Andre Labonte
Offline
• • • • • •
Upload & Sell: Off
|
 p.2 #10 · ART vs PORN. Let's get this over with. | |
seanfoulkes wrote:
Umm, because football isn't socially taboo for a vast majority of humanity? That wasn't hard.
In a utopian-minded society that might be a good philosophical standpoint on human sexuality and objectification, but in the world we live in, porn is put on a pedestal of negativity. Sorry to say it, but YOU are not going to change society's mind on the matter.
There's also the basic idea that pornography stems from prostitution,and, all the "oldest profession in the world" arguments aside, have socially evolved to a standpoint that prostitution is degrading to women, being that it puts women in a position that their only useful attribute is their borne ability to have intercourse with the male dominant.
THAT is why pornography is different than sports photography. Sports glorifies basic physical dominance and superiority in competition, but very rarely do you hear the argument that it is an overall negative thing for society to glorify physical superiority and competitive nature.
Using your logic of "all aspects of a photograph are present regardless of objectifying sexual subject matter" in regards to pornography, then you could also use your logic to argue for compassion for child pornography, because those images, at their base, are images of the naked human figure. Of course child pornography has nearly universal opposal, as it takes advantage of young people that in general aren't ready to make decisions as profound as exposing their bodies sexually before they are even physically ready for the act in the first place.
Which is pretty similar to the idea that pornography diminishes women to pure sexual objects with no apparent worth other than their ability to sexually stimulate the male dominant. Both ideas have merit, as a young woman's sociological environment has just as much to do with her decision to purse a pornography career as her internal psyche does. I'm saying that it's not just an internal choice for her decision to take part in pornography. The popular social mindset that women are inferior to men, and as a result are largely sexually objectified, play a large part in a young girl's development, and saying that it is purely her decision and not in any way the responsibility of her social environment is ignorant.
Art nude photography doesn't usually objectify women as sexual objects, it tends to glorify the human figure and female sexuality as a positive aspect of an image. PORN as an industry relishes and grows on the simple fact that a LOT of people want a straightforward way to objectify something that arouses them and excites them sexually.
I don't judge any photographers for making money with erotica or porn images. But when your photographic career revolves around the creative drive to create images as purely sexually arousing as possible (assuming that the most desirable porn sells the best), I find it hard to believe that the main focus on creating those images is to create art. PORN consumers as a whole don't always want art. They want sexual gratification. Most people don't go to art museums for sexual gratification.
Porn as the modern world knows it, is a large money-making fringe entertainment economy that capitalizes sexual gratification. That's why pornography moved to videotape in the 80's, and in the last dozen years the vast majority of porn sold has been low-budget amateur film and images. Ever seen the P.T. Anderson film Boogie Nights? That movie wasn't about glorifying pornography as art. It was a satire.
The way I guess I relate to pornography as I see the photographic community as a whole like Hollywood, and PORN is straight-to-dvd films. Sure, they both are films, they both contain many similar aspects (lighting, actors, plot), but in the end, the straight-to-dvd films featuring professional wrestlers shooting ninjas with UZI's, although arguable as art, is created at the highest levels solely to capitalize on a consumers desire to purchase and watch a movie, not to appreciate film as art.
And THAT is why most people consider ART and PORN differently. ...Show more →
Extremely well thought out and written. Thank you.
|
