Stag film
A stag film refers to sexually explicit underground films primarily produced in 8 mm and 16 mm formats before the rise of video technology. Emerging in the early 1900s, stag films were often created by small groups and shown to male audiences during private gatherings known as "stag nights." Despite being illegal, these films found popularity among various social organizations, reflecting the prevailing White middle-class male values of the time. The introduction of 8 mm film technology after World War II expanded the market and made production more accessible, although the quality often diminished.
During the late 1960s, changes in societal attitudes towards sexuality led to the emergence of more broadly accepted adult films, culminating in landmark legal decisions and the release of mainstream pornographic films. The 1980s marked a significant shift with the proliferation of video, making explicit content readily available and diminishing the relevance of stag films. This transformation mirrored evolving perspectives on sexuality, relationships, and gender dynamics, with the Internet further revolutionizing access to adult content. As a result, the cultural significance and social context surrounding stag films have largely become obsolete in contemporary discussions about pornography.
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Stag film
- DEFINITION: Underground 8 mm and 16 mm films of the pre-video period showing sexually explicit activities
- SIGNIFICANCE: Social and technological changes turned these heavily suppressed manifestations of fascination with adult sexual activity into anachronisms by the 1980s
Hard-core pornographic films were produced virtually from the invention of the motion picture camera. First introduced in the early 1900s, they were generally produced in a 16 mm film format. Due to the expense of the equipment and persistent legal suppression, they were typically produced by small numbers of people and rented to mostly male audiences for private “stag nights” or “smokes.” Although the films were publicly outlawed, their audiences often comprised members of social, fraternal, business, veterans, and other mainstream organizations.
The introduction of inexpensive 8 mm film technology after World War II widened stag film audiences and shifted emphasis from rentals to sales. More people could make such films, but they usually produced fewer of them and of lesser quality than in the 16 mm days. They were produced and distributed locally or regionally, usually in two-hundred-foot “loops.” The content of these films typically reflected White middle-class male values. Predominantly heterosexual in content, the films showed some interest in group sex and female-female encounters, but there was little attention to male-male encounters, and pedophilia, bestiality, and fetishism were virtually nonexistent. The films flirted with the forbidden while attacking certain social taboos such as miscegenation and oral sex. They also reflected a traditional double standard regarding male and female sexual behavior. Phrases such as “stag films” and “training films” themselves suggested that sexuality was strictly a male domain.
During the 1960s, the enlarged Super 8 format was introduced; by 1970, a new type of hard-core cinema known in the trade as “16 mm films” appeared. These films were graphic productions designed to be shown to male audiences in limited numbers of decaying urban theaters. These innovations, however, ran into countervailing social currents. Adult erotica became publicly more acceptable during the late 1960s. Pornography was legalized in Denmark in 1968 and in France in 1974. In Stanley v. Georgia (1969), the US Supreme Court ruled that a bookmaker’s mere possession of “obscene” films could not constitutionally be made a crime. The commercial film Deep Throat, released in late 1972, epitomized the new trend. Widely distributed in suburban theaters, it attracted large mixed audiences and soon became available on videotape.
The video revolution of the 1980s made access to lavish, sexually explicit 35 mm productions as convenient as one’s home television set, and few American companies still even produced 8 mm film by the early 1980s. Adult erotica accounted for half of all video sales in 1981, and nearly half of its rentals in the 1990s were made by women. These changes in technology and society made the social milieu of the titillating all-male rite of passage and the concept of the stag film passé.
With the advent of the Internet and the rise of the digital age, pornography became instantly available, and the content of movies became encompassing and increasingly inclusive. The ability to anonymously access pornography in the privacy of one's residence removed much of the legal and social stigma once attached to stag films. While pornography remained a controversial subject, its evolution from the late 1800s through the twenty-first century represented shifting attitudes regarding relationships, gender, morality, and sexuality in the United States.
Bibliography
"Episode 49: Stag Films." Slums of Film History, 18 Apr. 2018, www.slumsoffilmhistory.com/episodes/2018/4/17/episode-49-stag-films. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.
Erdman, Dan. Let's Go Stag! A History of Pornographic Film from the Invention of Cinema to 1970. Edited by Austin Fisher and Johnny Walker, Bloomsbury Academic, 2021.
Slade, Joseph W. "Eroticism and Technological Regression: The Stag Film." History & Technology, vol. 22, no. 1, Mar. 2006, pp. 27–52. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=19761845&site=ehost-live. Accessed 7 Oct. 2024.