“And most of it goes on for way too long: real people don’t have sex that vigorous for that long unless they have real issues…” (Posted on blog by felagund)
I am interested, as stated previously, in recent pornographic trends or developments. Most specifically, my curiosity arises in relationship to those films that work to attribute sexual events an air of authenticity. Although this is the case for most pornographic films, aruably all, I find it to be most intense in the case of ”rape films” or “snuff films.” These films are quite chilling or sexually gratifying, depending your inclinations, because they highlight “deviant” activities that are both illegal and morally reprehensible.
What interests me most about these films is that it is by means of the authenticity, the degrees by which the films approach the barbaric act (rape or homocide), that they are effective. Here, the effectiveness can be measured in viewer gratification. The films exist and proliferate because some find them pleasurable. But it is here that there is an inherent complication. If one is interested in the authenticity of the film, which seems to be the case with most viewers, than isn’t one breaching the very moral/ethical standards that one refuses to denigrate in everyday life? That is, in theory, we pay taxes in order to protect our neighbors, our family, ourselves from crimes of this nature, and yet, we also take pleasure in films that we can never be quite sure whether a rape or homicide is actually occurring. Perhaps, ambiguity provides us a certain assurance, a certain pleasure.
It seems though, in any event, that there is a means by which one can effectively use the snuff film or rape film tactic. Perhaps, it is possible to attribute a work a similar authenticity; a productive authenticity. It seems that there is a means of producing a text that uses authenticity to propel an intended effect. Two questions arise. First, how does one attribute a text authenticity? Second, and more importantly, how does one design a text that will perpetuate an ambiguity about the authenticity? As I stated earlier, this ambiguity seems to be an essential characteristic.
