valuablemessage for Sayer's language expresses a powerful ambihis primaryaudience. While offeringsimilarlyab- valence in identityand a certainsympathywiththe stractpraise,othermembersof the alternativepress maraudingpolicementhatmay underliehis fear of would also expressdoubts, not only about Sweet- becomingthe squealingvictimof Blackrevolt. LikeMARCIA and Sayer,'beatrice',the author back's portrayalsof women but also about the of such a of a Times Good potentialefficacy message. companionarticleto MARCIA's, critic for the Houston felt a far removed VanPeebles'ethnicallyspecific from WhiteySayer, journal was at as MARleast uncomfortable as inscribed Space City, spectator. But beatrice did insist that CIAwithSweetback.Sayerbegan hisarticle: Sweetbackmade herown position,as a womanin clear: Whenyou are intendingto reviewa movie,itis America,unbearably best not to enterthe theaterwith preconceptI emerged fromSweet Sweetback'sBad Ass ions.Yet,I keptthinking aboutthatscene in The Song [sic] mute with fury.When a brother Liberation of L.B.Jones, where the pig goes asked what I thought, I heard this weird, throughthe thresher,and about the cheering moan/grunt come out of me ... A filmshowing black audience that surroundedme at the a black man throwinghis chains back on his time ...4. oppressorand offingpigs speaks to the black

Thetropeof Blaxploitationin criticalresponsesto Sweetback man'sdream.Can'titalso speakto mine?How can a filmabout revolutionbe if revolutionary half the revolutionary energy is attackedand and missingfromthe revolutionary exploited source?Man is notmyliberator,norcan he be hisown if he laysthosechainson me6. While beatrice aptly describes a misogyny whichmay be activeon at leastthe surfacelevelof Sweetback'snarrative,she seems to be holdingthe filmto an even higherstandardthandoes MARCIA. MARCIA says thatshe had envisioneda revolutionary work that would also reaffirmpositivefamily values.Beatricehas been struckdumbby something moreprofoundthanthe meredepictionof sex and violence. Infact, beatricemay be askingthatVan Peeblesmakea filmwithoutmalebias, a particularly demandwhen one considerstheoft-voiced stringent possibilitythatviolence and voyeurism,most likely the primaryelementsof the exploitationfilm, are intrinsic to thecinematicapparatus7. A letterwrittenin response to the reviews penned by MARCIAand beatricedefended Van Peebles'on-screenexploitationof femaleactingtalent as justifiable and widely misunderstood: I read your reviews of Sweet Sweetback's BaadasssssSong withthesame humor,interest and dissatisfactionas with the otherreviewsI read in muchstraighterpublications... I can to yourbasic lack only attributethe similarities of understandingof Black cultureand Black 18 politicsof survival Thisreaderwould notendurewhatshe termed 'theVictorianbullshit' thatmay have nourishedbeatriceand MARCIA's concernsover Sweetback'sinsistent violence and sex. In its well-focused approach,the letteroutlineda quitepragmaticreading of Sweetback: As for the women in the picture,I thinkthey were well portrayedas Blackwomenand revolutionaries.Dig, like who fed, clothed and cared for him?Who freed himof his chains? Who set the car on fire?Who coveredforhim and fed himon the run?Mainlywomen. But more importantly, all the people who helped himwere Blackpeople regardlessof sex. ... For our time and with the materialsand

387

moneyavailable, he [VanPeebles]has made one of the best, and the firstfor-realBlack moviesforand aboutBlackpeople. Everycharacterinthatmovieis aliveand stillbeingshitted on in thisracistsociety19. Accordingto the logic of this reader, critics suchas MARCIA and beatrice,withtheirsomewhat remote(though'alternative') criticalviewpoints,bear to some degree the responsibility forthe racistrelations of everyday life which often prevailed in America.Thisreader'saccusationof criticalsnobberyon the partof Good Timesstrikesa notewhich, as will shortlybe demonstrated, was also sounded in businessjournalsand by academics. Such a reading, declaringSweetbackto be in intentand - at leastforone counter-exploitational viewer- in effect, speaks directlyagainst boththe cries of misogynyraisedover Sweetbackfromthe alternative press,and thesimplelabelof Exploitation which criticsoften affixed to (later,Blaxploitation) the film.The letterto Good Timesalso raises the issueof thecinematicrepresentation of class:as Van Peebles would later declare, a hypotheticalfilm offeringa didactic lesson in revolutionmighthave been a singularly unattractive financialinvestment for his specific target audience20. Reviewersfor the alternativepress,on the otherhand, may have had moreleisuretimethanthistargetaudicomparatively ence to theorize revolution.While the alternative pressofferedabstractpraisefor Sweetback,it was deeplydisturbedby thefilm'sstrategiesof audience identification. Such a schismwithinalternatepress reviewsand hence, withinthe reviewersthemselves, describesone variationon EdGuerrero's Blaxploitation 'split'between Blackand White/conservative viewers21

The Leftpress Unlikethealternative press,reviewerswritingforthe morepoliticallyfocusedLeftpress,whichwas intent on providing specific endorsements of revolt, presentedclearand directresponsesto Sweetback. The bi-weeklyWomen's Liberation,unlikeGood Times,ranno lettersof praiseforthegenderrelations depictedinVanPeebles'film.Women'sLiberation's on a full-pagead for Sweetgraffiti-as-commentary backmakesquitea contrarystatement: VanPeebles' is encircled provocativepromotion by a stringof

.

388 388

Jon Hartmann

did not simplydeclare Sweetback to be a cynicallyexploitativework. The New Yorksocialistweekly The Militantproclaimed,in its appreciative and relativelyearly review,that Sweetback conveyed an anti-colonialist message. DerrickMorrison, The Militant'scritic, was the only non-academic reviewer in my samplewho used the wordcolonialo~~~~~~~~~~~~ ismoutsideof a Van Peeblesquotaitg . tion.As was the case forthe reader who respondedto Good Times,Van Peebles' directorialvision provided an accessible outletfor Morrison's political agenda. Morrison'semphasis on active resistanceto the violence inherentin the American State bringsto mindthe mosttelling of the Women's Liberation graffiti: 'Unite& Resistagainst co-optation by the capitalistmoviemaker'.Such a neo-Marxian cry makesuse of the oft-overlooked definitionof ME BLEED general, MYMOMA-YOU BLEM MYBWUT YO WONT YOUBLED all commercialcinema as cynical COLM TINE l a.8Ab taEB exploitation23. -Xl l Another Left reviewer sidei ^^ lT | r 5.. .R ^ ^~~~ nIav/SSIM^ stepped such broad criticismto de^ @-0?&^s liveran enthusiasticand insistently 7sR / ^17h5.|Kb>|WiS-X*1 ............................... -^^ .F analyticalhommageto Sweetback's .......... ?. . 1 resistdepictionof African-American ance to colonial oppression. The BlackPantherfeaturedin its 19 June forSweetback,as Fig.3. Thestandardprintadvertisement issue a 13-page interpretation of Note the the feminist Journal Women's Liberation. appropriatedby Sweetback the of made the Newton, by Huey by encirclinggraffitti. variety appeals Panthers' Ministerof Defence24.Like [Photocourtesyof TheTamimentLibrary,New York,NY.] the Militant,the Panther'sreview this Racist 'Unite handwritten 'Fuck focus ed on class struggle,describingthemes bullshit', graffiti. overtly & Resist',and 'Smashsexism', read three of the of survivalarId Blackconsciousnesscoursingthrough s retreatfromWhite lawmenas well as (Fig. 3). Such graffitiseem to echo Sweetback's inscriptions22 which Sweetback the the of of revolutionary slogans many unity the Blackcommunityin supportinghis itselfexploits.Theauthorof these graffitiappear to flight.Outsicle of the letterto Good Times,thesetwo feel stronglythatSweetbackcapitalizeson a largely themes receLivedlittle mentionin alternative-press male Americanmisogynywhile generatingrevenue readingsof the film.In its focus on the Blackcomand immediateangerfeltby many munity'sresi: stance to White oppression,Newton's fromthe historical AmericanBlackstowardsmanyAmericansof Euro- articleconsideredSweetbacka markeron the road to effectiverevolt: pean descent. Butdespitethegraffitiprintedin Women'sLibe... Becczusewe have supportedthe moviewith ration,mostjournalswithup-front politicalplatforms 8

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Thetrope tropeof Blaxploitation Sweetback critical responses The responses to Sweetback Blaxploitation in critical ourattendancewe are able to receiveitsmessBlackfilm age. It is the firsttrulyrevolutionary made and it is presentedto us by a Black man25 In order that audiences mightgain a more and of Sweetback'sspiritual thoroughunderstanding as an anti-exploitacodes and itspossibilities cultural tionalfilmproduct,Newton urgesviewersnot only to see Sweetbackmanytimes,as he has done, but and the bookand to purchasethe moviesoundtrack to discussthe filmwiththeirfriendsand associates. Newtonmaybe expressinga desirethathisreaders supportBlack business interestsas they heighten theirpoliticalawareness. Newton's productendorsements,coupledwithhisinsightthat'theoppressors see Sweetbackas a sex film',indicatehis willingnessto subvertAmericancolonialismby usingone of its own most powerfulmeans, cinema as commodity, against it26.

