Cecilia Trenter Seduced by History Using the Past in Pornography

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Seduced by History
Using the Past in Pornography
A brief look at history mediated through popular culture
1 A hundred years ago the historical method was not only close to but synonym with aesthetic forms,
Jens-Cristian Manniche: “En uvidenskabelig historie? – dansk historieforskning før det kritiske
genombrud” in Historiens ansigter, red. Christaniansen E.& Manniche C.J., 1991, Århus.
2 Raphael Samuel i [Theatres of Memory: Volume 1:] Past and Present in contemporary culture, London New
York 1994, kapitel “Unofficial knowledge”.
Cecilia Trenter
University of Växjö, Sweden
“…History is not the prerogative of the historian, nor even, as postmodernism contends, a
historian's 'invention'. It is, rather, a form of knowledge…”
Raphael Samuel, Theatres of Memory
The question of history has quite often been taken very seriously. Focused
particularly on history as representation of the past, history commonly relates
to problems of authenticity and realism, circumstances that differs academic
way of writing history from other forms. Though the academic way of writing history
does not explicitly call for an aesthetic approach, the demands for methodological
rhetoric and inter-subjectivity are equal to aesthetic criteria. 1 Therefore, and not only
because of the claim for objectivity, academic use of history belongs to high culture.
While art is representing something unique, popular culture makes a point out of
imitating both its own products and others.
In the field of Public history it has been argued that history is more than a
reconstruction of the past, in fact, as Raphael Samuel puts it, it is a social form of
knowledge. 2 Studies in Public history demonstrate clearly how we use the past as a
background to discuss or conduct ourselves to contemporary issues. The field

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includes historical settings at museums, monuments and architecture, but historians
have paid less attention to history mediated through popular culture. 3
Different forms of historical culture appear more or less explicit in different
genres. Popular culture visualizes nostalgic prosthetic memories; funds of pictures,
symbols and narrations that make the viewer feel touched by a wider existential and
universal community, anchorage in norms and values and visualized by pictures of
the past. The use of history in a nostalgic and emotional perspective could sometimes
be defined as prompters of memory, 4 fragments of historical knowledge that appears
in other contexts than time and historical perspective. Advertisements flirt with our
cultural identity, trying to reach us by saying “We both know that this is stupid, and
you know it because you know a lot more about history”. The shoe company Ecco,
for example, were advertising a new sandal by a picture of blue heaven, remnants of
an ancient wall and the shoe in the forefront, accompanied by a text: “Do like Caesar
– conquer the world in sandals”. By using a fragment from history, we are told that
this sandal is something more than an ordinary shoe, but it tells us nothing about
ancient time. 5
During the 80’s and 90’s a couple of books on history and film discussed the
relation between history, truth and context with new glasses. Now history in movies
was defined as a way of using history and not a question of verisimilitude. 6 Among
others, Maria Wykes Projecting the past: ancient Rome, Cinema, and History, treated
history on films like a film genre. 7 When Allan Klynne, a Swedish historian on
ancient time, reviewed her book, he noticed that the pornographic films with ancient
theme were excluded. He asked rhetorically how the porno-models silly acting
among rickety paper colons might influence on the images of Greeks. 8
Klynne pointed out the invisible lines of demarcation between films in general
and pornographic films. Pornography belongs to the discount-parts of Popular culture
far from other public forms of cultural expression. Historical settings in pornography
3
Studies of popular culture have paid attention to this part of historical culture represented in filmanalyzes,
for example and a view; see The Historical Film: History and Memory in Media, Landy Marcia (ed.),
New Brunswick/New Jersey 2001.
4
The expression was invented in order to describe my topic by Eric Bernard Jensen in an application to
the Danish research-council in April 2001 “Cultures of Memory research Center”, Bernard Eric Jensen
& Anette Warring.
5
The campaign was shown in Copenhagen during the first months of 2002.
6
Landy, Marcia: “Introduction”, i The Historical Film: History and Memory in Media, Landy Marcia (ed.),
New Brunswick/New Jersey 2001, s. 5.
7
Wyke, Maria: Projecting the Past: Ancient Rome, Cinema, and History, NY/London 1997.
8 Klynne, Svenska Dagbladet 1998-08-13.

