{"product_id":"man-of-taste-the-erotic-cinema-of-radley-metzger-9780231214056","title":"Man of Taste: The Erotic Cinema of Radley Metzger","description":"\u003cp\u003eRadley Metzger was one of the foremost directors of adult film in America, with credits including softcore titles like \u003ci\u003eThe Lickerish Quartet\u003c\/i\u003e and the hardcore classic \u003ci\u003eThe Opening of Misty Beethoven\u003c\/i\u003e. After getting his start making arthouse trailers for Janus Films, Metzger would go on to become among the most feted directors of the \"porno chic\" era of the 1970s, working under the pseudonym Henry Paris. In the process, he produced a body of work that exposed the porous boundaries separating art cinema from adult film, softcore from hardcore, and good taste from bad. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eRob King uses Metzger's work to explore what taste means and how it works, tracing the evolution of the adult film industry and the changing frontiers of cultural acceptability. \u003ci\u003eMan of Taste\u003c\/i\u003e spans Metzger's entire life: his early years in Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood, his attempt to bring arthouse aesthetics to adult film in the 1960s, his turn to pseudonymously directed hardcore movies in the 1970s, and his final years, which included making videos on homeopathic medicine. Metzger's career, King argues, sheds light on how the distinction between the erotic and the pornographic is drawn, and it offers an uncanny reflection of the ways American film culture transformed during these decades. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLavishly illustrated with rare photos and publicity images, this book paints a vivid picture of a filmmaker who channeled his artistic aspirations into some of the most disreputable movie genres of his day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRob King is a professor of film and media studies at Columbia University's School of the Arts. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eHokum! The Early Sound Slapstick Short and Depression-Era Mass Culture\u003c\/i\u003e (2017) and \u003ci\u003eThe Fun Factory: The Keystone Film Company and the Emergence of Mass Culture \u003c\/i\u003e(2009).\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51183066644754,"sku":"9780231214056","price":38.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_4d55442e-6555-45e0-8a4d-a8217827d14f.jpg?v=1744453778","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/man-of-taste-the-erotic-cinema-of-radley-metzger-9780231214056","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}