While emphasizingthe necessityof engaging in revolutionas a process ratherthan a sudden shock, Newton went beyond Morrison'sdeclarationsto declarethatVanPeebles: ... equate[s] the most ecstatic moments in the

film with the actions he is encouragingthe people to engage in, so he is advocatinga because thevictimswantto bloodyover-throw, survive27.

Thispassage is perhapsthemostdirectinterpretationof Sweetbackas a call to violence.Newton's reading is mitigated,for advocates of bloodless chairmanBobbySeale's introrevolution, by Panther ductionto Newton'sarticle,suggestingthatthe ongoing Black Panthertrials which had landed Newton in jail may have increased Newton's Nevertheless,Newton's hungerfor confrontation28. is a analysis lengthyexampleof the politicalpoints that could be scored in splittingfrommainstream convention.Newton accomplishesthis by describfilmwhose ing Sweetbackas an anti-exploitational currents could its inhersomehow overflow political ent limitations as a commoditywhichhad been senAmericans. sationallyhypedto Blackand inner-city reviewers from the Left such as MorriHence, press, son and Newton, demonstrated a determination to make direct and unambigouspronouncements on Sweetback,as the alternativepresshad not.

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III.Thismovieis sickening'/'Blacks simply lovethefilm':non-Left platformsand the businesspress Additionalplatforms

Likethe Leftpress,businessmagazinesand journals with politicallyconservativeplatformschose seemingly bold, yet somewhatpredictablepositionson Sweetback.While the businesspress offeredfew to counteritsadmiration forthe film's criticalremarks box-officesuccess, two conservativeorganssharply The disagreedconcerningtheissueof Blaxploitation. firstof thesepublications, the NationalReview,demonstratedpoliticalsavvywitha backhandedcomplimentpaid Sweetbackby W. I. Scobie. Inhis 1972 piece 'SuperSpade'sRevenge',Scobie declared, afterexpressinghis dismayoverVanPeebles'insistence uponracialstereotypes: ... his movieis sickening,filledwith hate and sometimesamateurish,but there's something there. Most Black critics, incidentally,have loathedit29.

Scobie offers up this last sentence as if he expects it to bringglee to the faces of right-wing readersacross the nation.Inaddition,Scobie may be usingthe negativereactionof the Blackpressto carry the idea to his readers that the traditional Hollywoodcaricaturesof Blacksare on the money, even if liberalcitizenswon'tacknowledgethemas such.Whilenotdrivingright-wingers intothecinema in recordnumbers,thisstance plays to reactionary prejudice. Newton's article, on the other hand, makesa muchbroaderappeal to the Christian and traditionalBlackcommunity and also to leftistnonblacks- who, accordingto one source, provided the bulkof the Panthers' support- by explicatingthe BlackhistorybehindSweetback'smoviemyth30. One advocacy organ appeared, umlikethe National Review and the Panther,to consider Sweetback a reactionarywork of Blaxploitation. MuhammedSpeaks,the large-scaleNationof Islam newspaper,foundVan Peebles'workso distasteful that, ratherthan referringdirectlyto the film, this newspaperlet its letterscolumndo the talking31.A 16 Julyletterto Muhammed's editorchastisedVan Peebles first,for not accentuatingBlack people's 'StrongPositivePointsso thattheworldwillknowof ourTerriblePlightandJustCause'.Additionally, this

390 sucha responseshamedVanPeeblesfor'presenting Low-Down imageof BlackWomanhood'.Thisletter declared to Van Peebles 'Youhate the good and love the filthbecause you love yourWhite Master and his filth'32.Thewordsof thisreader,likethose of beatriceand Women'sLiberation, expressa disdain forthe exploitativepracticesof all commercial cinema,notonlythatdeemed 'exploitation' by concritical consensus. temporary A second readerof Muhammed,who saw the filmin LosAngeles,was putoff by the responseof the Blackstudentsaroundhim,declaringthat'what to me was a racistand exploitativepiece of egomania seemed to have great appeal to them'33.This discuss same readerasked thatMuhammedfurther of a this'counter-revolutionary piece trash', request that seems never to have been granted. Muhammed'slettersdescribea portionof the splitbetween hard-lineIslamicBlackNationalistsand other Leftactivists.UnlikeNewton's or Morrison'sadvocacy reviews,theMuhammedlettersdeclareSweetbackto be an immoraldisserviceto the Blackcause as they saw it to have been defined by Elijah Nationof Islam. Muhammed's letters Inexpressingsuchdistaste,Muhammed's penetratedVan Peebles' scheme of exploitational attractionsas surelyas Newton, Morrisonand the Good Timesrespondenthad refusedto mouthany blanketcondemnationof this very same scheme. Muhammed's strongdistastefor Sweetbackcan be traced to the Nation of Islam'srigid moralstandards34.Of course,the moralgroundscited by Muhammed'sletters support the Nation of Islam's politicalplatform.FromTheMilitantto Muhammed Speaks, ideologically-focused publications withregardto Sweetback's presentedfirmplatforms exploitationof AfricanAmericans.

Thebusinesspress

WhileMuhammed's perspectiveon Sweetbackmay be describedas a mirror imageof thattakenby many of the left-wingadvocacy journals,a greaterdistortion in perspectivemay be discernedbetween the somewhatovertlyideologicalassessmentsof these journals,includingMuhammed,on the one hand, and the blithelyenthusiastic responseof the business press on the other.JETmagazine was the journal identifiedVan Peebles'mixwhich mostrelentlessly as a Blackbusiness tureof profanityand revolution

Jon Hartmann venture.In distinctcontrastto the roughtreatment afforded Sweetback by letterspublishedin MuhammedSpeaks, this Black businessjournalhad nothingbutpraiseforthefilm.A five-pagebiographical articlein the 1 Julyissuechose to celebrateVan Peebles as a businessmanwho had beaten the dominantcommercialcinematicinstitution at itsown game: In its first nine weeks of showing ... the film

grossed $2.6 million,wiping the sneers of derisionfromthe lipsof skepticalwhitetheater owners and replacing them with beaming smilesof servility35. Theauthorof thearticle,JETSeniorEditorChester Higgins,also declared, withouta word on the Blackpress'own whisperof a responseto Sweetback, thatthe entirepopulationof Whitefilmcritics had triedto putVan Peeblesdown. Higgins'most tellingcomments,however,describedthe audience responseto the Blackaesthetic(see the Blackpress, below)conveyedby Sweetback: Blackssimplylovethefilm.Thelove is profound in a very personalway thatsays reamsabout the Blackcondition.Althoughwhite criticsare at once attractedand repelledby the movie, Blacks understandthe characterSweetback verywell. Sure,he's a freakshowstud,butVan Peeblesplays himwithsucha cool, non-verbal tenacitythateven he becomes morereal than life.Whitesdon'tknowthatthe Blackhipsteris a characterwhose very life and existencedepends on keen judgementof humancharacter of action based on and the quick structuring thaton-the-spot assessment36. of Blackand White Higgins'rigidclassification filmviewers not only explains, but also nourishes and exploitsSweetback'sdense landscapeof urban stereotypes.Justas Van Peebles'audience,according to Higgins'description,is hustledand lovesthis experience,so Higginshustleshis readersby supporting,withoutvisiblequestion,such a Blaxploitachoices support tiveenterprise.Higgins'journalistic aestheticof everyday Sweetback'sdown-and-dirty African-American life,as opposed to the moreidealisticstandardpropoundedby theMuhammedletters such and upheldin previousHollywoodproductions as Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?(1967). Of

