The performance of “Deep Throat” in the theater in Vancouver draws backlash

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Vancouver’s Rio Theater is facing backlash for showing controversial 1972 film Deep Throat.

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Wednesday’s one-off screening is part of the film’s 50th anniversary celebrations and includes a panel discussion afterwards.

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But it has drawn outrage and criticism from people who say Rio shouldn’t celebrate a film depicting what the female lead, Linda Lovelace, had herself called rape.

“We want to provide a counter-statement to the fact that this is a celebration,” said Karla Gjini, a member of Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter who plans to protest outside the Commercial Drive Theater ahead of the screening.

Lovelace, whose real name was Linda Boreman, testified before a US Senate committee investigating the pornography industry: “Just about every time someone watches this movie, they see me being raped.”

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Her autobiography, Ordeal, also detailed the abuse she experienced behind the scenes of the film at the hands of her ex-husband, Chuck Traynor, who she says forced her to appear in porn films, including Deep Throat.

“Making it a celebration is not the message we want to send to women,” Gjini said.

Corinne Lea, owner of the Rio, is behind the screening despite receiving death threats and threats of violence, calling the film “historically significant”.

“It was the first porn film that focused on having a narrative, and it also focused on the woman gratifying her own sexual pleasure.”

Lovelace made many conflicting statements, Lea said, including saying that filming the film was a liberating and positive experience. Looking at all of Lovelace’s statements, “it’s not a black and white answer.”

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While there was no doubt that Lovelace was exploited and abused by Traynor, people who witnessed the shooting said there was no sexual violence involved in the making of the film and it appears there was no coercion, Lea said.

“I understand victims of trauma are sometimes delayed in responding, but it seems to me that the clear perpetrator of her abuse was her ex-husband.”

Despite the controversy surrounding the lead actor, the film is not Linda Lovelace’s show, she said. “This is a film that was significant in the history of sex and pornography in film and we are all adults and we should be able to look at controversial things and discuss them calmly.”

In a statement, Gerard Damiano Jr. and Christar Damiano, the children of filmmaker Gerard Damiano, said they were saddened to hear the Rio was criticized for its decision to host the screening.

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“Linda’s true life story is very complicated,” they said in a statement posted to social media. “The abuse she suffered in her private life at the hands of her husband before, during and after her involvement in the film is well documented and undisputed.

“Her perspective has evolved over time, as has she.”

They said that if Lovelace participated in the film against their will, they would not screen it.

Lea said she organized the moderated panel to have a “safe space” afterwards to discuss the film. The panel includes the Damianos, local sex work activists Velvet Steele and Susan Davis, and film studies expert Dr. Tom Waugh on.

Gjini said she didn’t know anyone on the jury who could provide a feminist or critical view of the film. But Lea said she hopes the panel can help provide context and stimulate discussion about the film.

“We’re very much against censorship, and I personally believe that being open about things does more good than bad.”

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