Last week I had fun running Fleshbot while Jonno was in NY trying to convince everyone he has bad sex. One of the things I got to poke a little fun at was the online game being used to promote the Hollywood movie Running Scared. I got all cutesy when I pointed out that the male character is a Mormon, saying that he was a Mormon pixelinguist who performed Mormonilingus on his co-star Vera Farmiga.
Nothing wrong with a little silliness, but the whole thing still bugs me in a big way. If you’re not familiar with the story, check out the play-by-play BoingBoing post. Basically, the movie is coming out and so New Line Cinema decided to promote it with an online game, which makes sense since they did Final Destination 1,2, and soon 3, all based on video a game. But they decided to put an explicit sex scene in the online video game, one where the main character (played by Paul Walker) goes down on the character played by Vera Farmiga. To access the game, they had an age check of 17 or older and required your government ID.
As I commented in the BoingBoing piece, porn sites do not use gov’t ID as a means of age check — because no one has access to a the DMV’s database, which is run state by state. Porn sites do not want to go to jail, so they use certified national credit card services, as do wine, alcohol and tobacco sales sites. Also, it was revealed fairly quickly in the same post (and on other sites) that New Line’s gov’t ID system could be easily fooled. Again, no porn, tobacco or alcohol vendor would last two minutes if access to their products could be easily gained. And another thing on this egregious list? To access the Running Scared game you have to be 17 or older, whereas the legal age for access to adult material is 18. A 17-year-old is *still* a minor. (This is based on the legal age of majority in the US for adults as related to sexual behavior; not to be confused with the age of consent. Yes, the median age of consent in the US is 16. So, no Tiny Nibbles for you, but you can still marry Uncle Jethro. Yikes.)
So why can’t Hollywood follow the same standards as the porn industry when it comes to restricting explicit content? Good question. But what do you get exactly when you access the game? Well, you get some really disrespectful text about “I just fucked your wife, (etc…)” and you (the player, as Paul Walker) perform cunnilingus on Vera Farmiga’s character. Or pixelingus, or Mormonolingus. I’m an athiest, which makes me insensitive sometimes, but I do respect and understand people’s right to believe in whatever makes sense for them. And Mormonilingus is funny. I may have had some once. But actually, Paul Walker doesn’t give a shit.
But my mind keeps worrying at one detail, like when you get a splinter and keep touching it to remind yourself it’s still there, even thought the sensation is unpleasant: the actress, Vera Farmiga. Did she know that by consenting to be in a big “blockbuster” film that she was also consenting to a digital representation of herself having her G-spot poked via mouse to pretty much anyone who can type on a keyboard? That any jock with a PC gets access to her pixel pussy? In a day and age when Hollywood is so sex-negative that most actresses won’t even show a boob onscreen out of fear of ruining their careers, I find it hard to believe that Farmiga knew what she was getting into (and if this is Hollywood’s idea of sex-positivity, or porn for that matter, it’s going to be a long summer). However, if she’s being pro-sex she needs to speak up; if she’s being pro-porn she needs to speak up, too. In porn it’s clear what a girl is signing up for when she provides her gov’t ID, social security card, all her names, her address and contact info and signs a contract — which is what is *required by law* for porn producers to even snap a photo.
After the Traci Lords scandal in 1986, porn has been very careful about performer’s age and consent, as in, no one wants to go to federal prison careful. Sure, it’s “just a game” that Farmiga is spread wide in (and as a non-photo representation — art — it falls outside 2257 regulations and there is no penetration), but it’s a movie promo game, so it’s not just gamers who’ll check it out. There are no answers here, and I’m just thinking out loud, but it’s hard not to wonder how the woman (Farmiga) feels about the context her image is being cast in. It’s also difficult not to think about how much more complicated things like this stupid, stupid game will make the free speech and porn discussions of the future.
There’s long been this persistent myth that Hollywood is where the “real” movies and actors are, and that everyone in porn is either a failed Hollywood person or is hoping to “cross over” and break through — even porn industry rags like AVN perpetuate these myths. But it’s unnecessary. Compared to the way the Running Scared game has been handled, porn holds higher age and consent standards than Hollywood.
Meanwhile, I end up on 2257 and porn discussion panels where people in the audience get up and say things like, “porn exploits women” and “porn needs to be keeping records” and “there need to be laws to keep kids away from porn”. I take a deep breath and explain again that exploitation is nonconsensual; the records are kept; and we already have those laws. Now if we could just somehow tell someone at New Line Cinema…