Thetropeof Blaxploitationin criticalresponsesto Sweetback

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course,JETs promotionof Sweetbackwould not (1972), TruckTurner (1974) and Slaughter(1972), have been possiblewithoutVan Peebles'own par- which hardenedVan Peebles'renderingof an aggressive and independentBlack hero. The most ticipation37 VanPeeblesnurtured a powerfulpersonalmyth timelyof these post-Sweetback was the productions and Shaft Two films of whichcoulddominatebothmainstream this series were released glosses trilogy. articlessuchas Higgins'.Thefilmmaker duringSweetback's 1971 exhibitionhistory.The sympathetic played to JETand the restof his increasinglyrace- twelvemilliondollarsin ticketsgeneratedby the first conscious media audience by tirelesslypromoting Shaft(1971) have been creditedwithsavingMetrohimselfas his characterSweetback and hyping Goldwyn-Mayer frombankruptcy duringa periodof Sweetbackas the BlackEveryman38. Toa surprising economicduressfornearlyall of theAmericanmajor extent Van Peebles was aware of a degree of studios43(Fig.4). ThusSweetback'ssuccessat splitresistancein the mainstream mediato his plansfor tingoff a Blackand youthaudiencefromthe protopublicisingSweetback,and chose his promotional typical cinematicspectatorlikelyaccelerated the of Americanmoviesto Americansof Afristrategyaccordingly.Insteadof concentratinghis marketing advertisingdollars on the mainstreampress, Van can descent and gave indirect impetus to the Peeblesbuiltpopularsupportfor the filmvia Black- movies'targetingof otherminority groups44. orientedradio stations,word-of-mouth, and an agWhen compared to the agendas of Van gressive print-addesign. Sweetback,designed by Peebles and JET,the mainstreambusiness media Van Peeblesas a reviewerproof film39,was, in the had a less specificaudience in mindwhen evaluawordsof criticClaytonRiley,'an outragedesigned ting Sweetback.Forexample,a classic Hollywoodto blow minds'40.To keep the outragein the minds orientedassessmentof Sweetbackwas printedin of newspaperreaders,the caption'RATED XBYAN Varietyon 21 April1971. Likethe reviewersfrom ALL-WHITE JURY' appearedat the bottomright-hand Space Cityand Good Times(see sectionII,above), cornerof Sweetback'sprintadvertisement41. Van Variety declaredthefilmto be directorially spectacuPeebles'manipulation of publicitychannelsalterna- larbutpoliticallypuzzling: tive to mainstreammedia outlets paid off handThefilmis clearlyintendedfirstand foremostfor somely.While manycriticschose to ignorethe story membersof the black community,some of of Sweetback'sX-ratingin theirreviews, Blackswhomare boundto find it presumptuous fora and a certainyouth audience - flocked to see white reviewerto deal with the sociological butalso as a Sweetbacknot only as entertainment and politicalproblemsin the script. It may culturalduty, as if the filmmighthelp them better sufficeto ask justa couple of questions.Why, define theiroppositionto the White multi-national if Sweetback is the symbol of victimturned overlordwhommembersof the self-styled counterculrebel,are we leftwithhimalone, and outof the turereferredto simplyas TheMan. fight? Why, if he's not in his old bag [menTen to twenty milliondollars in ticketsales, do all his victoriescontinueto be sextality?], muchif notmostdeliveredby BlackAmericans,was ual45? generated by Van Peebles' advertisementsand word-of-mouthpublicity, making Sweetback, in Varietyoverstepped its usual preoccupation 1971, the biggestsuccesseveramongindependent with plot to demandthatVan Peebles'work meet movie releases. Surpriserecord-breaking runs in unspecifiedpoliticaland sociological criteria.In Detroit and Atlanta theatres allowed Van contrastto an adjacentsummary commentforRobert single Peebles to bring Sweetbackto a wider range of Arthur's One More TrainTo Rob(1971)- 'Bawdy venues,whichin New Yorkincludedthe Cinerama, western with comedy overtones;good entry for the Loew'sVictoriaTheatreon 125th St. in Harlem, general action market'- Varietywas muchmore and the ArtTheatrein GreenwichVillage.By Fall, guardedin itsassessmentof Sweetback'sprospects scoresof theatresaroundthe countrywere showing fordistribution: the film42. Sweetback's success immediately Often brilliantand absorbing, often repetispawneda numberof Hollywoodimitations,includtiouslytedious technicaltour-de-force by filmfilmssuch as Superfly ing the violentBlaxploitation

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Jon Hartmann Hartmann Jon

Fig.4. RichardRoundtree,in his firstperformanceas JohnShaftstrikingthe aggressivepose characteristic of urbanBlaxploitation-film superheros. makerMelvinVan Peebles (also in the cast). Aimedprimarily at a Blackaudience, butcould open outforwiderplayoff46. Variety'sacknowledgement that Sweetback mightreacha sizeable marketof spectatorswas an indicatorof this publication'sgreaterawarenessof certaintrendsof popularculturethan not only the alternativeand activistpresses, but also the mainstreamand the Blackpresses,whose commentswill followshortlybelow. All of the business-oriented mainstreampress commentedsolely on Sweetback's finances and plot. CUEreporterWilliamWolf, while highlighting the 'experienceof cinema'to be enjoyedin absorbing Sweetback, found Van Peebles' film to have morethanartisticinterest:

rage, humor and defiance and justifiably graphicin its violence, sexualscenes and language ...' Sweetbackloomsas a step toward 'Blackcinema',for it revelsin a now-we-haveour-sayattitudeand makes not the slightest concessionto what some viewersmightprefer in characteror approach47.

Wolf revelledin the authorialboldnessof Van Peebles' enterprise,withoutany explicitusage of businessterminology.While Wolf's perspective,in pondering the apparent emergence of 'Black cinema'ratherthantakinga wider look at greater social realities,was perhapsthatof the archetypal armchair-anchored liberal,his endorsementof Van Peebles' taste and vision was less equivocalthan those offered by Varietyand by most mainstream I haven'thad this electrifyinga movie experi- and Black press reviewers.48While Wolf might ence in a long time. Sweetback is certainly seem to have less to gain thanHigginsin endorsing Sweetback,he likelyhad less, personallyspeaking, among the strongestprotestfilmsI've seen harrowing,riveting,seethingwith pure black to lose than Variety'seditorswould have had in

Thetropeof Blaxploitationin criticalresponsesto Sweetback approvingof thefilm's'pureblackrage'.Theorgans of the businesspress, while praisingVan Peebles' success with his target audience, held divergent justifications- both official and private - for doing so.

IV.'A personalaffrontor an affinity'/'The filmis an outrage.Designedto blow minds':responsefromthe Blackand the mainstream presses The Blackpress One mightexpectcertainsegmentsof themainstream and Blackpressto followWolf's lead of endorsing Sweetback.Thiswas rarelythe case. Forthe most part,thefilm'sreviewsinthesetwo sectorswere both and indecisive.While mainstream infrequent press reviewsexhibitedan ambivalenceover race and powerrelationssimilarto thatof Space City'sWhitey Sayer, the Black press, was reluctantto offer an opinion on the work and its exploitation-film trappings. A majorreasonwhy these two groupswere slowto respondto Sweetbackwas VanPeebles'own choice of word-of-mouth and radio as his initial channels.Newspaperswhichhad notbeen publicity primedwith press screeningsand paid advertisementsmayhaveunofficially refusedto reviewthefilm. ButfortheBlackpress,therewereadditionalreasons to treatSweetbackwithcaution. First,the Black newspapers were relatively young and financiallyunstablecomparedto their mainstream 50. Second, followingthe counterparts49 victories achieved since the outsetof the Civil legal the movement, Rights newspaperstendedto uphold a conservative,unstatedBlack aesthetic that demanded unambiguouslypristineBlack images as ferventlyas did Muhammed'sletterscolumn.Such to newspapersmay have felta certainresponsibility somehowinsulatetheirlargelyBlack,working-class readersand themselvesfromfilmproductthatdisplayed divisive,post-assimilationist pretentions51'52 As a consequence of these firsttwo factors,an observercoulddeclarethat: ... the Blackmediado notgive seriousattention to televisionand to movies, two of the most powerfulmedia developed by man. Not a single black newspaper, not a single black magazine, not a single black radio station

393

gives seriousand sustainedcoverage to television and movies. Not a single black newspaper, not a single black magazine, not a single blackradiostationhas a residentfilmor moviecritic53. While thisanalysissoundslikean alarmistcry, itsmessagewas bornoutby the responseto Sweetback fromthe large-circulation Blacknewspapers, whichdid notaddressfilmculturewiththe authority of a HueyNewtonor a Clayton and self-assurance the New YorkTimes,below). The reRiley(see viewers enlisted by these large-scaleBlacknewspapersappear to have covered a varietyof news 'beats'.Onlyone of the writerswho pennedSweetbackreviewsforBlacknewspapers,WillieHamilton of the New YorkAmsterdam News, was a regularlypublishedfilmcritic54. The receptionaffordedSweetbackby the Atlanta Daily World exemplified the Black newspapers' tendencyof downplayingthe Sweetback phenomenon.On Thursday,1 April,theday before Sweetback's Atlanta premiere at the Coronet Theater,the World printeda tiny paragraphannouncingthis event. When the film shatteredthe Coronet'shouseattendancerecords,the Worldprovided no immediatereport.One week afterits noticeof Sweetback'sopening,the Worldrana photo witha lacklustre captionwhichgave no indication of the film'sunusualbox-officesuccess.TheWorld's limitedresponseto Sweetbackmay have been dictated purely by its institutionalized restrictionof movie coverage to a small weekly report,which was a commonpracticeforthe Blackdailies of the period.And Van Peebles'own cautiousapproach to printadvertisingdictated that he wait untilthe fifteenthto grace the Worldwitha three-inch advertisementforSweetback55. Incomparisonwiththe DailyWorld, two of the largest and most venerable Black weekly newspapers, the New YorkAmsterdamNews and the Michigan Chronicle,were more generous in acknowledgingVan Peebles' business coup. Three days afterSweetback's31 Marchworldpremiereat Detroit'sGrandCircusTheatre,the Chroniclerana review-cum-interview withthefilmmaker. A shortboxoffice story entitled'SweetbackSets Record'appeared two weeks later,on 17 April.The 3 April of RitaGriffin's'Stage Waif article,an installment

