Let’s Talk about S… : The Influence of Cinéma Vérité on Sex Education in French National Television around 1968

Abstract

Studying the French audiovisual mediascape the contribution asks when and how the issue of sexuality and sexual education surfaced on TV. As direct cinema micro-trottoire techniques met sex education they challenged classical talk shows. Thereby they reframed who could be a speaking subject in front of the TV camera. Contrasting official TV shows used in a systematic fashion as principal primary source the contribution moves on to look at school television and amateur videos, used as counterarchives. How did these multiple screens differ in informing or educating about sexuality? Their comparative and integrated analysis emphasizes how intimate, ordinary, and ‘real’ self-exhibition in intimate confessional scenes and unscripted street interviews became key portraits and tropes situated on the fence between exploring and exploiting.