OK, I finally did it. I finally got those vintage illustrations scanned and assembled. Except I discovered that, as I worked with them, I wanted to do a video presentation of them. Then, as I started working with some new software, I discovered that I wasn’t making a video presentation, but a short film. And I’ve posted the results here for you to enjoy.
Before you right click and save on the mpeg (a cleaner end-result than WMV could provide), beware: It’s a honking huge file. If you don’t have broadband, you’ll likely tie up your computer for hours. If I can make it more dial-up friendly, I will. (Give me time, though. I’ve lost a lot of free time due to the cold weather messing up school schedules and I don’t know squat about video compression. Hell, I don’t know squat about film making — I’m absolutely shocked the film came out as well as it did!)
About the book, Happy Tears: It’s a flagellation/discipline novel from the 1930s. Called a family idyll, all the whippings occur between family members, right down to wicked aunties and naughty boy cousins getting into the act. Bare bottom exposure is about as far as the sexual humiliation goes. Well, bare bottoms and ritualized admissions and apologies, that is. (Sometime I’ll narrate excerpts to show you what I mean.) There’s no other nudity and no sex whatsoever. It’s all about the discipline.
Today, we’d consider this type of novel incestuous, but I wonder if “family settings” were less threatening to readers because the taboo of non-marital sex was so much stronger in past eras. It could help explain why the familial format existed in the first place. Sure, its popularity in late 20th-century books suggests the nature of the taboo was changing — the sexual revolution rendered non-marital sex commonplace and perhaps pushed the familial setting into a more clearly taboo category. The degree to which incest became taboo grew in leaps and bounds. Compare this short film, for example, to those incest books of the late 20th-century to see those degrees in action. See what I mean? The former’s pretty quaint, ain’t it?
Although not a rare book, Happy Tears is uncommon. It’s not easy to find and if you can secure a copy for under $150.00, you’re doing pretty good. So if you’re ready to download A Vintage Vignette, do a right click and save as on the illustration. And enjoy!