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Thefirstof theseresponses,titled'Didn'tLikeIt', Report',strungtogetherquotes and paraphrases fromSweetback'sdirector.Althoughthe Chronicle was bothbriefand representative: venturedslightlynearerSweetbackthanthe World I wentto the Loew'sTheateron 125th Streetto in publishingthoseof VanPeebles'remarks to Griffin see the so-calledblackfilm,'SweetSweetback which it deemed not to contain'superhip,unprintBadAss Song' [sic]. able, four,five seven and twelve-letter words',Griffinseemed to be consciouslyrestraining herselffrom A large numberof the people in the audience of sort to Sweetdisplayingany personalresponse includingmyselfwalked out on this film.This back. Instead,she framedthe director'swordswith filmis an insultto the Blackcommunity.I think noncommittal statementslike 'Whetheror not the that the white establishment shouldpeddle its methodemployed' (by Van Peebles, in his own elsewhere. The black has garbage community to 'decolonize the Black a 'is in come too far to for this white man's trick. words, man'), pergo sonalaffrontoran affinityremainsto be seen'56.The Thisis not power to the people butdestruction neutraltoneaffectedby Griffininsinuatedtheconserof the people59. vative aesthetic favouredby the World into her featurearticle.The level of appreciationfor SweetInopenlydenouncingSweetbackas an exploiback's putativeanti-colonialist evident in tational work,suchmissivespointuptheglaringlack messages articleswrittenforthe BlackPanther and TheMilitant of personalcommentaryin both Hamilton'spraise was absentfromthe majorBlacknewspapers. and the Blacknewspapercoverageof Sweetbackin A break with such culturalconservatismwas general.Theselettersmay have venteda bit of the News. Its1 May review anger and frustration thatwere generatedby Van providedby theAmsterdam of Sweetbackwas far more enthusiasticthanany- Peebles' racially-specific appeal but subsequently thing the Chronicleor theWorldhad delivered. withheldfromBlacknewspaperfeatures.Theletters Underthe provocativesubheadings'RunsHouse', columnof the News, like its counterpartin Mu'Beat Black'and 'He's Crafty',thisarticlefocused hummedSpeaks,addressedthe tropeof Blaxploitaon two of Sweetback'spotentialattractions:the tion more directly than the Black newspapers' silenttreatment of the film. sexuality.'The relatively escaped-slavenarrativeand up-front Incontrastto suchknee-jerk scenes are so explicit',wrotereporterWillie Hamilresponsesto Sweetton, 'thatthe movieis ratedX and well it shouldbe. back by the Blacknewspapers,the Blackmonthly Sorryboutthatchildren...57. TheNews, unlikethe Ebonyyoked the anger of the News' lettersto a Worldand the Chronicle,did take Sweetbackseri- muchmoreprobinganalysis.Here,Ebonycriticized ously,as purecinematicexploitation,state-of-the-artSweetbackfor engaging itselfwith clich6dWhite commercialproductto be dulyhyped. stereotypesof the Black experience, ratherthan While Hamiltoncentredhis reviewon Sweet- overtlyaddressing Blacks' conceptions of themback's breakingof varioustaboos, for its target selves. Titled'The EmancipationOrgasm: Sweetaudience the filmmay not have presenteda novel backinWonderland',thearticlecalledfor'anopen of sex, violenceor bodilyfunctions.One dialogue on the symbolic schizophreniaof our treatment 970s' 1 early surveyfoundthaturban,working-class times',a dialoguewhichmightbeginto addressthe Blackfilmviewerssaw morelow-budgetcinematic racial, sexual and politicalmessages coded into productions,such as zombie movies and porno- Sweetback: graphy,than its otherdemographicgroups.Those One mustmakea clear and Blackdistinction ridesof viewerswho were used to the roller-coaster between the White mythof the Savage Stud filmmightnothavefoundSweetbackas exploitation and the Black traditionof spontaneoussexas did nearlyeverymember muchof a breakthrough whichtranscendsthesex-is-sin uality,a tradition of mypresssample,in one way or another58.Letters madnessof the Puritan dichotomy60. to the News did reportstrongreactionsto the film. Whilethe immediatepurposeof thesewordsis the summerof 1971, a successionof Throughout lettersexpressed negative reactionsreminiscentof likelyto fenceoff Sweetbackas somethingalienand letterscolumn. Muhammed's dangerousto the Blackcommunity, Ebonybalances

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Fig.5. Beatle,Sweetback'semployer,beingdeafenedby policemenwho are seekingSweetback. its criticismby declaringthe filma 'negativelandmark'whichmayrouseAfricanAmericansto attempt and educationalproducincreasinglyrevolutionary tions61.AlthoughEbony'sreporteradmitsto a negativeoverallreactionto Sweetback,he does provide an Americanhistoricalcontext for his verdictof a contextthatwas missingfromBlack Blaxploitation, newspaper reportsand served merelyas promotionalhype in reportsfiled by the businesspress. In juxtaposingEbony'sresponsewith those of theBlacknewspapersand thethe letterto the News, one perceivesthateach writeris tryingto establisha certaindistance between himselfand Sweetback. Thisdismissivereactionseems rathercomplex.The desire for distancewas probablynot only a direct response to Van Peebles' brash depiction of the Blackcommunity.Nor, as I have suggested,was it a simple negative reactionto Sweetback'sforegroundingof sex and violence62. Rather,these unevenresponsesseem likelyto have been generated by the film'sbold superimposition of social commentarywith its exploitationalattractionsof

soundand image (Fig.5). To a viewerexpectinga protestfilm,such a mixturewould likelyhave produced a great deal of mistrustfor Van Peebles' barrage of stereotypesderived from Hollywood. This putativemistrustseems closely relatedto the surpriseand denial manifestedby Good Times reviewerWhiteySayer over these same two crosscurrents.Of course, if a viewerwas expectinganythingbut a protestfilm, he would also have been mixture of education dismayedby the film'sturbulent and entertainment. Finally,a criticor an editorworking for a Blacknewspaperthatwas to any degree assimilationist would find Van Peebles'flauntingof some of the mostrepellentimageryfromAmerican and cinematichistoryquitedifficultto translateinto acceptable,standardizednews copy.

Themainstreampress

Inan extensionof thelukewarm responseof theBlack newspapers,organs of the mainstreampresswere extremelyslow to acknowledgeSweetback,if they mentionedthe filmat all. AlthoughSweetbackop-

396 396 ened in New Yorkon 23 April,itwas notreviewed in the New YorkTimesand Newsweek untilmore thantwo weeks later,and Van Peebleswas almost at schedulingappearanceson entirelyunsuccessful the majorradioand televisionnetworks.Onlywhen Sweetbackhad demonstratedits box-officeappeal to Blacksand young people acrossAmericawould a substantial pressgive it portionof the mainstream any coverage. In an effortto presenta seeminglyunbiased pictureof Sweetback, The New YorkTimesprovided, on 9 May , a pairof reviews,one fromthe established White critic VincentCanby entitled 'Sweetback:Does it ExploitInjustice?' and another fromBlackreviewerClaytonRileyheaded 'What MakesSweetbackRun'.Canbyled off by notingthe historicalliteralizationachieved by a 'practically subliminal' sequenceof Sweetbackinwhicha Black shoeshinemanattendsto hisWhitecustomer'sshoe by 'ridingitwiththe seat of his pants'63.However, Canby'sapparentbias towardscinema as educationaltheatredevoid of any potentialfor 'blowing minds'moved himto rate Sweetbacka lesser film thanOssie Davis'CottonComes to Harlemand to declare:

Jon Hartmann Canby's counterpartClayton Riley reported Sweetback'sversionof a troubledurbanAmericaas a usefuland truthful fiction,a 'hymnfromthe mouth of reality'las the film proclaimsin its opening credits): Throughthe lens of the Van Peebles camera comes a verybasic BlackAmerica,unadorned by faith,and seethingwithan eternalviolence. It is a terrifyingvision, the Blood's nightmare journeythroughWatts, and it is a visionBlack people alone will reallyunderstandin all of its profaneand abrasivesubstance.Thefilmis an outrage. Designed to blow minds ... A disgracefuland blasphemousparade of brilliantly precise stereotypicalBlacksand Whites, all drawn extravagantly and with impossible dimensions,all hauntingourmemoryof what is true65.

