Film Lecture Series #7 - Quality & Storytelling Part 2 (Exploitation) + Film Review.

Continuing on with Quality in Storytelling, I began to look more at the concept of exploitation within cinema; which was briefly touched on in part 1 of quality storytelling.

Studios would exploit certain topics within society to fill seats in cinemas to earn more money; an example of this would be B movies, which were movies that were made cheap and tend to have a variety of bad qualities about them (theses ranging from bad acting, sets, story lines and usually had a monster of some sort).

So, Exploitation = Money.

“An exploitation film is any film which tries to succeed financially by exploiting a current trend, a niche genre, or a lurid subject matter.”

“Subjects which these films exploit include, but are not limited to, sex, violence, and romance. Exploitation films are generally low-quality B movies."

- Bold daring shocking true a history of exploitation films by Eric Schaefer

 

1900-1930’s – Pre-Code Exploitation:

Early 1900 B Movies, many films that were created had an underlying exploitation element. These being the use of nudity to draw the audience in, sex and violence mixed in with a touch of romance; most of these films were put under the guise of being educational. When really it was films designed to target the older generations to fill cinema seats for money. Examples of this can be seen with Baby Face (1933) where the film exploits sex and nudity through character Lily Powers (Barbara Stanwyck) who uses sex to advance her social and financial status. Another example would be Traffic in Souls (1913) where again its focus’ on the topic of sex through prostitution and the idea of the fear of immigrant slavery due to kidnapping.

During this time, you also have Tod Browning’s Freaks (1932) which centred around a circus of ‘freaks’ owned by said ‘freaks.’ Audiences of the time found it hard to relate to, so in doing so rejected the film due to the abnormal appearance of the characters within the film. This misconception of the film led people to miss-interpret the storyline of film and thought it to be exploitive when in fact this was not the case.
 

1930’s: Exploitation Cinema on the Road.

In this period was when the studios were up and moving from the east to the west coast to be free of patents enforced in the east. With this came the road shows that worked in a similar to circus’, except with the fact that they were showing films instead of live performances.

Most film of this era continue the idea of sex (either consensual or through the idea of prostitution) or have an element of drugs being an underlying theme. For example, the Child Bride (1938) is about a schoolteacher in a rural community campaigning to stop the practice of older men marrying underage girls. Another would also be Assassin of Youth (1938) where a high-school girl gets involved with a ring of teenage marijuana smokers and starts down the road to ruin. A reporter poses as a soda jerk to infiltrate the gang of teen dope fiends. Other example includes: Gambling with Souls (1936), Escort Girl (1941) and Reefer Madness (1936). All these examples fall under the Cautionary Tales; which were made to scare, entertain and ‘educate’ audiences of a danger that were split into 3 sections: A taboo/prohibition, some sort of act/location, or something is said to be dangerous.
 

1930-70s: Exploitation in Men’s Pulp Novels.

Pulp novels of the time also feature heavily on the exploitation radar, as the novels focused on maculating male ideals. The topic within these novels were heavily centred on exploiting the female form either through sex or violence, usually depicting women to be objects. These can be seen in the cover images where the content contains either nude or partially nude female forms with exaggerated features that would appeal to men.
 

Exploitation Core Themes: Sex and Nudism:

From Men’s pulp novels came the idea of putting these scenarios into motion pictures. With this came the 3 different categories in which the exploitation themes fall under, these being; pornography in the sense of Cheesecake or Burlesque, Educational Nudism and Porn, Nudism and Plot.

Burlesque to Grindhouse Cinema.

The notable one being Burlesque’s ‘bump and grind’ where usually live performance shows were held in theatres, until grindhouse cinema (coming from the bump and grind saying) was created; which put the Burlesque in to video format. Making the live showing obsolete, this again using the idea of sex appeal to draw audiences in.

In Teenagers:

Not only was Burlesque exploited in grindhouse cinema, teenagers also became a victim of exploitation through the same scope of ideas (sex/violence) as seen with Teenage Rebel (1950s), Teenage Sex (bikini beach 1964) and Teenage Fear/Horror (I was a teenage werewolf 1957).

