Bloomsbury Academic Adult Themes: British Cinema and the “X” Certificate in the Long 1960s (Global Exploitation Cinemas)

The Swinging Sixties were mirrored by a "swinging" adult cinema: films that dared to push back the boundaries of sex and violence, relished breaking societal norms, and recalibrated cinema as a dangerous, transgressive and intellectual art form. Adult Themes is the first to chart the "X"-rated strain of British cinema across this period – the "long 1960s". Some of these films, from the most acclaimed film-makers of the time, including Lindsay Anderson, Jack Clayton, Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson, and John Schlesinger, are now considered masterpieces. The "X" ratings awarded by the British Board of Film Censors did little to diminish their audiences – and may have been a licence for film-makers to go even further. Their "X" ratings were a matter of punitive negotiation, and with the censor’s sharp scissors in near-constant use. And yet, such films remain as provocative and cultural artefacts of their times, deserving of critical recovery. This collection questions to what extent, and how and why, X films can be understood as the outriders, agitators, nay-sayers, and voyeurs of this emerging contemporary society.