You are what you watch. Somehow we’ve come to think this is the truth when it comes to our taste in films. This can be apply to everything, since we all have the impression that our tastes and affinities define us. However, I’m not so sure. We tend to think intellectual people only watch arthouse films, listen to classical music, and consume highbrow art. Butt for me that’s nothing more than generalization and assumption. In my experience, the most cultivated people I’ve met, consume all sorts of cultural products. That versatility is what makes them more knowledgeable.
Someone asked in a Quora entry whether watching porn was as harmful to men as romantic comedies were for women. Leaving aside the fact that the premise is based on gender stereotypes, these film categories are difficult to compare. Among the many thoughtful analyses in the answers, there was one in particular that caught my attention. To start with, her use of language was quite refined, but let’s see how profound her ideas actually were.
This woman, trying to defend our gender –I guess–, claimed that the difference between both genres was the realms where these stories develop. According to her, rom-coms belong to the realm of fiction, while porn is real sex happening over a shade of fantasy. The problem with her statement is that she based her ideas in terms of the fictionality versus reality of these films, rather than on the effect they might have. I doubt anyone at a movie theater believes a rom-com to be based on a true story. But they do construct the spectators’ idea of love. Yet pornography can be accused of the same thing, in terms of sexuality.
The thing here is that porn is often seen as depraved and low-quality compared to films in general. In fact, I would even question if they could be considered films in the same way as, let’s say, science fiction movies. Following the logic of the Quora entry, I would say that any kind of audiovisual (or even artistic) product can have a negative effect in a particular spectator. I mean, it’s a matter of one’s own personality and mentality. But that’s another story.
Let’s go back to the initial question. Is watching too much porn the reason behind your taste in cinema? Just as any product can be harmful or provoke certain effects on the audience, I do think it all depends on the individual. We could argue that watching too many of these films could make you lean towards certain storylines and quality. However, let’s remember that not all pornography is the same. There’s a huge difference between random porn videos you can watch on those famous sites featuring many homemade videos made by amateur people, and porn movies like the ones Erika Lust is creating. She attempts to create indie films where the female perspective is the protagonist and esthetics merge with the plot.
In other words, I do think that porn directly intervenes in your development of your film taste because it’s something that grows with time and experience. And by experience I mean the variety of films you watch. Besides that, I do think that we should really stop being so snobish in thinking of ourselves as film critics who decide what people should or should not watch. I strongly believe, as I mentioned at the beginning, that a person’s intelligence doesn’t depend just on their consumption of highbrow culture and art, but in the variety and ability to analyze the products they consume.
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There’s much more behind porn than we could’ve imagined:
Can Pornhub Be A Mirror Of Society’s Secrets And Dark Desires?
The Day Porn Became Art And The Erotic Became Porn
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Images of Erika Lust and her work
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