Rileydirectlyopposes Canby in his assertion thatVan Peeblesdramatizesthe UnitedStates'exploitationof AfricanAmericansand also literalizesit in merchandising such injusticeas spectacle. While such a dramatizationmay not in itselfconstitutea act, Rileyseems to considerit a revolrevolutionary utionin cinema. Rileyis unusual,fora criticwriting Insteadof dramatizinginjustice,Van Peebles for the mainstreampress, in that he finds Van merchandisesit ... I'mnotconvincedthatshouts Peebles stimulating both as a bourgeoisartistwith of 'Kickhisass!' and 'Killhim!'were indicative and also as a representative of that an especially black identitywas being Europeantraining Black America.Most mainstreamreviewers,after created... Nothingexceptcameratechniqueis Van Peebles' business savvy, inturned inside out in Sweet Sweetback's acknowledging sistedon definingVan Peeblesas eithera disemboBaadassss Song. It may be - as some of its died artisticcreatoror a Black man strainingfor supportersclaim - the Black Experiencein culturalrevolutionratherthan acknowledginghis America,distilledto its essence. My feeling, as both. Finally,Rileyappearsnotto have distilledto its essence, is thatthat experience potential been hypnotizedby VanPeebles'incessantself-prodeservesa betterfilm6. motionas Sweetbackthe EveryBlack, as were most or is blunt than Good reviewers in all more four sectors. Such critics tended to Variety Canby TimesindenigratingVanPeebles'co-optationof the unquestioningly Van Peebles' accept eager asserAmericanclimateof revolt.Canby'squotingof the tions,even hisclaimthatSweetbackhad made five milliondollarsbeforethreeWhite people had seen audience surroundinghim, which recalls WI. Scobie's analysis of Blaxploitationsuggests that it66. Sweetback'senthusiasticpopularreceptionas an The reviewersmosteasily hypnotizedby Van aberrantform of behaviourratherthan a repre- Peebles' claims were the criticsfor the majornasentativeone. Canby, likeWhitey Sayer, appears tionalnews-magazines.Newsweek, thefirstof these withthe racialrole-reversal whichhe publishinggiantsto acknowledgeSweetbock,pubuncomfortable in experiencesboth Sweetbackand also, it would lished 'Studon the Run'the day after Rileyand to the audiencewithwhich Canby'sarticlesfor the Times.Newsweek's reporseem, in his relationship he has sharedthefilm. ter, listedas 'P.D.Z',oozed naiviteover both Van

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Peebles'effortsand America'ssocial crises,describ- paragraph,withthe dubiousassumptionthat'There are no culturalcross-currents ing the filmas: working at ghetto theatreslike Harlem'sLoew'sVictoria...' As this ... personalcinemaat itsbest- one mantelling Van Peeblescould itlikehe sees it, hisdreamof liberationunadult- paragraphsegue demonstrates, mainstream critics onlyso farbeforethey erated by studiopressuresor commercialcon- spoon-feed revealed their often simplistic,'Anglo-Saxonmasiderations,[although]he does not seem to on Blackculturalenterhave enjoyed- or engaged himselfwith- the jority',high-artperspective tainments70. hyperboleand stereotypeswhich nourishVan Newsweek's competitorsLifeand Timewere Peebles'vision:Hisattitudetowardshis herois muchslowerto respondto Sweetback,finallyrolling unsure.Does he accept the stereotypeof black out theirown accountsof Sweetback'ssuccess on man as sexual athleteor does he use it ironi13 and 16 Augustrespectively.Bothof these arcally67? ticles concentrateon financialdetailsand the Van A second Newsweek reviewfive weeks later, Peebles cowboy/producermyth71.Brad Darrach, entitled'Sweet Song of Success',was similarlyun- Life'scorrespondent, had onlysome marketing notes comfortablewiththe film.Theunidentified authorof to add to Newsweek's second report.He cited thissecond itemwas puzzledby Sweetback,though Sweetbackspin-offsas includingnot only a Sweetperhaps he understoodjust enough of the film's back album and paperback 'Making Of' sweatshirts portentto frightenhimintobluntlydisparagingVan story/script,butalso Sweetback'T-shirts, Peebles'directorialacumenwhile posing the ques- and nighties'- which read 'I'MA SWEETBACK, tionof how a Blackmancouldassemble: TOO'!and (as in Van Peebles'printadvertisement forthefilm)'RATED XBYAN ALL-WHITE - and JURY' .. the top money-making filmin America,outSweetbackwines72. drawingLoveStoryand promisingto become thatthe Timepiece lacks Perhapsit is fortunate the mostlucrativeindependentlyproducedfilm a byline,for its authorhas made a pitifulattempt in the historyof the Americanmovieindustry68. Peebles is a cool dude ... no man to ('Van

Sweetbacksucceeded in thischase forthe top of the all-timeindependentfilmbox-officeheap. Of morelastingsignificanceto the filmindustry,however, is thatSweetback:

easy

get

it togetherwith')to blend his pronouncements with VanPeebles'own interviewdialect.TheTimearticle even reports,withno traceof consciousirony,Van Peebles'assertionthat Sweetbackdouche powder will be coming soon. Followinga descriptionof ... has provedthatthereis an enormousBlack Sweetbackas 'an aggressiveand often affronting audiencewillingto pay for a moviethatsees movie ... irreverent,scatological and crude', Time theworldthroughBlackeyes ... 'Itoldmystory let Van Peebles describe Sweetback'stargetaudithe way MuddyWatersplays his guitar,from ence: the Blackpointof view', says the 38-year-old Van Peebles ... 'All the films about Black It'sforthosedudes in thechartreuse suits.Those cats who want to be card-carrying whites people up to now have been told throughthe mantheydon'tdig it at all'73. eyes of the Anglo-Saxonmajority- in their and speech and pace. They'vebeen rhythms It seems clear that Timeand Newsweek, like diluted to suit the White majority,just like RitaGriffinof the MichiganChronicle,were relucChinese restaurants tone down theirspices to tantto do morethanletVanPeebles'well-rehearsed suitAmericantastes. I want White people to promotions speakforthemselves.Whenthevoice of approachSweetbackthe way theydo an Ita- Sweetback'smastermind dominateda review to lianorJapanesefilm.Theyhave to understand such an extent, the enormouschasm that yawned ourculture'69. betweenthe peaksof enthusiastic praiseand fearful Newsweek'sunidentified obstructs this denunciation was especiallyvisible. reporter entertainingand potentiallyenlighteningviewpoint AlthoughVan Peebles' words on who 'dug' his next which a new Sweetback and who didn'tmayhave been a calcusentence, by starting begins

398 398 lated promotionalploy, it appears frommy review sample that, in 1971, reportersfor Black newspapers, whatevertheiraffiliationalbadges, were more narrowlyconstrainedthan the more established mainstreamreviewersin criticizingSweetback. While mainstreamcritics may not have enjoyed theirviewing experience,they enjoyed a certaindistancefromVan Peebles'raciallydivisive Watts images thatwould have been moredifficult for the majorBlacknewspapersto containwithin Blackpress theirless broadand stableframeworks. reviewersall suffered,to some deand mainstream gree, fromWhitey Sayer's alternativepress synambivalence.In contrastto dromeof identificatory the morepointedresponsesof the politicaljournals, the Blackand mainstream pressescould notdecide whetherto hail or to condemnVan Peebles'novel art. exploitationary

Hartmann Jon Hartmann Jon we mustfirstteach Blackfilmmakers how to teach Blackpeople74.

Ward seems, like muchof the Blackpress, to have been stymiedby Sweetback'sfusionof stereoHisdemandforpositypesand social commentary. tiveBlackimagesoutweighsall otherconsiderations in hisappraisal.Thereis littlereasonwhy the world of Sweetback,thoughit mayseem to be populated solelyby comic-bookactionfigures,cannotprovide image for thoughtjustas valuableas a Kubrick's and Coppola's renderingsof Mad America.One limitationof Ward's argumentis that unspoken issues of race and class informsome important differencesbetweenhis two samplegroupsof films. BecauseWard providesonly a one-waycomparison of the dominantcinema with a limitedand alternativeBlackmodel, he gives littleindicationof the meansby whicha viabledidacticBlackcinema mightdevelop75.Writerssuch as Ward then, had loftyhopesfora Blackcinemawhichprecludedtheir distinctionbeof any substantive acknowledgement V. A moredistantspectcle: reviewsfrom tween Sweetback'sretreatand the pistol-packing academia of the Hollywood imitatorswho sucWhile publications such as Timeuneasily do- escapades ceeded him76. cumentedSweetback'ssuccessfulapproach to its In contrastto Ward's views on Sweetback's targetaudience,severalacademic analysesof Van severalmembersof the Blackacademic Peebles'filmsearchedinsteadforthe effectswhich message, in to Ebony(see sectionIV,above), addition the filmmighthave on actualBlackviewers.As was press, declaredthatthe filmset outon itsmissionof 'blowthecase inthehazy responseof thealternative press, ing minds'by double-dealinga bottomlessstackof opinionin academia was sharplydividedas to the even out-stereotyping and benefitsand debitsproducedby Van Peebles'busi- stereotypes itshyperbole, to the in sufferingthat has hymn ness venture.Althoughmany scholars endorsed Hollywood men. African-American endured been by to businessand historically Sweetbackas a real contribution one segmentof a morerecentcompendium Indeed, communityactivism, several others insisted that entitledBlackCinemaAestheticsexpanded on the Sweetbackwas insteada noxiouscelluloiddrug. responseof ClaytonRileyin itsendorFrancisWardof BlackPosition,indeclaringBlaxploi- appreciative sementof Sweetback'sapparentembracingof the tationfilmsto be thedope-pushing,reality-obscuring Here Gladstone R. Yearwood ruinof innercityyouth,assertedthatin contrastwith exploitationgenre. declared: these,a numberof morebroadlytargetedHollywood ... a Black cinema mustbe based on a demythproductionsmightserve as moreeffectiveteaching of institutionalized ificationand demystification tools. Blackfilms,he said, 'shouldteach us some cinema ... The refusalof the illusionof realityin valuable lessons which can be taken and used cinemafunctionsas the basis for development outside the theatre'. Ward cited The Godfather of Blackcinema, for the illusionof realityonly (1972), TheFrenchConnection(1971) and A ClockworkOrange(1971) as being moreexemplaryin reproducesa limitedview of societyand social relations ... Sweetback attacks the illusion of thiscontext: cinema, and as a resultfostersalternativeunwere seriousabout teaching Thesefilmmakers derstandings ... The example of Sweetback informsus thatwhen Blackcinema entersthe White people. Maybe the lesson thereis that

