In this week’s class, we watch a film titled Schlock! The Secret History of American Movies. (Greene, 2001) This film was distributed by Pathfinder Entertainment and directed by Ray Greene. Schlock is a well made documentary on the history of Exploitation cinema from the early mid 20’s to the mid 20th century. Each chapter of the film shows the variety of genres and filmmakers of that time. Greene did an excellent job bringing us through Exploitation Cinemas main roots. The film started off with the meaning of what Exploitation is.Then the next chapter, we met someone who hosted her own TV show in the 50’s. Later on moved to films of American International Pictures. Greene used a lot of Exploitation movie art in the film which I thought was good.
For the sexploitation lovers part, there were plenty of nudity in the film. The girls in the film seem like they were having a lot of fun with making these films and being apart of it. Also, the men recording these females were having a lot more fun with it; zooming in on the females naked body and all.
An exploitation film is a film that attempts to succeed financially by exploiting current trends, niche genres, or lurid content. These films are generally low-quality “B movies”. Films like these includes a lot of suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence,, drug use, nudity, destruction, rebellion and a whole lot more. These films were first seen in the 1920s but was popularized in the 60s and 70s with some censorship and cinematic taboos in the United States and Europe. Exploitation is very loosely defined, and has more to do with the viewers perception of the film than with the films actual content.
In the reading for this week from the introduction to world cinema book, chapter 14 talks about Hollywood in Transition and Decline: 1955-1962. According to the chapter, “Three of the postwar factors changed the power structure and practices of Hollywood filmmaking”. One of the factor was the Supreme Court ruling in the United States v. Paramount case was found that vertical control was monopolistic and in restraint of trade. The second factor had to do with halting the steady decline in movie attendance by introducing new technical innovations. The final factor involved a competition of European “art” films for the postwar market.
In 1952 film historians claim that , that year was a turning point for the American film industry as it struggled to halt the decline of the movie audiences in the postwar years. The court ruling of 1947 ended the vertical integration of productions, distribution and exhibition in the studio system. There was no guarantee income so companies had market their films separately to independent exhibitors. With this happening , the major studios stopped producing pictures, let their contract players go, and set-aside independent producers and directors who, in turn, had to raise their ow capital and consent to rent Hollywood studios in exchange for distribution rights to their film. When these producers undertake the risks of film production, exhibitors knew that some technological changes had to be made to reverse the loss of box-office revenues and bring audiences back in the theatres.
Sources
An introduction to world cinema
https://www.grindhousedatabase.com/index.php/Schlock!_The_Secret_History_of_American_Movies
History of the Motion Picture 