From early twentieth-century stag films to 1960s sexploitation pictures to the boom in 1970s “porno chic,” adult cinema’s vintage forms are now being reappraised by a new generation of historians, fans, preservationists, and home video entrepreneurs—all of whom depend on and help shape the archive of film history. But what is the present-day allure of these artifacts that have since become eroticized more for their “pastness” than the explicit acts they show? And what are the political implications of recovering these rare but still-visceral films from a less “enlightened,” pre-feminist past? Drawing on media industry analysis, archival theory, and interviews with adult video personnel, David Church argues that vintage pornography retains its retrospective fascination precisely because these culturally denigrated texts have been so poorly preserved on political and aesthetic grounds. Through these films’ ongoing moves from cultural emergence to concealment to rediscovery, the archive itself performs a “striptease,” permitting tangible contact with these corporeally stimulating forms at a moment when the overall physicality of media objects is undergoing rapid transformation. Disposable Passions explores the historiographic lessons that vintage pornography can teach us about which materials our society chooses to keep, and how a long-neglected genre is primed for serious rediscovery as more than mere autoerotic fodder.

A beautifully researched, deeply thought analysis that goes beyond the somewhat niche field of porn studies to offer larger claims about the eroticization of historicity itself. This is truly cultural studies at its finest, an endlessly inventive book bursting with sophisticated ideas while somehow even managing to be a fun read ... Disposable Passions is a necessary intervention and a sheer delight. * Sexualities *
A timely study ... Disposable Passions’ greatest strength is that it offers an incredibly supple framework for understanding not only our historical connection to erotic media but also our erotic connections to historic media ... It is, on all accounts, a highly stimulating and nimbly argued book that deserves the critical attention it is sure to garner. * Screening Sex *
As the study of pornographies continues to grow and develop it is especially good to see new approaches to vintage adult film. David Church’s book is a fascinating dissection of the appeal of vintage porn and what this can tell us about cult film, fandom, and porn archives. * Feona Attwood, Professor of Cultural Studies, Communication and Media at Middlesex University, UK, and author of Mainstreaming Sex (2009) and porn.com (2010) and founding co-editor of Porn Studies *
Disposable Passions is an absolute must read for every porn studies scholar. Church’s meticulous and accurate research dives deep, and fills a gaping hole in seX film history. * Annie Sprinkle, Ph.D., Porn Star turned Post Porn Artist *
This is one of the most unique approaches to porn studies that I've ever encountered, and surely a blueprint for how film history will have to evolve into the future. * Brandon Arroyo, Porno Cultures podcast *

David Church is a film historian specializing in genre studies, taste cultures, and histories of film exhibition and distribution. He is a Lecturer in Comparative Cultural Studies at Northern Arizona University, USA, and is the author of Grindhouse Nostalgia: Memory, Home Video, and Exploitation Film Fandom (2015).