At the beginning of the 90s, lesbians were a punchline for a male-gaze-oriented media, an easy target for expressing the anxiety that women might not need men after all. By the middle of the decade, women-loving-women had become the heroes of a number of neo-noir crime films, but the culture at large still rejected lesbianism when not intended to arouse men. While The Matrix has widely been reappraised as a trans allegory after the transitions of its directors the Wachowski sisters, their previous feature Bound was transparently queer, but its reception was complicated by the media’s perception of its makers. Bound was released just a few months after the burial of an extremely similar film called Wild Side. Barely seen on its initial release amidst studio recutting and the suicide of its director, today Wild Side plays as a heartbreaking and troubling example of what could have been for its star Anne Heche, who would soon after become one-half of the most famous lesbian couple in Hollywood – and suffer the career consequences.
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Thelma & Louise (Erotic 90’s, Part 4)
Introducing This Little Light with Flea
“The actress everybody wants to fuck”: Theresa Russell and Sondra Locke (Erotic 90’s, Part 3)
Pretty Woman, Sleeping with the Enemy and Julia Roberts in the early 90s (Erotic 90’s, Part 2)
Prologue: Porn, Feminism & the folly of NC-17 (Erotic 90’s, Part 1)
1989: sex, lies and videotape: Rob Lowe and James Spader (Erotic 80s Part 12)
1988: Kevin Costner, Sean Young, No Way Out & Bull Durham (Erotic 80s Part 11)
1987: Fatal Attraction and Dirty Dancing (Erotic 80s Part 10)
1986: 9 ½ Weeks, Mickey Rourke & Zalman King (Erotic 80s Part 9)
1985: Fear Sex. Jagged Edge & AIDS (Erotic 80s Part 8)
1984: "Vioporn," Body Double and Crimes of Passion (Erotic 80s Part 7)
1983: MTV Aesthetics, Flashdance and Risky Business (Erotic 80s Part 6)
1982: Teen Sexploitation, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Porky's and The Blue Lagoon (Erotic 80s Part 5)
1981: Neonoir, Body Heat and Postman Always Rings Twice (Erotic 80s Part 4)
1980: Richard Gere and American Gigolo (Erotic 80s Part 3)
1979: Bo Derek and 10 (Erotic 80s Part 2)
Porno Chic and The Brief Heyday of X Ratings (Erotic 80s Part 1)
Sammy and Dino Episode 9: Is That All There Is?
Sammy and Dino Episode 8: Generation Gap
Sammy and Dino Episode 7: Yes I Can
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