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Exploitation is the name given to genre of films, extant since the earliest days of moviemaking, but popularized in the 1970s. Exploitation films typically sacrifice traditional notions of artistic merit for the sensational display of some topic about which the audience may be curious, or have some prurient interest.

Some of the earliest exploitation films were pitched as sensationalist exposés of some drug or sex-related scandal, and were made independently of the major Hollywood studios, thus avoiding restrictions of the Production Code and providing a revenue source for independent theaters. Now that the major motion picture studios allow much more latitude in subject matter, it is not necessary for independent producers to cater to audiences' desires to view such things. Thus, in modern cinema, roles have reversed somewhat, with major studios catering to the so-called "lowest common denominator", while art films are more typically made independently.

Subcategories of exploitation films include the following:

• Classic Exploitation films made in the 1930s and 1940s were sensationalist fare at the time, and are now valued by aficionados for their nostalgia and irony value. The most famous example of these is Reefer Madness.

• Black Exploitation, or "blaxploitation" films, are made with black actors, ostensibly for black audiences, and about stereotypically African American themes such as slum life, drugs, and prostitution. Examples from the 1970s, when Blaxploitation was introduced, include Shaft and Superfly.

• Sex Exploitation, or "sexploitation" films, are similar to soft-core pornography, in that the film serves largely as a vehicle for showing scenes involving nude women. Russ Meyer's Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is one example.

Directors associated with exploitation film include:

• William "One Shot" Beaudine
• Roger Corman
• Dwain Esper
• Jack Hill
• Herschell Gordon Lewis
• Russ Meyer
• Melvin Van Peebles
• John Waters
• Ed Wood
• Jim Wynorski

Other important figures in exploitation film:

• Kroger Babb
• David Friedman
• Dan Sonney
• Louis Sonney
• George Weiss

Film Genres influenced by exploitation film:

• Gangster film
• Horror film
• Slasher film
• Pornographic film