Cultural distinctions, space and taste in the exhibition of Snuff at the National Theatre
What is it about?
This article considers the urban landscape of New York City’s theatre district in the 1970s and how its identity as a contested space provides insight into key cultural shifts, including changes to the regulation of media, variance and convergence between industrial practices in the film industry, and discursive struggles between culture and capital.
Why is it important?
Whereas histories of New York City's theatre district and its identity as a contested space in New York City during the 1960s and 1970s have, to date, been chiefly concerned with 42nd Street, this article seeks to highlight the value of alternate cinema histories within the wider disciplines of media and cultural studies when critiquing widely accepted versions of the past. Crucially, the case study of Snuff at the National Theatre on 44th Street and Broadway raises multiple questions regarding how Times Square during this period has been remembered, such as the cinemagoing landscape of New York, the timeline of gentrification in Midtown, and the ways in which critics aimed to contain 'low' media such as horror and pornography to prevent their spread from grind houses to prestigious milieus.