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akademiskacademic quarterkvarterDoes the Porn Star Blush?Charlie BlakeBeth Johnsonal of spectators. Classically, close-up shots of penetration are mediatedin order to testify to the reality of the intercourse taking place onscreen. Simultaneously however, pornographic film tends be stylisticallyuncomplicated with little or no focus on plot or character developmentbut rather, has existed as a genre which utilises conventionsof ‘talking dirty,’ ‘raw animal desire,’ exhibitionism’ and ‘cumshots’ to authenticate and adhere to pre-existing porno conventionsand audience expectations. Sex-on-screen then, or, more specifically,real-sex on-screen, has most dominantly been shown for physicalrather than psychological titillation. Due to a lack of character depthin conventional porno, actors appear (consciously) one-dimensional- they are obviously dressed up and ready to fuck. While the penetrationis real, authentic in the physical sense, the conventions associatedwith showing their pleasure to the spectator are often expressedvia unoriginal moans and groans which become, over time,more audible so as to signify the forthcoming climax or to indicate achange of position, partner or scene.New ways of re-presenting (as well as expressing) the real of sexare, of course, inevitably bound by and understood in the context ofpast theoretical, legal and aesthetic debates which have been utilisedin order to segregate and situate major lines of demarcation betweenexplicit materials that are intended to arouse and ‘deprave’ andthose that present explicit content in a non-arousing way. The intentionof sex on screen to arouse, or not, has long been linked to aestheticand moral arguments concerning high and low culture sincethe inception of film. Certain screens however, have, as Linda Williamsnotes in ‘Cinema and the Sex Act’ been able, from the 1970s topartially transgress such a stringent distinction, examples includingLast Tango in Paris (1972), Story of O (1975), In the Realm of the Senses(1976) and A Clockwork Orange (1971). Yet, despite these specificscreens achieving a significant aesthetic and artistic acceptance fortheir ability to present sex which blurs the boundaries betweenmainstream and soft-core cinema, it is important to note that thehard-hitting elements in these films are achieved through an equalaffiliation and direct reference to hard-core cultural theory and fantasy.What is distinct then between these works and present dayreal-sex film (besides, in cases, a hard-core appropriation of sex), is acontemporary attempt to convey aesthetic realism – a realism that isnaturalistic. In distinction, Story of O, for example, locates itself fromVolume03 202