A few more thoughts on Bettie Page. Well, the movie. The ultimate charm of the character is her down to earth, girl next store, persona. Thus, you have someone doing nudity and bondage (the scenes from the bondage movie was almost cartoonish -- the fetish has a playful nature to it along with its power dynamic aspects) but she seems so innocent. Talk about a twist on the Madonna/whore motif. And, the movie has her nature being the same way: the reason she shined was a child-like simplicity and acceptance that nothing bad was going on.
This is seen by the easy acceptance of doing her first nude. And, Gretchen Mol's performance is great in large part because she is able to play the character is such a way. Such is why her photos on some level are so tame, not just the fact that they make sure to hide the full frontal shots for legal reasons. It underlines how sex and nudity is so twisted in this country -- the fact something is necessarily explicit does not mean something is obscene. This is so even if some people assume as much. Thus, on some core level the more obscene thing was that the workmanlike two schlubs whose career shooting bondage shots etc. was ruined.
Surely much more -- as noted, Tarzan movies were promoted via thinly clothed people in exotic areas, sometimes tied up. At one point, Bettie (while being photographed tied up, including with a ball gag) was considering if she should be ashamed. But, she decided that we all were given certain talents by God, and hers was to be good at being photographed ... in a certain way. And, after all, nice people like watching it -- she met one. Now, her boyfriend thought it twisted. This is how many see this sort of thing; but, it is a pretty twisted way of looking at things, isn't it? Of all the things to think disgusting, playacting being tied up or dressing up in heels and so forth should be really down there.
btw I recently saw The Upside of Anger again on DVD [along with Finding Neverland, picked them up from the library since both had audio commentary -- the first audio was good, the second, the director (quite good) was just too loud], and it is a very good film. An ensemble dramatic comedy about a mother (Joan Allen) of four girls* dealing with a husband leaving her while each of the characters around her (including Kevin Costner and the director) also have some little dramas along the way. Everyone does beautifully and it is both funny and dramatically real.
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* Well, young women ... though one is truly a "young adult" as in teenager (13-15). Cf. The use of "young woman" throughout this opinion, clearly attempting to paper over the differences between adult women and twelve to seventeen year olds. Good read though ... as is this one, which actually in various respects speaks for five justices. The discussion of familial privacy, which goes beyond this one area, is especially interesting.