The History of Sex On Film - The Date Report

5/25/2016 TheHistoryofSexonFilm|TheDateReport
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BE BETTER COMMUNICATION
Think of the children! someone

inevitably cried every time a movie dared
to present a moment of sexuality for public
consumption. Sex, nudity, and even
stealing a smooch have been touchy
subjects in the world of lm since savvy
scientists rst rolled cameras in the late 1800s. And yet, the deant acts and
evolution of on-screen intimacy are the reason we understand sex today. No,
well never look as hot as George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez in Out of Sight, but
well still try because weve seen it. Taboos are rarely broken in real life until
theyre broken on screen. Censorship has tried their hardest to make movies
good, clean fun, but the artistically minded (and sexually curious) danced around
for 100 years to help us get where we are today.
Take a ride on the wayback machine for a look at the history of sex on lm:
THE FIRST KISS
The rst public screening of cinematic lip locking dates all the way back to 1836.
http://www.thedatereport.com/dating/movies/thehistoryofsexonfilm/ 1/13
The man behind the camera? None other than Thomas Edison, who shot a lmed
scene from the 1835 musical The Widow Jones. Actors May Irwin and John C.
Rice were asked to recreate their stage kiss, which sent audiences and critics into
states of shock when projected for the rst time. Famed Chicago publisher
Herbert Stone took to the papers to lambast the eort. Manifested to
gargantuan proportions and repeted three times over, it is absolutely disgusting.
Such things call for police interference, he said.
PORN SAVES THE DAY AGAIN
VHS vs. Betamax. DVD vs. Blu-ray. The emergence of streaming video. The
pornography industry has often been the nal factor in the lm worlds
technological evolution (which is why cheaper, faster, easier formats have always
won out). And looking back, porn might be the reason lm artistry and all of
moviemaking exists today. Stag lms, the label for early pornography, were just
as prevalent (and more widely seen) than lms of the 10s and 20s. The
earliest known stag lm was A Free Ride, which lm scholars believe was shot in
the woods of New Jersey sometime around 1915. The movie doesnt skimp on the
sexuality aside from the costuming, its got everything a modern porn would
have: a dash of story and lots of sex. Stag lms werent released in theaters, but
they circulated under the eye of censors. In comparison, nudity in mainstream
lms was extremely tempered. The 1915 lm Inspiration made headlines for
featuring a nude woman posing as a model. Gasp!
HINTING AT SEX PAVES THE ROAD TO CENSORSHIP
In the early days of his career, Cleopatra and Greatest Show on Earth lmmaker
Cecil B. DeMille pushed buttons. His 1922 lm Manslaughter is famous for
featuring some of the rst depictions of orgies and lesbianism (courtesy of
demonic hallucinations). That didnt sit well with the people in Washington. A
few years after Manslaughters release, political pressure forced movie studios to
reconsider their image and embrace censorship. Piggybacking o the Supreme
Court decision that movies werent privileged to the right of free speech,
Presbyterian elder Will H. Hays was hired to lead the Motion Picture Association
of America. Hays enacted a code of to ethics which Hollywood lmmakers had to
adhere. The MPAA still exists today, handing out ratings R and NC-17 ratings for
movies deemed too explicit.
SEX IN CARTOONS
Ralph Bakshi is considered a pioneer for helping mature animation reach

theatrical audiences. His 1972 lm Fritz the Cat, based on a comic by Robert
Crumb, was steeped in hedonism and pointed political themes. It was the rst
animated lm to earn an X-Rating (apparently a cartoon cat having group sex in a
bathroom doesnt y in Disneys G-rated magic lands).
But like live-action, fringe artists had been utilizing the format of animation for
sex-lled cinema decades before Bakshis taboo-breaking feature.
1929s Eveready Harton in Buried Treasure looks like a Popeye cartoon if

Popeye dared to cop a feel from Olive Oyl. While undercover production leaves
the lm without an author, the dirty short still oats around the Internet today.
Sorry
Thisvideodoesnotexist.
Eveready Harton in Buried Treasure (1929).mp4 from Franois Melodia on

