Orgasmatron
Encyclopedia
The orgasmatron is a fictional electromechanical device that appears in the 1973 movie
Sleeper
, which also shows the effects of a related device, an orgasmic orb. Similar devices have appeared in other fictional works. The term has also been applied to a non-fictional device capable of triggering an orgasm-like sensation using electrodes implanted at the lower spine.
Author Christopher Turner has suggested that the orgasmatron was a parody of Wilhelm Reich
's orgone
accumulator.
movie Sleeper
. It is a large cylinder big enough to contain one or two people. The orgasmatron was made by decorating an elevator in the home where the movie was filmed. Once entered, it contains some (otherwise undescribed) future technology that rapidly induces orgasm
s. This is required, as almost all people in the Sleeper universe are impotent or frigid, although males of Italian descent are considered the least impotent of all groups.
The main character Miles Monroe, played by Allen, is being hunted by the police as being subversive to security of the state, and attempts to hide in it, thinking it is a closet. He is discovered there, and easily captured in a daze, with a sheepish smile on his face.
Another, related device, an orb also appears in this movie. It is a silver-colored sphere about the size of a grapefruit
that contains some (otherwise undescribed) future technology. When the orb is touched by a human, it induces pleasurable sensations. In a scene where Miles impersonates a robot
ic servant, he is ordered by the hostess to pass the orb among the guests. Unlike the robot he is imitating, he is not immune to the effects of the orb. Much physical humor results from his reaction to firmly holding this device, which party participants only lightly caress.
Later on, they encounter a gay
male couple, one of whom offers Miles a "hit off the orb". Miles reports that he's "cool" and does not need to indulge. It appears the effect of the orb is more like social drinking
or drug use
, pleasurable rather than orgasmic.
—the description below refers to the film.)
The device has been invented by Dr. Durand-Durand, the evil antagonist in Barbarella
. Instead of being called an Orgasmatron, Durand-Durand refers to it as the Excessive Machine. It resembles a clamshell that once grasping the passenger's entire body below the neck, gently (at first) and pleasurably massages the passenger by flexing its upper half with a wave-like motion from right to left. The lid is made of long, rigid rod-like paddles that lie in a row, side by side. The paddles themselves each have one end at the bottom of the lid, near the joint of the Excessive Machine's "clamshell", and the other end moves freely. Because the paddles are not glued or welded together but instead move together, and because the paddles pivot around the "clamshell" joint and move parallel to the sagittal plane
, they can have this wave-like motion. It is operated from a keyboard
resembling that used to control a large organ
. By properly manipulating the keys the operator may induce great sexual pleasure in the victim, sufficient to cause death by orgasm
. In one of the final scenes of the movie the evil opponent is torturing Barbarella with the pleasures of this machine, during which she vocalises extensively ("oh", "ooh", "ahh", etc.). But in the end the machine overloads and is destroyed, while she survives, and feels rather well.
, a ribald
parody of the science fiction adventures of Flash Gordon
, the villain "Emperor Wang" directs a "sex ray" at Earth which causes the planet's inhabitants to become uncontrollably sexually aroused.
to provide pleasure to the other partner.
) is introduced to an orgasmatron-like device by Lt. Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock
) in the 1993 movie Demolition Man
. The device is in widespread use in the film's future world, since actual sex ("fluid exchange") has been deemed unsafe and become both illegal and socially taboo.
, the "Orgazmorator" was built in the form of an oversized water gun. It was operated by pointing it at a subject and firing. Apparently, it could even generate multiple successive orgasms in a man.
used in pain relief, the medical "orgasmatron" device has been judged effective by some recipients, but costs $3,000 and requires surgical insertion of electrodes near the spinal cord
. Invented by Dr. Stuart Meloy in Winston-Salem, the device employs a function generator
manufactured by Advanced Medical Electronics Corporation (AME Corp.). It has been described as being of great potential in treating sexual dysfunction in women. The device and its inventor were featured in the first episode of the seventh season of the Showtime show Penn & Teller: Bullshit!
1973 in film
The year 1973 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces his second wife, Barbara Blakely. Blakely would later marry actor/singer Frank Sinatra....
Sleeper
Sleeper (film)
Sleeper is a 1973 futuristic science fiction comedy film, written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman, and directed by Allen. The plot involves the adventures of the owner of a Greenwich Village, NY health food store played by Woody Allen who is cryogenically frozen in 1973 and defrosted 200...