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justify an investigation, though it might seem slightly odd if one defines history as a
search for knowledge or identity. While history in general demands contemplation
and consideration, historical settings in pornography bring people in amusement or
embarrassment. Pornography dressed in historical props seems to be contradiction in
terms. One have, though, to consider that pornography is present times carnevalistic
protest with its roots in popular culture, its devotion for bad taste and unpretentious
attitude towards high culture. 9 Therefore, I find it interesting not only to figure out
how the very discount-genre pornography represents history in what I presume is the
most stereotypical way, but also to compare the use of history in pornography for
men and women. I don’t think that pornographic pictures speak about history, nor do
they create images of history. Pornography uses already created pictures that are
interacting with the pornographic speech of sex.
I will start with describing the function of pornography, continue with the way
historical visualization works in porn, and finally present some examples from the
producers Joe D’Amato’s production (traditional pornography) produced by Max’s
and Topsy’s videos during the 1990’s, and the Danish pornographic film Constance
(pornography for women) produced by Puzzy Power 1998. 10
Pornography
“‘Pornography’ names an argument not a thing”
Steven Marcus, The other Victorians: A study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-
Nineteenth-Century England
Pornography can be described as follows “… depiction of erection, penetration, oral-
genital contact, ejaculation”. 11 This definition tells us what we see on the screen. But
pornography, as Steven Marcus has pointed out “names an argument, not a thing”, 12
and that statement makes the definition much more complicated. Pornography in its
modern sense is about lust, power and individuality, developed as a part of moderni-
9
The bad taste is an important image in pornography, O’Toole, Laurence: Pornocopia: Porn, sex, technology
and desire, London 1999.
10
History-use in pornography is not to be mixed up with Vintage, historical pornography, a mistake I
often meet in the red-light district in Copenhagen.
11
O’ Toole 1999.
12
Steven Marcus, The other Victorians: A study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-Nineteenth-Century England
New York 1974, p. 45.

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ty. First and foremost, pornography is a commercial project with a clear intention to
satisfy the consumer.
The producer Henri Pachard compare pornography with drinking a cup of
instant coffee; the coffee is the compressed hardcore porno and the water, which
makes the coffee drinkable, is the fantasy of the user. The distance between the
compressed visualized “material” and the fantasy must be bridged. 13 In pornography
before 1800 the voyeur – the consumer – who watched the lovers through a window
or a keyhole marked the distance. 14 In 1800–1900’s Peeping Tom was switched out
by another way of creating a distance-closeness; by dressing the models in exotic
clothing from the upper class or from other cultures, the pornography became a
forbidden taste of a paradise far away from everyday life. Pornotopia was invented,
based on the elimination of social reality in order to attain pleasure. 15 The escapism
went even further when boulevard papers started in Europe from ca 1915. The
fetishistic effect became more and more important to set the right scenes of fantasies.
The combination of the concrete visualization on one hand and the consumer fund of
fantasy on the other created the mental bridge over picture and thought.
Contexts are created in different ways in different genres. In papers such as
Penthouse and Playboy the pornographic settings are made by the naked girl, who is
presented in text with facts about her hobbies and dreams in a narration that is
supposed to be an example of everyday-life. In pornography – and in film in general
– the fetish is quite important to set the scene. The fetish function, in classic defini-
tions, is compensating a lost or unarticulated need. The theory has often been used in
psychoanalytic and feministic viewings in especially film theory. 16 Close-ups on
objects, parts of the body or a scenographic detail works as a system of signs in a
furthermore economized world. Society itself has become an erotica, a place where
sexuality and visualization of sex and bodies shows up in public. In a study of
Swedish magazines for men (Fib.aktuellt) and women (Veckorevyn) Anja Hirdman
notes that the visualization of women during the last 30 years has changed. From
pictured nudity in natural beauty as an extension of Mother Nature herself, female
sexual representation went to show half dressed women. The naked body wasn’t
13 O’Toole 1999 p. 16.
14 Hunt, Lynn: “Introduction: Obscenity and the origin of Modernity, 1500-1800”, i The invention of
pornography: Obscentity and the origins of Modernity. 1500-1800, New York 1993, s. 11.
15 The expression ”pornotopia” is invented by Marcus Steven, , Steven, Marcus: The other Victorians: A
study of Sexuality and Pornography in Mid-Nineteenth-Century England, New York 1974, p. 45.
16 For example Laura Mulvey:Fetischism and couriosity, London 1996.

