Crash and David Cronenberg (Erotic 90’s, Part 16)

One of the only high-profile NC-17 releases post- Showgirls , David Cronenberg’s Crash was the kind of dark adult art film that the rating was supposedly created to support. We’ll talk about how Crash fits into Cronenberg’s filmography, why it was controversial when it premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1996 and when it was released in the US in 1997, how it played into the UK general election of 1997, how it functioned as an early warning against charismatic billionaires, and how it embodied a post-Prozac and pre-Viagara moment. (00:00) Anti-Depressants and Sex in the 90s (15:35) Why Cronenberg Made Crash (25:52) Adaptation Changes Between the Novel and Film (39:15) What Is Crash About? (49:49) Crashing Cannes (56:36) Ted Turner and the V-Chip (01:02:40) Critical Reception and Box Office (01:11:31) An R-Rated Version for Home Video