Looking for the naughty bits

The intimate relationship between sex and death carried to the extremes of excess as only the Russian characters seems uniquely equipped to articulate. The secret erotic room of Catherine the Great as urban legend or in fact proof of decadence and perversion justifying the fall of the Imperial order? The Roman ruins at Vesuvius when unearthed from the volcanic ash also showed the remnants of a racy lifestyle and a moral lassitude that would contradict our modern conventions of morality. And the plays of Aristophanes also showed the erotic flourish combined with a generous dose of kitsch.

Perversion and art have been almost intrinsically bound since day one, and right down to the present time in both attitude and form. After all, much of modern art relies on perversion to make its dramatic point. But, when “objets” of fetish and the kinky are found to have belonged to the Empress of Russia, Catherine The Great, or strongly rumored to be holed up in the Vatican, it does make one think, of the expression, “where there is smoke, there is fire.”

The photographs and evidence in the hands of documentary film maker Peter Woditsch were explicit and hard core with respect to Western convention, though Russia, caught in an east-west crossfire may have created a porno culture in the spirit of best of both worlds. When the German forces retreated after the siege of Leningrad, the Catherine Palace was almost destroyed, and this erotic room of merchandise was allegedly photographed, documented and the goods bundled off for safekeeping. One of the most interesting part of the story is where the investigators found the goods? Well, there is another expression, “all roads lead to Rome.” Although the Vatican did a plausible job in repudiating the researchers, one can say Woditsch and his team were knocking on heaven’s door.

…The filmmaker next travels to Rome to see how religious authorities have dealt with sexual material. There is a long-held belief that the Vatican library contains a vast number of erotic texts–materials that were confiscated by church authorities and placed on a list of forbidden books. Although Woditsch interviews several individuals who recall seeing sexually explicit art objects in the Vatican storage rooms, no one confirms the existence of a huge erotic library. The filmmaker does not interview anyone currently on the Vatican staff, so the truth about the Catholic Church owning the world’s largest collection of erotica remains unsubstantiated. Read More:http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2372/is_1_48/ai_n56989970/

Part of the film’s success is probably based on Freud’s axiom on the temptation to pursue or fantasize about perverse, forbidden sexual acts. And that these perverse impulses tend to be addictive. The heavy narcissism aside, some of Woditsch’s work appeals by reflecting the need of many individuals in society to refrain from recognizing their own perverse-like inclinations by providing scapepgoats as proxies for unacceptable projections.

ADDENDUM:

Filmmaker Peter Woditsch had been told about these rooms by his father, who saw photographs taken by German soldiers at the palace in 1941: chairs, sofas, paintings, tables, carpets and chandeliers, all with graphic sexual motifs. During the war, it all disappeared – and the present palace curator insists the erotic haven never existed….

owever, Woditsch’s tireless detective work gradually unearths the needed evidence.

Although you wonder how anyone could have relaxed in a room with some of the items we’re shown, you’ll chuckle over the reminiscences of two former German soldiers. They’re still wide-eyed about what they saw, 60 years later.Read More:http://www.smh.com.au/news/tv-reviews/the-lost-secret-of-catherine-the-great/2006/01/30/1138590430756.html

…Catherine the Great was always going to attract rumours about her sex life. her voracious sexual appetite, while modest by contemporary standards (it’s said that she preferred the company of soldiers and had them medically tested to make sure they were free of disease), was grist to the rumor mill. Historians believe the horse myth originated in France, among the French upper classes, soon after Catherine’s death as a way to ruin her legend.Read More:http://www.perfectraveller.com/article.asp?aid=94

…The program contains historical war-time footage, non-erotic drawings of Catherine the Great, contemporary footage of Russian palaces and interviews, interspersed with footage of erotic drawings and photographs of erotic furniture and carvings believed to be similar to the works collected by the Tsarina.

The program contains images of at least 24 erotic drawings and photographs, including of nudity in a sexual context, and implied cunnilingus, bestiality, vaginal penetration and digital penetration. These images are spread consistently throughout the program and drawings and photographs are repeated in at least five instances.

The program also includes shots of two drawings of implied bestiality which are shown consecutively as the narrator refers to a rumour that the Tsarina was once harnessed at her direction underneath a stallion, thereby implying an act of bestiality. Read More:http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/_assets/main/lib100638/report%201685%20-%20abc%20tv%20-%df