Tom of Finland: Daddy and the Muscle Academy

From DocuWiki

1 General Information
2 Cover
3 Information
4 Screenshots
5 Technical Specs
6 Links

[edit] General Information

Arts, Biography Documentary with no narration published by YLE in 1991 - English language

[edit] Cover

[edit] Information

Tom of Finland (born Touko Laaksonen) is one of the major icons of the gay world. His provocative erotic drawings have had an enormous influence on gay identity, attitude and self-understanding. Taking inspiration from his World War II army days, 1950s American bodybuilding magazines and biker movies, Tom's erotic drawings of uniformed and leather-clad beefcake have become a permanent fixture of 20th-century iconography. Completed shortly before his death in 1991, this definitive documentary of the man and the artist combines interviews with Tom himself, commentary from his "leather men," hundreds of original drawings and steamy fantasy scenes inspired by his work. The viewer is treated to vividly rendered portraits of male models, ranging from "Drummer Daddies to fellow artists". Tom's sketches and paintings are grouped by subject matter, with emphasis on various forms of fetishism. The film includes interviews with the artist's models, associates and intimates, not to mention a dramatized journey into "Tom's soul". The name Touko Laaksonen is not a household name. His pseudonym, on the other hand, Tom of Finland, is anything but obscure. If images of Nordic men with rippling muscles spring to mind when you hear that name, you know you have just entered Tom's exaggerated world of super men. Even if you are not familiar with his art, his influence on gay and mainstream culture is undeniable. Long before hyper masculine male sexuality was allowed to rear its head in public, Tom of Finland was among the first to present gay male sexuality as uncompromising, unapologetic and undeniably masculine. Literally cranking out drawings by the thousands to satisfy his growing audience, he was in much demand and frequently imitated. Ironically, distributors and others made far more money than Tom ever did from his earlier creations, a point well made in Daddy and the Muscle Academy: The Art and Times of Tom of Finland. This informative fast paced, and very erotic, biography captures little known facts about the Artist, as well as providing some intriguing insights into the man and his work. Influenced by propaganda art from World War II, and affairs with German soldiers, Laaksonen created drawings that captured a strong definite, Nordic type. " I took all of the properties that I myself did not have and put them into this comic figure," Tom states with an unassuming candor that shows the difference between the man, his fantasies and the type of men he idolized. If you think that Tom of Finland only found beauty in Blonde Finnish types, Laaksonen makes it very clear that African- American men also captured his attention, and become the subjects of his work. Before his death, which took place shortly after this documentary was filmed, Durk Dehner, a friend of the Artist, helped him form a corporation that later became the Tom of Finland Foundation dedicated to supporting and preserving the work of Laaksonen and other erotic artists. If you think of documentaries as just talking heads, this one is an interesting informative erotic journey through the work of an Artist whose efforts have had a far reaching influence on fine art, fashion and advertising. By its very nature, Daddy and the Muscle Academy can boast only limited audience appeal, though both gay and non-gay artists might appreciate Tom of Finland's painstakingly detailed technique. A Film by Ilppo Pohjola ; Produced by Filmitakomo Oy In Co-Production with YLE TV2 Documentary Project

[edit] Screenshots

[edit] Technical Specs

Video Codec: x264 CABAC High@L3.1
Video Bitrate: 1 775 kb/s
Video Resolution: 832 x 624
Video Aspect Ratio: 4:3
Frames Per Second: 25.000 fps
Audio Codec: AAC (LC)
Audio Bitrate: 256 kb/s VBR 48000 Hz
Audio Streams: 2
Audio Languages: english/finnish
RunTime Per Part: 55 min 8 s
Number Of Parts: 1
Part Size: 801 MB
Source: WEB-DL
Encoded by: DocFreak08