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enough for temptation; jewelries, clothing and make up became fetish for desire. 17 In
this perspective history shows to be more than a narration or historical setting,
information of the past can earn a fetish status.
History mediated through pornography – Clio-porn 18
“Are we talking about 2000? Oh no, this is Caribbean during the 1700 th century…”
Back-cover text from Isola del Tesora
First of all, Clio-porn has nothing to do with historical correctness or a wish to tell
history as it once appeared. But that doesn’t mean that history is used at random; the
viewer is supposed to possess a certain amount of historical knowledge and a herita-
ge with which the pictures and stories interact. This knowledge has more to do with
a general cultural code than with historical knowledge. For example, ancient theme,
as Allan Klynne noticed, is a returning period in different forms for popular culture.
Most people know that Ancient Greek is famous of its philosophers and that dictators
ruled Rome in a time when Christianity was established.
Clio-porn, as all kind of pornography, is represented in public but placed in
special areas such as redlight-districts, cyberspace etc, and in contrast to other forms
of public history the genre have secret and hidden users. People don’t get emotional
involved in a collective memory by watching historical settings in pornography. Clio-
porn works with already established knowledge with no intention to create a prosthe-
tic memory or an imagined community. The use of history is essentially based on
prompters of memory, in which the historical substance are anachronistic and
simplified without any further contexts. Historical décor functions as a general
background of familiar cultural phenomena.
There are certain epochs that are associated more with erotica than other. The
rococo and the ancient world are in different ways understood to be sensual; the
ancient world because of the light dressed togas, the decadence of Rome and the
connection to the dionysistic orgies. The rococo is an epoch full of desire and
17
Hirdman Anja: Tilltalande bilder: Genus, sexualitet och publisyn i Veckorevyn och Fib aktuellt, Stockholm 2001,
s. 243-44.
18
The expression Clio-porn was suggested by one of my colleagues, Roddy Nilsson, to separate history
as context and change over time from a fetishistic use of knowledge of the past based on prompters of
memory.

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hedonism, the last days of irrational pleasure before morality tooks control. It is also
associated with sensual teasing clothing such as lace, silk, flounces and pearls. Both
ancient art and rococo are visualized by nudity and sensuality and are often used in
pornography while the Middle Ages is noticed as a pornographic pornotopia itself
told in the academy and more random as producer of settings in pornography. 19 There
are examples in which medieval props is used in pornography to present a view of
respect and dignity, such as the house lady who appear in a air of class and sophisti-
cation while she shows the lovers her bedroom ornamented by medieval details. 20
The renaissance as a reflection of the carnival is a useful plot. 21 The last century is
represented in nostalgic memories on themes from the postwar-period, and with plots
on nazi Germany and fascism in Italy. The focus on certain epochs reflect a national
use of pornography which is already described; in USA for example, where oral sex
appears to be taboo, pornographic films produce longer sequences on fellatio. In
France the theme “the good girl who becomes a whore” is repeatedly told, and so
on. 22 Clio-porn in general is produced in USA and Italy and the choice of historical
epochs follow the national experience of sexual expression in relation to time. The
ancient world, the Wild West and themes from the last century are common.
19 There are at least no less than 13 titles found in the Swedish database Libris that deals with
pornography or sexuality in the Middle Ages/ renaissance define as pre-pornographic relation to
sexuality, perversity and desire.
20 Private nr. 77: “Mary Maniac Maneater”.
21 Se for example Private nr 163: Betty-Love and Sandra, and the film Constance.
22 O’Toole 1999. The national characterizing of pornography was also made by experts before the
hardcore-era, for example in Paul English The history of Erotica, published in Swedish 1932, where
England is mentioned as producer of flagellation-sex (sadomasochism) while Italy was defined as
producers of sodomy and Germany of ordinary coitus, p. 393.
23 Smith, Gary A.: Epic Films: Casts, Credits and Commentary on over 250 Historical Spectacle Movies, p. XV,
London.
Although Clio-porn is a less exclusive genre in pornography as such, there are
plenty of films with historical themes, and has been since the hardcore pornography
appearance. Popular culture is known by its imitating function, and pornographic
films consequently imitate other films. When hardcore was lanced during the 70’s a
couple of sex versions on films were made, such as Flesh Gordon. The same phe-
nomena happened to the historical films. A popular film genre during the last century
was so called Sword-and-sandal with themes from ancient time and the Bible. 23 The
step from a daring film to a porno film is probable bigger in films with ancient theme
than in historical films with national pathos. Fellini’s Satyricon was followed by a
soft-core version and caused a change of name of the prototype to Fellini’s Satyricon.

