In a word, catharsis.

Many of the great movements in trash cinema have come about as the result of social upheaval and economic uncertainty.

HONG KONG'S GOLDEN AGE

For example, the Hong Kong's Golden Age from 1985 to 1995 was largely prompted by paranoia over the impending hand over of Hong Kong from Britain to China. People were worried about their continued economic prosperity and political freedom and that translated into a cinema of unbridled energy and transgression. People felt trapped and they needed catharsis.

ITALIAN DESPAIR

Another example is Italy in the early seventies. Just like America, a blossoming of humanism in the late 1960s had soured by the 1970s and society was in upheaval. There was a great deal of economic uncertainty and lawlessness and that was reflected in trash films of the period, such as the police, horror, and nunsploitation genres.

THE HEALING POWER OF TRASH CINEMA

What trash cinema gives us is a funhouse mirror of society, either our own or those of other cultures. Prestige pictures, while they purport to tell significant stories that claim to illuminate the human condition, often distort reality and bend the truth to flatter their audience (although this can be revealing in its own way). They also tend to blunt any sharp edges to avoid offending factions of the mass audience. The makers of trash cinema are so hell bent on entertaining, they forget to censor themselves, which paradoxically makes them a better reflection of the zeitgeist.

We live in a world of constant change, where we are constantly being asked to adjust our expectations downward. That is very uncomfortable, and there's nowhere to run or hide. In America, the average person used to own a home. Most young people will never achieve that dream. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, the middle class is disappearing and most people have to basically just sit there and take it. There's no one or nothing to fight. It's a feeling of profound powerlessness.

In trash cinema, everything is clear, and even if it isn't, the ambiguity is spelled out. People routinely take the law into their own hands or behave in the most antisocial ways. Our worst fears are played out, and we get to walk out of the theater or turn off the TV after the credits roll. We get to indulge in our most debauched fantasies, which we will hopefully never act on in real life.

Let's face it. Real life can be a real drag. Trash cinema allows us to laugh, to rage, to get kinky, to be prurient, with no bill to pay at the end. Because in life, when we make decisions based on our immediate and most pressing desires, there's almost always a price to pay. Sometimes we pay for the rest of our lives.

Life is often a prison of society's restrictions, our own self restraint, and on the rare occasions when we actually do what we want, the consequences or our rash actions and mistakes. Trash cinema is a get out of jail free card. For 90 minutes or so, we are free from the burden of being ourselves. What a precious gift!