AVN/AEE 2012 Coverage: Red is the New Black

The closing divide between XXX and NC-17 By Reba Rocket

Red is the new black, 40 is the new 30, and it would appear, X is the new NC-17. For decades, the line between Mainstream- and Adult-Film was fairly clear cut and further defined by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) rating system. That bold division between a previously clear black-and-white divide has shifted, leaving a subtle grey area across which the once separate industries seem to now be holding hands – or at least reaching toward one another.

At the 2012 AVN Expo and Awards, the initial surface impression showed a glimpse into this increasingly tangible shift. Where there were once innumerable display cases of DVDs and Videos with playtimes of less than 30 minutes (but filled with your money’s worth of money shots), there was now a focus on full-length, feature films, complete with mainstream studio standard posters and backdrops. Many of the promoted films were parodies of famous, award-winning mainstream movies – Taxi Driver, True Grit, Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Beverly Hillbillies…. The list was endless. Attention to detail, fairly credible acting, and even the original and mock score in these parodies were impressive! The attention to marketing, purpose, and direction was undeniable.

Brad Armstrong, actor and director for Wicked Pictures received this year’s AVN Award for Best Director – Parody for Rocki Whore Picture Show. He is already poised to begin production on his next big picture parody of Men in Black. By his account, not only are these types of movies being driven by the Adult Film market, there is an increasing call for more stimulating (pun intended) material in mainstream movies. From where does this void of arousal in mainstream film originate? It could be that virtually unlimited exposure to porn today on the Internet has either desensitized viewers or whetted their appetites for more. Gone are the days when one would have to venture outside to a seedy adult video store in a questionable neighborhood. The right website address can provide a person with endless hours of a veritable rainbow of styles of adult film content. As people’s need for more provocative imagery increases, mainstream film falls short.

Even mainstream films in which more sexual content is not only called for but is also intrinsic to storylines are restrained by the ever omniscient, omnipotent MPAA rating system. The famously infamous Ron Jeremy believes movies like The Brown Bunny with Chloe Sevigny and Vincent Gallo and Pirates XXX, a Digital Playground/Adam & Eve production, are great examples of mainstream and adult films reaching across the diminishing gulf between the genres. The Brown Bunny is currently available on Netflix, and the final scene could have easily netted Sevigny (already an Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee) an AVN award for “Best Oral”. According to Jeremy, Pirates XXX, originally produced as an Adult Film is now being displayed and rented at local Blockbuster Video Stores (the more overt sex acts reduced to mainstream palatable bump and grind).

With Shame being one of the few movies to receive an NC-17 rating this year, it still managed nominations for Critics’ Choice, BAFTA, Spirit Awards, Golden Globe Awards, among others. Now the battle is on to see who claims the victory and spoils. As the MPAA breaks its proverbial arm patting itself on the back for using the rating as it is meant to be used, Shame’s studio and producers are (no doubt) already counting the inevitable profits brought on by the taboo image created by the rating. Just as every vice needs a gateway; NC-17 might be society’s gateway to X.

So, will the separation of NC-17 and X ever be completely blurred? At this point, it is hard to say for certain. Doubtless, there are viewers, actors, producers, directors, and studios on both sides of the coin that would welcome less stringent regulation, but it is a love/hate relationship in the making. Mainstream filmmakers and viewers have (for decades) benefited from the protection of First Amendment rights championed by the Adult Film Industry. But just as “Politics makes strange bedfellows”, so could the joined forces of Mainstream-and Adult -film. In a positive light, at least half of them are already in bed!