Pleasureland was a 2003 Channel 4 vibrant and provocative feature-length drama focusing on a group of teenagers in Liverpool who can’t wait to grow up. Written by Helen Blakeman, directed by Brian Percival and produced by the makers of the BB1 espionage series Spooks, Kudos. Based on the John Adams’s opera Pleasureland and filming on location in Liverpool as part of the Channel 4's Adult at 14 season in a step forward in depicting the reality of teenage lives. "Pleasureland," tackles the incendiary subject of underage sex from the perspective of a 14-year-old girl who would rather get laid or get drunk than study.
Contents |
A modern tale of teenage sex, Pleasureland is the story of Jo, a 14-year-old Scouser, who wakes up one day and decides she has to change her virgin status. In fact, she makes a promise to herself: 'I, Joanna Mosscroft, aged 14, year nine, almost year 10, promise me, Joanna Mosscroft, to have sex.' With that, she sets off on a rollercoaster journey of first-time-for-everything. A story of a girl who feels pressured by her peers to lose her virginity. Told primarily from Jo's point of view, follows her as she self-destructs, becoming involved in a world of sex, drugs and betrayal. Including graphic and sometimes violent underage sex scenes, the film portrays an occasionally exaggerated but nonetheless disturbing and thought-provoking view of teenage sexuality.
Channel 4 set out to examine whether the age of consent should be lowered to 14 in a series of programmes devoted to teenage sex, Adult at 14 season, Not surprisingly, the subject caused much controversy before it even hit the screens on November 16. The series of shows managed to touch on the reality of teenage life so accurately that it has been shown unofficially for educational purposes to 15-16 year old students.