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NY Times Discusses The Future Of Porn...And We Respond
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offred
07/10/09

In reply to NY Times Discusses The Future Of Porn...And We Respond
I think Lux's remarks make a lot of sense. We've got both feature and plotless porn and frankly, it's extremely rare for us to be too excited about the scripts in any of the features. The Jonathan Morgan movies can be good for a guffaw, but their replay value is limited. A hardcore Jules Jordan scene that dispenses with the silliness can be considerably more satisfying in its own way.

It sounds like there is an audience for plot-driven movies, so it would be nice for a feature to be made that could actually stand on its own as a legitimate movie, without having the disclaimer "it's pretty good... for porn." Maybe if Soderburgh decides to redo "The Girlfriend experience" with hardcore scenes?
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PCBHo
07/09/09

In reply to NY Times Discusses The Future Of Porn...And We Respond
I like my porn with the pretense of intimacy. Features provide that unlike gonzos. One gets ZERO intimacy in these gonzo films, and that's exactly why I don't watch them. Hogtied.com provides much more intimate stuff to me even though the girls are being bound, gagged, and beaten until they turn all kinds of red. Just the simplicity of seeing the interactions outside of sex makes it for me. Maybe I'm just a girl stereotype, though.
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Tricked
07/11/09

@PCBHo: Not really a stereotype, because I basically feel the same way. That, and the plot-type film has characters (even if they're not exactly fleshed out), and I find that it gives the sex a bit more emotional context. I don't know - it just appeals to me... feeds the fantasy a bit, if you get me.
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hodayathink wants WWFRD back!
07/09/09

In reply to NY Times Discusses The Future Of Porn...And We Respond
Okay, now that I've actually read the article (yeah, I know), what's with throwing her name at the end? Why? I can't think of a single reason why it makes sense.
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Lux Alptraum
07/09/09

@hodayathink is running for president of Naughty America: The NY Times has a policy of always running people's legal names, which I think is completely retarded.
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hodayathink wants WWFRD back!
07/09/09

@Lux Alptraum: It is. It really, really, is.
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Tricked
07/09/09

In reply to NY Times Discusses The Future Of Porn...And We Respond
Another thing about "golden age" porn was the fact that many of the best performers could actually act, and had indeed trained for it (mainstream) before they went right instead of left (by intention or by need). Today, seemingly 99% of the performers couldn't act their way out of a box of Trojans, which makes many of the features today painful to watch. That being said... I've been inundated by the "gonzo" movies in the past decade, and I'd much rather watch a plot-orientated movie than the latest big-wet-ass-dirtpipe-worship gagfest (not that I don't indulge... I'm just saying what I'd rather be watching).
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hodayathink wants WWFRD back!
07/09/09

@Tricked: If I hadn't already hearted you, I would heart you again.
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Tricked
07/10/09

@hodayathink is running for president of Naughty...: Stop it - you'll make me blush.
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BadPipsewah
07/08/09

In reply to NY Times Discusses The Future Of Porn...And We Respond
The problem with porn as a storytelling medium is that the story has to stop frequently so that people can have sex. In this regard, porn movies are a lot like musical comedies, which interrupt the story so that people can sing and dance. But at least a musical number can also advance the plot a little; in porn, a sex scene almost never has that effect.
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Conrad
07/08/09

@BadPipsewah: They need to add something equivalent to snap fighting from Westside Story into porn with plot.
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SayeedaMalik
07/08/09

In reply to NY Times Discusses The Future Of Porn...And We Respond
The porn of today gets the job done but it is not entertaining at all!!
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Conrad
07/08/09

@SayeedaMalik: Some of it is entertaining for the wrong reasons. A lot of the plot porn is entertaining due to horrid acting.
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Conrad
07/08/09

In reply to NY Times Discusses The Future Of Porn...And We Respond
I'd say that porn with plot today is vastly different from the 70s. Porn with plot then had a storyline with 5-10 minute sex scenes. Porn with plot today has storyline with 20-40 minute sex scenes. Most 70s porn I've scene also seem to start with a girl being raped, and then becoming sexually aware, and lusting it at every turn. Ron Jeremy is in about 90% of them.
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Conrad
07/08/09

@Conrad: ignore my typos.
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hodayathink wants WWFRD back!
07/08/09

@Conrad: Basically, porn in the 70s was actually a movie with sex attached, and porn today is sex with a movie attached. Which definitely makes for a worse movie, but probably makes for better sex.
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Conrad
07/08/09

@hodayathink is running for president of Naughty America: Very true. It's interesting that Rape was the big thing for a while (some rape fantasies can be apealling, although in the 70s they looked mighty real), and now Gagging and Anal are where it's at.
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Lux Alptraum
07/08/09

@Conrad: I miss the 70s. And I wasn't even alive then!
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hodayathink wants WWFRD back!
07/08/09

@Lux Alptraum: You and me both, sister.
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piggythewonderdog
07/09/09

@Lux Alptraum: As an art historian, I'm interested in the medium of pornography its standards of beauty & sexuality and how that's changed in the last 30-40 years. We can look at porn in the 70s and see what was hot then (and there was no shortage of sex & free swinging), and we can look at porn nowadays and see what is hot now.

The author of the NYT article stresses the evolution (disappearance) of plot, and ties that phenomenon in with the evolution of technology (porn films like "Deep Throat" for cinemas, versus DVDs & VOD today). But also deeply tied to this evolution is the transformation of the porn actresses themselves, driven by the growth of the cosmetic technology industry (plastic surgery, laser hair removal, even skin bleaching of the anus).

All of this reinforces that porn is a business. It sells fantasy sex. There is a demand and there is a supply, and technology fuels the transformation in the market while redefining our cultural sensibilities as well.
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piggythewonderdog was starred

hodayathink wants WWFRD back!
07/08/09

In reply to NY Times Discusses The Future Of Porn...And We Respond
You may say I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one.
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