Seth Rogen on Hollywood’s Backdoor Connection to the Red-Light District
In the
end, I decided not to see the movie.
What I did
recently see, however, was a
video clip from an interview Rogen and Theron gave during their press tour
for Long Shot. In a segment on The Graham Norton Show, where they were
discussing porn star Stormy Daniels’ dalliances with Donald Trump, Norton
brought up the fact that Seth Rogen has actually worked with Daniels before.
After
Theron incredulously asked, “What?!” several times, Rogen clarified what his
working relationship with the porn star entailed. Below is a (slightly cleaned
up) transcript of what he said:
Stormy
Daniels is in Knocked Up and The 40 Year Old Virgin. . . . Very early
in our careers, we realized, like, if you ever need someone to be naked in a
movie, you should hire a porn star, ‘cuz it’s the easiest thing they did that
week. It’s not a situation where you’re, like, convincing a mainstream actress
to get naked. Instead, you’re taking a porn actress and putting her in a
mainstream movie, and she doesn’t have to put anything in her. And so she’s
thrilled. And so there were some stripper scenes in these films, and Stormy
played a stripper in those films.
The segment
was intended for laughs (and there was plenty of audience laughter during it),
but it was actually quite revealing. I want to point out three implications of
Seth Rogen’s playful confession.
1. Pornography Has Infiltrated Art
The
examples from Seth Rogen’s testimony above, as well as the examples cited in my
last piece, illustrate how the worlds of pornography and mainstream entertainment
have intermingled. Much of Hollywood’s output, in fact, involves a crossover
of pornographic techniques—and, in some cases, porn actors.
From a
practical standpoint, sans any moral considerations, it makes sense. As film
and television (and especially
TV over the last couple decades) continue to employ pornographic filming
techniques, it may be easier sometimes to employ a porn star (who is used to
nudity and sex acts), rather than a mainstream actress (who is more likely to
be squeamish about undressing and/or sexually acting out for the camera).
Can I
really describe Hollywood as using “pornographic filming techniques,” though? Yes,
I can. Let me explain why.
What we
typically call “simulated sex” in mainstream entertainment involves actors
engaging in sexual acts with each other. No, such acts typically don’t involve
penetration (although in rare cases it does). However, sex is not a dot on a timeline
so much as a series of interactions over a period of time. It involves acts
like fondling, undressing, amorous kissing (not just on the mouth), and so on,
and it could last for mere seconds or for hours.
As I have pointed out elsewhere, sex does not begin with penetration, it ends with penetration. Thus, mainstream actors who “simulate sex” (a euphemism for “no one’s sexual organ was inserted into another’s sexual receptacle”) are still engaging in sexual acts with each other—and they do so in front of film cameras, with an audience in mind. That is a pornographic technique. The movie they are starring in is not porn, per se, but it contains pornified elements.
As I have pointed out elsewhere, sex does not begin with penetration, it ends with penetration. Thus, mainstream actors who “simulate sex” (a euphemism for “no one’s sexual organ was inserted into another’s sexual receptacle”) are still engaging in sexual acts with each other—and they do so in front of film cameras, with an audience in mind. That is a pornographic technique. The movie they are starring in is not porn, per se, but it contains pornified elements.
And that
is why so many mainstream actors are uncomfortable with filming pornographic
scenes. And it is also why, according to filmmakers like Seth Rogen, porn stars
are sometimes preferable. They help get around that whole
humans-are-uncomfortable-with-being-exploited-for-entertainment roadblock.
2. Pornographic Methods
are Inherently Exploitative
Yes,
onscreen sex acts in mainstream entertainment are less extreme than sex acts with
penetration (as in porn). Hard core pornography is more…well, hard core than
Hollywood fare. The difference, however, is in degree, not in kind. And we
can’t dismiss pornified sexuality in our films and TV shows just because there
is worse content out there.
Sure,
there are porn stars who might consider it simple or easy to do a striptease
for a Hollywood production, since they’ve done far worse. There are also
mainstream actors who are incredibly
uncomfortable with performing a striptease (or sex act).
If you can
agree with me that pornography is a moral and societal evil, Stormy Daniels’
relative comfort with her stripper roles in Seth Rogen’s films only shows that
she’s been desensitized to forms of objectification that are less explicit than
porn. Desensitization to exploitation doesn’t bring true relief; it just masks
the damage.
