mondo cinema and beyond 1960s — 1980s
neither/nor introduction
the organiz ing principal of the Mondo documentary was simple: Scour the globe for scenes of the extreme, exotic, and disturbingly erotic, all beyond the general scope of experience of a middle-class midcentury audience, and bring back the haul to dump it at their feet. Te Mondo movie traveled to the four corners of the earth in search of forbidden experience and taboos to topple, exploring the multifold varieties of human life, and even the mystery of human death.
Often referred to in its past-prime period as a
“Shockumentary,” the Mondo movie is a feature- length documentary compiled of various vignettes,
either shot by the filmmakers or, particularly in latter days, comprised of acquired found footage. Tey tend to be thematically organized either around a general subject (death rites, magic rituals, etc.), or the part of the world they purport to represent, be it a city (London in the Raw, 1964; Mondo Hollywood, 1967), country (Sweden: Heaven and Hell, 1968; Tis Is America, 1977), or continent (Africa Addio, 1966; Shocking Asia, 1974). It is the cinematographic equivalent of a phenomenon that emerged in Renaissance Europe, the collection of rare and exotic items culled from around the world and variously known as a Wunderkammer or cabinet of curiosities—and, at least in its early years, the perspective
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