From: Chuck Kleinhans (email suppressed)
Date: Fri Sep 11 2009 - 08:16:01 PDT
On Sep 10, 2009, at 11:25 PM, Fred Camper wrote:
>
>
> It was at the New York Filmmakers Coop, and we rented it from them
> and showed it at MIT in 1970 or 1971. It *was* "misunderstood" --
> suddenly kids from the dorms who never came to our shows were there
> for the "porn." Jonas Mekas had attacked the final section, using,
> inappropriately, words like "child molesting," though no adults
> were involved in the final section, which is playful, and has no
> actual sex. Perhaps Stan felt that if even Jonas could
> misunderstand it...
No one seems to be pointing out in this discussion the rather obvious
problem that although censorship of sexual images had lessened in
many locales in the US in the early 70s (but usually more urban
ones), that most jurisdictions and police and prosecutors would find
any images of naked children potentially obscene.
And certainly the US Postal Service was one of the main ways state
censorship was applied. The Coop shipped their films by USPS at that
point, which was, along with Customs, a watchdog gatekeeper for
obscenity.
Brakhage's misgivings might have been also motivated by legal and
practical considerations.
CHUCK KLEINHANS
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