| |
| Cinema of Transgression. |
 |
| |
|
| Nexus Between Sexuality & Power in Kern's Fingered |
| 14 February 2009 |
| |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
| |
The Cinema of Transgression is an underground film movement born in New York and expanded to certain places in the United States, especially in the East Coast during the late 1970s and mid 1980s. This term was created in 1985 by the actor and director Nick Zed, iconic figure within the movement. This kind of cinema describes the work of a tenuously connected group of artists who exploited shock value as a fundamental approach in their movies. Along with Zed, the director of Fingered, Richard Kern is the most prominent transgressive filmmaker. And both of them terrorise their audience with “gratuitous” acts of violence and explicit disturbed sexual relationships.
This particular style appeared slightly after the “New Wave” filmmakers, who rebelled against the Structuralism filmmaking of the mid 1970s. This film theory emphasises how movies convey meanings through the use of codes and conventions. This reason made this particular subversive collective react against Structuralism, which has often been criticised for being ahistorical and for favouring deterministic structural forces over the ability of individual people to act. In this movie as in many others of this genre, Richard Kern through the use of a narrative truth with explicit sex and violence scenes opposes to those practices of mainstream and documentary filmmaking. |
|
These specific narrative techniques and ideas include the Cinema of Transgression into what could be considered as “underground film”. In particular Fingered because it reaches all the expectations of the movement, as it is out of the mainstream either in style, genre or financing. Unlike structuralist films, this movie as many others of the movement share explicit sex and violence scenes, they address a minority audience and have been made with a very low budged. This terminology was first used by the critic Many Faber in his essay “Underground Films” to describe the work of directors who played an anti-art role in Hollywood. And by the late 1950's the term “underground film” began to be used to describe independent filmmakers in San Francisco and New York and it soon spread in other cities such as London or Sydney. However by the late 1960s the movement represented by these artists had matured and they began to distance themselves from the connotations of the term, using others like Avant-Garde or Experimental to describe their work. Some artists of this movement, such as Andy Warhol or Jack Smith, are relevant figures and were taken as a posterior reference for those who during the 1970s and the 1980s embraced this terminology again. It is along this second decade when “underground film” started to be used to refer to the more countercultural fringe of independent cinema, motivated by Nick Zed's work and his underground publications.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
| Therefore the Cinema of Transgression could be described as part of what is known as Experimental Film, or at least as a posterior development of the genre with its own particular connotations. During the revolutionary period of 1960s many experimental films took an oppositional stance towards mainstream culture, and they were the precursors of the further transgressive development. The particularity of the genre is often characterised by the absence or singularity of linear narrative, the use of asynchronous or extravagant sound, and the use of various abstract techniques. These approaches are the next level of the tendency and keep a stretch relationship with the previous cinematic movement in the European Avant-Garde. It was during the 1920s when the contribution to the cinema of two specific art tendencies, Surrealist and Dadaist, had a crucial impact in the work of Kern's collective. There are several analogies between Kern's film and the movie Un Chien Andalou filmed in 1929 by the surrealist Luis Buñuel. Certain particularities in the narrative and the explicit shocking violent images are the common exponent in both movies, which place the viewer in a more active and more thoughtful approach to the film. Also, it is important to highlight the strong influence by the hand of the surrealist to Zed's cinematic career, as it is possible to observe in the film credits of War Is Menstrual Envy (1992) which shows a live eye surgery and in Whoregasm (1988) in which appears kaleidoscopical images of eyes. Another relevant influence to the transgressive movement that emerged in the 1920s is the abstract cinema created by Fischinger as Nick Zed stated: |
|
“Oskar Fischinger will be remembered into the next few centuries. What he contributes to the cinema was really profound and original. He always inspires me, [...] if you can see any of his films, it is really incredible what he was able to communicate visually”. The tremendous influence of Fischinger to the movement is evident in Zed's titles, as in Whoregasm (1988) where he fusions and multiplies similar patterns and geometrical shapes with pornographic images.
