A question I get a lot is: Why are you so against porn movies? Isn’t it just another form of entertainment? After all, the performers are merely acting… As someone who did both porn films, and main-stream movies - I can testify that they are not the same. For instance, as an actor, when taking on a part, you are pretending to be that other person. Oftentimes, this will transport the performer to places and times you could never imagine visiting; like becoming a Roman gladiator, a Medieval knight, or an astronaut. There are sets, costumes, and dialogue. The actor puts on a mask, and becomes someone else. A good director will create an environment in which another universe is created out of nothingness. Famously, when Victor Fleming took over as director of “The Wizard of Oz,” he completely reworked Judy Garland’s appearance and created a thoroughly believable Dorothy that the actress could comfortably take on. Through considerable talent, time, and effort - a work of art was created. Porn turns this realm of imagination upside down.
In pornography, the protection of the personae is gone. Instead of acting out the attributes and personality of an external figure, you are left solitarily naked in your own skin. In porn, plots are thread-bare to non-existent, sets usually consist of a single bed, and the only words spoken are ad-libbed jokes intermingled with feigned groans and screams. And, unlike a main-stream actor, there is no barrier between you and the part being played. For, the cameras do not fade to black once the action gets hot, but roll on and expose every single move under the glaring of lights and through nauseatingly explicit close-ups. But, currently, the problem is that the once gleaming firmament of Hollywood has continually crashed to earth and willingly slummed with the dregs of porn. One of the penultimate examples occurred when I was just a boy; almost literally in front of my eyes.
As a barely pubescent kid, my highest fantasies always involved sometime actress and Playboy staple Bo Derek. Before her, it was unusual for a prominent star to appeal regularly naked in films. In the 1960s, Jayne Mansfield, who was already considered a walking pair of boobs, lost what little was left of her career when she went topless on camera. Later on, in the early 70s, with the advent of porn-chic, the women of X-rated movies fulfilled the male desire for big-screen female flesh. But, Derek changed all of that. She made it acceptable; only, she could never become anything more than what she was: a centerfold come to life. Now, Oscar winners, namely Halle Berry, Charlize Theron, and Kate Winslet, have become famous and celebrated after appearing naked on film. Yet, these moments of movie history have little to do with the characters they purportedly played and more about their celebrity pop-culture status. Because, during those scenes, the art of acting escapes and perception rushes back onto itself. The most famous contemporary example is the numerous states of undress performed by current it-girl Amanda Seyfried in the bio-pic of Linda Lovelance. The nakedness in that odd movie was all about the youth and perky bosoms of Seyfried and nothing about the sad sagginess of the real Linda Lovelace. Somehow, the tables have turned and nakedness is now the surest route to fame and respectability. Because, to take off your top, means that you embrace the part and will do anything for art’s sake.
As a former hardcore player, I am mystified by this. Yet, it speaks to just how corrupted our society has become. Because, I remember the first time I took off my cloths in front of the all-seeing lens - that moment only arrived after years of pre-conditioning: spending countless hours, as an innocent child, looking at porn. Porn degrades the human participants and then degrades the innate sensibilities of the viewer. Especially in terms of female victims, porn strips the individual of their God-given dignity and reduces them to a shell. Even today’s A-list actresses have parlayed much of their eminence into body-fixation that, with the exception of Meryl Streep and a few others, resulted in very short shelf-lives. Even Marilyn Monroe, probably one of the greatest talents the screen will ever see, was washed up at age 36. For, by the time she figured out that her image had doomed her, it was too late: she had already ceased to be human in the public consciousness. As for the porn consumer, after repetitious viewing, they begin to see the world in terms of obscenity that is normalized. Only the bizarre will excite. The everyday becomes loathsome. The profane becomes sacred. In the end, everyone reemerges damaged and mentally unstable. Afterwards, society is severely affected, when we all pay the price of increased sexual violence, rampant diseases, and widespread psychotic public behavior.
As a former hardcore player, I am mystified by this. Yet, it speaks to just how corrupted our society has become. Because, I remember the first time I took off my cloths in front of the all-seeing lens - that moment only arrived after years of pre-conditioning: spending countless hours, as an innocent child, looking at porn. Porn degrades the human participants and then degrades the innate sensibilities of the viewer. Especially in terms of female victims, porn strips the individual of their God-given dignity and reduces them to a shell. Even today’s A-list actresses have parlayed much of their eminence into body-fixation that, with the exception of Meryl Streep and a few others, resulted in very short shelf-lives. Even Marilyn Monroe, probably one of the greatest talents the screen will ever see, was washed up at age 36. For, by the time she figured out that her image had doomed her, it was too late: she had already ceased to be human in the public consciousness. As for the porn consumer, after repetitious viewing, they begin to see the world in terms of obscenity that is normalized. Only the bizarre will excite. The everyday becomes loathsome. The profane becomes sacred. In the end, everyone reemerges damaged and mentally unstable. Afterwards, society is severely affected, when we all pay the price of increased sexual violence, rampant diseases, and widespread psychotic public behavior.