On gonzo porn and navigating past the digital era’s creative abyss
There’s a logical tie between what makes a beloved star in hardcore pornography, and how that can be applied to understanding succeeding as a progressive-minded creative in 21st-century digital culture.
I’m certainly not into porn for cheap thrills and masturbation. I’m a fan of Malcolm Gladwell, and a firm believer in the theory he posits in Outliers — his New York Times bestseller — in which he claims that to master anything truly, it requires 10,000 hours. Between September 2008 and January 2012 — I’m fairly sure I watched 167 hours of classic and modern scenes of action that ranged from the sublime to the frightening, scary, absurd, and a category of gonzo-style porn, aka, “things I have seen that I cannot un-see.” My motivation? Connecting with the eyes of mortal humans and seeing — with clarity — the path to immortality.
The key to maintaining sure footing while drowning the digital abyss is to have a level of self-worth, connectivity, pathos, and effort that rivals or exceeds what has been established as the industry norms. To achieve this, it’s both literally and metaphorically all in the eyes. As life moves faster and expectations get pushed never-before-seen levels, it’s important to remember the humanity and inter-personal branding required to reach the next level.
I recently have had a slight change of opinion in my all-encompassing love of all things pornography. Long before there was the internet, and long before there were millions of options for porn I could watch at my fingertips, there was the “Golden Era” of the business from 1969–1984. One of my favorite films, from porn or otherwise — is 1973’s “Golden Era” classic, The Devil in Miss Jones. Georgina Spelvin’s performance as Justine Jones — a suicidal soul accepting depravity as a last-ditch gateway to heaven — is spellbinding, her acceptance of pleasures of the flesh connecting on more of a spiritual than a sexual level. Again, revolving around the eyes, her wholesale engagement in her character truly endows her character with robust connectivity.
As digital culture has decentralized and socialized the universe — porn included — something has been lost regarding my ability to locate new heroines in which to believe. In having SO many options, the fire in the eyes that have given me hours and years of intrigue and enjoyment has significantly diminished. However, as the haze of overexposure now settles, when a phoenix rises, it’s much more impressive than ever before.
I initially became a fan of Jessie Lee because of her work with the now inactive BDSM-driven site RaptureVision.com, as well as her work with alt-porn hub Burning Angel. I was led to both sites after falling into a porn tunnel after watching now-retired alt-porn legend Belladonna and still active classic starlet Nina Hartley in a scintillating scene from Fetish Fanatic 1. The scene involves a level of eye contact, trust, and physical chemistry that eclipses anything I’ve ever seen. Jessie Lee’s a Buffalo native, punk rock fanatic, heavily tattooed, Straight Edge, and the owner of the softest doe eyes I’ve still, even ten years after seeing her, have ever seen. I watched her get physically dominated in a scene with Mistress Sade, and when she cried, I cried as well. I had NEVER seen her before.
From Georgina Spelvin’s double anal penetration in The Devil in Miss Jones to Belladonna’s lactation at the hands of Nina Hartley or Jessie Lee taking a savage beating, it’s all in the eyes. I can stare into their eyes and feel their souls reaching through the screen — passion, pain, and pleasure co-mingling. Whether in porn or in just attempting to survive in the strange times that are 2020, it’s essential to reflect the entirety of your soul in your eyes. Once there, stare at the world while inspired with the same power that has motivated generations. In achieving this notion, sustainability and success develop as a foregone conclusion.