And the
damage caused by pornification is detrimental to society as a whole.
Australia-based movement Collective Shout explains:
Through
a pornified culture, women and girls are fed a message that their only value
lies in their sex appeal and ability to attract the male gaze. The
proliferation of sexualised images of women and girls is linked to mental
health problems such as low self-esteem, poor body image, eating disorders,
depression and self-harm. Pornified culture also harms men and boys, by
inscribing limited ideas of how men should behave and encouraging them to view women
as unequal, and as sexualised objects existing merely or primarily for men's
sexual gratification rather than as persons in their own right.
The bottom
line is that pornographic material—whether soft, hard, or anywhere in between—is
intrinsically exploitative. It is a violation of human privacy,
dignity, and sexuality. It is artistically indefensible and morally
unacceptable.
3. Actors Deserve Better Than Pornography
“Let’s get
someone who’s more desensitized to being objectified so we can capture the
content we want.” That’s not what Rogen said specifically, and I don’t think
that was even his intention. That’s just the intangible assumption lying behind
many scenes of nudity and/or sex in common, everyday entertainment. This
assumption is so pervasive and so automatic that it’s no longer a conscious
decision. It’s a cultural habit, ingrained into our collective psyche.
Filmmakers
getting the sexual content they want—or the sexual content they think their
audience wants—means treating actors with disrespect. Did you catch how Rogen
described the process of working with a Hollywood actress? He said it is a
“situation where you’re…convincing a mainstream actress to get naked.”
It takes convincing. Actors often need to be
prodded, persuaded, or pressured to agree to skin parades and sexscapades.
There are inherent
emotional—and maybe even moral—reservations that need to be overcome. There
are inherent
inhibitions that need to be overridden. There are inherent
revulsions that need to be overruled. Sometimes, directors and producers
and audiences getting what they want means contradicting what many an actor
wants—to maintain dignity as a human being.
Does it
take convincing for a performer to act like she’s dying from a wound or a
disease? Does it take convincing for her to act like she’s having an argument?
Does it take convincing for her to act like she’s falling in love? No, it
doesn’t—because acting out those scenarios isn’t inherently exploitative. Pornified
content, on the other hand, is.
REFUSE
PORN—IN ALL ITS FORMS
It’s true
that Seth Rogen is not Stormy Daniels’ spokesperson. His views are not
inherently hers. She might disagree with his assessment of her situation as a
porn star. I don’t know.
What I do
know is that actors are human beings just like the rest of us. They are endowed
by their creator with a certain inalienable dignity, worthy of respect by other
humans. This is true even if some actors willingly consent to the disrespect
afforded objects of and participants in pornified entertainment.
Willingly participating in pornographic filming techniques does not miraculously dignify the hypersexualized content. Whether one is horrified, hesitant, or happy to participate, the result is the same.
Our culture has adapted a damnable double standard. Writer Marc Barnes explains: we are told, on the one hand, that it is “a moral evil and a detestable act of cowardice for a man to view a woman as a pair of breasts”—something we would, and should, agree with. At the same time, we are told that a woman willingly objectifying herself is “an act that transcends good and evil in perfect freedom.” These two paradigms are diametrically opposed. We cannot “simultaneously support pornography and an end to the pornographication of women.”
Willingly participating in pornographic filming techniques does not miraculously dignify the hypersexualized content. Whether one is horrified, hesitant, or happy to participate, the result is the same.
Our culture has adapted a damnable double standard. Writer Marc Barnes explains: we are told, on the one hand, that it is “a moral evil and a detestable act of cowardice for a man to view a woman as a pair of breasts”—something we would, and should, agree with. At the same time, we are told that a woman willingly objectifying herself is “an act that transcends good and evil in perfect freedom.” These two paradigms are diametrically opposed. We cannot “simultaneously support pornography and an end to the pornographication of women.”
We must
not require our entertainers to discard their humanity for our enjoyment. Not
if they’re porn stars and not if they’re movie stars. Not if they hate porn,
and not if they love it. Not if they are forced participants, and not
if they are voluntarily participants.
Art
deserves better. Actors deserve better. And the second greatest command ever
given to humankind—“love your neighbor as you love yourself”—deserves better,
too.
photo credit: Gage Skidmore via flickr, CC