The Convergence of Porn and Mainstream Cinema

Here’s a DVD review (not particularly safe for work) for an X-rated film called Loaded. What’s interesting is if you watch the trailer that eventually loads at the bottom of the page (the trailer’s only R-rated, but still not safe for work), it looks like a regular feature film. There are way more gun fights, car chases and explosions than sex. As expected, the acting is glaringly bad. But this is kind of jarring, given the Hollywood look and feel of the film.

From a marketing perspective, I’m not sure about the niche they’re trying to fill (no pun intended). It’s basically just a bad B-movie with (presumably) lots of sex. All of the data I’ve collected about preferences in erotica suggests that men want to watch sex, while women want to watch a story that includes sex. Given that this story ought to star Steven Segal, I doubt many women would be interested.

By no means am I recommending this film, but it’s a rarity, in that it’s an X-rated film that one could mistake for the latest straight-to-video action flick. Hollywood has obviously become more risque over the past 50 years, and the rest of the world is far less Puritanical about sex on-screen. Will porn and Hollywood merge somewhere down the line? The violence in Hollywood is already ridiculously pornographic…why not add the sex, too?

Growing up, my parents were far stricter about the violence I saw in film and television than the sex. This is a sound strategy, I think. In adulthood, I’m not opposed to sex or violence in film–just gratuitous sex and violence.