Bitches, studs and hedonistic female pleasures: adapting the bonkbuster in 1970s British cinema
The third lecture in the five-part Bonkbusters series, curated by Jo Parsons.
This talk explores 1970s film adaptations of successful popular fiction ‘bonkbusters’ focusing on the film versions of Jackie Collins’ bonkbusters The Stud (1978) and The Bitch (1979). Starring Jackie’s sister Joan, the film versions were broadly dismissed as trashy, tasteless sexploitation, panned on release for their lack of plot and for the performances. But is there more to be discussed here? These late 1970s adaptations appeared to anticipate 1980s hedonism showcasing money, travel, opulence, decadence and excess. The sexuality being explored is both female and mature. In this fantasy world of money, clothes and opulence, men are either sugar daddy’s or sexual playthings, whilst central protagonist Fontaine Khaled (Joan Collins) emerges as a particular kind of protagonist; hedonistic, determined, self-absorbed and unashamedly sexual. In focusing on the pursuit of sexual pleasure of a mature female character, as well as showcasing her traditionally unattractive female characteristics such as ruthlessness and business acumen, these films are unusual and hint at a progressive agenda in which women set the agenda.
Biography
Sian Barber is a Reader in Film at Queen’s University Belfast. She has published widely on censorship, controversy, and cinema including Censoring the 1970s: The BBFC and the Decade that Taste Forgot (2011) and The British Film Industry in the 1970s: Capital Culture and Creativity (2013).
Joan and Jackie Collins: https://x.com/Joancollinsdbe/status/819631064431742976/photo/1
Image available under free use.
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SERIES OVERVIEW
Join us as we enter the glamourous and ruthless world of the Bonkbuster, a phenomenon in mid-late 20th century popular women’s writing, which showed us that sex and excess really does sell, and taught women they could come out on top in both bedroom and boardroom.
