Warning: explicit sexual content in film and this review.
I applaud the documentary for acknowledging the many sides of this story, especially growing up as a New Yorker in the 80s with feminists on street corners railing against porn, but at its heart, Inside Deep Throat seems to be nostalgic for a time when porn was revolutionary, embracing of sexuality as a good thing and not a commodity except I kept thinking, “And how exactly did this movie do that? Didn’t this movie basically make sex an acceptable commodity by making porn somewhat mainstream?” I think that the movie tried to distinguish itself from the porn industry today as an ugly, money-making scheme, but again, just because you didn’t make money doesn’t mean you’re this pure, good-natured paen to sex; however, I am biased. I thought the movie did a great job of highlighting why some courts found it disturbing: by using the court transcripts to highlight shock that the film encouraged women to find pleasure in sex. With that said, many women then pointed out that it was a male fantasy that women’s sexual fantasy is to engage in oral sex. Most of the actual stars of the film suffered terribly after the film–another incidental argument against porn: very hard to find a happy retired porn star. As the movie progressed, I found the move difficult to follow, especially regarding discerning why a former theater owner was being heckled by his wife during the interview. I did find it interesting that all the laws that were used to try and stop the film still exist and would have liked a more comprehensive legal break-down instead of an anecdotal one regarding how those laws were used.