From Porn to Mainstream

[gonzo]

On the Showtime reality series chronicling the making of the adult video Debbie Does Dallas... Again, the sloe-eyed porn actress Cassidey disparaged the ambitions of Debbie lead Stefani Morgan, whose entrée into porn had come via some relatively chaste appearances in Girls Gone Wild videos. "She thinks she's gonna get into mainstream through porn," Cassidey scoffed.

"Nobody ever gets into mainstream through porn."

Who knows just what personal bitterness Cassidey spoke from? After all, she herself was co-starring in Debbie after she had retired from, and then come back, to porn. Like Morgan (who recently retired from porn and described herself as "scarred for life" as she did so), she has looks that say "girl next door" rather than "smut queen." But while recent advances in sexual frankness onscreen seem to be constantly bringing porn and mainstream entertainment closer and closer together, crossing over remains an elusive dream for performers who come up through the world of adult. IS there a double standard? Given that the likes of Kerry Fox, Mark Rylance, and Chloë Sevigny, to name just a few well-regarded actors, have appeared in explicit unsimulated sex scenes and not been tagged with some sort of career stigma suggests there is. But it's a little more complicated than that.

Ironically, in the era of porno chic that began with 1972's Deep Throat, porn films were stocked with trained performers who weren't getting enough "legit" work. Mike Horner was an operatic tenor. Future director (he's the man behind the camera for Debbie Does Dallas... Again) Paul Thomas was in a touring company of Jesus Christ Superstar. Ron Jeremy, not yet round enough to be called "The Hedgehog," proudly received his SAG card after doing extra work in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (he didn't make the final cut). It was not unusual, on a New York City porn set, to see most of the performers doing the New York Times crossword puzzle on their lunch breaks. Once the industry made its move out to California for good, the ranks of porn performers began to be filled with individuals who, we should be frank, often did not have much talent extending beyond the ability to credibly participate in sex acts in front of a camera. While the culture has gotten to the point that porn people are more visible in mainstream media than ever (VH1 and Howard Stern have provided semi-regular outlets for the likes of, say, a Tera Patrick, while Showtime's done reality shows on both the aforementioned Debbie and the porn actor/producer known as Seymore Butts) this fact has only made a particular line of demarcation more definite.
The latest performer making a serious, or perhaps we should just say earnest, stab at post-porn mainstream fame is Jenna Jameson, possibly the world's most famous contemporary porn star. She retired from hardcore a couple of years back (not before caching a fair amount of footage for gradual release over time) and now stars in the horror satire Zombie Strippers,
costarring Robert Englund of Nightmare on Elm Street fame. Before further examining her case, let's look at some of the cautionary tales of sex stars trying to get some respect.

http://www.premiere.com/features/452...ll-it-off.html

[DragonKing]

All fucking bets are off !!

Wake up and stop being sheep. The world has become bored, desensitized and doesn't give a fuck anymore. It's slowly spiraling out of control and while everyone around us vomits all over us we go on day to day wanting more.

You see I'm awake mother fuckers! I see through your force feeding but guess what?! I ain't fucking having it. It has become a society were teachers fuck students, priests molest their young flock and movie stars and adulterers run our country.

It's a time were anyone can get a reality show. Everyone is fighting for their 15 minutes and with easy accessible venues now like YouTube and the like, just be fucking outrageous and we will eat it up. There is no mainstream anymore, just HArdcore with no penetration yet.

when two girls writhing and feeding each other their own human feces becomes the number one watched video and search term, that should be a red light people! Fucking disgusting human animals is what we all are except we have the ability of speech. The only thing that sets us apart from the pig or dog.

Take all your propaganda and shove it up your gerbil habitat asses! I ain't having it no more!

I came here to Kick Ass and Chew Bubble Gum ...
And I'm all Out Of Bubble Gum !!!!!!

CHRIST ALMIGHTY!!!!

[Mediaguy]

Originally Posted by DragonKing

All fucking bets are off !!

Wake up and stop being sheep. The world has become bored, desensitized and doesn't give a fuck anymore. It's slowly spiraling out of control and while everyone around us vomits all over us we go on day to day wanting more.

How is that piece springing that reaction out of you? lol

"The world" has access to a million-channel, global access universe of satellite and IP television, and since the main model is advertising based, they try to get more and more attention and be more sensationalistic, sure.

But like with anything the sensationalism will die down and the model probably change - niche and speciality based marketing is the inevitably result of this oversaturation, just like in porn or any domain. Porn will simply be abosrbed into the overall, and eventually lose its stigma.

Though never entirely. If the world were open-minded and sex-curious, sex-friendly, whatever, there wouldn't be much of a market.

Originally Posted by DragonKing

You see I'm awake mother fuckers! I see through your force feeding but guess what?! I ain't fucking having it. It has become a society were teachers fuck students, priests molest their young flock and movie stars and adulterers run our country.

How is this in any way "new"?

There's always been priests molesting or having relations with their "young flock", always been teachers having sex with students. In classical Greece, it was common, socially accepted behaviour and even considered separate from homosexuality.