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Caligula is another drama, which has been more famous because of its pornographic
spectacular than of the historical drama. 24 Other budget demanding production can be
mentioned; Captain Lust and the Pirate Women (1979) and Sodom and Gomorrah
(1979). 25 During the 80’s, the Mozart film Amadeus got an imitator in pornography
where the antagonists Mozart and Salieri came out well by sharing if not carrier so at
least women and sex experiences. The imitation of the film and not the historical
event as such is clear when the pornographic film of Zorro was introduced in follow-
ing slogan “More cock than Banderas!” (Antonio Banderas made the leading part in
the film Zorro). The rise of costume-dramas in the 90’s produced an echo of histori-
cal pornographic films. Let us take a look at some of them.
Clio-Porn in words and images
”Maybe we could join in this childish game. We used to play it back home in Greece.”
Caligula’s guests from Greece in Caligula (Max’s version)
An essential theme in the written presentation of the historical porno is to emphasize
the natural relationship between sex, often combined with violence, and the times
long past. In the presentation (and the text that informs the buyer on Internet) of the
theme devoted to the decadence of Nero is claimed that the innocent women were
thrown to the lions if they didn’t willingly take part in the ordered orgies. 26 On the
back-cover to Caligula we are informed that the women were so afraid of their
emperor that they couldn’t but obey. In a film about pirates the audience is reminded
that the 17 th century pirates were not friendly at all, nor to mention the witch-hunts
when the priests tortured their victims. 27 According to the presentation, the films
mainly wish to tell the uncensored version of a historical event and to show the
universal and natural view of sex and lust. History has a tendency to become equal to
nature in popular simplification of history. 28
24 The film had première 1979 initiated and financiered by the Penthouse-mogul Bob Guccione, and with
famous actors and actress such as Peter O’Toole and Helen Mirren in the ensemble, mixed with pornomodels
from Penthouse.
25 Linda Williams, 1999.
26 http://www.maxs.dk/sider/katalog/visfilm.asp?Type-Maxs&Varenr-8290.
27 http://www.maxs.dk/sider/katalog/visfilm.asp?Type-Maxs&Varenr-8421;
http://www.maxs.dk/sider/katalog/visfilm.asp?Type-Maxs&Varenr-8339.
28 This is what Jan Thavenius found out when he asked schoolchildren about their attitudes towards
history, Jan Thavenius: Liv och historia. Om människan I historien och historien i människan, Stockholm 1983.

