From Bruno Thu Jun  8 14:30:21 EDT 1995
Article: 63904 of alt.sex.movies
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From: Bruno
Newsgroups: alt.sex.movies
Subject: Re: Curious Yellow
Date: 8 Jun 1995 07:38:57 GMT
Organization: A Guy with a Mac
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In article , art
 wrote:

> "I am Curious Yellow" was an ice breaker,
> while "Deep Throat" was another ice breaker to a new level.
> 
> After "Deep Throat" I felt like I saw it all and did not have to see another
> X movie.
> 
> Why do so few people remember, "I am Curious Yellow?"

I AM CURIOUS (YELLOW) has always been a tantalizing mystery to me. I was
about 14 when it came out, and aware of the film's reputation via all the
media attention it got. The title had the kind of public recognition that
made it the object of one-liners by comedians and talk-show hosts, and
through its legal problems it became a default examplar in the late-60s
debate about sex in the media. The film's notoriety, in combination with
the ad campaign (a grainy black and white photo of an attractive young
European woman), worked overtime on my teenaged imagination. I figured it
was one long filmed orgy, or something equally entertaining. By the time
they'd let me into an "adults only" film (which is what they were called
back then), it had disappeared from the theatres, and it was only later
that I read enough about it in film journals to realize that IAC(Y) was
more of an art film than an outright porn movie.

Turan and Zito's SINEMA has this to say about it:

   "The ultimate importance of this sour, uncharitable movie
   about the quality of Swedish life is that it changed the standards
   of acceptability in an industry that was inching toward the
   presentation of explicit sex. The initial determination of
   obscenity was based on the fact that the film showed the
   exposed, semi-erect penis of one man and an oral sex scene in 
   which cunnilingus may have taken place. (Not even the director
   knew for sure.) These small but real differences separated the
   film from the American sex-exploitation product in general
   release in the United States at that time. The success of
   I AM CURIOUS, as it came to be known, almost immediately
   pushed explicitness to a point where the only illegal acts
   were those that showed intromission or ejaculation."

I still haven't seen the film, but I can imagine that the reason it is not
so well remembered today is that a lot of people went expecting "one long
filmed orgy" and ended up seeing a film about social issues in Sweden.
DEEP THROAT, on the other hand, was nothing more or less than promised by
its hype.

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