General principles that were claimed by the Dadaist movement have been taken as a conceptual reference by these specific filmmakers. Anti-war politic thoughts and a rejection to the prevailing standards in art through anti-art cultural works are resources shared by both movements. All the films described as Cinema of Transgression face situations where there is a constant struggle to survive within social conventions and norms. In many of them the fight is against the social and politic system, as for example in Zed's film Police State (1987), a dramatisation that shows Nick Zed himself being arrested, held in custody and being barbarously beaten by several police officers. This demonstration of violence was carried out by what was considered 'correct' within the social rules of the time. Also this movie is a reaction which condemns social issues and it was partly made as a response to the murder of Michael Stewartx. In others examples, as in the case of Kern's You Killed Me First (1985), the conflict is against the parental education and control, resulting in a tormented teenage mind who feels the impossibility to fit in the conventions set by the family. Therefore this movie demonstrates the nuclear family as a possible source of a pathological behaviour. |
|
|
| |
 |
|
|
| |
|
However it will not be until 1960s when the two most powerful influences to the Fingered's cinematic movement stood out. The first is the best known of all underground filmmakers, the pop artist Andy Warhol, who emerged and participated in the New York underground cinematic scene. Warhol's movies can be divided into two distinct periods influencing this posterior tendency of The Cinema of Transgression. The early movies present voyeuristic glances involving different levels of sexual activity. Basically he recorded static shots of various characters engaged in specific activities. These activities gave the title to the movies, for instance some of these titles are Kiss, Blow Job, Haircut or Eat all of them filmed in 1963. These movies served to emphasise the transparency of the real, sharing a voyeuristic relationship with the audience. It is this particular issue along with the obvious sexual affinity, which is explicitly exposed by Warhol's work, what influenced artists as Kern almost two decades later. As it is possible to see in his film The Sewing Circle (1992) in which the actress genitalia is truly surgical sewed in front of the camera, and where the actress shows her passport to reinforce the realistic idea of the footage. Nick Zed was also strongly influenced by Warhol's first period as it can be proved in his screen tests in Why Do You Exist? (1998) where as the Pop artist, Zed presents different characters in daily activities. The constant idea of shooting people acting naturally led Warhol to develop a particular way of filming, without setting scenes or preparing actors, or even leaving the camera running, walking away and not coming back in a while. As Warhol stated “... it's better to act naturally than act like someone else, because you really get a better picture of people being themselves instead of trying to act like they're themselves”. Warhol's later movies, with his protege Paul Morrissey, still keep these voyeuristic fundaments, however a new push in sexual and narrative aspects is developed in their following productions, as in My Hustler (1965) and Flesh (1967). In these films Warhol emphasises the beauty of his respective stars Paul America and Joe Dallesandro. In addition, during this period many contemporary underground filmmakers share the importance in recognising their own created mythology, their own stars. |
|
And like Marilyn's representation in Hollywood, the dark cinematic scene of bondage and sadomasochism has its own oppositional idol: the artist Betty Page. The cinema of Transgression is profoundly influenced by this emphasis on the superstar and shares the idea of creating underground icons as Fingered's protagonist, Lydia Lunch. This actress is not just Richard Kern's muse, but also she could even be considered as the most representative icon within the whole Cinema of Transgression movement, since she has worked with all the key directors of this scene as Beth and Scott B, Harvey Keith or Nick Zed. As Richard Kern, one of the most prolific member of this group stated in an interview for Jack Sargeant: “What we did was take everything Warhol had done, and everything Dadaism stood for, and combined it with punk”.
The second and more relevant reference to this kind of underground film production is the figure of Jack Smith, who started working in experimental film and theatre in New York at the end of 1950's. However it will not be until 1963 when he created his masterpiece considered the pillars of the actual Cinema of Transgression, Flaming Creatures. There are common particularities that make this movie crucial in the further development of the movement. Smith's more shocking movie pictures several transgressive sexual activities in a lake of male and female naked human bodies. The casual sexuality of the film and the bleached out aspect of the images drag the viewer into a oneiric experience with multiples flashes of random genitalia and flesh. There is a profound feeling of disorder, accentuated by the completely absence of linear narrative which positions the movie far away from the conventionalism of the structural method. This experience finishes seducing the audience into a state where the genre becomes meaningless in this orgy of playful sexuality. Smith filmed the whole movie on a roof on a bright day and he used outdated celluloid, resulting in a product that appears overexposed. Muslin and gauze filters along with other experimental techniques were also used in the shooting of the film, enriching the possibilities of this brand new movement. |
|
|
| |
 |
|
 |
|
|
| |
| The dialogue in Smith's Flaming Creatures is almost inexistent, therefore the music is an important device to conduct the audience through this shocking adventure. Smith himself described the film as "a comedy set in a haunted music studio." A decade later The Cinema of Transgression will incorporate this resource as one of the main pillars of the movement. Punk, no-wave, hardcore, industrial and gangster rap music are the common soundtracks in transgressive films. The music itself plays a principal position in the sociocultural aspects of the movement. The punk era was in its full height and their films denoted the existence of this generation gap. This is not only due to punk music used especially in the early productions, but it is also thanks to the trash aesthetic and the antisocial themes treated in these films. It is important to emphasise the influence of this punk aesthetic in the graphics and typographies in the film credits displayed by the movement. Handwriting typefaces scratched directly on the celluloid, the use of cheap Letraset characters with an unstable kerning and line spacing, and collage techniques are the graphical representation of an underground aesthetic. This antisocial idea together with the aim of exposing the reality reach their highest level in the film titles of Zed's Police State (1987) where this punk concept and aesthetic becomes real, where the credits were stolen by spray painting an actual New York's police car. And as Nick Zed stated in an interview for Thin Air Radio, the scene had to be filmed a few times and they ended up painting several cars due to the risk involve in this illegal action.