In Violence:

Violence also become a key cinema seat filler as most films of the time had an element of violence the covered topics such as domestic and fantasy ‘Horror’ violence. Within these films it is usually the women seen as the victims and they become subject to the violence, at the time this would have been common place as women didn’t get must say in man’s world despite seeming to have gained their rights back in 1920 (America).

In Gore:

Gore in cinema was a given as you can’t have violence without a bit of gore. A Gore in mainstream cinema would be Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960), although you don’t see the gore it is implied; making it a psychological horror. Another version of Gore would be the extreme gore genre where films would show disturbing and visceral imagery to audiences as seen in Blood Feast (1963). With the also came Graphic and Explicit special effects were trying to recreate a visual realism which in some cases really weren’t needed.

Despite censorship with the Hay’s code many films still defied the guild lines of what was and wasn’t acceptable content for motion pictures produced for audiences in the US, this caused the end to the Hay’s code and for a change in censorship in movies.
 

The Modern Era

So with Hay’s code now gone, it meant everything became more explicit and violent within the cinematic universe.

So, exploitation becomes popular within disaster movies revolving around air (Airport 1970), earth (Earthquake 1974), water and fire (Towering Inferno 1974) disaster movies. With this also came a rise in blockbusters which were essentially B Movies at their core, but with a more developed script and larger budget to work with. E.g: sharkpoiltation – Jaws 1975 – B Movie/Pulp – Star Wars 1977 and Monster/ Space Station – Alien 1979.

With the blockbusters in motion, came the end of grindhouse cinema and drive in theatres, as film became more accessible to the audience’s home through video tapes (VHS) in 1975. Which back then was a copyable medium, which faced its own problems due to plagiarism and copyright issues. In addition to this it also meant the rise of video nasties (1980’s), which were illegal copies of violent films not brought through a reputable video store. It also brought about Cannon films that were made cheaply and imitates prior B Movies and Troma Entertainment that were 1950’s B Movie horror play.

Due to film now being accessible in the home, it meant that children could pick up violent films watch them if left lying around, this then introduced the ‘Seize the Nasties’ to prevent children from watching something they shouldn’t at such a young age. This bringing in a from of censorship for younger viewers to prevent violent influence.

The Missing Genre: Ozploitation (Australian Cinema)

In the 1970’s Australian cinema became popular again after almost falling apart after the 2^nd world war. By the time Australia re-joined the film industry they was censorship put in place for R rated movies (movies containing explicit nudity, sexuality and violence) meaning those under 18 couldn’t watch the films as it wasn’t suitable/appropriate for that age group. The result was a blend of 'ockerism' and sex comedies aimed at mature Australian audiences.

All these trends pushed Austrian producers to produce films often referred to as 'Ozploitation'. These being films based on the Exploitation Film genre, forming a sub-genre in Australian new wave (film revival, era of resurgence in worldwide popularity of Australian cinema).

'Ozploitation' was about projecting ‘the vulgarity, philistinism and energy of an urban contemporary Australia.’(Sam Rohdie's words (1982:39)). This period also saw  a more diverse film culture in Australia with the highly successful films such as the Mad Max series (1979-1985) and Crocodile Dundee (1968).

Film Review – Mad Max Fury Road (2015)

Fig 1. Mad Max Fury Road (2015) 

From the director George Miller comes Mad Max Fury Road (2015).  Continuing on the mad max franchise, Miller looks at creating story that focuses on violence, liberation and sexual undertones from the over powering leadership; this being Immortan Joe and the Citadel, in which the group of females elite Imperator Furiosa.is trying to smuggle away to a better safer place.

