News & Updates

Sex in the Cinema - still taboo?

02.02.2009 | Uk Student Films Paid Advertisement

“We had to turn down one proposal because the writer ... insisted on using hardcore images as illustrations” – Mariah Larrsson and Olof Hedling, Guest Editors, Film International

While the first ever screen kiss in 1896 between May Irwin and John Rice shocked and disgusted audiences, nowadays, we tend to think that when it comes to portraying sex on screen, almost anything goes. So when the editors of Film International set out to produce an issue devoted to sex in the cinema, they little imagined the difficulties they would encounter.

Restrictions on publishing ‘hardcore imagery’ meant that the editors had to turn down proposals for articles because they included photos which were too explicit. Fellow researchers also encountered problems; some academics’ print orders were refused, and one American scholar researching pornography wasn’t able to pick up his phone for months once his research topic became known.

Fortunately, they were able to publish the current issue, which includes explorations of Ingmar Bergman’s controversial 1963 film The Silence; the subcultures of sexual ‘deviancy’ portrayed in prime time TV CSI and how film-makers visualize female sexual pleasure.

Half Price for students

Now you can subscribe to volume 7 for half price! That’s six issues of incisive commentary, interviews, reviews and more, all for just £16. Plus, if you subscribe before 1 March 2009, we’ll send you a free copy of issue 6.6, our ‘Sex in the Cinema’ special issue.

To subscribe, just click on the following link:

http://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals.php?issn=16516826