Are You Loyal To Your Marriage? Straight Talk About Monogamy Circa 1971

The early 1970s were a wonderful time to be a young handheld 16mm documentary filmmaker and this film was recorded in 1971. Many of us got work from various PBS programs and series that hired independents to create short form stories. This one where we asked people "on-the-street" about extramarital affairs and how they felt about them was quite provocative at the time and amazing to see on TV. I thought that the subject of Fidelity and extramarital affairs and monogamous relationships versus ones that are not could make for a wonderful series of documentaries on its own, but the folks in charge decided to just let it go and do no more like this after it aired. The subject is just as relevant today as it was back then. And the statistics haven't changed all that much although in the early 1970s, American divorce rates were at an all-time high. I have posted other clips from the outtakes of this film should you be interested in seeing more from this time – 1979. Part of what is surprising when you look at this is how honest people were. It is not that they were naïve. They knew they were being recorded. But the style we used back then to ask people to speak to us and the audience was one people accepted. They were less suspicious of what would happen if they said what they felt. I think today, if I went in the street and asked questions of fidelity, marriage, monogamy, sexual affairs, I would find people unwilling to speak about the subject unless they were pure and Lily White due to the power of social media to reach the people all around them.