Four Aspects of Freedom

On p. 168, Banes outlines four aspects of freedom advocated by Jonas Mekas in his writings on underground film in the Village Voice. What were those four aspects of freedom, and what obstacles did filmmakers face when attempting to pursue them?

1. Alternate Sexuality- This aspect of freedom can be easily seen in "Flaming Creatures," a film with rape, homosexuality and full frontal nudity. Many people attempting show the film where meet with contempt and some people were even arrested.

2. Low Budgets- Without the worry of money or the appeasement of financers, artists could have freedom of expression. Clearly making film on a small budget is an obstacle in and off itself. Also finding an audience for films with little to no budget is also difficult.

3. Women Directors- With the advent of women directors as prominent players in the underground film movement the traditional idea of masculine gaze in cinema could be altered to show a unique perspective. Women in the underground film world, were, like many other businesses not the prominent players and so it was difficult, even in a very liberal art world for the voices of women film makers to be heard.

4. Liberation of Cinematic Techniques - Simply put, the freedom of the artist is more important than the uses of traditional cinematic dogma. This is hard to do when the ideas of cinematic techniques are so ingrained in the minds of film makers and spectators.

Personally I can't help but note the irony that comes from advocating freedom by helping someone define freedom.