Forgoten Film History: The Underground Cinema Movement
Overview
The Underground Cinema movement that occurred primarily during the 1950s and 1960s consisted predominantly of U.S motion pictures that challenged the folkways of Hollywood, religion, politics, and society by breaking taboos and corrupting reality. These films were a part of a major counterculture of film and independently financed since studios did not dare to associate themselves with the kinds of films present during this time. Cult films are different from underground films in which they are financed through studios but end in failure upon release but later gains much appreciation by audiences. The movement first announced itself in 1959 and seven years later, ceased to be underground as these motion pictures were grossing over $12,000 in 1966. Aspects of the Avant-garde experimental movement were present in many of the motion pictures produced during this movement as underground directors became more artistic with their films along with challenging the cultural beliefs of Americans during the time period. Andy Warhol was a large component to this movement through his psychodramas and avant-garde styled films such as his 1966 film, The Chelsea Girls. Several other notable directors that performed a significant role in the Underground Film movement included William Castle, Kroger Rabb, and Kenneth Anger. This new wave of experimental directors helped to create the foundation for the Underground movement that went on until the late 60s.
The Origin
Films that can be considered underground films can be dated all the back to Luis Buñuel’s 1929 film, Chein Andalou. Luis Buñuel’s films proceeded on the surreal logic of a dream. His collaborations with the well-known artist Salvador Dali had major influence on the future horror and experimental films during the underground era. His most notorious work was a scene of a woman’s eyeball being slashed open with a razor. This style of film had sparked many future directors to create taboo reality films in order to invoke disturbing feelings in the audiences. While the Avant-garde style films were present in Europe in the late 20s and early 30s, it wasn’t until the 50s that the legendary film theorist Maya Deren brought the concept of Avant-garde cinema to the U.S. Maya Deren spurs future works in the American Avant-Garde style cinema with her Creative Film Foundations (Nicholes 5). After Maya had brought this new style to the U.S, American directors went to work on American Avant-Garde cinema in order to express themselves artistically.
American Avant-Garde cinema was finally declared in the late 50s when it was termed The American Underground Film Movement. The Avant-garde experimental movement and surreal artists of the time heavily influenced the films being produced throughout this movement by encouraging particular filmmakers to create surreal, taboo breaking experimental and horror films. It wasn’t until November of 1957 that Manny Farber used the phrase “Underground Film” to describe these explicit films in the review of a low-class Hollywood film (Tyler 6). Underground films were being exhibited literally underground in subways and bomb shelters, which had a role in the naming of the movement. The motion pictures during this movement had more in common than just being controversial and shown underground; they as well shared some common themes and techniques that made them easily distinguishable from the experimental films and Hollywood films during the time.
Themes and Techniques
The Underground Film movement had many innovative techniques and themes that served as a major counterculture to Hollywood and the rest of society by adapting many techniques found in the Avant-Garde Movement, Expressionist Movement, and several other major techniques found in films before the 50s. The most common themes exhibited throughout these films were primarily horror, experimental, and porn. During this time period, surreal art and the art of cubism were idolized and influential on the types of films being created at the time. Directors focused on personal expressionism when creating their films in order to exhibit surrealistic films that were almost dream-like. Andy Warhol had a large role with these surrealistic films in which he exhibited many techniques influenced by Avant-Garde styles of editing. These editing techniques that are apparent throughout these films include the fluid handheld movements, use of abstract imagery, use of superimposition, and editing rhythms that were unpredictable.
Major Directors
Kenneth Anger (Feburary 3, 1927)
Anger was an underground experimental filmmaker, actor, and author. kenneth worked exclusively in short films and also wrote the “Hollywood Babylon” books. He has been describes as “America’s first openly gay directors who’s work was first to express works on homosexuality in an undisguised, self implicating manner. The film “Fireworks” from the year 1947 had a great impact on mainstream Hollywood films. Anger used pop music in the soundtracks of his films without acquiring the rights to do so. The cause a lot of his films to go unseen. The film “Scorpio Rising” a film from 1964 influenced directors such as Martin Scorsese and David Lynch having “a profound impact on the work of many other filmmakers and artists, as well as on music video as an emergent art form using dream sequence, dance, fantasy, and narrative”
Stan Brakhage (January 14, 1933)
Stan broke away from any idea of narrative in his films. He liked to created an artistic feel to his films by psyically painting and scratching the film strips. He felt as if this gave his films a “homemade” look. He used fast cuttting, handheld camera work, college film, multi-exposure, and in camera editing to stylize his films. General themes Brakhage fell toward were birth, morality, sexuality, and innocence. On a contemporary note, Stan taught as a college professor teaching the students Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park. It is safe to assume that the two were highly influenced by Stan and the teaching he provided to his students.
Russ Meyer (March 22, 1922)
Russ Meyer began as a pornographic photographer for playboy and later became a well-known underground filmmaker whose claim to fame was his pornographic films featuring mild to explicit nudity. It is said that his world of sexual impulses was stronger than the story needed to be within his films (Havis 49). Beyond the ironic camp humor of his entire film output, Meyer signaled his vision of undisguised sexual warfare and to a lesser extant, class-consciousness a political metaphor for this nation’s greed, pathology, and self-regard (Havis 50). In his film Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Meyer equates the passive immorality of the father with the aggressive venality of the murderous Varla (Havis 50). Despite his self-imposed soft porn label, holds a singular position in the film industry, brided the conformist 1950s and bold, pace-setting 1970s. His eccentricity served as his major strength and his major limitation.
Context
Underground film references a clandestine and subversive culture beneth the legitmate and official media. Although it can date back to the very begining of film history, in the late 5o’s, underground film was used to describe independent filmmakers operating first in San Francisco, California and New York City, New York. Seen more by experimental filmmakers working at the time. in the late 60’s the movement matures and distances itself from the countercultural, psychedelic connotations of the world, Avant-garde. throughout the 70’s and 80’s, countercultural fringe of independent cinema and cinema of transgression fall into the No wave Cinema movement. finally ending in the 90’s with transgressive art, ultra low budget films offered by welthy distributors- Miramax and New Line, underground then being replaced by independent cinema.
Works Cited
Havis, Allan. Cult Films: Taboo and Transgression. Lanham: U of America, 2008. Print.
Nichols, Bill. Maya Deren and the American Avant-Garde. Los Angelas: U of California, n.d. Print.
Philes, Robe. “A Brief History of Cult and Underground Film.” HubPages. HubPages, 2013. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
Tyler, Parker. Underground Film: A Critical History. New York: Da Capo, 1995. Print.
