Revolutionization of the EroticScreen: The Films of DorisWishman and Wakamatsu Koji

This chapter compares the work of Wishman and Wakamatsu Koji, examining Wishman’s Double Agent 73/Deadly Weapon (1973, 1974) in conjunction with Wakamatsu’s contemporary works Season of Terror (1969) and Ecstasy of Angels (1972) and tracing how their concept of “erotic” was cinematized to cater to the commercial, sexual and political desires of the time. Wishman, as one of the very few female filmmakers, suggested new possibilities in the representation of female agency within male dominated field of erotic cinema. Wakamatsu, largely known for his radical leftism demonstrated how politics could be voiced through the erotic conventions of Pink Film. Following, this chapter traces how Wishman and Wakamatsu came to represent rule breaking and progressive cinema.