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The films do not only let us know how it was in the old days, but do also
provide us with connections between the present and the past. In Tidsmaskinen the
heroine has been laundered back in time for example to the sexy sixties. On her
journey she is allowed to be her present self but at the same time sensually indulge in
the uninhibited orgies of the sixties. 29 On a S/M themed film with marquis de Sade in
the leading character we can read that his spirit still is hovering over our fantasies;
the perversions of late 18 th century meet with the needs of today.
But most pornography is profoundly nostalgic in the aim to show sex and desire
in the good old days way. We meet the 50’s and 60’s by retro-chic details accompa-
nied by jukebox-music and jitterbug, the dream of the wife at home in luxury dress-
ing gown and the innocent schoolgirl meeting with sex, dangerously close to
pedophilia but detonated in historical clothing. 30
How does this presentation in words and pictures correspond to the images and
content of the films? The American-Italian director Joe D’Amato has been concen-
trating on stories placed in historical settings. I’ll look closer at three of his films;
one from antiquity (Caligula), one from the 17 th century (Isola del Tesora) is said to
be a freer form of Treasure Island. Rudy Valentino’s story is, as the title implies, an
historical reproduction of the famous actor’s career.
In the films authentic props are partly being used. Love and devotion is a
recurrent theme in D’Amato’s films. This is quite the contrary of other porno films
were the story generally is cut off from any emotional context. In Caligula contact is
established through the respect that the female slaves have for their emperor; in Isola
del Tesora through the heroine’s love for her captain and vice versa; in Rudy Valenti-
no’s story through the hero’s infatuation for a famous actress.
The narrative message that is used to create a teasing contrast– sex can be good
or boring – occurs in pornography in general, and here it is told partly by the iconog-
raphy. In Caligula the camera is focused sometimes on the white statues with their
cool and marble like surfaces, sometimes of the made up and sweating couples in
action. In Isola del Tesora an attempted rape of the heroine contrasts with her warm
love-moments with the hero in the following scenes. In Rudy Valentino’s story the
hero’s amorous encounters with different women represent his yearning for his
beloved whom he gets in the end.
29 http://www.maxs.dk/sider/katalog/visfilm.asp?Type-Maxs&Varenr-8309.
30 Nostalgia blue, Jukebox, Drömfabriken. In Private there are a plenty of retro-chic themes; Private nr 160:
Jessica Forrest Private service, Private nr 153: Twins in Every Way, Private nr 153: Heidi.

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Clothes and furniture are typical but when it comes to the sex scenes no special
equipments is being used (such as dildos in a historical design etcetera). The dialogs
and the props aren’t particularly historical, nor do they function as a cog in the
historic narration. When it comes to the main activity (the sex scenes) the set design
is the same as in any other pornographic film. Clio-porn has been criticized and
analyzed as bad porn. Linda Williams means that ancient historical porn – as well as
science fiction – give a too unrealistic and far away depiction of sex. Laurence
O’Toole has the opinion that good pornography has no need for a plot, neither
historical nor other forms. 31 That might be the reason why the sex-scenes seem
modern. By means of the historical fetish proposed in the introductory text on the
back-cover, of the costumes and of the more or less authentic props, the filmmakers
seeks to create an atmosphere that activates the viewer’s imagination. But the
promises of the violent scenes are not fulfilled in the film. The presentation of
chauvinistic circumstances from the past, works as appetizers, a rhetorical nicety to
create the right feeling. The presentations of films with a historical setting that we
associate with power and violence contains a basic thematic: that nobody can say no.
However the elements of violence are limited in all of them. The purpose of the
back-cover text is only to establish the background to the otherwise rather traditional
sex scenes. Pornography with historical settings is regards neither as a good source of
historical information nor as good pornography. From the view of pornography it can
be due to more than one reason. The visualization is one of the tougher tasks to deal
with for the costume makers engaged with historical dramas. Firstly the viewer must
be able to relate to the pictures on the screen where the actors are wearing clothes
connected to a certain historical epoch. Secondly the clothing that the male charac-
ters are wearing mustn’t become an object of ridicule. 32 The purpose with porno-
graphy is to rouse the viewer’s sexual excitement and not to make him laugh. Due to
this, the choice of periods and props might be based on a masculine ideal rather than
on other principles. Usually the man appears as the brutal and often villainous type,
for example pirate. This could explain the macho tone in the introductory texts on the
covers written in a way as to convince the costumer that they will se real men in
action. The “good” man’s masculinity is saved by giving him working-clothes (shirt
and braces as in Rudy Valentino’s story) and nor clothes that might emasculate him.
31 Williams, Linda: Hardcore: Power, Pleasure and the ‘Frenzy of the visible’, (1988) 1999.
32 Tashiro, C. S.: Pretty Pictures: Production Design and the History Film, Austen: Tex. 1998.