, which also shows the effects of a related device, an orgasmic orb. Similar devices have appeared in other fictional works. The term has also been applied to a non-fictional device capable of triggering an orgasm-like sensation using electrodes implanted at the lower spine.
Author Christopher Turner has suggested that the orgasmatron was a parody of Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich
Wilhelm Reich was an Austrian-American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, known as one of the most radical figures in the history of psychiatry...
's orgone
Orgone
Orgone energy is a theory originally proposed in the 1930s by Wilhelm Reich. Reich, originally part of Sigmund Freud's Vienna circle, extrapolated the Freudian concept of libido first as a biophysical and later as a universal life force...
accumulator.
In Sleeper (1973)
The orgasmatron is a fictional device in the fictional future society of 2173 in the Woody AllenWoody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
movie Sleeper
Sleeper (film)
Sleeper is a 1973 futuristic science fiction comedy film, written by Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman, and directed by Allen. The plot involves the adventures of the owner of a Greenwich Village, NY health food store played by Woody Allen who is cryogenically frozen in 1973 and defrosted 200...
. It is a large cylinder big enough to contain one or two people. The orgasmatron was made by decorating an elevator in the home where the movie was filmed. Once entered, it contains some (otherwise undescribed) future technology that rapidly induces orgasm
Orgasm
Orgasm is the peak of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure...
s. This is required, as almost all people in the Sleeper universe are impotent or frigid, although males of Italian descent are considered the least impotent of all groups.
The main character Miles Monroe, played by Allen, is being hunted by the police as being subversive to security of the state, and attempts to hide in it, thinking it is a closet. He is discovered there, and easily captured in a daze, with a sheepish smile on his face.
Another, related device, an orb also appears in this movie. It is a silver-colored sphere about the size of a grapefruit
Grapefruit
The grapefruit , is a subtropical citrus tree known for its sour fruit, an 18th-century hybrid first bred in Barbados. When found, it was named the "forbidden fruit"; it has also been misidentified with the pomelo or shaddock , one of the parents of this hybrid, the other being sweet orange The...
that contains some (otherwise undescribed) future technology. When the orb is touched by a human, it induces pleasurable sensations. In a scene where Miles impersonates a robot
Robot
A robot is a mechanical or virtual intelligent agent that can perform tasks automatically or with guidance, typically by remote control. In practice a robot is usually an electro-mechanical machine that is guided by computer and electronic programming. Robots can be autonomous, semi-autonomous or...
ic servant, he is ordered by the hostess to pass the orb among the guests. Unlike the robot he is imitating, he is not immune to the effects of the orb. Much physical humor results from his reaction to firmly holding this device, which party participants only lightly caress.
Later on, they encounter a gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
male couple, one of whom offers Miles a "hit off the orb". Miles reports that he's "cool" and does not need to indulge. It appears the effect of the orb is more like social drinking
Alcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
or drug use
Drug use
Drug use may refer to any drug use; or:* Drug abuse* Drug addiction* Entheogenic drug use* Medication* Performance-enhancing drug use* Recreational drug use* Self medication...
, pleasurable rather than orgasmic.
In Barbarella (1964)
(Referred to in both the comic and 1968 filmBarbarella (film)
Barbarella is a 1968 Franco-Italian science fiction film based on Jean-Claude Forrest's French Barbarella comics. The film was directed by Roger Vadim and stars Jane Fonda, who was Vadim's wife at the time.-Plot:...
—the description below refers to the film.)
The device has been invented by Dr. Durand-Durand, the evil antagonist in Barbarella
Barbarella
Barbarella is a female given name, variant of Barbara. It may also refer to:* Barbarella by Jean-Claude Forest; the origin of the story** Barbarella , based on the comic book; starring Jane Fonda...
. Instead of being called an Orgasmatron, Durand-Durand refers to it as the Excessive Machine. It resembles a clamshell that once grasping the passenger's entire body below the neck, gently (at first) and pleasurably massages the passenger by flexing its upper half with a wave-like motion from right to left. The lid is made of long, rigid rod-like paddles that lie in a row, side by side. The paddles themselves each have one end at the bottom of the lid, near the joint of the Excessive Machine's "clamshell", and the other end moves freely. Because the paddles are not glued or welded together but instead move together, and because the paddles pivot around the "clamshell" joint and move parallel to the sagittal plane
Sagittal plane
Sagittal plane is a vertical plane which passes from front to rear dividing the body into right and left sections.-Variations:Examples include:...
