Gonzo pornography

Gonzo pornography is a style of pornographic film that attempts to place the viewer directly into the scene. John Stagliano is considered to have started the gonzo pornography genre with his Buttman series of films.

The name is a reference to gonzo journalism, in which the reporter is part of the event taking place. By comparison, gonzo pornography puts the camera right into the action—often with one or more of the participants both filming and performing sexual acts — without the usual separation between camera and performers seen in conventional porn and cinema.

Gonzo porn is influenced by amateur pornography and tends to use far fewer full-body/wide shots, and more close-ups (see reality pornography). The loose and direct camera work often includes tight shots of the genitalia, unlike some traditional porn.

Differences between gonzo pornography and conventional pornography

Gonzo films are one of two broad types of contemporary pornographic film; and can be contrasted with the other type, the "feature" film. Gonzo films tend to focus far less on the plots, dialogue, acting, characterization, elaborate costumes and sets, and artistic camerawork commonly found in conventional pornographic films. According to an unnamed executive at a studio specializing in feature films, "We don't just show you people fucking; we show you why they're fucking." Features are often aimed at the couples market, whereas gonzo pornography is less likely to be. Gonzo is always classified as hardcore pornography, whereas some features could be classed as softcore pornography, especially if they are released in softer edited versions for distribution to hotel pay-per-view services.

Some gonzo directors like John Stagliano argue that there is a story being told, and that it is a mistake to assume that gonzo pornography inherently lacks a plot. Due to the explosive growth in its popularity since the mid-1990s, gonzo porn has attained mainstream popularity, lowering the cost of entry into the market for producers, and making it easier for amateur performers to become famous. Several individually distinct styles of no-frills, filmed pornography can be labeled gonzo porn. Today, several companies produce gonzo that has excellent lighting and sound quality and (temporary) lingerie costuming. One trait that all gonzo films share, though, is a much greater emphasis on intense (almost hyperactive) sexual performance, and modern gonzo is evolving to include more hardcore sex acts than either traditional or amateur pornography. Regardless of camera techniques or the degree of director involvement in the scenes, a gonzo film has "more sex", per se, than a traditional (e.g. Vivid or Adam&Eve) adult video^{[citation needed]}. Gonzo scenes tend to run longer; it is common for a single boy-girl scene to run anywhere from fifteen to thirty minutes.

Similarities between gonzo pornography and point-of-view pornography

POV pornography; the cameraman (left) films the sexual act, which results in a point of view shot (background).

Point of view pornography (POV) is adult entertainment filmed to look as if the watcher were experiencing the sex act themselves. In POV porn, the shooting style is generally similar to gonzo pornography. The person receiving sexual gratification holds the camera him- or herself and aims it down at the actress or actor who is pleasuring him or herself. This is in contrast to having a separate camera crew filming the action. The effect is to give the viewer the sense that they are experiencing the sexual acts they are watching, as opposed to simply watching others as a voyeur. Some POV/gonzo porn sometimes breaks the strict point-of-view convention; for instance Amateur Allure has a trademark shot where the sexually performing cameraman circles a handycam around the sexually performing model's head, yielding a view that would not be obtainable directly through the eyes of a person while experiencing the sex act. There is however no third party camera work involved.

Women in gonzo pornography and POV pornography

It has been said that gonzo porn, compared with pornographic features, is especially hard - physically and mentally - for the women involved in the films. Robert Jensen, a professor at The University of Texas at Austin, said of gonzo porn, "Pornography has always presented women as objectified bodies for male sexual pleasure, but each year pornography does that with more overt cruelty toward women.

One of the concerns with Gonzo pornography is the degradation of women. As pornographers make more pornographic films, the audience becomes bored with the same situations and types of sex. Gonzo producers often remedy this by making more extreme films involving different types of double-penetration, gang-bangs, and extreme sexual situations.

POV pornography in Japan

In Japan, point of view pornography is referred to as hamedori (ハメ撮り). It is a genre of Japanese pornography in which a male adult video (AV) actor/director serves as the camera operator. Hamedori-type videos were produced from the beginnings of Japanese AV in the early 1980s. The term hamedori came into use about 1988–1989 but was only a small niche area until it was popularized at V&R Planning by director Company Matsuo.

Matsuo starting working in the genre in 1991 saying that this intimate technique was a natural way for him to shoot in order to show his feelings for the girl and to "get her to open up about herself, to show her true emotions". Matsuo used amateur actresses in his videos and he usually traveled to their hometowns for the filming. He talks to them extensively on camera so that he and the viewer can come to know them before any sex scenes. A large part of the popularity of these videos is seeing how regular and normal are the girls who appear in them. As amateurs in a single segment of a multi-part video, the actresses are typically paid only about 50,000 yen (about US$500).

According to the Japanese magazine SPA!, about one-third of Japanese women say they do not mind being filmed while having sex as long as it is with a camera phone, with the women saying that it can increase sexual stimulation. Most of the footage is dumped but some keep them to enjoy as personal sex home movies or to study them to improve their sexual technique.

Porn star Mika Tan commented in 2008 that the average gonzo DVD costs US$16,000 to produce.

Awards

X-Rated Critics Organization has had a 'Best POV Production' award since 2005 in their annual XRCO awards. This award has been given to:

• 2005 Pov Pervert 5 (Red Light District)
• 2006 Jack's Pov 5 (Digital Playground)
• 2007 inTERActive (Teravision/Hustler Video)
• 2008 Tunnel Vision (Jules Jordan Productions)

The AVN Awards have a 'Best POV Series' award which has been given to:

• 2007 Jack's POV (Digital Playground)
• 2010 Jack's POV (Digital Playground)

The AVN Awards have a 'Best POV Release' award which has been given to:

• 2005 P.O.V. Pervert 3
• 2006 Manuel Ferrara's POV
• 2009 Jack's POV 9 (Digital Playground)
• 2010 Anal Prostitutes on Video 6

The AVN Awards also have a 'Best POV sex scene' award which has been given to:

• 2007 Naomi with Tommy Gunn – Jack's POV # 2
• 2010 Pound The Round P.O.V.

Notable gonzo pornography directors

Belladonna Ashley Blue Seymore Butts Tom Byron Christoph Clark Raul Cristian Ricky D Ben Dover Erik Everhard Jamie Gillis Max Hardcore

Jules Jordan John Leslie Rodney Moore Pat Myne Ed Powers Shane (Shane's World) Rocco Siffredi Joey Silvera John Stagliano (Buttman) Randy West Pierre Woodman

Further reading

• Hedges, Chris (2009). Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. New York: Nation Books. pp. 59, et al. ISBN 9781568584379. OCLC 681294681. Retrieved 15 February 2013. 

• Jensen, Robert (2007). Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity. Cambridge, Massachusetts: South End Press. p. 200. ISBN 9780896087767. Retrieved 25 February 2013.