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The women’s clothing doesn’t seem so problematic. Silky stockings, filmy veils,
make-up and corsets resemble props from pornography in general and lead to a
double connotation that intensifies the sensual experience.
In interviews with the audience of pornography it has become clear that the
authenticity is important to get the message through. An innocent cheerleader that
throws off her clothes and reveals big tattoos takes away the Lolita-feeling, says one
of the female spectators. In the same way a historical production can create a forced
connection to present days conception of sex.
To this, on could add, that historical themes batter at an open door. The
experienced viewer knows that pornography is a form of escapism. Therefore it
seems unnecessary to use a story with an historical setting since the viewer has
already accepted the rules when he enters porn utopia.
A setting that is elaborated might help the inexperienced audience to approach
the worlds of pornography. D’Amato’s films can be characterized as somewhere
between soft porn and hardcore. It was actually these kinds of films that were
launched when, during the 1990s, pornography opened the door to the female
audience.
Constance – pornography for women
“Jeg følger dig Constance! Sammen med dig skal jeg invies, traede in i lusten og lastenes
duftene hule”
Cited from Constance
The film Constance is pornography adapted to “her” according to public relations.
When the film was projected a female test panel was consulted to find out what
demands women have on pornography. One prominent view was that there should be
a context that explains the social relations and makes the sex scenes logical. Conse-
quently the director and the screenwriter had to find a theme for a coherent narrative,
and they chose the historical setting. The historical image is realized partly by
costumes and aesthetic details. The leading character reads the diary of her grand-
mother Constance. The hardly legible handwriting floats like a transparent veil over
the picture of the young woman who with curiosity reads her grandmother’s tales.
The speaker tells us about the erotic games taking place in Lola’s house, that Cons-

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tance describes in her book. We never learn whom Lola is we never learn, but she
seems to be Constance’s sexual alter ego and her house is a stronghold of lust where
she lives together with her bosom friend and her house slave. It is Lola who fosters
Constance in her sexual awakening.
In the opening scene we se Constance fleeing over burning fields dressed in a
white Empire-inspired dress in tulle and veils. She has curly hair and wears no make-
up. Her dress reminds the viewer of the movies with Jane Austen motifs. We find
ourselves in the late 19 th century and the burning fields symbolize her desire.
Lola, on the other hand, appears in a costume that resembles the heavy, draped
skirts of the 17 th century. Her make-up and hairstyle are modern though. It is interes-
ting to note that the sexually emancipated woman wears dresses that are associated
with older times while Constance, in the role of the reading woman’s grandmother,
is placed at the turn of the last century.
The observer, just as the young woman reading the diary, is closer in time to
Constance than to the erotically experienced Lola. The presumed female watcher is
approaching the pornography via the turn of the century to continue towards a time
wrapped in mystery. In conformity with other Clio-porn films, historical props are
not used in the sex scenes in Constance. The women’s underclothing is, for example,
in a couple of scenes almost ordinary and modern.
On the other hand atmosphere is created by means of romantic, historical
object: we see a white four-poster bed (it belongs to Constance), an altar in black (it
is spoken of as the altar of lust) and Lola uses an old-time hand-basin while shaving
herself.
In pornographic picture for heterosexual women the man’s role becomes as
much object as subject for identification. As already been said, there are some
difficulties related to the dressing of the man in a masculine manner. Lola’s friend
(played by Marc Duran) is dressed in trousers with braces and a white shirt. His
masculinity is underlined by the farm hand’s quarters where he lives and where Lola
visits him. The floor is covered by straw and his body is exposed when he washes
himself in a basin of crockery; Lola’s man is hardworking and muscular. In a carnival
scene he is wearing a Venetian gold mask with an extended nose, a fetish that
strengthens his virile character..
The house slave Paw (Nils Dencker) appears in a nightshirt or naked and he his
kept locked up in an iron cage from which he is only let out when Lola and her
friends want to play. The power relation between Lola and her slave is marked