In the case of Fingered, the movie was shot in the mid 1980s, when experimental music and synthesizers were influencing the industrial scene of that time. |
|
The soundtrack consists of a group of ambient sounds that alienates the spectator inside the characters agony. The relevancy of music especially in Kern's work is proved by his long career directing music videos, starting by the filming of Death Valley '69 for Sonic Youth right before he produced Fingered in 1986. In essence this video could be considered as a connection of some of the fundamental principles of Kern's way to transgress. The use of abstract coloured shapes spinning in the centre of the screen at the rhythm of the guitars well remember Fischinger's animations. Also the use of cheap filming material, as a portable super 8 mm camera, and the absence of illumination and linear narrative are the techniques shared by the movement. Kern also develops himself the role of cameraman as in the rest of his movies, involving the audience in a first person point of view and reinforcing the idea of reality in all scenes. This way of filming also makes the director be an active part within the actors relationship, becoming part of a voyeur practice, as later it will happen with the spectator while watching the movie. Kern promoted this particular characteristic of the movement in his film The Evil Cameraman (1990) where he has a role acting as pervert photographer, which brings forward his posterior career as a well establish erotic photographer. The themes treated such as murders, blood and ripped corpses, social protest or youth antisocial behaviour are also included in this trend, and they are all pictured in an industrial surrealist landscape . The absence of sexual explicit activities is due to the fact that they were trying to avoid the censor. The video shows some footage from Kern's previous movie Submit To Me (1985) and from a live concert of Sonic Youth. And both of them are intercut with missile and war scenes flashes; resources that are included in many works within the movement, especially in Zed's productions. |
|
|
| |
 |
|
 |
|
|
| |
In addition, if there is any characteristic that makes Smith's film, Flaming Creatures, the main reference for the Cinema of Transgression is the problem that the movie caused regarding law and censorship. When the film was first screened it was seized by New York Police and condemned as obscene. Lawyers began defending the film but the case was dropped, resulting in a permanent ban of the film in New York. Two decades later Smith stated: “My life has been made a nightmare because of that damn film. That sucked up ten years of my life”. It is not as dramatic as the case of Kern's movie due to the time difference, however Fingered also received an adverse reaction by the public. Several responses against him occurred during the screening of the film, such as the anecdotic event that took place in Berlin Film Festival in 1988 when Kern was jeered by an unappreciative crowd.
However Nick Zed's They Eat Scum (1979) will be considered the first film of the movement known as Cinema of Transgression. The narrative is a nihilistic combination of the fundaments of the style described above such as punk, delinquency, family issues, horror and sex with satirical tone. | |
After the screening of the film in same year of its production, The Soho Weekly News critic Amy Taubin through her essay “Cinema of Trasgression” positioned the film as the beginning of a style: “The aesthetic operated here is transgression, both in terms of the narrative, and in formal filmmaking terms”. Taubin summarised that They Eat Scum was something else apart from other punk movies of the time, as she stated: “With this film I have a sense of a generation gap that I don't have with the films of Vivienne Dickx, which grow out of the same milieu and concerns”.
Therefore the development of this movement helps to integrate rejected tendencies of a sexual minority involving a controversial attitude, as its previous influences did in 1920's and 1960's. And its predecessors created productions where, as in Fingered, through truthful narrative techniques it is possible to experience the excitation based on violence and power role situations within sexual relationships. |
|
|
| |
 |
| |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
