Flaming Creatures

27 Mar 2013-1 Jan 2000

Overview

Part of The Art of Pop Video Film Season. Nothing short of notorious, Flaming Creatures marked a significant moment in the history of postwar American film and culture. The film was banned and seized, caused cinemas to be shut down, and was the subject of an obscenity case that reached the US Supreme Court. And yet Flaming Creatures was, according to Smith, ultimately meant to be a comedy. On a rooftop above one of New York's oldest extant (now demolished) movie houses, characters disrupt gender and sexual norms as they act out carnal fantasies on a set resembling an Arabian harem. Part of the programme for The Art of Pop Video and Glam! The Performance of Style at Tate Liverpool. Celebrate The Art of Pop Video in the first exhibition of its kind in the UK. More than 100 video clips tell the story of the pop video, marking the medium's substantial contribution to popular culture.