Exploitation
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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The term exploitation has two distinct meanings, one which is neutral and another which is pejorative. The neutral usage is restricted to "the act of utilizing something for any purpose. In this case, exploit is a synonym for use: e.g. the author has the right to exploit his copyrights in the way he chooses." The pejorative usage is defined as "the act of utilizing something in an unjust, cruel or selfish manner for one's own advantage.
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Parent categories
- fiction - low culture
By medium
- exploitation (economics) - exploitation film - pulp fiction
Main themes
- sex - drugs - violence
By region
- American exploitation - British exploitation - European exploitation - French exploitation - German exploitation - Italian exploitation - Japanese exploitation
Related
blaxploitation, artsploitation, b-movie, cautionary tale, comics, cult films, "dime novels" and "penny dreadfuls", escapist fiction, erotic horror, fantasy, fantastique, giallo, gore, gothic, grindhouse, horror, mondo films, Nazi exploitation, nunsploitation, pornography, prostitution, pulp, sensationalism, sexploitation, shock, slasher, snuff film, trash, video nasty, violence, white slavery, women in prison, working class culture
Introduction
These pages deal with fiction. Fiction that deals with our most basic instincts, desires and fears: exploitation fiction or exploitative fiction. While the term was initally coined in the 1950s to describe 1930s and 1940s (the classical era of American exploitation film, see early exploitation), the practice of exploitative fiction is as old as fiction itself. From grub street hack writing to dime novels, from pulp ficton to paperbacks, from white slavery films to blaxploitation, from Grand Guignol to slasher films, you will find all of it on the pages that follow.
The term exploitation has positive and negative connotations but the term exploitative has almost always a negative connotation as is evidenced in this quote:
Opponents of the sex industry argue that it is exploitative (particularly of young women), that it is morally damaging to society, and that cheapens sex and encourages sexual objectification of women.
Sensationalism
Sensationalism is a manner of being extremely controversial, loud, attention-grabbing, or otherwise sensationalistic.
The term is commonly used in reference to the media. Critics of media bias of all political stripes often charge the media with engaging in sensationalism in their reporting and conduct. That is to say they charge that the media often chooses to report on shocking or attention-grabbing stories, rather than relevant or important ones.
Exploitation films
Exploitation cinema has three main themes: sex, drugs and violence. Erotic horror is a subgenre of exploitation/horror.
These movies - from 1930s cautionary tales about venereal diseases to 1970s porno chic — were initially shown by itinerant carnival people, later in so-called grindhouse theaters and drive-in theatres — until their death-by-video in the 1980s.
The academic interest in this genre of films began in the 1990s, where it is a subgenre of paracinema.
See main articles: early exploitation films and exploitation film [Feb 2006]
See also
