The History of Sex in American Film

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Jody W. Pennington

Book Code: C9226

ISBN: 0-275-99226-8

ISBN-13: 978-0-275-99226-2

DOI:

232 pages, photos

Praeger Publishers

Publication: 7/30/2007

List Price: $49.95 (UK Sterling Price: £27.95)

Availability: In Stock

Media Type: Hardcover

Also Available: Ebook

Trim Size: 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

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Reviews:

Pennington traces the development of visual and thematic sexual content, the ensuing conservative vs. liberal controversies, and the impact of resulting censorship codes and legal rulings with their shifting guidelines. Using numerous in-depth examples of films, citing specific plotlines, and offering pertinent descriptions of relevant scenes. Pennington thoughtfully analyzes the interrelationship of film and American society in terms of sexual attitudes and psychology, examining changing values, prejudices, boundaries, and norms within historical and cultural contexts....Throughout, he reveals the close but complex alliance between film and life. For academic and large film collections
—Library Journal October 1, 2007
Pennington delivers an overview of the intersection of sexual mores, censorship, and film portrayals of sexuality. The volume is a useful introductory tool.... Recommended. Undergraduates; general readers.
—Choice March 2008
This work by Pennington is a social and cultural history of the representation of sex and its regulation in American cinema. She takes a chronological approach to the film industry's self-censorship regimes through the mid-1960s, non-mainstream film most affected by obscenity law, sexual themes in the films that helped put an end to the Production Code, changing American attitudes towards sex and their reflection in film through the 1980s, and the present-day conservative counterattack on liberal sexual realignment as it has played out in film. Remaining chapters adopt a more thematic approach and offer analysis of the revision of sexual representation of the past following the demise of the Production Code and representations of homosexuality, adultery, and pedophilia.
—Reference & Research Book News November 2007

Endorsement From Aidan Day,
Professor of English
University of Dundee, Scotland: An excellent and well-researched cultural history of the representation of sex in American film. Pennington's discussion of underground and alternative cinema alongside mainstream film is particularly useful.
Endorsement From Richard Raskin,
Associate Professor, Film Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark: A must-read for anyone interested in representations of sex in American film. Jody Pennington's discussions of individual films, and of censorship legislation and practices, are admirably clear and to the point and offer the reader fresh insights into the vital questions at hand.
Endorsement From Rebecca Housel,
Professor of English,
Rochester Institute of Technology: Engaging and informative, Jody Pennington's insightful A History of Sex in American Cinema is a powerful look at how sex functions on the American silver screen, and will quickly become a classic that his audience will turn to again and again. Pennington's thorough research provides a historical and theoretical context for sex in the cinema, illuminating one of the most socially controversial topics in the United States today. This book is a significant contribution to the study of American film. I recommend A History of Sex in American Cinema to anyone who wants to evolve their current knowledge base on film to a place where sex is no longer a singular act, but a complex symbol of personal freedom, of oppression, of joy, of love, of anger--everything apparent in the human condition.
Endorsement From W. Bruce Leslie,
Professor of History
State University of New York, College at Brockport: For mature adults only! This sophisticated treatment of Americans' ambivalence toward sex on the silver screen ranges across a full century and considers sexuality in many forms. Pennington blends the law, cinematic technology, Hollywood economics, public attitudes, and sexual behavior in general into a lively discussion of a controversial but rarely studied topic. Read this book and you'll have a new understanding of today's cinematic culture wars.

Description: In March of 1965 the Supreme Court put into motion legal changes that marked the end of local film censorship as it had existed since the early years of the twentieth century. In Hollywood that same year, The Pawnbroker was released with a Production Code Seal of Approval, despite nudity that violated that Code. As sexual liberation occurred onscreen, parallel developments occurred in the way we lived our lives, and by the end of the 1960s Americans were having sex more often, and with more partners, than ever before. There was also now a public debate surrounding sexuality, and one of the loudest and most continually active voices in this debate was that of American film. This work begins with an examination of some of the earliest altercations in what later came to be known as "the culture wars," and follows those skirmishes, more often than not provoked by American film, up to the modern day. By looking at how sex in the cinema has contributed to the demise of the fragile consensus between liberals and conservatives on freedom of expression, The History of Sex in American Film suggests a perspective from which today's culture wars can be better understood. This work combines close readings of many representative films-including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Graduate, Blue Velvet, Philadelphia, L.A. Confidential, and Closer-with a social and historical account of the most significant changes in American sexual behavior and sexual representation over the past fifty years.

LC Card Number: 2007016352

LCC Class: PN1995

Dewey Class: 791

PDF Catalogs:
Pop Culture Spring 2008.pdf


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