Sex Morality Plays: Character in Adult Cinema

Abstract

This chapter discusses the use of complex characterisation in sexploitation cinema – arguing that the character motivation and narrative causality is often more conservative than many might assume. A comparison is also made to the concurrent evolution of the sexual dynamics that begin to creep into Hollywood cinema via such notable motion pictures as ‘Last Tango in Paris’. This chapter argues that often the ‘underground’ sex films of the period featured more interesting and radical female portrayals.