Pornography, not unlike many forms of popular media, functions on its ability to construct an idealization of reality. Though the continual advancements in technology bring the medium closer to visual elements of “real life,” or in this case, real sex, the creators of porn must work harder to compensate for a constantly shrinking gap between idealistic fantasy and crude reality. This problem is a rising issue for directors in a variety of art forms--For example, take the ever-changing technologies that bring us computer-generated animation. In films that successfully utilize the fantastical elements of CG (such as Finding Nemo), human character traits are exaggerated and placed in a world of fantasy. However, films that utilize newly-developed technologies that allowing us to mimic the visual aspects of the real world (as in The Polar Express, where real actors were tracked to have their forms converted to CG animations), the results are slightly off-putting. The people look “almost real”—more than they ever have in 3d simulations—but there’s something disconcerting about the accuracy in the way they move and look, and the fact that they are still unmistakable computer-generated. When we view an animated movie, we don’t want something to be this close to simulating real people, or else we might as well be watching real actors. We want something that utilizes the capabilities of the technology in a way that we can’t get with real actors.

In a way, porn functions under a similar premise: people watch porn because it isn’t real sex. Most scenarios depicted in pornography are very far from those that exist in real life, but that’s what makes them desirable. If they were created to simulate real sex, viewers would be disappointed in the lack sensationalism that we have come to expect from the medium of porn. Because the content of such videos are not changing in the face of new technology, the aesthetics should not either. Porn is enticing not only for its fantastical situations but also for the idealistic portrayal of people (from their sexual performance to their physical traits). Though the argument against porn in HD is a different one from the computer graphics issue, it still founds itself on the principle that porn is what real sex cannot be – an ideal where razor burn isn’t part of the fantasy.

I am a junior Art Semiotics/MCM concentrator with an interest in theory and production. I have a lot of experience working with film, video, and animation, specifically in editing and post-production. Last summer I had the chance to edit a documentary for the Brown Medical School, and I absolutely loved working on all phases of the process. One area of particular interest for me is the creative element to documentary making, specifically with creative non-fiction. I hope to incorporate my technical and artistic interests with the study of global media in this course.