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Fig.6. Policecar ablaze in Watts.Theneighbouringmovie-lotseats, notvisiblein the finalcutof or a sophisticatedcritiqueof the Sweetback,mayalertus to the presenceof Hollywood,Blaxploitation, Americancultureindustry. Inclosing, LeedeclaredSweetbackto prevalentsystemof exchange, it mustbe on the Blackness'78. must be a: termsof Sweetback- the Blackfilmmaker maintaincontrol77. ... limited, moneymaking,autobiographical fantasy of the odyssey of one Melvin Van Yearwoodechoes Huey Newton in his definiPeeblesthroughwhat he consideredto be the tion of Sweetback as a businessventurewhose Blackcommunity,unawareof the fact thatwe politicalmessages mightencourage a culturalenain'tgot no 'territory' and thatthisis not 1966, gagement thatcould transcendthe individualfilmbut 1971, theyear of ThePentagonPapers.79 maker'sfinancialconcerns. A decade priorto Yearwood'sanalysis,probof early-i970's academic ably the mostthoughtful explorationsintoSweetbackwas conductedby Don L.Lee(HakiR.Madhubuti) forthe academic journal Black Worldof November 1971. Lee began by surveyingthe responseof the nascentgenerationof Blackcritics,who he said had been verykindto Van Peebles. LikeEbonyand the letterscolumnsof both News and MuhammedSpeaks, Lee the Amsterdam couldn'tignore the director's'Europeansensibility masqueradingthroughthe eyes of Van Peeblesas

Leeis takingseriously,or at least recognizing thatsome viewersmay take seriously,Van Peebles' promotionof Sweetback as both instructionand But Sweetback'spotentialas a veentertainment. hicle for swift societal revolutionis very slight in comparisonwith its pragmaticappeal to prospective membersof the Blackentertainment and, more generally, independentbusinessworld. Thisdoes not mean that Van Peebles' target audience was being duped into believingeveryword of his publicitycampaign. As impliedin the words of JET's

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Jon Hartmann Jon Hartmann

ChesterHiggins,one couldand always can love to Good Timesdeclared, Van Peebles depicted a and learn from- the experience of being hus- community that,howevergreat itsdegree of caricatled80,81 offered collectiveresistanceto police and state 6). ture, (Fig. Van Peebles'realizationof Sweetback oppression. as an independentBlack producercould inspire Conclusion Whileto Lee'sacademiceyes, Sweetbackmayhave independentand minority and morespefilmmakers, been a 'limited,moneymaking,autobiographical cificallyBlack businesspeople,to take up where fantasy'and to certainregularviewersof exploitation protestmovementshad leftoff77.Finally,in addition filmit could perhapshave been simplyFilmof the to increasingBlacks'representation on screenand for at least for his own production- on the set, SweetYear,Sweetbackwas somethingmoredisturbing its reviewersthan mere carney-styleprofiteeringor back resurrected the old Hollywoodcaricaturesof eventimelyBlaxploitation. Thecriticswho addressed AfricanAmericans,not merelyin orderto attractits Sweetbackhad difficulty puttingtheirdiscomfortinto targetaudience to the cinema, but - moresignifiwords. To begin with, Van Peebles' promotional cantlyforthesesympathetic reviewers- to screamto conflationof himself,his characterSweetback,and Americahis 'hymnfromthe mouthof reality',a hymn BlackAmericaheightenedthe chances thata bold which was acknowledged only by those who review would strikea raw nerve in readers and wantedto hear it.* editorsduringtheseason of thePanther trialsand the AtticaPrisonmassacre.Thusit was not easy for a reporterto map out a more sophisticatedcritical Notes approachthan(a) playingalong with Sweetback's 1. W.I. Scobie,'SuperSpade'sRevenge',TheNahyperbolicspectacle for the sake of progressive tionalReview24 (7 May, 1972): 539-40. cultural and minority businessinterests,(b)denounc2. VanPeeblesservedat leastseven roleswithregard ing him for his crass commodificationof Africanto Sweetback:those of producer,director,comAmericanculture,or (c)takingthe hazy intermediate poser, star actor, musicalscorer, editor,and the positionof the alternative,Blackand mainstream ownerof distribution rightssince he 'has leased the filmto Cinemation,Inc., fora periodof onlyseven presses. of soyears'. ChesterHiggins, 'Meet the Man Behind Secondly, Sweetback'ssuperimposition "Sweetback' Movie", JET(1July1971):56. cial commentaryon its catalogue of Hollywood caricaturesproducednoticeableambivalencein all 3. See Marshall Cinematic Hyatt,TheAfro-American and Filmofoursectorsof the printmedia. Most criticsinsisted Experience:An AnnotatedBibliography graphy (Wilmington,Del: Scholarly Resources, thattheywere notdirectlyaddressedby Sweetback. 1983) foran excellentguide to Blackfilm,particuThediscomfort of FrancisWard, Ebony,and Vincent larlytheworksof the 1970's. Canby in confrontingsuch a mixturewere variants 4. GaryArnold,TheWashingtonPost(30 May 1971), on thealienationof WhiteySayerfromVanPeebles' sectionC1, E3. audience targeting strategy. While the business 5. ThomasCrippsanalyzesSweetbacks'sinfluenceon presscould quote Van Peebles'commentaryin the Americanaudiencesand Americanfilmmaking inhis process of salutinghis box-officefigures, Black, 'Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss and the Song alternativeand mainstreamreviewerswere proPoliticsof Genre Film',Close Viewings: Changing foundlyshocked by Sweetback's divide-and-proAn Anthologyof New FilmCriticism,ed. Peter mote scheme for addressing its audience. As a LehmanTallahassee:The FloridaState University criticsand Press,1990), 238-261. Crippsalso providesdetail responseto theirdiscomfort,mainstream on thefilms'stellingrelationto theWesternand Film lettersto the Black press dismissedthe filmas a Noir genres. and opportunistic reactionary exploitationof the culturalstatusquo. 6. David Chute interview with David Friedman, activistand lateracademic reviews, 'Wages of Sin', FilmComment(August1986): 34. Left-wing on the otherhand, detectedspecificpoliticalmerits 7. KennethTuran,'You'veGot to Tell'emto Sell 'em", fromthe seams of Sweetback'ssensationalSaid KrogerBabb, and Did He Sell 'em"',TheLos bursting isticcommercialproduct.As Newton and the letter AngelesTimes(1 August1977): B-3.

Thetropeof Blaxploitationin criticalresponsesto Sweetback 8.

9.

10.

David Chute, "Wages of Sin, 34. For more on exploitationfilmand its targetingof specificaudiences, see also ThomasDoherty,Teenagersand of AmericanMoviesin Teenpics:TheJuvenilization the 1950's (Boston:UnwinHyman),1-16; 201218;; and David Friedman,A Youthin Babylon: Confessions of a Trash-film King (Buffalo:Prometheus,1990). See also Cripps,'... Sweetback... andtheChangingPolitics of GenreFilm',238-261. FollowingtheCivilRightsstruggle'ssecuringof legal gains fromthe US government,the oppressionof Blackswas broughtto the surfaceof media consciousnessby such phenomenaas riotsin areas and Watts;theassassinaincludingNewark,Detroit tionsof numerous popularleaders,andthetelevision footage, notonlyof thewar in Vietnam- whereso were sentto thefront- but manyAfricanAmericans also theaforementioned battleson America'shome turf.See C.L.R.James, 'BlackPower'and 'Black PeopleintheUrbanAreasof theUS',fromTheC.L.R. James Reader(Oxford:Blackwell,1992), 363378. A workof anti-colonial praxisequallyrelevant to Sweetback is FrantzFanon's'Spontaneity:its Strengthand Weakness', in The Wretchedof the Earth(New York:GroveWeidenfeld,1963), 107147. EdGuerrero,Framing Blackness:TheAfricanAmerican Image in Film(Philadelphia: Temple, 1993), 85-95.

1 1. MichaelWashingtonandMarvinJ.Derlowitz,'Swat Superfly:BlaxpoitationFilmsand High School Youth', JumpCut9 (October1975): 23.

in the New OrleansbiweeklyNola Express(24 September1971) page no. unavailable. 16.

beatrice,'Sweet Sourback',Good Times(20 July 1971): 23.

