smudger wrote:
What I think is potentially dangerous is the stuff produced by some,- including you John! - which contains hard-core porn. That might be ammunition for the busybodies, far more so than the stuff which is just a more explicit and fetish-orientated version of what you might see in mainstream.
That is true. But, when we were doing non-hardcore as Ruemorgue, the same concerns were in effect. Why does introducing porn change things? And, compared to most, my company does very little actual porn. Mainstream porn companies have far more issues---well compared to us and our safety records, they have 100% of the issues. Because we are making movie, the artistic merit and safety is well over standard porn companies.
What people fail to realized sometimes is that what they are seeing on the screen is fake. For some reason, people seem to think the fake scenarios somehow reflect what the producers are like. It could not be farther from the truth. It's like thinking Any Belflar from True Blood series is actually like that when in real life he is a soft-spoken intellect.
When I start worrying about how people react to my fantasy videos in our own tiny community, then I need to serious question the freedoms we have to express our art in any way we can that does not harm anyone, but instead puts money right back into this struggling economy.
Currently, I am one of a few adult businesses in my area that is actually providing jobs. If we take any of the sexual content out, the pay will drop to 1/2 to 1/4th of current rates. The money will drop to significantly as to not be able to afford the studio space and there would be 2 staffers with families that would have to be let go. All this while 80 or so other companies in and outside this fetish thrive because they will continue to do what I have stopped doing for the sake of letting big brother censor and control us. Oh, and likely my home would be foreclosed on.
But, after 16 years, I cannot imagine why fantasy violence in any format won't continued to be targeted unless you are a mainstream company. If you have money and backers, the violence and sexual content becomes art and fodder for Sundance and IFC runs.
Ultimately, it comes down to your peers. If you can convince them to change what they are willing to purchase, then convince all my competitors to go that route as well, I will obviously have an incentive that does not require laying off employees are harming my family financially subsequently the emotional strain of not being able to pay debt.
And, just so you think I have not tried, over 50% of what I produce has NO REAL SEXUAL CONTENT. And I continue to produce it. If even this content was actually deemed illegal and our constitution was shredded, then I would have lots of non hardcore things to release, plus could re-edit many of my hardcore things, since the hardcore is usually only a small actual portion of the content. But, I suspect of that happened, it will only be the tip of the iceberg. WIth the religious right wanting all porn gone--and the definition of porn is quite broad, soon we will only be watching Barney re-runs or perhapes in the UK, Pipkins. :-)
JohnM