Vimeo.
THE FIRST ACT OF INTERCOURSE
In a surprise to no one, Europeans were decades ahead of the United States in

terms of what was and wasnt acceptable in the movies. The rst lm credited
with showcasing sexual relations on screen was the 1933 Czech drama Ecstasy.
Theres a fuzzy line between implicit and explicit sex in movies a moral
challenge thats allowed movies to creep further and further into the explicit
column but Ecstasy solidied its place in history by having Hedy Lamarr
simulate an orgasm. Although we only see Lamarrs face during the scene, its
clear: We are watching a woman have sex (note, the original version didnt
feature Australian alternative rock band Died Pretty jamming over the footage).
HITCHCOCK HAD BALLS
Meanwhile, the U.S. was just learning how to kiss for longer than three seconds
at a time. That was the limit placed on lmmakers by the Hays Code, focring
legendary director Alfred Hitchcock to do everything in his power to break the
rules. Hitchcock had a long history of suggestive sexual themes in his lm. Many
read 1940s Rebecca has an exploration of a lesbian relationship, while many
critics cite the 1948 lm Rope as an inuential piece of queer cinema. With 1946s
Notorious, Hitch decided he was going to send a loud and clear message to the
censor boards. In this scene, Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant talk in seductive
voices, technically keep to the three-second kissing limit, and deliver one of the
sexiest moments in lm history.
STARS IN THE FLESH
Eventually, the Western world did wake up to the fact that nudity and sexuality
was a part of normal peoples lives. British director Michael Powells spine-
tingling voyeur thriller Peeping Tom made waves for being the rst to show a
topless woman in a movie. The rst wholly American lm to try the same thing
was 1963s Promises! Promises!, which saw former Playboy playmate Jayne
Manseld make the jump to Hollywood. With censors dizzy, Michelangelo
Antonionis 1966 lm Blowup decided to tiptope further into uncharted territory.
Known for its sex, drugs, and lively jazz score, Blowup is also the rst lm to
feature a shot of a womans pubic hair.
And if you think the tantalizing evolution of the mainstream was all about the
ladies thats mostly true. Even today, an actor cant go full frontal in a movie
without making headlines (see: the notorious Michael Fassbender fassmember
shots in the NC-17 Shame). Thankfully, there were lmmakers pioneering male
nudity back in the day, building a foundation for todays risque material. Ken
Russells 1969 romantic drama Women in Love overows with sexuality, thanks
to a complex script by Larry Kramer, and also sports a nude wrestling match
between two men.
Even amid the obvious controversy, Women in Love went on to be nominated for
ve Oscars, including a win for actress Glenda Jackson.
GAY PRIDE
If heterosexual sex had a turbulent ight to mainstream acceptance, one can

imagine why the depiction of homosexual intimacy took forever to even pull
away from the gate. There are early lms with central gay relationships: A 1924
German silent lm, Michael, chronicles the relationship between a painter and
his model, a love aair that ends in painful admissions that are all too late.
Another German picture, 1931s Girls in Uniform, is credited as featuring the rst
lesbian couple.
The History of Sex on Film ADVICE
MATT PATCHES JUL. 9, 2013 Like 7
It took nearly 30 years after those landmark lms for America to openly embrace
homosexual characters and situations. The Oscar-nominated 1965 drama Inside
Daisy Clover was inuential for being the rst Hollywood movie to weave in a
12 Reasons You're Afraid To Get Into
gay character (played by Robert Redford). But this was still
A Relationship theWhy
(And age You
of the Hays
Need
To Relax)
Code, under which homosexual content was strictly banned. The result was a de-
emphasis of the lms gay themes, branding Redfords character as a bisexual
who still had interest in women. The independent sensibilities of the 70s helped
MODERN DATING
break down this wall. William Friedkins 1970 lm The Boys in the Band revolved
around a handful of gay characters. A decade later, his lm Cruising would take
heat for explicit homosexual sex. Al Pacino stars as a cop investigating a serial
killer who targets gay men. He goes undercover in S&M clubs to hunt down the
murderer and, to be faithful to the scene, Friedkin surrounded him with graphic
sex. To push the psychedelic nature of Cruising, the director even spliced frames
of gay pornography into the lm.
If Youre Still Friends with Your Ex