206
among other things by their clothes: Lola is resting on a couch wearing a baroque
dress, voluptuously eating cherries while being orally satisfied by the slave dressed in
nightshirt. The scene is analogous with the ancient themes where the female slaves
are satisfying the emperor in a similar manner.
The composition of actors in Constance is carefully prepared. The spectator
meets with the nest of sin through Constance who is slender, limbed, with small-
breasts and a light complexion. The male role corresponding to her is the young
house slave who is pale and small-boned. They form the innocent couple, she by her
inexperience and he by his social maladjustment (he comes across as slightly retarded
because of his merry masturbating).
Lola and her manly friend have another type of constitution. He is broad-
shouldered and hairy and she’s got large breasts and is tanned. The actor’s physiques
and aesthetic outcome in combination with their characters make Lola and her friend
masculine (active, experienced and sadistic) while the slave and Constance become
symbols for femininity (passive, naïve, masochistic).
Constance’s part as the curios and seduced isn’t new in the gallery of characters
in the genre of pornography. But the house slaves role gives a new perspective to
normally very masculine male character. The apparent asocial behavior becomes
authentic in the historical setting and allows him to act in a manner that traditionally
is reserved for actresses. In two scenes he masturbates and afterward licks his fingers,
which can be considered to be a breach of genre when it comes to heterosexual
pornography where explicit male homosexuality is taboo. It’s usually the women that
perform autoerotic action, which includes girl/girl scenes. Men never touch each
other nor do they touch the seed. Therefore the division of the characters in Constan-
ce can been seen as a breakthrough in pornography as the masculinity, by means of
clear symbolism and historical fetishism, doesn’t belong only to the male character
any longer.

What, then again, is Clio-porn?
“Bless the carnival!”
207
Cited from Private nr 163 “Betty-love and Sandra”
Pornographic films and images aren’t to be looked upon as realistic description of
sex. Instead images and films should be interpreted for their function as speech of
sex. The purpose of pornography is to excite and satisfy, and to create whole situ-
ations that are supposed to tease the mind following the 80–20 % definition. Details
and story must play on the viewer’s own experiences. The way in which history is
used in pornography show clearly that it isn’t the historical context that governs the
choice of props or plots. Fetishism in the shape of objects or of concretized fragments
in a narration contributes to create the closeness-distance that is supposed to make a
bridge between the viewer’s experiences and the visualized fetish in the picture. The
historical fetishism talks to us. We know that a man with a golden laurel wreath and
a toga is a man with authority, we know that a gilded ballroom with mirrors and
statues is the equal to Versailles, we know that a woman carrying a sword and an eye-
patch is not to be trifled with. We can laugh at it, we can consider it as falsification
of history, but the fetishistic value is unmistakable.
Historical fetishistic porno makes themes with great authority about submission
and freedom from responsibility. But we have to get our fantasies activated. An
important ingredient is escape from making choices. Sadomasochism is based on a
game where submission is a ritual and the freedom of choice is beyond reach. The
freedom from responsibility is stressed in scenes where the roles imply submission.
In scenes from antiquity the slave is placed in the power of the emperor. Their
historical characters determine both the emperor and the female slaves. In the pirate
film we know that the hero and the heroine love each other, but despite their burning
love they end up in not chosen erotic situations; she brutally gets seduced by evil men
and he gets tied down by a herd of desirous female pirates and is thereafter forced to
have sex with a woman from the upper-class. Rudy Valentino is thrown out in
unemployment and has to take every job he can get, also when it includes sexual
commissions. And they can’t do anything but enjoy it. In this way the stereotypical
submission becomes a fetish for the flight from responsibility that we can’t allow
ourselves in our everyday life.

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The need for submission and irresponsibly is constructed in different ways, and
history is used in different manners. In the typical male-productions, the desire is
stimulated by differences between the text on the back-cover and the pictures in a
carnevalistic sense, in the female-production the fetishism is used by aesthetic
references to female-related culture. Pornotopia is created by time travel through
Constance’s diary via Constance herself to a carnivalistic place long time ago. The
journey and the references to female-culture becomes the context in which pleasure
becomes possible.
What differs the historical plot in pornography from other stories? Historical
stereotypes in all kind of public history production are more fruitful than other plots
from today. History is per definition the past, something that already have happened
and thereby a finished narration, told by stereotypes. Clio-porn is history but merely
for symbols and fetishes, and the scenes don’t make any historical pretensions. The
sex scenes – the 80% produced by pictures on the screen – are and remain untouched
by historical authenticity. The last 20% – the sphere of fantasy – are created by
universal and historical stories and predestinated images of desire and submission.

Please mention the bibliographic information
when referring to this book:
History in Words and Images. Proceedings of the Conference on Historical
Representation held at the University of Turku, Finland, 26–28 September 2002.
Edited by Hannu Salmi. Turku: University of Turku, Department of History, 2005.
(available as an eBook at http://www.hum.utu.fi/historia/2002)