Maybe I Should Be Riding the Shortbus?
I was reading Hunter James’s blog today and saw that he and his boyfriend Damon have been cast in John Cameron Mitchell’s new project Shortbus.
Mitchell was the creator and star of the of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which Mrs.C and I loved, and I’ve been hearing about this project on and off for a few years now. I can’t help but be both curious and hopeful about Mitchell’s promise to give us real sex in the context of a real movie. Commenting on his aims in Shortbus Mitchell says:
“The purpose of pornography is to arouse, whereas here the priority is the emotional life of the characters. Sex has been cheapened by porn. Why can’t we not focus on sex, as porn does, but make sex part of the film?”
The integration of graphic sex into a film with same ease as kissing or graphic violence is, in many people’s minds, the holy grail of sex on film – a film you could enjoy as pure cinematic entertainment, only with cunts and cocks and cum.
But the above quote has me wondering: Is placing priority on the emotional life of the characters antithetical to the audience’s own arousal? Does setting out to arouse the audience (and get them off if I can!) necessarily cheapen sex? I sure hope not, because if it does, I’ve really gone off in the wrong direction with my real life sex stories.
-T.C.
May 4th, 2005 at 1:58 am
Slightly off topic but I just had to say that the cover of Xana and Dax is great — beeeauuuutiful image, lovely choice!
Cheers,
Ell
May 4th, 2005 at 12:39 pm
I think some people really want nothing to do with reality in their porn. They do not want to consider the performers as complex people with emotional lives or sexual boundaries. They do not want to see condoms or even lube. I was speaking to one such person this weekend. It is disenheartening. It feels like there is some sort of disassociation going on there.
Personally, I think you can have an emphasis on emotions or other realities of sexuality and still make it hot. It need not be the main part of the final product, but when it is taken into consideration I think you can end up with a powerful result.
May 5th, 2005 at 10:48 pm
I think what you’re doing with your films is vastly different from mainstream porn and a much appreciated breath of fresh air.
Just watching the interactions of the couples in the previews and knowing that they have a connection to each other as people makes watching the sex that much much hotter.
Really looking forward to watching Xana and Dax
May 6th, 2005 at 10:22 pm
I appreciate the nods of support from all of you. Sex makes people doppy and self-delusional, and I do sometimes wonder if this isn’t all some elaborate charade so that I can see some pussy. It would be pretty silly to go through all of this when I could just drive to Jersey and go to a strip club.
Of course my wife wouldn’t do that with me, and she does help me make movies.
-T.C.