You Might be a Psychopath
COMMUNICATION
Cruising (1980) - Pacino dances
REAL SEX
Vincent Gallos 2003 lm The Brown Bunny gained attention for a scene in which
Chlo Sevigny performs unsimulated oral sex on Gallo, who also starred. 30 years
later, the precedent was set for such an act. Deep Throat started as an overly
plotted, 60-minute pornography starring Linda Lovelace, but it went on to
become a full-blown mainstream phenomenon, attracting the support of
Hollywood types who heralded it as camp. The lm is even credited as
establishing fellatio as part of the American consciousness.
While most sex we see on screen lmmakers have dared to dabble in

pornographic imagery for authenticity and shock value. Melvin Van Peebles 1971
Blaxploitation picture Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss Song aunted its
unsimulated sex scenes, only to see the director/actor apply for workers
compensation after contracting gonorrhea on the job. In 1972, John Waterss
unleashed his transgressive comedy Pink Flamingos, a frank look at fringe
sexuality that includes crossdressing star Divine performing oral sex and a scene
involving chickens that cant be described here.
Pink Flamingos Trailer
Later this year, provocateur Lars von Trier (who previously used unsimulated sex
in his lm The Idiots) will debut the rst half of his double feature
Nymphomaniac. Starring Shia LaBeouf, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Uma Thurman,
Stellan Skarsgrd and Christian Slater, von Triers selling point is that movie will
use body doubles and high-tech face replacement to lm his cast having actual
sex. Finally, special eects used for a purpose we can all get behind.
ON THE HORIZON
With 100 years of cinema in the can, lmmakers have explored a majority of
sexualitys facets. Where does it go from here? In the last two decades, its been
less about what can be shown that who can be shown doing it. 1995s Kids came
under re for portraying underage teenagers as sexually active. The 1997 remake
of Lolita was delayed and restricted, thanks to accusations that the suggestion of
underage sex could be considered child pornography. And at the 2013 Cannes
Film Festival, French lmmaker Abdellatif Kechiche debuted his teen coming-of-
age drama Blue Is the Warmest Color. Clocking it at over three hours, the lm
features a 10 minute lesbian sex scene between a high school senior and her
college age girlfriend. Fingers were pointed. Questions were raised. Think pieces
were rattled o. Clearly, the timeline for sex on lm still has a few milestones
left to hit.
Matt Patches is a writer and reporter living in New York City. His work has been
featured on New York Magazines Vulture, Film.com, Hollywood.com, MTV, and
he is the host of the pop culture podcast Operation Kino. He continues to love
Groundhog Day.
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5/25/2016 TheHistoryofSexonFilm|TheDateReport

FEATURES MODERN DATING SO YOURE SINGLE ADVICE

Think of the children! someone

THE FIRST KISS

PORN SAVES THE DAY AGAIN

HINTING AT SEX PAVES THE ROAD TO CENSORSHIP

Ralph Bakshi is considered a pioneer for helping mature animation reach

1929s Eveready Harton in Buried Treasure looks like a Popeye cartoon if

Eveready Harton in Buried Treasure (1929).mp4 from Franois Melodia on

THE FIRST ACT OF INTERCOURSE

In a surprise to no one, Europeans were decades ahead of the United States in

HITCHCOCK HAD BALLS

STARS IN THE FLESH

between two men.

If heterosexual sex had a turbulent ight to mainstream acceptance, one can

The History of Sex on Film ADVICE

MATT PATCHES JUL. 9, 2013 Like 7

If Youre Still Friends with Your Ex

Cruising (1980) - Pacino dances

While most sex we see on screen lmmakers have dared to dabble in

Pink Flamingos Trailer

GET MORE ENTERTAINMENT LOVE & CULTURE MOVIES SEX

1 COMMENT ADD A COMMENT

About Jobs Terms Privacy

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