We "hear" about it more nowadays thanks to media; also, the way we hear about it is completely different, with the media taking an outraged moralistic tone even when no abuse or forced submissive behaviour is involved.

Originally Posted by DragonKing

It's a time were anyone can get a reality show. Everyone is fighting for their 15 minutes and with easy accessible venues now like YouTube and the like, just be fucking outrageous and we will eat it up.

Yep. Sounds like you think that's bad. It's just human nature though.

Originally Posted by DragonKing

There is no mainstream anymore, just HArdcore with no penetration yet.

And yeah rather than porn/adult crossing over to mainstream being the case, it's probably the destruction of what's perceived as the normal, mainstream spectrum of entertainment and communication. That's probably what scares the moralizers the most - the known, established advertising and other revenue construct is going to meltdown... and they probably don't know if what's coming is going to work or not.

Originally Posted by DragonKing

when two girls writhing and feeding each other their own human feces becomes the number one watched video and search term, that should be a red light people! Fucking disgusting human animals is what we all are except we have the ability of speech. The only thing that sets us apart from the pig or dog.

Actually what set us apart is that we hide our poopoo and peepee from each other, and have developed a whole culture around attitudes, philosophies, religious morals and the like.

When a poopoo video comes out we're shocked and ultimately curious about something that we do ourselves every day (well, except the eating part).

I'm sure I'm not the only one who's resisted tempation of watching that thing. I don't plan to, unless I'm RickRolled into it lol. I've seen like it before and find it gross...

Originally Posted by DragonKing

Take all your propaganda and shove it up your gerbil habitat asses! I ain't having it no more!

I came here to Kick Ass and Chew Bubble Gum ...
And I'm all Out Of Bubble Gum !!!!!!

CHRIST ALMIGHTY!!!!

I don't read the propaganda in that piece... actually it's surprisingly unbiased in tone, and another sign of mainstream examining (thus approaching the two sides further) the world of adult and its people.

Porn talent doesn't seem to "make it" into the mainstream until they've either retired, ala Jenna or Ron Jeremy, or "escaped" from it and repudiated it (Tracy Lords and all the other scarred, terribly suffering victims of pornography lol).

my eighteen and a half cents

[Jace]

porn stars never become "mainstream"

porn stars simply make mainstream appearances

[DannyCox]

Originally Posted by Jace

porn stars never become "mainstream"

porn stars simply make mainstream appearances

[rhetorical]

A porn star will never be a mainstream star. Ever. Period.

[Rcourt64]

Originally Posted by rhetorical

A porn star will never be a mainstream star. Ever. Period.

So I'm guesing you'll never get a contract with Fruit of the Loom or Hanes then, huh? ...

[DragonKing]

this thread doesnt bother me today lol

[Mediaguy]

Originally Posted by DragonKing

this thread doesnt bother me today lol

Mouahah. Darn, had some spare time for sparring here...

[2MuchMark]

Originally Posted by Jace

porn stars never become "mainstream"

porn stars simply make mainstream appearances

Never say Never...!

Tracii Lords:

http://imdb.com/name/nm0000183/

[Jace]

Originally Posted by 2MuchMark

Never say Never...!

Tracii Lords:

http://imdb.com/name/nm0000183/

sorry, I don't' agree that appearing in mainstream television shows because of the publicity you received as a porn star

believe it or not, I have seen a LOT of those items on her list, and she either plays a porn star as her character or some sort of sex object

[EmporerEJ]

Originally Posted by Jace

sorry, I don't' agree that appearing in mainstream television shows because of the publicity you received as a porn star

believe it or not, I have seen a LOT of those items on her list, and she either plays a porn star as her character or some sort of sex object

She's a piece of shit.

[DannyCox]

Originally Posted by 2MuchMark

Never say Never...!

Tracii Lords:

http://imdb.com/name/nm0000183/

I still don't consider her mainstream. She's never been hired for her acting ability but just for the novelty factor.

[2MuchMark]

I dunno... even though her screentime in Blade was short, I thought her acting was solid. I was watching a "club chick / vampire", and not Tracii Lords.

[EmporerEJ]

Originally Posted by DannyCox

I still don't consider her mainstream. She's never been hired for her acting ability but just for the novelty factor.

I'm with you on this.

[Greg B]

Originally Posted by Jace

porn stars never become "mainstream"

porn stars simply make mainstream appearances

You mean like Pamela Anderson?

There are mainstream assholes who've done things far, far worse than porn. Actually compared to some people who've blown up entire countries on hearsay I'd say porn star looks peachy keen in comparison.

We're twisted fucking culture that chastizes sex but celebrates violence.

[rhetorical]

Originally Posted by Greg B

You mean like Pamela Anderson?

There are mainstream assholes who've done things far, far worse than porn. Actually compared to some people who've blown up entire countries on hearsay I'd say porn star looks peachy keen in comparison.

We're twisted fucking culture that chastizes sex but celebrates violence.

Sorry, Greg, but you are missing the most salient point. Pam Anderson went from mainstream to porn. You can do that. But ya just can't go the other way. I don't make the rules, but I do know this.

[rhetorical]

And puleeeeez. If we didn't chastise sex, we would all be out of business. Get your ducks in a row here.