Using Generic Characteristics of Exploitation Films to Make Social Commentary

The Toxic Avenger

Cinema is a vast body of work spanning more than a century. In that body of work are a wide variety of genres from many different filmmakers. In film history and theory classes we are taught about the messages, underlying themes, and social message filmmakers convey through their motion pictures, and the ways in which they use the elements of cinema to do so.

Generally we see examples from dramas, a handful of comedies, and documentaries which all fall with in different genres (hard-boiled detective dramas, gangster films, westerns etc.). We rarely are exposed to exploitation films in these courses however, because they are perceived as as nothing more than ''trash" cinema with little or no moral, social or intellectual merit, which exist only for monetary gain through exploiting sex, violence, and shock value. One such film, The Toxic Avenger uses the generic characteristics of exploitation films to make social commentary and raise awareness of social issues.

In the academic world of cinema studies, scholars, such as Jeffrey Sconce, study exploitation films under the larger heading of 'Paracinema'. 'Paracinema' covers a larger range than simply exploitation films, such as "...entries from such seemingly disparate genres as bad film, splatter punk, mondo films, sword-and-sandal epics, Elvis flicks, government hygiene films, Japanese monster movies, and beach party musicals (Sconce, 372)." It is an important area of study because it looks beyond the 'shock and awe' aspects of the genre and looks at the meaning within and the effect of such films on the viewer.