Are the Oscars finally ready to embrace Porn?

IIt’s no secret that the Oscars are decided by a coastal team of mostly white men who write their emails. That’s why male veterinarians, attractive young women, and sentimentalists love Green Book continue to take home gold. The Academy that elects the Oscars also includes people in Hollywood who are purely self-centered fanatics. In the past decade alone, three films celebrating Tinseltown have won Best Picture — including Argo, in which an elderly Hollywood producer joins forces with the CIA to rescue diplomats during the Iran hostage crisis.

However, an industry that Hollywood has always looked down on, is erotic.

Yes, even though it is the epicenter of the #MeToo movementHollywood has long viewed the adult industry as the pinnacle of debauchery. They’ve been exiled to the San Fernando Valley, their raving celebrity stars almost never break into the mainstream, they’re not invited to parties, and whenever a Hollywood celebrity wanders flirt with a porn star, they’ll be hidden from view. Heck, the first erotic billboard in the heart of Hollywood just announced last month.

To add insult to injury, the world of porn is often depicted in film as a hedonistic spectacle that young women must be rescued from, for example by Paul Schrader Hardcore, car Nicolas Cage 8 Meters good romantic comedy Neighbor girl. And you can forget the Oscars. Even Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1997 masterpiece Boogie night, which chronicles the Golden Age of Porn in the ’70s (and the fall that followed), gathered only three Oscar nominations, no wins.

As such, it will be interesting to see how the Academy handles a trilogy of films being considered for this year’s awards — or two, as they managed to beat Radu Jude. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, the Romanian category for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards failed to shortlist 15 short films for the category. And it’s a shame because Jude’s movie, about a history teacher being put on Salem-esque trial by her students’ parents after a sex tape with her husband is posted online, is a scathing satire of sexism, xenophobia, nationalism, and countless ways the COVID-19 pandemic has driven people crazy — not to mention boasting the most compelling ending of any movie this year, including the Wonder Woman costume and the giant dildo.

More promises than The first feature of Ninja Thyberg Please, a behind-the-scenes look at the adult world that revolves around Linnea (Sofia Kappel), a 20-year-old man who came to LA from Sweden with porn star designs. Under the stage name Bella Cherry, she navigates the highs and lows of the sex industry, from supporting colleagues to pushing boundaries. Please is done in collaboration with the central characters in adulthood and may provide the first realistic depiction of the life of a rising female porn star.

“We still have a culture where it’s hard to respect sex workers to the point of making them the protagonists. Usually sex workers are victimized and killed, “Thyberg Told me. “To take them seriously enough to make them the protagonist of the story, you need to respect them, and that’s still too hard for a lot of people.”

Think about it debuted to acclaim at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Thyberg’s film has since struggled to see the light of day. A week after it premiered in Sundance, it was acquired by A24 in a bidding war — only to find the popular indie studio dropped it in October over plans to censor much of the content. its pornography through an R-rated theatrical edit. Neon subsequently picked it up, planning to release the film sometime in 2022. Even so, Please managed to produce a pair of nods at the upcoming Indie Spirit Awards, including Best Director (Thyberg) and Best Supporting Actress (Revika Reustle).

Hope the Academy pays attention Red rocket, the latest from filmmaker Sean Baker (Tangerine, Florida Project), who has dedicated her career to eradicating the stigma surrounding prostitution and focusing her lens on America’s hidden poverty — those on the margins that Hollywood doesn’t acknowledge. The film was voted one of the ten best films of the year by the National Board of Review and won star Simon Rex Serious consideration for Best Actor for his dynamic portrayal of Mikey Saber, a porn star turned hustler back to his native Texas, sorta tries to mend things with his estranged wife/ex-partner, and begins dating a local teen who works at a donut shop.

Rex, himself an outcast Hollywood who returned to prominence, was named Best Actor by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and received nominations in this category from the Gotham Awards and Indie Spirits Awards.

Of course, it wouldn’t be fair to completely blame the Academy for constantly filming pornographic films. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), a shadow organization that determines movie ratings, and the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) go hand in hand to penalize any film with explicit pornography — and has expressed a particular distaste for scenes that show gay sex either women’s joy—By slapping them with an NC-17 rating, thus banishing them from the major theater chains (the violence they mostly accept).

So, will Hollywood ever get off the horse and embrace pornographic depictions in cinema? Or better yet, allow for more crossover between their disciplines? After all, it’s not like Hollywood treats their young female talent any better than adults. When I asked former porn star Sasha Gray, who has appeared in a number of mainstream films, as well as HBO series Retinue, whether she was treated worse in Hollywood or as an adult, she said, “Hollywood. Can’t lie. I’ve had much worse experiences of sexual harassment there than I’ve ever had in the adult industry. “