Known as one of the most infamous teen sex comedies ever, on rewatch Porky's turns out to be so much more than I remember from my adolescent days. Remarkably it is written and directed by A Christmas Story director Bob Clark who, within this irreverent sex romp, layers in an insightful and not-at-all subtle deconstruction of racism in 1950 Americana. Also the film surprisingly refuses to villainize sexually active women, instead centering them while playfully mocking the horny teen boys pursuing them. 40 years on and Porky's is surprisingly progressive compared to pretty much any film of the genre to come before or later.
The film isn't perfect for sure. There is fatphobia sprinkled through out which isn't forgivable. But the approach to the unrelenting male sexual drive is fierce. There are numerous scenes of men getting their comeuppance for being aggressive with women or not seeking consent, all stitched into the "tittilating" scenes designed around humour. The men are the butt of the jokes, no pun intended. The film is equal opportunity with its nudity, showing full frontal of women and men, more likely for laughs than for exploitation. Clark cleverly blends the ad advertised "peepshow" elements with his larger messages about what we'd now call toxic masculinity, institutionalized racism, and sex positivity. Before even mainstream films were exploring these topics, this subversive little sex comedy was taking them on, grabbing the bull by the preverbal horns.
And the film remains damn funny. There are some truly smart lines in this film, often rising above the toilet humour these sorts of films focus on, while also making some truly funny sex jokes. Yes the film is knowingly absurd but that feels like a device used to tell this story, a story which manages to entertain throughout, not just during the nude scenes. I mean there is no reason for a drain to be in a locker room shower in the place where it is for the film's most famous of scenes, but that doesn't matter. It's for the laughs, not even for the shock of seeing naked women in the shower, a blink and you'll miss it moment that is transformed into a scene of hilarity instead, as well as another opportunity for the film to come down on the men for peeking without consent.
As I said, the women of the film aren't shamed for being sexual. A number of the female characters embrace being sexually active and the film never makes us disrespect them for it. In fact when a couple of teachers are fired for having sex in the locker room, this is scene as an injustice, not as an appropriate consequence. In other ways of upending our expectations, the muscular jock most often played as the dumbass is presented here as a candidate for Princeton. Porky's continually refuses to fall into the stereotypes not only of the genre but of popular movies in general of the age.
And the film, sold on it promise of peek-a-boo nude scenes, ends up telling us a story about sexually positive teens shutting down the racist, sexual puritanism of their 1950 American town. This little piece of Americana actually shakes up the very notions we have of that and makes us laugh along the way.
Porky's
Starring: Dan Monahan, Kim Cattral, Nancy Parsons, Boyd Gains, Susan Clark, Alex Karras, Chuck Mitchell, Art Hindle
Director: Bob Clark
Writers: Roger Swaybill, Bob Clark
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