Living life one day at a time, many of us tend to forget the lessons history has to teach us about being egocentric in regards to culture and social mores. This said, back in 1999, a British television documentary series lasting 6 volumes was made to provide an overview of pornography as it has existed throughout the ages; quite a bold undertaking considering how broad the topic was (and remains). While it suffered from self imposed limitations similar to Rated X: A Journey Through Porn in how the scale and scope were so narrowly focused, I thought it was a provocative look at the topic so many people think came out of nowhere only recently. Here's a few observations based on the specifics of the episodes:

Episode 1, The Road To Ruin (directed by Kate Williams), focused largely on artifacts unearthed in the ruins of Pompeii, a city engulfed in volcanic ash nearly 2000 years ago. The benefit of such a volcanic tragedy is that it provides a snapshot of the life during the time of the event, preserving many aspects of day to day life that wouldn't otherwise be available to study outside of books. The secret here was how open and sexually free the citizens of the city were, proudly and publicly displaying their cravings, figures, and paintings in the open, most with graphic sexual representations. At the time, the modern concept of privacy was relatively unknown and this led to a whole range of behaviors in the public light that would be almost unthinkable for most of us today. The artifacts themselves were covered in great detail, as well as the founding of a museum in Britain to allow the high society, educated types to cordon off such findings in order to prevent social unrest was particularly interesting.

Episode 2, The Sacred and the Profane (directed by Chris Rodley), spoke largely of the technological advances in pornography via the invention of the printing press. Keeping in mind that relatively few people could afford to learn to read for much of history, and those in power saw fit to keep the masses under control this way, the printing press was viewed largely as a means to disseminate the teachings of the Bible by most. Well, human nature being what it is, sexuality crept in as did political satire, often in ways designed to avoid detection. As a means to spread the written word much faster and to a far larger audience, this introduced the concept of censorship to the equation.

Episode 3, The Mechanical Eye (directed by Dev Varma), was an offshoot of the last episode as technological advances in photography provided the opportunity to offer the realism of the medium to further advance the spread of pornography. After all, where do you think the phrase "I just look at the pictures" came from? The focus here was with the advent of specialized dealers in such pictures, and the laws they had to face as censorship grew in response to the public outcry to the morals of porn.

Episode 4, Twentieth Century Foxy (directed by Chris Rodley), was up next as it showed the transition form still photograph and magazines as discussed last time, into the moving picture format in the form of film. Focusing largely on a limited number of players in the field, it introduced some of the current crop of directors such as John Leslie and recent performers (in historical terms, a few decades is "recent") like Marilyn Chambers. There were cameos by Julian and directors such as Henri Pachard (under his real name) and Gerard Damiano, among others to describe the times fairly well.

Episode 5, Sex Lives on Videotape (directed by Fenton Bailey-also one of the series producers), spent a fair amount of time on the video revolution where film was replaced by the easier to use format that led to a far larger audience and pool of talent as home viewers now became participants more easily. The inclusion of Adam Glasser (aka: Seymore Butts) and John "Buttman" Stagliano helped bring more of an authentic ring to the episode than many of the others that seemed mired in a uniquely British viewpoint rather than the overview stated at the onset. The home video recorder/player was largely promoted by the ability to see porn in the privacy of your own home, just as a great many technological advances relied on things not typically discussed in mixed company.

Episode 6, Pornotopia (directed by Kate Williams), completed the cycle by delving into the internet as a means of delivering porn to the masses. There was a lot of discussion on virtual reality gear still far off in the future and I think this was one of the more lopsided episodes given the advances made since the show aired, but it did provide a fair oversight as to where porn on the net was going when the show was recorded (this would've been a great place for an update in fact).

Pornography: The Secret History of Civilisation provided a decent overview of the subject where it focused it's attention but I think it would've been a lot better had it spent some time looking beyond the limits set up at the beginning of the show. The use of Pompeii was largely to introduce the "secret museum" in Britain and show a series of sexual artifacts rather than spend enough time on whether the city was indicative of the times it existed in before the eruption of the volcano. Why not talk about other cities in the world back then, especially those in India, China, Japan, or other countries with extensive knowledge in the subject of the sexual arts? That would've helped place the memorabilia in perspective and allowed deeper knowledge of the material, although it would've cost more and taken up more time.

I also thought that the second segment could've tied more into the political aspects of the invention of the printing press since political satire and porn (be it the ribald classics of literature or the pictures focused on) have long gone hand in hand; offering lots of potential for why rebellions came about (tying it into the American Revolution from Britain as one example) as much as the way porn and politics have been so closely tied (for so many reasons). The importance placed on relatively few individuals (self important ones at that) in the later episodes slightly marred the otherwise interesting views of the ties between technological advances and their economic development with pornography seemed glossed over too. Still, the series was a nice step in the evolution of the discussion in public for the topic that has been an integral part of society yet held at arm's length for far too long. The overall theme of the show seemed to be that those in power (political, social, or otherwise) fought the advances of porn for others yet promoted it for their select groups as means of controlling the population while those seeking economic power fought along side the consumers who risked a great deal to see what they wanted to see. Like someone once said, "there is no fighting an idea whose time has come". That said, I thought the series was worth a rating of Recommended, despite the lack of extras and the limitations of the material, so if you have any interest in the subject besides a little personal quality time with yourself, check it out.

Picture: Pornography: The Secret History of Civilisation was presented in an anamorphic widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio color as advertised on the DVD case, not the full frame presentation the internet movie database suggested it was shot in. The official website for the production company did not state what it was shot in but I liked the way it looked, using clips, interviews, and a variety of sources to tell the story. Admittedly, there was a lot of grainy, blurred footage here, especially the older material that had been impacted by the ravages of time, but on average it looked very solid in most ways.

Sound: The audio was presented in 2.0 Dolby Digital English with a generic score but clear vocals and sound effects. Narration was handled by Marilyn Milgrom with music by David Sinclair and the audio was generally handled quite nicely. The feeling I got from the audio was that it was designed to convey the same message the visuals were more openly covering.

Extras: There were no extras.

Final Thoughts: Pornography: The Secret History of Civilisation was another documentary providing some insight into the world of pornography without a lot of judgment on the part of those creating it. Like Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy, it provided a center for each episode to tell a story in a manner that allowed for nudity (including full frontal male nudity) to be brought to a wider audience for examination. More than just a means to titillate though, the series as a whole had some decent technical qualities to offer and allowed the viewer to make up their own mind about the material (albeit without providing a counterpoint by those who oppose such sexual freedoms). If you're interested in the subject, feel free to read my article addressing the recent 2006 Adult Entertainment Exposition and the great many Photo's I took there, but consider that the series in discussion was a pretty informative step towards understanding the pornographer's viewpoint.