Deep Throat is easily the most iconic porn film in history. It pretty much set the standard for pornography, but it’s iconic not just because it’s the first major porn film screened in theaters across the United States, but what it represented. It represented freedom of speech. It represented freedom of expression. It was the film that pushed the envelope of those things and is the true measure of the 1st Amendment. It also created the line of what was considered pornographic versus just having nudity in a film. But even more important, it became a true expression of art. Could pornography have a story and if there was a narrative, is it really pornography? That’s what director Gerard Damiano really created with this film. It’s true that we consider it pornography, but there’s a really romantic and heartwarming story within the film that at least at that time fantastic movie and showcases the very libertine ideals that the 1st Amendment was meant to protect. That’s why deep throat is a Cultural Zeitgeist because what came out of the counterculture of the ’60s in the 70s was that people pushed the boundaries of traditional American values through the freedom of expression.
We don’t look at Deep Throat as some great pornographic film. By today’s standards, it’s pretty goofy, but it is the pedestal that we measure what we can film and express in sex and stories, the porn industry wouldn’t be as mainstream today or be allowed if it weren’t for a film like Deep Throat pushing the boundaries of what the first amendment is meant to protect. So, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of this iconic porn film, we should remember what it really represents when it comes to freedom of expression in our society and the dangers of those who would seek to censor a piece of art like this film through obscenity laws. Just because it was made doesn’t mean we have to watch it, but the fact that we are allowed to make such things and have sexual expression through media that’s the true success of a film like this. Deep Throat is the ultimate symbol of freedom of expression and freedom of speech, the rights that the US. Constitution protects. That’s what we should celebrate 50 years later especially living in a country that has politicians who still seek to censor anything they personally deem inappropriate!
~ Marcus Blake
