{"id":2124,"date":"2016-01-20T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zjuzdme.org\/?p=2124"},"modified":"2016-01-03T17:04:17","modified_gmt":"2016-01-03T16:04:17","slug":"unashamed-nudists-exploiting-the-theme-of-nudism-in-the-1930s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zjuzdme.org\/old\/2016\/01\/unashamed-nudists-exploiting-the-theme-of-nudism-in-the-1930s\/","title":{"rendered":"Unashamed Nudists: Exploiting the Theme of Nudism in the 1930s"},"content":{"rendered":"

I located this post at the blog of Vadim aka t-maker<\/a>. It’s a great one so I’m reposting it completely. Thank you, Vadim, for this great post!<\/p>\n

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Unashamed Nudists: Exploiting the Theme of Nudism in the 1930s<\/h1>\n<\/header>\n

The technical definition of exploitation movies is cheaply made pictures distributed by roadshowmen or by local independents called states\u2019-righters. A major studio was opening, in those days [the 1930s and 1940s], 400 prints. An exploitation picture never had more than 15 or 20, and they moved around from territory to territory\u2026[1] (David Friedman)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Wikipedia defines \u201cExploitation film\u201d as a \u201cfilm which is generally considered to be low budget, and therefore apparently attempting to gain financial success by \u201cexploiting\u201d a current trend or a niche genre or a base desire for lurid subject matter\u201d [2]. According to exploitation producer David Friedman, \u201cexploitation pictures are as old as film itself\u201d [1]. It is not surprising that \u201cmany exploitation genres relied on nudity as a source of spectacle\u201d [3]. Eric Schaefer, an author of \u201cmeticulously researched, interdisciplinary study\u201d of exploitation films [3], calls the \u201cnudist films\u201d (something about \u201cunashamed nudists\u201d) one of the \u201ccornerstone genres of classical exploitation focused on the spectacle of the nude body\u201d.<\/p>\n

Recently, while browsing Internet Archive<\/a> (which is a \u201cnon-profit digital library with the stated mission of \u201cuniversal access to all knowledge\u201d [4,5]), I came across the classical exploitation \u201cnudist film\u201d called \u201cExpose of The Nudist Racket\u201d<\/a> (see [6]<\/a>; it also can be found on Vimeo [7]<\/a> and YouTube [8]<\/a>). It was filmed in 1938 for \u201cHollywood Producers and Distributors\u201d. Producer is, in fact, unknown. The Short Format film is now distributed under Creative Commons license (Attribution 3.0)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"Image:<\/a>Image: frames from \u201cExpose of The Nudist Racket\u201d (1938)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In the first half of the 1930s, the American press considered nudism mostly unfavorably. \u201cCrude jokes were made and the reporters liked nothing better than going to a nudist camp and teasing the members for a story, which was usually written up in disrespectful ways\u201d. Later \u201cnudism came to be viewed by the press as a benign, if unconventional, practice\u201d [3].<\/p>\n

Film producers used different strategies \u201cfor bringing nudism to screen\u201d, in order to \u201clegitimize\u201d the subject. For example, it could be a pseudoscientific, \u201canthropological approach\u201d with references to \u201ccustoms among primitive peoples\u201d [3]. The \u201cExpose of The Nudist Racket\u201d took a different attitude. The creators of the film tried to be funny employing \u201ctitles and narration for comic effect\u201d. Jokes about fat women are the height of their humor capacity.<\/p>\n

Eric Schaefer admits that \u201csome spectators went to see the films to satisfy their curiosity about the nudist movement\u201d , but he insists that \u201cthe nudist exploitation films were designed to create sexual arousal in, or at the very least titillate, viewers\u201d. However, \u201cdespite the exploitation films\u2019 sexualization of nudism, the nudist\u2019s advocacy of sunshine and simplicity of life found an ideal vehicle for expression in the movies, in part because of their overlapping ideology\u201d [3]. \u201cNudism was presented as a middle-class lifestyle option\u201d and \u201ca possible antidote to modern life\u201d. The nudist films pointed to the \u201cprecedent of social nudity in ancient Greece, which was \u201csimple\u201d yet highly \u201ccivilized\u201d according to modern standards\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cExpose of The Nudist Racket\u201d can convince you that time goes by, but nothing changes. The nudists still want \u201cpublicity for their movement\u201d, while the second word in a word-combination \u201csocial nudity\u201d remains the key one for most people.<\/p>\n

References
\n1. David Chute, Washes of Sin: An Interview with David F. Friedman, Film Comment, July-August, 1986<\/a>
\n2. Exploitation film \u2013 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/a>
\n3. Eric Schaefer, \u201cBold! Daring! Shocking! True!\u201d: A History of Exploitation Films, 1919-1959, Duke University Press, 1999<\/a>
\n4. Internet Archive: Digital Library of Free Books, Movies, Music & Wayback Machine<\/a>
\n5. Internet Archive \u2013 Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia<\/a>
\n6. Expose of The Nudist Racket. : uncredited : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive<\/a>
\n7. The Expose Of The Nudist Racket (1938) on Vimeo<\/a>
\n8. Expose of The Nudist Racket. \u2013 YouTube<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I located this post at the blog of Vadim aka t-maker. It’s a great one so I’m reposting it completely. Thank you, Vadim, for this great post! Unashamed Nudists: Exploiting the Theme of Nudism in the 1930s The technical definition of exploitation movies is cheaply made pictures distributed by roadshowmen or by local independents called … Continue reading “Unashamed Nudists: Exploiting the Theme of Nudism in the 1930s”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,12],"tags":[258,334,3],"class_list":["post-2124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-naktivism","category-nudism-2","tag-exploitation","tag-film","tag-nudism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zjuzdme.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zjuzdme.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zjuzdme.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zjuzdme.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zjuzdme.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zjuzdme.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2125,"href":"https:\/\/zjuzdme.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2124\/revisions\/2125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zjuzdme.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zjuzdme.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zjuzdme.org\/old\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}