Pornland is a film about the porn industry that documents some of the obscene things that occur in the production of pornographic films. Personally, this was not my first time seeing a documentary about this kind of stuff. Netflix has a few very good documentaries about the porn industry that are told from the first person perspective and as most of the narration comes from actual actors in the porn industry it takes away the safe and harmless feeling that the porn industry try’s to push. I say “actors/actresses” because in one of the documentaries I was informed that is what they prefer to be called. One thing that I found different from the “Pornland” documentary and the other documentaries I have seen is the lack of separation from well-established porn actors and newly starting porn actors.

 

90% of the obscene things that happen in the porn industry happen to new actors that will take any opportunity for a shoot. These actors will usually appear in the “amateur” category which is mainly composed of women between the ages of 18 and 20. When hearing some of the personal testimony from some of the new actors in the porn industry, you can’t help but feel bad for them. They are, in every sense of the word, abused by different organizations trying to provide surrogate sexual satisfaction to a population with ever changing tastes. One particular testimony that has been stuck in my head is one from a young girl of 19 years old who took a job that entailed her being beaten and forced to eat dog food out of a dog bowl.

 

This particular testimony makes me shiver every time I think about it and remembering her tear filled testimony just increases the feeling of horror. So most people would ask why would they still do it ( as all the girls interviewed were still in the industry)? The answer is simple, money. You take a girl who has just graduated from high school, and tell her you can give her a place to stay and 100k a least a year, the offer becomes very tempting and even girls that come from good families end up getting caught up in the business. I personally am of the opinion that porn gives men a different perspective on relationships and sex. However, I think the perspective changes over time when men sexually mature and become aware that most girls don’t want to do a lot of the stuff that can be seen on porn and that good sexual experiences boil down to communication and mutual respect.

 

In conclusion, “Pornland” was a very informative documentary but in my personal opinion, based on the other documentaries I’ve seen, should have spent more time highlighting the obscene things that occur to new actors and less about the industry as a whole. It is true that the porn industry has many issues and causes many issues but that is not going to change any time soon. What could change, however, is more regulation on new actors.