Throughout the cinematic, Miller looks at a range of ideas to fuel the story to its end. From beginning to end there it an underlying tone of exploitation; which is portrayed through the female characters Furiosa is trying to smuggle to safety. The story looks at using underlying sexual tones to draw viewers in; filmmakers do this by dressing Immortan Joe’s prized processions in white skimpy clothes that barely cover them looked at choosing actress’ who are naturally pretty. This suggesting ideals from WIP (Women in Prison) films have been used to influence the storyline. (Fig 2, 3 see below)

Typically, in WIP films; filmmakers look at sexualizing female characters that would be based in a prison setting. Often times subjecting the female actor into embody an erotic seductress and subject to physical and sexual abuse in the film. This was common in not only sexual exploitation films but pulp novels from the 1930’s to the 1960’s. Although Fury Road doesn’t follow this line of story plot, it is inferred throughout the film; an example of this can be seen where pregnancy if forced upon Immortan Joe’s prized processions (wives) to birth sons for him. Now you don’t directly see this, but it is implied that girls were kept locked away from everyone else and only Immortan Joe had access to them (Fig 4 see below). We also see later in the film one of the girls cutting and strange device off from around her pelvis (Fig 5 see below), suggesting the owner ship Immortan Joe has over his wives implying that either no can touch what’s his to take or it is being used as a punishment to humiliate and embarrass his wife.

Despite the film showing traits of the WIP subgenre to exploitation, the film at looks at female strength and courage to fight against their oppressors. This can be seen in Furiosa’s character as she fights to get the wives to ‘the green place’ and doesn’t give up even when she reaches what she thought to be the green place and finds out it no longer exists (Fig 6 see below). Another example can be seen when Angharad – Immortan Joe’s favourite wife - uses her pregnant body to protect the rig (Fig 7 see below) from damages so they can get away knowing Immortan Joe won’t risk her life to stop them, but will pursue them no matter what as she carries his child; giving this element of power through pregnancy, Angharad can force his hand to be lenient on them so they stay alive.

The film not only explores sexual exploitation, but also delves into violence and character visuals exploitation; which is a prevalent theme throughout the cinematic. Keeping with quick fast paced sequences that result in many deaths in the perusal of Immortan Joe wives and creating characters that exploit the idea of being visually unappealing, as seen with Immortan Joe himself and The People Eaters appearance (much like the freak shows of the 1930/40’s). (Fig 8 and 9 see below)

 

Illustrations list:

Fig 1. Mad Max Fury Road (2015) [Film Poster, Advertisement] At:  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392190/mediaviewer/rm658509824/ (Accessed: 21/01/2021).

Fig 2. Immortan Joe’s Wives Pt1 (2015) [Film Still] At:  Over 40 New Mad Max: Fury Road Pictures Feature Tom Hardy (collider.com) (Accessed: 21/01/2021).

Fig 3. Immortan Joe’s Wives Pt2 (2015) [Film Still] At:  Over 40 New Mad Max: Fury Road Pictures Feature Tom Hardy (collider.com) (Accessed: 21/01/2021).

Fig 4. Our Babies Will Not be Warlords (2015) [Film Still] At: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392190/mediaviewer/rm926889728/ (Accessed: 21/01/2021).

Fig 5. Pelvis Contraption (2015) [Film Still] At: original film - Mad Max: Fury Road, 21:00 10/04/2020, ITV2, 140 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0A6E6702?bcast=131672606  (Accessed 21 Jan 2021)

Fig 6. Furiosa (2015) [Film Still] At: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392190/mediaviewer/rm796656640/  (Accessed: 21/01/2021).

Fig 7. Angharad Protects the Rig (2015) [Film Still] At: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1392190/mediaviewer/rm4246081280/  (Accessed: 21/01/2021).

Fig 8. Immortan Joe (2015) [Film Still] At:  Over 40 New Mad Max: Fury Road Pictures Feature Tom Hardy (collider.com) (Accessed: 21/01/2021).

Fig 9. The People Eater (2015) [Film Still] At: original film - Mad Max: Fury Road, 21:00 10/04/2020, ITV2, 140 mins. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/prog/0A6E6702?bcast=131672606  (Accessed 21 Jan 2021)