Ideas of sex: Discourses on sexuality in Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter and Cesare Canevari’s The Gestapo’s Last Orgy
Both The Night Porter (Cavani) and The Gestapo’s Last Orgy (Canevari) are often referred to as exploitation. Exploitation cinema’s focus on empty excess is in line with the exaggeration/superficiality of “Camp”. Despite Susan Sontag’s separation of “Camp” elements and homosexual-Camp elements, subse...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University College Cork
2011-08-01
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| Series: | Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media |
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| Online Access: | http://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue 1/ArticleImpey.html |
| _version_ | 1818006439451426816 |
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| author | Nick Impey |
| author_facet | Nick Impey |
| author_sort | Nick Impey |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Both The Night Porter (Cavani) and The Gestapo’s Last Orgy (Canevari) are often referred to as exploitation. Exploitation cinema’s focus on empty excess is in line with the exaggeration/superficiality of “Camp”. Despite Susan Sontag’s separation of “Camp” elements and homosexual-Camp elements, subsequent
 commentators have argued that Camp is an exclusively gay critique of the artificial nature of the “performance” of hetero-normative gender roles. My article looks at the ways in which lesbian filmmaker Liliana Cavani discusses queer sexuality through a Camp play on gender roles, and how this same discourse is
 “developed” in Canevari’s virtual remake. German/Italian fascist ideology’s preoccupation with the perfected male body and Hitler’s original acceptance of homosexuality contributed to the presence of a lingering (masculine) homoeroticism in Nazi iconography. Holocaust history of Nazi domination enhanced this masculine image. Accordingly, the two filmmakers use a binary of male (masculine) Nazi dominator and female submissive prisoner, which is possessing of a heterosexual quality made fragile by the history of fascist sexual ambiguity. Essentially, my paper argues that the films’ disruption of the traditional images of Nazi aggressor/innocent victim through the protagonists’ depicted collaboration corresponds with the filmmakers’ blurring of masculine/feminine roles in their individual statements about queer sexuality. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-14T05:02:06Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e6fe2eb791ab4b3d87789bb428f9df86 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2009-4078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-14T05:02:06Z |
| publishDate | 2011-08-01 |
| publisher | University College Cork |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media |
| spelling | doaj.art-e6fe2eb791ab4b3d87789bb428f9df862022-12-22T02:10:55ZengUniversity College CorkAlphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media2009-40782011-08-0117688https://doi.org/10.33178/alpha.1.06Ideas of sex: Discourses on sexuality in Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter and Cesare Canevari’s The Gestapo’s Last OrgyNick Impey0Manchester Metropolitan UniversityBoth The Night Porter (Cavani) and The Gestapo’s Last Orgy (Canevari) are often referred to as exploitation. Exploitation cinema’s focus on empty excess is in line with the exaggeration/superficiality of “Camp”. Despite Susan Sontag’s separation of “Camp” elements and homosexual-Camp elements, subsequent
 commentators have argued that Camp is an exclusively gay critique of the artificial nature of the “performance” of hetero-normative gender roles. My article looks at the ways in which lesbian filmmaker Liliana Cavani discusses queer sexuality through a Camp play on gender roles, and how this same discourse is
 “developed” in Canevari’s virtual remake. German/Italian fascist ideology’s preoccupation with the perfected male body and Hitler’s original acceptance of homosexuality contributed to the presence of a lingering (masculine) homoeroticism in Nazi iconography. Holocaust history of Nazi domination enhanced this masculine image. Accordingly, the two filmmakers use a binary of male (masculine) Nazi dominator and female submissive prisoner, which is possessing of a heterosexual quality made fragile by the history of fascist sexual ambiguity. Essentially, my paper argues that the films’ disruption of the traditional images of Nazi aggressor/innocent victim through the protagonists’ depicted collaboration corresponds with the filmmakers’ blurring of masculine/feminine roles in their individual statements about queer sexuality.http://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue 1/ArticleImpey.htmlnazismholocaust |
| spellingShingle | Nick Impey Ideas of sex: Discourses on sexuality in Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter and Cesare Canevari’s The Gestapo’s Last Orgy Alphaville: Journal of Film and Screen Media nazism holocaust |
| title | Ideas of sex: Discourses on sexuality in Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter and Cesare Canevari’s The Gestapo’s Last Orgy |
| title_full | Ideas of sex: Discourses on sexuality in Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter and Cesare Canevari’s The Gestapo’s Last Orgy |
| title_fullStr | Ideas of sex: Discourses on sexuality in Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter and Cesare Canevari’s The Gestapo’s Last Orgy |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ideas of sex: Discourses on sexuality in Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter and Cesare Canevari’s The Gestapo’s Last Orgy |
| title_short | Ideas of sex: Discourses on sexuality in Liliana Cavani’s The Night Porter and Cesare Canevari’s The Gestapo’s Last Orgy |
| title_sort | ideas of sex discourses on sexuality in liliana cavani s the night porter and cesare canevari s the gestapo s last orgy |
| topic | nazism holocaust |
| url | http://www.alphavillejournal.com/Issue 1/ArticleImpey.html |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nickimpey ideasofsexdiscoursesonsexualityinlilianacavanisthenightporterandcesarecanevaristhegestaposlastorgy |