HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT: Barbarella

This week on Hit me with your best shot we look at a rather peculiar film - 1968's "Barbarella". This Jane Fonda vehicle is set in a very bizarre future universe, where the atmosphere is filled with constant sexual energy. From the slow striptease intro all the way to the end, the film never loses sight of this sexually suggestive tone. Combine this with outrageous sci-fi elements and you get a fascinating curio of 1960s culture. Although the film is set in the distant future, it's clearly informed by the hippie counterculture movement of the 1960s. It's all there - sexual freedom, female empowerment, psychedelic drug use and anti-war sentiments. Even the music is obviously representative of that era.
Ultimately, its B-movie sensibilities proved to be too much for me, but there were definitely some amusing parts. In particular, the sexual innuendo leads to many funny moments. After juggling through my various options, I eventually landed on a shot that indirectly relates to this eroticism.

Click below for my favourite shot...

My favourite shot from an early scene, following Jane Fonda's first sexual encounter in the film. She has just been re-introduced to the pleasures of traditional sex. In this alternate universe, human sexual practice has evolved to a strange process of energy transferal via outstretched arms. After being coerced by a beast-like man into the "outdated" type of sexual intercourse, she returns to her ship fully satisfied. She stops for a moment in front of an interesting mural on the door. This mural depicts a bygone era, where women were conservative and practiced sexual restraint. It's the antithesis of Fonda's Barbarella and I was intrigued by the visual juxtaposition of these 2 ideals.

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