After taking in the fast-paced anthropology lesson of this engaging
six-part series produced for British television in 1999, it would seem
that for most of civilization, pornography hasn't been such a secret
after all.
The six lively episodes take playful account of that
which is on more people's minds than will easily admit, and which has
been an important, if often vilified part of world culture since humans
could think about such things. This documentary is a stylish and tidy
chronological account of erotic imagery that the episodes categorize
from earliest recorded history to the latest (as of the end of the 20th
century) prospects afforded by the Internet and virtual technology.
An
array of interview subjects from scholars to porn stars talk about
everything from the graphic images discovered amongst the ruins of
Pompeii and the one-of-a-kind erotica traded among high-class Europeans,
to what it's like for individuals to make and distribute their own
adult encounters through the facility of their own bedroom camcorders.
Before
it was demonized and censored when the printing press brought porn to
the masses, it seems erotic drawings were a lot of jolly good fun that
was not at all stigmatized. (One of the most amusing sequences is an
interview with a prestigious, septuagenarian and erotic art historian
who is interviewed about his specialty while reclining nude under the
gaze of a woman sketching his portrait.)
Once the church became
involved, deeming the depictions of man, woman, and beast doing what
came naturally as obscene--a relatively modern classification - it moved
into the shadows of sociological study. The episodes on photography,
including still and moving pictures and the impact modern
technology had in creating a porn industry are interesting, but not
entirely enlightening for most people who have even a passing knowledge
of the development of erotica from French postcards to adult home video.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten