HIV spread and the brutalising of women.

[DavidS]

You are right Denise. The problem is that it is difficult to judge how popular his films are. I rather think we may be in 'the king's new clothes' syndrome. Because the impresssion is given that Max Hardcore's and similar rubbish sells well, some people think that they are a 'must have' thing. However with figures unavailable, I think, for this stuff, a conclusion is difficult. There is little doubt in my mind that for the general well being of the adult film industry as a whole, we would be better off without.

[David Lever]

I like the fact that you made a connection between porn and art. I totally agree with you, I would say that most porn is the equivelant to one of those chintzy pictures you might see sold on a market stall. The "Chinese Lady" or "A Collection of Kittens". Whereas in the right hands porn can have drama,excitement, titilation and can encourage a whole list of other human emotions. Why is it the case that when a so called "artistic director" wishes to depict sex, it has to be in some way dark, or brutal, or set in a fetish scenario, with scenes subject to stroboscopic effects and everybody walks around in slow motion.
I made a show a few years ago, called "Teresa Scott Unleashed". She's a beautiful blonde, so normally you'd put her on a purple bed with satin sheets and a heart shaped bedstead, and have a pool of light streaming through venetian blinds..............which of course would be shit. I thought wouldn't it be fun to base her series in a car scrap yard. It looked great, beauty set against twisted metal, even got her welding, it looked bizarre without trying to be bizarre. I was pleased with the result, because it broke the norm and if we all started being more adventurous, I think, we wouldn't have to assume that if we make porn "harder", by definition it becomes "better".For example, simply changing the emphasis, and empowering a woman in a porn scene (doesn't mean making her a fat dom) can completely transform the result of a scene, and you haven't had to abuse, humiliate or brutalise anyone.

[mart]

I can't decide if some of the current posters here are being deliberately provocative or genuinely perverse. Either way, without being downright rude to them and getting blownout by the mods, let me just say I wouldn't want them as acquaintances let alone friends.

Mart

[cillaodain]

David: "I made a show a few years ago, called "Teresa Scott Unleashed". She's a beautiful blonde, so normally you'd put her on a purple bed with satin sheets and a heart shaped bedstead, and have a pool of light streaming through venetian blinds..............which of course would be shit. I thought wouldn't it be fun to base her series in a car scrap yard. It looked great, beauty set against twisted metal, even got her welding, it looked bizarre without trying to be bizarre."

Challenge the tired old cliches, that's good. It really impresses the directors with no vision of their own, and suddenly every scrap yard is a set (and a cheap one at that). We have a new tired old cliche. Time to move on. While we are on the subject of cliches, do people really think that mechanics get more sex than any other group, and do they always do it in their workshops?

David: "I think, we wouldn't have to assume that if we make porn "harder", by definition it becomes "better"."

Hear, hear. What happened to the erotic component? Where is the enjoyment of beauty, the flirting with the viewer, the tease? In a lot of porn you get the impression that the performers are challenging themselves and each other, and there is no great impression that they are actually enjoying sex. Get a grip of this idea: people do sex for enjoyment. Challenges might be part of that, but the target is to have an enjoyable experience.


David: "For example, simply changing the emphasis, and empowering a woman in a porn scene (doesn't mean making her a fat dom) can completely transform the result of a scene, and you haven't had to abuse, humiliate or brutalise anyone."

Empowering a woman? We can't have that! She's just meat, isn't she? Modern porn is about how men enjoy themselves.

I recently watched a scene where the woman was totally in control, and she made sure that she got a good enjoyable seeing-to. She really looked as if she was into it, and her orgasm seemed genuine (it might have been good acting, I know, but at least if it was acting it was good acting). The guy was fairly passive, but she played fair with him and pleasured him a lot. I bet he had a good time too. One-on-one, not too challenging on physical positions, lots of oral, no anal penetration. I had a good time watching it.

I want to find more porn like that.

[Pianaman]

I like Theresa Scott - she has a lot to say about her own views on porn on her site and seems a thoughtful person (as well as being very beautiful).

One of the most cleverest films I have watched artistically is a sequence involving the french porn star and director LouLou and Titof (dir by John Root) where LouLou plays "the man" and Titof "the woman". They move between gender roles fluidly in the movie - including at one point LouLou fucking Titof anally with a strap on. Makes you think about how rigid these conventions are - it's interesting that it's expected in mainstream porn that the women are "bisexual" (even if they're not in real life) but largely prohibited for the male performers (ironically except in real life where several may perform in gay and straight movies but the two are kept seperate). There have been a few movies that challenge this convention (the "Switch Hitters series" for example) but on the whole it seems producers are afraid to escape the"norms". I think directors like John do seem to take the artistic aspects more seriously but even then think there's a lot further to go. The mistake many producers make in the states especially is to confuse "artistic" porn with having high (read Hollywood) production values - what simplistic nonsense as if art and porn are two seperate things to be somehow fused to gether. Porn is the art, its the art of sexual expression (often through the distorting mirror of a culture that is afraid of sex and yet fascinated by it), its not some gloss you add later or impose by giving something a ludicrous plot.

[stripeysydney]

You're wrong on one point only,well maybe two or three points.first top marks go to hairstyles and if the blokes have a tache well;blue peter badge.
next the women all wore stockings and sussies no sportswear shite.the men always wore brown socks and matching underpants,and when they got down to shagging they kept their socks on! top men.A lot of the lasses were genuinally pretty with no silicone and did'nt look like they were out of Hollyoaks,and could act.

[Officer Dibble]

Yeah, Ill second that Syd. Any hair style in history has got to be better than the monumentally tedious, blonde, plastered down, or simply hacked off slappa cuts that have been prevalent for the past few years. They really do my head in. Likewise the fuckin' sportswear - are they taking the piss or what? And what about photographers, producers and mag publishers? Why are they serving it up to us? Are they taking the piss as well? What's a matter wiv 'em? Can't they see it's crap?

I also agree that those moustachioed medallion men, with the Tom Seleck chests, were they real heroes of porn. Top dudes one and all.


Officer D