Editing Kenneth Anger (section)

=== 1947–1949: ''Fireworks'' and early career ===
Anger discovered his homosexuality at a time when [[LGBT rights in the United States|homosexual acts were illegal in the United States]], and he began associating with the underground gay scene. At some point in the mid-1940s, he was arrested by police in a "homosexual [[entrapment]]", after which he decided to move out of his parents' home, gaining his own apartment largely financed by his grandmother,<ref>{{harvnb|Landis|1995|pp=37–38}}</ref> and abandoning the name Anglemyer in favor of Anger.<ref>{{harvnb|Landis|1995|p=39}}</ref> He started attending the [[University of Southern California]] (USC), where he studied cinema, and also began experimenting with the use of mind-altering drugs like [[cannabis (drug)|cannabis]] and [[peyote]].<ref>{{harvnb|Landis|1995|p=38}}</ref> It was then that he decided to produce a film that would deal with his sexuality, just as other gay avant-garde filmmakers like [[Willard Maas]] were doing in that decade. The result was the short film ''[[Fireworks (1947 film)|Fireworks]]'', which was created in 1947 and exhibited publicly in 1948.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.artforum.com/print/201701/ara-osterweil-on-kenneth-anger-s-fireworks-1947-65390 | title=Ara Osterweil on Kenneth Anger's Fireworks (1947) | date=January 2017 }}</ref>

Upon ''Fireworks''<nowiki/>'s release, Anger was arrested on [[obscenity]] charges.<ref name="guardian.co.uk" /> He was acquitted after the case went to the [[Supreme Court of California]], which deemed the film art, not pornography.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hoberman |first=J. |author2=Jonathan Rosenbaum |year=1983 |title=Midnight Movies |location=New York |publisher=Harper & Row |isbn=0-06-090990-0 }}</ref> Twenty years old when he made ''Fireworks'', Anger claimed to have been 17, presumably to present himself as more of an ''enfant terrible''.<ref name="Lachman, Gary Page 10">{{harvnb|Lachman|p=10}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Ara Osterweil on Kenneth Anger's Fireworks (1947) |url=https://www.artforum.com/print/201701/ara-osterweil-on-kenneth-anger-s-fireworks-1947-65390 |access-date=March 16, 2022 |website=Artforum |date=January 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref> A [[homoerotic]] work lasting only 14 minutes, the film revolves around a young man (played by Anger) associating with various navy sailors, who eventually turn on him, stripping him naked, beating him to death, and ripping open his chest to find a compass inside. Several fireworks then explode, accompanied by a burning [[Christmas tree]]. The final shot shows the young man lying in bed next to another shirtless man. Of this film, Anger said in 1966: "This flick is all I have to say about being 17, the [[United States Navy]], American Christmas and the [[fourth of July]]."<ref>'Film Credits – Magick Lantern Cycle' in ''Anger: Magick Lantern Cycle'' DVD booklet. British Film Institute, p. 25.</ref> He continuously altered and adapted the film until 1980. It was distributed on [[VHS]] in 1986.<ref>{{harvnb|Landis|1995|p=40}}</ref>

One of the first people to buy a copy of ''Fireworks'' was the [[sexologist]] [[Alfred Kinsey]] of the [[Kinsey Institute|Institute for Sex Research]]. He and Anger struck up a friendship that lasted until Kinsey's death, during which time Anger aided Kinsey in his research. According to Anger's unofficial biographer Bill Landis, Kinsey became a "father figure" whom Anger "could both interact with and emulate."<ref>{{harvnb|Landis|1995|pp=83–87}}</ref> In 1949, Anger began work on the film ''Puce Women'', which unlike ''Fireworks'' was filmed in color. It starred Yvonne Marquis as a glamorous woman going about her daily life; Anger later said: "''Puce Women'' was my love affair with Hollywood ... with all the great goddesses of the silent screen. They were to be filmed in their homes; I was, in effect, filming ghosts."<ref>'Film Credits – Magick Lantern Cycle' in ''Anger: Magick Lantern Cycle'' DVD booklet. British Film Institute, p. 26.</ref> Due to lack of funding, only one scene was ever produced, eventually released under the title ''[[Puce Moment]]''. That same year, Anger directed ''The Love That Whirls'', a film based on [[Aztec]] human sacrifice; because of the nudity it contained, it was destroyed by technicians at the film lab who deemed it obscene.<ref>{{harvnb|Landis|1995|pp=52–55}}</ref>