The Andy Warhol porno that changed the movie industry forever
As one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, the impact that Andy Warhol had on contemporary art and popular culture is simply unparalleled. Known as the primary pioneer of the pop art movement, Warhol’s efforts didn’t just sweep the art world, but they also played a crucial role in shaping the structures of other industries like advertising. His approach to art inspired multiple generations of artists, and it continues to have a huge influence on societal perceptions.
In addition to his iconic paintings and illustrations, Warhol also conducted fascinating experiments in other mediums like photography and film. While his cinematic projects often take a backseat during discussions about his legacy, Warhol was one of the most courageous avant-garde filmmakers during the 1960s. Challenging our definitions of a traditional cinematic experience, Warhol’s films rebelled against the medium’s complex relationship with time and reality.
Within his unique filmography, the 1969 erotic film Blue Movie holds a special place not just because of its content but also because of what it signified for the industry. Now remembered as the first film with explicit sex scenes to have a wide theatrical release in the US, Blue Movie was a major reason behind the emergence of the so-called ‘Golden Age of Porn’. Ranging from commentary about the Vietnam War to non-narrative visions of sex, it’s a quintessential Warhol experience.
In Victor Bockris’ biography of Warhol, the filmmaker is cited as saying: “Scripts bore me. It’s much more exciting not to know what’s going to happen. I don’t think that plot is important. If you see a movie of two people talking, you can watch it over and over again without being bored. You get involved – you miss things – you come back to it … But you can’t see the same movie over again if it has a plot because you already know the ending … Everyone is rich. Everyone is interesting. Years ago, people used to sit looking out of their windows at the street. Or on a park bench. They would stay for hours without being bored although nothing much was going on.”
Warhol continued: “This is my favorite theme in movie making – just watching something happening for two hours or so … I still think it’s nice to care about people. And Hollywood movies are uncaring. We’re pop people. We took a tour of Universal Studios in Los Angeles and, inside and outside the place, it was very difficult to tell what was real. They’re not-real people trying to say something. And we’re real people not trying to say anything. I just like everybody and I believe in everything.”
Although Warhol initially wanted to name the film Fuck, he had to settle for Blue Movie but the feature ended up causing a lot of controversy anyway. When it was first released, the staff of a theatre in New York City were even arrested because they chose to screen Warhol’s work. Due to its historical significance and the aesthetic innovations in it, Blue Movie has survived the test of time and the censorship efforts against it.