, they can have this wave-like motion. It is operated from a keyboard
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
resembling that used to control a large organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
. By properly manipulating the keys the operator may induce great sexual pleasure in the victim, sufficient to cause death by orgasm
Orgasm
Orgasm is the peak of the plateau phase of the sexual response cycle, characterized by an intense sensation of pleasure...
. In one of the final scenes of the movie the evil opponent is torturing Barbarella with the pleasures of this machine, during which she vocalises extensively ("oh", "ooh", "ahh", etc.). But in the end the machine overloads and is destroyed, while she survives, and feels rather well.
In Flesh Gordon (1974)
In the 1974 film Flesh GordonFlesh Gordon
Flesh Gordon is a 1974 American science fiction adventure comedy film. It is an erotic spoof of the Flash Gordon serial films from the 1930s. The screenplay was written by Michael Benveniste, who also co-directed the film with Howard Ziehm...
, a ribald
Ribaldry
Ribaldry is humorous entertainment that ranges from bordering on indelicacy to gross indecency. It is also referred to as "bawdiness", "gaminess" or "bawdry"....
parody of the science fiction adventures of Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
, the villain "Emperor Wang" directs a "sex ray" at Earth which causes the planet's inhabitants to become uncontrollably sexually aroused.
In Coneheads (1993)
"Sensor Rings" were use in the movie ConeheadsConeheads
The Coneheads is a sketch on Saturday Night Live which originated on the January 15, 1977 episode, and starred Dan Aykroyd as father Beldar, Jane Curtin as mother Prymaat, and Laraine Newman as daughter Connie.-Summary:...
to provide pleasure to the other partner.
In Demolition Man (1993)
John Spartan (played by Sylvester StalloneSylvester Stallone
Michael Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone , commonly known as Sylvester Stallone, and nicknamed Sly Stallone, is an American actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, film director and occasional painter. Stallone is known for his machismo and Hollywood action roles. Two of the notable characters he has portrayed...
) is introduced to an orgasmatron-like device by Lt. Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock
Sandra Bullock
Sandra Annette Bullock is an Academy Award winning American actress and producer who rose to fame in the 1990s after roles in successful films such as Demolition Man, Speed, The Net, A Time to Kill, and While You Were Sleeping. She continued with films such as Miss Congeniality, The Lake House,...
) in the 1993 movie Demolition Man
Demolition Man (film)
Demolition Man is a 1993 American, science fiction action film directed by Marco Brambilla, and starring Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes. Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne, and Denis Leary co-star....
. The device is in widespread use in the film's future world, since actual sex ("fluid exchange") has been deemed unsafe and become both illegal and socially taboo.
In Orgazmo (1997)
In OrgazmoOrgazmo
Orgazmo is a 1997 comedy film written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the animated series South Park, and directed by Parker.-Plot:...
, the "Orgazmorator" was built in the form of an oversized water gun. It was operated by pointing it at a subject and firing. Apparently, it could even generate multiple successive orgasms in a man.
Surgically implanted devices
Discovered serendipitously as a potential side effect of a spinal cord stimulatorSpinal Cord Stimulator
A spinal cord stimulator is a device used to exert pulsed electrical signals to the spinal cord to control chronic pain. Spinal cord stimulation , in the simplest form, consists of stimulating electrodes, implanted in the epidural space, an electrical pulse generator, implanted in the lower...
used in pain relief, the medical "orgasmatron" device has been judged effective by some recipients, but costs $3,000 and requires surgical insertion of electrodes near the spinal cord
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...
. Invented by Dr. Stuart Meloy in Winston-Salem, the device employs a function generator
Function generator
A function generator is a piece of electronic test equipment or software used to generate different types of electrical waveforms over a wide range of frequencies. These waveforms can be either repetitive or single-shot, in which case some kind of triggering source is required...
manufactured by Advanced Medical Electronics Corporation (AME Corp.). It has been described as being of great potential in treating sexual dysfunction in women. The device and its inventor were featured in the first episode of the seventh season of the Showtime show Penn & Teller: Bullshit!