What Debt Does Global Hollywood's Blockbuster Cinema Owe to 1950's Exploitation or 1970's Blaxploitation Cinema? in Your Answer Discuss Whether the B Pics or Low Budget Exploitation Films Offered Their Niche Audiences

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The term exploitation is used heavily in film marketing as reference to what a movie will take advantage of in order to be more appealing to audiences. Themes are often sensationalist and exaggerated at the expense of the quality of the cinema, effectively labelled by academics as paracinema. Many aspects of the production can be exploited, such as using violence or sex to lure viewers. Movies such as these became extremely popular during the 60's and 70's in response to less censorship. However exploitation films in the 30's and 40's took on a more innocuous role in claiming to be educational in nature. For example films such as Sex Madness (1938) and Reefer Madness (1938) still presented the same suggestible content under the guise of being anti-drug and/or sex. For example the film Sex Madness (1938) displayed wild parties, sex out of wedlock and lesbianism. Films such as these were often shown in theatres known as Grindhouses which exclusively screened these types of movies and reflected the rejection by the mainstream film community. Modern day exploitation films often come with a cult following such as slasher films like the Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies during the 70’s. More recently however the success of the Scream franchise in the 90’s continues to this day. These types of films serve to operate outside of mainstream Hollywood, the stories depicted act to legitimatise the extreme violence and or sexual undertones of the movie. The concept of Exploitation cinema can be difficult to define however many of us are easily able to distinguish them by their subjective ‘trash aesthetic’ which permeates the films look. In contrast to mainstream cinema exploitation films seek to undermine the established quality of Hollywood movies, attacking them with perversity, superficial storylines and references to 'forbidden' and cheap production values.

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