Community | November 07, 2008 | 11 comments

Porn stars are the new crossover artists

source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-et-porn3-2008nov03,0,779676.story

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DeliaTheArtist
"Once largely shunned as pariahs by the entertainment industry, porn stars are turning up with increasing regularity on shopping-mall movie screens and in prime-time television shows, underscoring pornography's steady migration over the last three decades from the pop-culture margins to the mainstream.

The recent inroads made by porn into Hollywood are only one aspect of porn's broader effect on popular culture imagery, language, style and sensibility. Music videos teem with kama sutra-esque boasting and "is-it-real-or-isn't-it?" displays of bumping and grinding. Video games containing explicit sex scenes have been slapped with lawsuits and other restrictions to prevent them from falling into the hands of joystick-gripping adolescents.

Top adult performers such as Jenna Jameson have become household names, their pulchritudinous likenesses adorning everything from bestselling books to ski boards to bobble head dolls, and a new “rock opera” about the late “Deep Throat” star Linda Lovelace is currently playing at L.A.'s Hayworth Theatre.

Fashion also is taking more aesthetic cues from porn, including the growing popularity of genital piercing and shaving, which was popularized by adult film actors. In May, Fox News' resident "sexpert," Yvonne K. Fulbright, made a reference to adult film while taking up the topic of genital grooming. "It's no longer simply a style concern for porn stars," she counseled, "it seems that everyone now -- guy or gal -- is giving at least some thought to pubic hair care."

Asked why adult stars have become more acceptable in Hollywood, Soderbergh cited the proliferation of Internet porn and the attitudinal sea change signified by the infamous bootleg video showing socialite Paris Hilton having sex with a paramour. In years past, such a tape likely would've destroyed reputations. Instead, it boosted Hilton's paparazzi profile.

"That changed everything," Soderbergh says. "Or it didn't change everything; it confirmed that everything had changed."

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11 comments // Porn stars are the new crossover artists

  • J_Jammer
    • 0
      J_Jammer [removed]  

    • In a world where things that are degrading can make you better....is a world that is so ripe with greatness and sarcasm.

      The porn people aren't making money. They gotta move on.

    • 3 years ago
  • neckfire
  • karrer
  • ClareW
    • 0
      ClareW  

    • The fact that porn stars are crossing over into the mainstream more and more is so symbolic of our increasingly sexualized culture.

    • 3 years ago
  • tokomoe
  • karrer
  • dirtyemowords
  • InformedTexan
  • justright
    • 0
      justright  

    • Everyone has sex, they just do it so others can watch. Their new popularity is probably due to the reality show effect. It also doesn't hurt that the porn industry makes more money online than almost all other businesses combined. I'm sure they have great PR departments.

    • 3 years ago
  • VegaNerDiva
    • 0
      VegaNerDiva  

    • People like to look at pretty/handsom people naked or not.
      Wasn't Tera Patrick the only woman ever to appear on the covers of Playboy & Penthouse simultaneously? Didn't she just do a video game advert?
      My point being that if folks wanna see you without your clothes then I'm sure the percentage of society that doesn't watch porn will like to look at them covered up.

      The director interviewed in the story referred to Sasha Grey as "fearless", I'm sure many porn stars have a boldness that others do not. I mean if they are willing to be nude on camera etc then that would give a lot of artistic freedom to a director that some of the actors they are use to working mite not let them express.

      It goes both ways I mean Brad Pitt was in Playgirl.

    • 3 years ago
  • Swiyyah
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