17.

Forone considerationof this possibility,see Paul the Look,and Dwoskin',in Willemen,'Voyeurism, Narrative,Apparatus,Ideology: A Film Theory Reader,Rosen,ed. (New York:Columbia:1986), 210-21 8.

18.

Good Times(6 August1971): 22. This letteris indeedtheonlyaffirmative responseto thefilmwhich I have encounteredin my limitedgrazingof American editorialpages.

19.

Good Times(6 August1971): 22. Ina sequence which was praised by both the Black and the mainstream press,Sweetback'smanagerBeatlegets up, after commencinghis lectureto the fugitive Sweetback,fromthetoiletand, withoutwashinghis hands,uses the wipinghad to pressa towelto his face. InHueyNewton'swords,'Thisis signifying that what is comingout of Beatle'smouthis the same thingthat is comingout the otherend - shit and nothingelse'. (D).Despitethetellingbodilymetaphor whichpropelsthisbathroomsequence,Beatlemay be seen in a largerAmericancontextas moreof a subjugatedshitteethanan oppressiveshitter.

20.

See extendedquotationin finalYearwoodfootnote, below.

21.

Many Americansconsidered themselvesstill, in 1993, notmatureenoughto endurethe barrageof stereotypeswhich Sweetbackresurrectedfroma commonAmericanrepositoryof social and cinematichistory.A MoMA(Manhattan) screeningof Sweetback,which I personallyvisitedon 17 April 1993, was sparselyattendeddespitethe publicationof a mock-poster intheNew Yorkerwhich began "WATCH OUT!SWEET SWEETBACK ISBACKTO COLLECT SOMEDUES!Thesmallgroupof patrons whoattendedtheMoMAscreeningwas lessenthusiasticand morehostiletowards'Sweetback'thanthe college-campusaudiences with which I had previouslyviewed thefilm.

12.

ThomasKingForcade,TheUnderground PressSyndicate Directory(Box 1832, Phoenix, Arizona 85001), 18. Thisdirectoryis a good sourceon the 1970's eruptionof the alternamid-1960's-to-early tivepress.

13.

'Sweet Sourback',Good Times(20 July MARCIA, 1971): 22. The firstproperreviewof Sweetback whichI have gleaned fromthe alternative pressset justsuch a tone of well-meaningignorance.Steve Wise, inthe24 MayGreatSpeckledBirdofAtlanta, declaredthat'plotis notwhat Sweetback'sabout. It's about experience - and that experience is BLACK'. Butratherthanattemptingto inscribeany 22. sort of bridge between himselfand this BLACK experience,Wise directedhis reader'sattentionto thesoundtrack albumn,which'won'tstandby itself', 23. butis 'fineto listento if you'veseen the movie'.

14.

WhiteySayer, 'Sweet Sweetback'sBad Ass Song (sic)'.Space City(14 September1971): 14.

15.

Sayer, 14. Thealternativepressprovidedthe only mentionof the censors'scissorsthatI have foundin any Springor Summerreviewof Sweetback:See 'Sweetback',MylesO'Malleyand DonaldGuyton,

401

24.

Women'sLiberation (13 May-1 June1971): 27. A journaloriginallytitledRat. DerrickMorrison,'Sweet Sweetback'sBaadasssss Song', TheMilitant(28 May 1971): A-1. RolandE. Wolseley, in The BlackPress, U.S.A. (Ames:Iowa State, 1971), 82, describedhis own perceptionthatviolentstrugglewas endorsedby the BlackPanther because itprinted'pictures of gunson almosteverypage' (p. 82). Manyof the Panther's opinionpieces, assertedWolseley,were tailoredto

Jon Hartmann

402 please militantorganizationsso as to garnerthe financialsupportof thesegroups'members.

39.

HoraceColeman,'MelvinVan Peebles',Journalof 5 (Fall,1971): 375. PopularCulture

25.

HueyP. Newton,'YouWon'tBleedMe', TheBlack Panther(19 June1971): D.

40.

See Rileyquotationin BlackMainstreamsection below.

26.

Newton, 'YouWon'tBleedMe', H.

41.

27.

Newton, D.

28.

Newton, A. A courtorderconcerningcharges of thathadbeenbroughtagainstNewton manslaughter had very recentlyprovidedfor Newton's release fromjail. Seale's introduction to Newton'sarticle describesNewton'sreleaseas castinghimout into the 'largersocial prison'of America.One perspect ive on Newton'splatformis ErikErikson and Huey

DonaldBogle, Blacksin AmericanFilmand Television (New York:GarlandPress,1988), 210-212, notesthatthisdirectplayto racio-historical sentiment exploitedthe lastingtensionsof the escaped-slave narrative thathad previously been resolvedin largescale featurefilmsonlyby the deathor disgraceof thisslavecharacter. Intheirinitialreviews,the New YorkTimes,Newsweek,and mostof mysamplingof thethealternative One should presschose notto mentiontheX-rating. mentionthat by the time of Sweetback'srelease, criticshad alreadyencounteredan increasingly casual and even nonchalantcinematicmeldingofsex and violence.Indeed,the Academyawarded Best Pictureto an X-ratedfilm, MidnightCowboy, in 1969.

Newton. In Search of Common Ground ... (New

York:Dell, 1974). 29.

Scobie, 'SuperSpade'sRevenge',540.

30.

Theassertionconcerningthe Panthers' fundingwas made by StewartBurns,Social Movementsof the 1960's: Searching For Democracy (Boston, Twayne,1990), 50.

42.

31.

Muhammed Speakshada totalcombinedand paidand-freeof 700,000 copies. HenryLabrie,The BlackPressinAmerica:A Guide(Iowa,1970), 49; see also LaBrie's1970 edition(nofurther pub.info. listed),3-5.

32.

thatproduces 'ReaderSaysSweetSweetbackis "filth MuhammedSpeaks(16 July1971): 20. filth"',

33.

'Blaststhe Rotof Sweetback'sBlackCultural imperative:tellourstorywithdignity',Muhammed Speaks (23 July1971): 20. 43. to have Suchstandardsseem, forthe letter-writers, of thecounter-exploioutweightedany consideration 44. tationalpotentialwhichMorrisonand Newtonhad edidetectedin Sweetback.Based on Muhammed tionsforthesummerof 1971, filmreviewswere not a regularfeatureof thisnewspaper.

34.

35.

ChesterHiggins, 'Meet the Man Behind"Sweet45. back"Movie',55.

36.

ChesterHiggins,55.

37.

CriticsShould See also 'VanPeeblessaysGun-Toting VisitJohnWayne',JET(25 November1971): 6061.

38.

46.

47. Formoreperspectiveon VanPeebles'use of promotionalhype, see Higgins, 'Meet the Man Behind 48. "Sweetback" Movie', 56, and notes on Cripps, and TIME, above, as well as Newsweek, LIFE, With below. See also James P. Murray,'Running Sweetback',BlackCreationIII,no. 1 (Fall,1971): 10-12.

A Timemagazine article entitled'Powerto the Peebles'(#89, 16 August1971): 47 assertedthat Sweetbackwas due to open in Septemberin 60 theatersintheNew YorkCityareaand alsoto debut veryshortlyinanother140 theatersnationwide.See also 'Peebles Filmto Premiere',The New York AmsterdamNews (24 April1971): B-19. While Nat Friedland,in 'melvinvan peebles: multi-media maverick',Billboard84 (29 January1972): 44, reportedthatSweetbackhad grossed nearly$10 million,Van Peebleshimselfclaimeda figuretwice as large. Tino Balio, Hollywoodin the Age of Television (Boston:UnwinHyman,1990), 260-296. Fordismayedreportson theBlaxploitation phenomenon,see JamesP. Murray,Do We ReallyhaveTime fora 'Shaft'?,in BlackCreationIII,no. 2 (Winter, 1972): 12-14 and in 'WestCoastGetsthe Shaft', BlackCreationIII,no. 4. (Summer,1972): 12-13. Variety(21 April1971): 17. Occupyingpages 14 forShaft and 15 of thiseditionis an advertisement with gun and featuringits star RichardRoundtree danglingrope in hand. Variety(21 April1971): 17. WilliamWolf, CUE(24 April1971); reprintedin the New YorkTimes(9 May 1971): 11-12. TwolaterarticlesdescribedVanPeebles'numerous efforts- suchas a paperbackversion entrepeneurial of Sweetback'sscreenplay,severalrecordalbums and two Broadwayshows, 'Ain'tSupposedto Diea NaturalDeath'and 'Don'tPlayUsCheap',for 1971 and beyond. See Mel Gussow, 'Thebaadasssss

Thetropeof Blaxploitationin criticalresponsesto Sweetback successof MelvinVanPeebles',TheNew YorkTimes Magazine (20 August 1972): 86-91, and Nat Freedland, 'melvin van peebles: multi-media maveric',Billboard84 (29 January1972): 44. 49.

50.

