An important factor to consider here is the demise of the old Production
Code by 1968. The code, however, was being openly flouted several years
before that end date. Billy Wilder's 1964 KISS ME STUPID was released
in 2 versions--the European prints left in some more explicit material
but even the American version drew complaints from would-be censors.
Some films from before 1968 that strained Code standards included TOM
JONES, IRMA LA DOUCE, DARLING, ALFIE, and THE GRADUATE. In musicals,
aside from THE BOYFRIEND, Fosse's CABARET is certainly heavy on
innuendo, if less explicit than ALL THAT JAZZ.
The substitution of the ratings system for the Code (leading to the
then-X-rated MIDNIGHT COWBOY winning Best Picture Oscar) was mutually
reinforced by cultural changes descending on the 1970s: the "sexual
revolution" enabled by the birth-control pill was just the beginning.
Mike Nichols' CARNAL KNOWLEDGE (1971) is as good a reference point as
any. It's also worth keeping in mind that relatively
popular/"scandalous" foreign films like HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR, LA DOLCE
VITA, LOVES OF A BLONDE, AND GOD CREATED WOMAN, PERSONA, BLOWUP, etc.
also had a role in the overall cultural context (and ALL THAT JAZZ is in
part a tip of the bowler hat to Fellini!).
Don Larsson
--------------------------------------------
"Only connect." --EM Forster
Donald F. Larsson
English Department
Armstrong Hall 230
Minnesota State University
Mankato, MN
[log in to unmask]
Phone: 507-389-5501
-----Original Message-----
From: Film and TV Studies Discussion List [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
On Behalf Of Kelly Kessler
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 9:35 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: All That Jazz (Bob Fosse)
I'm not exactly sure what you mean by set-pieces here, but the 1970s was
definitely a moment in musical film history where sex becomes more
explicit
and more complicated. Nothing is quite as explicit as All That Jazz,
but
you do have:
1970 The Boyfriend
1973 Rocky Horror Picture Show
1975 Tommy
1977 Sgt. Pepper
1978 Hair (through sexually explicit lyrics, not actions)
Each of these either have sexually explicit lyrics or visuals.
Kelly
----- Original Message -----
From: "Laurie Stras" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 02, 2004 3:58 AM
Subject: All That Jazz (Bob Fosse)
> Dear listmembers
>
> Bear with me - this does have something to do with film. . .
>
> I'm currently teaching a new course on girl singers in the 20th
century,
and
> tomorrow's lecture focusses on representations of sex. This morning I
was
> trying to work out precisely *when* metaphor/slang became dispensable
in
> lyrics about sex. I'm not talking about the 'heavy breathing' stuff
by
Jane
> Birkin and Donna Summer, I mean more like Kate Bush's "Feel It" or "In
The
> Warm Room," both of which were released in 1978 and both of which are,
well,
> explicit (and in a way, a whole lot more explicit than anything
Madonna
has
> ever turned out).
>
> I kind of wanted to place this in context, and I wondered if there was
a
> simultaneous moment in mainstream film musical set-pieces (as a kind
of
> precursor to video) where visual metaphor was simply done away with,
or at
> least became so minimal that there was nothing to "read", or not a lot
was
> left to the imagination. The earliest I can remember was the
"Air-otica"
> (?) scene in *All That Jazz* (1979). Haven't seen the film in over 20
> years, but I can still visualise the number in my head, so it *must*
have
> made an impression. . .
>
> Anyone else got any ideas? Was this really a late seventies thing?
Or is
> it just because that by 1979 I was able to get into 18/R movies, so I
was
> experiencing this stuff for the first time?
>
> Thanks in advance
> Laurie
>
> Dr Laurie Stras
> Music, School of Humanities
> University of Southampton
> Southampton SO17 1BJ
> UK
>
> tel: +44 (0)23 8059 3425
> fax: +44 (0)23 8059 3197
> http://www.soton.ac.uk/~lastras
>
> Musica Secreta are on Linn Records www.linnrecords.com
> "Were Botticelli's Primavera to burst into song, she would probably
sound
> like this." - Independent on Sunday
>
> ----
> Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
> University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu
>
----
Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
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----
Screen-L is sponsored by the Telecommunication & Film Dept., the
University of Alabama: http://www.tcf.ua.edu
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