Of the 178 BlackNewspapersextantin 1971, most had sprungupduringthe middlethirdof thiscentury 55. and onlya handfuldated backbefore 1900. Thus, the relativenewcomersto the field of Blacknewsdid nothavea verysecure certainly paperpublishing 56. publishingrecordto look back on. And even the best-offof theBlackpapersmighthavebeendaunted by thisbriefand difficulthistory.One indicationof Blacknewspapers'struggleis thattheyas a rulehad revenuethan lessadvertising receivedproportionally the dominantpress and thus had to charge their readerstwo or threetimesthe going rateper copy. Anotherreasonwhy Blacknewspapersmay have tended to be somewhatconservativein theiropinions,in comparisonwiththe alternative pressand the Blackacademic and businessjournals,is that 57. mostof theirreadersused themas a secondaryor Blacknewssource,afterthe New YorkTimesor the DetroitFreePress,forexample,See HenryLabrie, 'TheBlackPress:What Next ?', Perspectives of the BlackPress,ed. RolandWolseley (Kennebunkport: Gorham. Mercer,1974), 195, andThelmaThurston 'TheBlackPressand Pressure Groups',Perspectives of theBlackPress,103-106. The four Black newspapersin my sample were among the six oldest and mostwidely distributed 58. Blackpapersin thecountry.

51.

The 1960's assimilationBlackstarvehicleis exem- 59. plified,as faras inscribedfiguresforBlackidentificationare concerned,by SidneyPoitier'sportrayals of middle-classblack men in filmssuch as Guess Who's Comingto Dinner(1967). Suchroleshave been criticizedfor disregardingthe strugglesof everyday Black reality.See MarshallHyatt, The CinematicExperience: AnAnnotated Afro-American and Filmography, 183-184, 197. Bibliography

52.

On the conservatism of the new Blackbourgeoisie, see CornelWest, 'TheParadoxof theAfro-American 60. Rebellion'in Sayres, The 60's WithoutApology (Minnesota:1984), 45-58. See also EllenWillis, 'TheLessonsof Chicago', New AmericanReview 61. #6 (April 969): 100-112.

53.

LeroneBennettand Don. L.Lee,'TheEmancipation Orgasm:Sweetbackin Wonderland',Ebony(September1971): 106.

54.

Hamilton appearsto havebeen a relativeexperton film.Forinadditionto opiningon Sweetexploitation back, HamiltonreviewedShaft(3 July)and Black Jesus(4 September).While Hamilton's presenceas a regularcolumnist fortheNews does notnecessarily 62.

403

disproveEbony'sassertionthatthe Blackpresshad failedto reporton cinemaand television(see quotationheadingthissection),itdoes suggestthatfurther researchshouldbe conductedto determinethe accuracyof Ebony'sclaim. Foundedin 1928, the Worldwas theoldestof the five Blackdailies in existenceaccordingto Henry Labrie,TheBlackPressin America:A Guide,25. BelowGriffin'sarticleis an advertisement for 'Matt Robinson'sGreatestHits', a collectionof songs which this actor performedas the Sesame Street characterGordon.Althoughthisad is neighbored by a numberof pitchesfordance hallsand musical itspresencein theentertainment secperformances, tionsuggestsa substantial familyreadershipforthe Chronicle.Foundedin 1936, the Chroniclehad a 1972 circulationof 60,000 accordingto Henry LaBrie,TheBlackPressin America,3-5. The AmsterdamNews, foundedin 1908, had a circulationof 83,000, makingit the largestBlack paper in the US besides MuhammedSpeaks:See LaBrie,1972, 49 and LaBrie,1970, 3-5. Inadditionto Hamilton's article,theNews ranan articleon 24 Aprilannouncing'Peeblesfilmto Premiere' and for Sweetbackon 1, 8 and 3-inchadvertisements 15 May. See Bogle, BlacksinAmericanTelevision, 210-21 2 formoreon the tradition of the escapedslave narrative. DemetriusCope, 'Anatomyof a Blaxploitation Theater', JumpCut9 (October,1975): 22-23. The New YorkAmsterdam News (8 May 1971): A-16, letterfromDorothyCampbell,of New York, NY. Thelastof thesedisparagingletters,published on September1 1th,was indeed a reprintof a July 16thresponsefroma readerof Muhammed Speaks. In additionto Hamilton'senthusiasticpiece, the Amsterdam News also ran,on 24 April,a preview which described Sweetbackas 'the storyof the of a streethustler' radicalization and reportedon the film'srecordticketand soundtrack-album sales. Bennett and Lee,'TheEmancipation Orgasm:Sweetbackin Wonderland',1 16. Van Peeblesvoiced thissame hope in a Fallinterview: 'Kidscome up to meand say "Hey!Ain'tyou Sweetback?"Isay, "Yeah,baby.That'sme".Well, that'sa hellof a lotbetterthansaying"Sir,yourfilm, uh, be a creditto de race".Becausethiscat says "Look howdumbthisniggerlooks!He don'tlookthat goddam bright".And he gets a positive-negative approach.Thenhe says, Well, hell. He ain'tthat brightand he did it. Why can't I do it?' See Coleman,'MelvinVanPeebles',375. Tworeviewswere particularly keenindiscerningan

404

Jon Hartmann in Sweetback'suse of sexual imalienation-effect agery:See HueyNewton's'YouWon'tBleedMe',

filmsproducedprimarily forfor Blackconsumption, declared Van Peebles' protagonist'a one-dimensional "supermenial" totallydenyingthe relevance, or even theexistenceof education'. enlightenment, See Washington(and Derlowitz,'Swat Superfly: Filmsand HighSchoolYouth',23.) Blaxpoitation

p. A: '... when Sweetback engages in sex with a

sister,it is always an act of survival,and a step ... [Sweetback]isonlydealing towardshisliberation withsexualsymbols,the real meaningis faraway fromanythingsexual,and so deep thatyou haveto call itreligious'.See alsoJamesMonaco,TakeOne, Vol.III,no. 2 (September-October 1971): 29. 63.

VincentCanby, 'Sweetback:Does it ExploitInjustice?', TheNew YorkTimes(9 May 1971): 11-1.

64.

Canby, 18.

65.

ClaytonRiley,'WhatMakesSweetbackRun?',The New YorkTimes(9 May 1971): I-11.

66.

Coleman,'MelvinVan Peebles',p. 373. JamesP. Murray's profileof ClaytonRileywhichexaminesthe cultural roleof Blackartscriticscan be foundinBlack Creation(Summer,1971): 15-16.

67.

P.D.Z., 'Studon the Run',Newsweek (10 May 1971): No page no. available.

68.

'Sweet Song of Success', Newsweek (21 June 1971): 89.

69.

Newsweek(21 June 1971): 89.

70.

Newsweek(21 June 1971): 89.

71.

hisCripps,245-277, providesa bibliographical toryof VanPeebles'personalmyth.

72.

BradDarrach,'SweetMelvin'sVeryHot,VeryCool BlackMovie', LIFE71, no. 6 (13 August1971): 61.

73.

'Powerto thePeebles',Time89 (16 August1971): 47.

74.

FrancisWard, 'SuperFly':The BlackFilmRipoff, BlackPositionI, no. 2 (December1971): 37-42.

75.

In contrastto Ward's piece, a doctrinaireMarxist analysisof approachwas takenby a mid-seventies film.Thisproject,whichengaged an Blaxploitation schoolsocialstudiesclass in revealalternative-high messagesbehindcommercial ing the exploitaitonal

76.

A scholarwho sharedWard's distastefor Sweetback was AlvinPoussaint,in 'Stimulus/Response: Movies- Cheap FilmsthatDegrade Blaxploitation Blacks',PsychologyToday(February1974): 22, 26, 27, 30, 98.

77.

Gladstone,L. Yearwood,ed. BlackCinemaAesthetics: Issues in IndependentBlack Filmmaking (Atehns:Ohio U., 1982), 79.

78.

DonL.Lee,BlackWorld(November1971): 43-48.

79.

DonL.Lee,BlackWorld,43-48.

80.

Theater',22Cope, 'Anatomyof a Blaxploitation 23, reportedthatan inner-city audience,uponleavtheatre,was less able thanwere ingan exploitation audiencesfromotherregions,to articulate a critical responseto the filmsit had viewed. One mustof course investigateCope's studyfor inherentgeographicalbias.

81.

While severalmembersof a colloquiumalso contained in the pages of Black CinemaAesthetics expressedconcernover the impactof Sweetback filmson 1970s youthaudiences, and Blaxploitation totheseminarechoed VanPeebles'owncontribution Yearwoodand Rileywhen he defendedhis choice of filmmotifby declaring'Ididn'tcollectmymoney throughtheoreticalmanifestoes... I would have ratherdone a filmsuchas theone on FredHampton, thePanther brotherinChicago,or BUSHMAMA... fantasticfilm... KILLER OF SHEEP... good film.But therealityis thatourpeoplehavebeen brainwashed with the hip music, the beautifulcolor, and the acrossthescreen.Thisis dancingimagesflickering what they knowas cinema. And that'swhere we mustbegin. We obviouslycannotdwell there;but it's a point of departure'.See Yearwood, Black CinemaAesthetics,61-62.