The Porn Game

July 11, 2010 1:16 PM

"An Interview with [Gay Porn Company] Bel Ami's George Duroy" [Warning: Pictures of shirtless gay porn actors.]
posted by andoatnp (64 comments total)

Shirtless men?? MY EYES
posted by hermitosis at 1:48 PM on July 11, 2010 [7 favorites]

That may have been a bit tongue in cheek.
posted by andoatnp at 1:50 PM on July 11, 2010

[Warning: Tongue in cheek.]
posted by hermitosis at 1:51 PM on July 11, 2010 [9 favorites]

Some background for you. Bel Ami is one of the big mainstream face of gay porn, focusing on skinny, youthful looking men ("twinks") with a soft focus, gauzy European feel. The overall aesthetic is, as the article mentions, wholesome.

Towelload has a been a roll recently.
posted by The Whelk at 1:53 PM on July 11, 2010

that condom talk is fascinating and ...scary.
posted by The Whelk at 1:54 PM on July 11, 2010

I have to say this is a really interesting interview. I feel like I've been learning a lot about gay porn from MetaFilter lately.

"Gay porn should be more accurately called 'all-male porn'."

That's a fascinating distinction to draw, especially in the midst of all the gay identity issues raised by the Sean Cody thread.
posted by hermitosis at 1:55 PM on July 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

speaking of thinly veiled excuses to post a video of Alexander Skarsgard drunkenly manhandling someone...
posted by The Whelk at 1:57 PM on July 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

Are all gay porn dudes hairless like that?
posted by jonmc at 2:23 PM on July 11, 2010

No.
posted by hermitosis at 2:25 PM on July 11, 2010

Cool. It just struck me as kind of creepy. (as a hairy, acne-scarred dude)
posted by jonmc at 2:35 PM on July 11, 2010

Bel Ami's "look" is very ...specific. Body hair is right out.

Hairy dudes get their own magazines. (Er, NSFW)
posted by The Whelk at 2:42 PM on July 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!!
posted by BigVACub at 2:45 PM on July 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

So, is there a specific reason why this was posted? I mean, I guess the article is interesting and all, but it doesn't really seem particularly post-worthy to me. Or is this equal time for the Real Doll story posted earlier today?
posted by crunchland at 2:46 PM on July 11, 2010

Just don't pee on the rug, dude.
posted by jonmc at 2:46 PM on July 11, 2010

Can someone explain to me the attraction of Alexander Skarsgard? I mean, guys like this are a dime a dozen. Walk down any street in most of Scandinavia and see a brazillion guys like this. And not exactly a rare type anywhere else either. Frankly, he's kinda common and cheap looking. Maybe you have to be attracted to guys to get this, but I'd like to think I can tell a handsome guy from the average run of the mill.
posted by VikingSword at 2:47 PM on July 11, 2010

Frankly, he's kinda common and cheap looking.

How dare you.
posted by elizardbits at 2:49 PM on July 11, 2010

How dare you.

Please educate me then. I'll keep an open mind, I promise.
posted by VikingSword at 2:51 PM on July 11, 2010

So, is there a specific reason why this was posted?

To remind the squares that there are a lot of gay people here is no doubt part of it. But it's not like you or I would have stumbled across this by ourselves, and it's interesting to learn about something that you only knew existed in the abstract. There are lots of posts that appeal to a much more narrow interest than gay porn-- I think I'd watch gay porn before I'd watch anime. At least gay porn would further my body-image insecurities and encourage me to exercise more.
posted by Mayor Curley at 2:57 PM on July 11, 2010 [11 favorites]

So, is there a specific reason why this was posted? ...Is this equal time for the Real Doll story posted earlier today?

Some people seem to find it interesting, even if you don't. Bel Ami is a hugely famous porn studio and Towle Road is one of the most influential gay bloggers out there. But perhaps we should just start a gay subsite. How does "GhettoFilter" sound to you?
posted by hermitosis at 2:57 PM on July 11, 2010 [5 favorites]

(Hot, hairless HAMBURGER.)
posted by hermitosis at 2:57 PM on July 11, 2010

BelAmiOnline [NSFW].
posted by ericb at 3:00 PM on July 11, 2010

I didn't mean to imply that there was anything wrong with the gay lifestyle, or hairless pretty boys specifically. I was mostly wondering what was particularly significant about this particular interview that made it postworthy, aside from reminding us squares that there are gay men in the world.
posted by crunchland at 3:03 PM on July 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

(Hot, hairless HAMBURGER.)

One of Burger King's early, rejected slogans.
posted by jonmc at 3:07 PM on July 11, 2010 [8 favorites]

Frankly, he's kinda common and cheap looking.

He has kind of a worn, ragged edge to him that's more interesting than a generic scandinavian prettyboy (not that there's anything wrong with generic scandinavian prettyboys). He seems more like a person you might actually meet one day than the twinks of Bel Ami. But I thought he came across better as a beautiful marine (Generation Kill) than a tarnished aristocrat (True Blood).

But anyway. Interesting interview, andoatnp - thanks for posting it. The contortions that happen behind the camera to make professional porn are more interesting than those that happen in front of it (to me, at least).
posted by Drexen at 3:08 PM on July 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

I was mostly wondering what was particularly significant about this particular interview that made it postworthy, aside from reminding us squares that there are gay men in the world.

Well, since i posted it, I guess I should chime in. I found his defense of bareback (no-condom) porn interesting, but ultimately unconvincing in that he dodged the larger question, which is does he feel any responsibility for filming bareback porn in a location without much HIV if that could help contribute to more people having bareback sex in places where they might catch HIV.

I also was familiar with gay-for-pay porn but wasn't so aware that even many of the performers who are participating in gay porn but not being marketed as straight might be straight also.

Finally, as someone who supports two consenting adults being able to do basically whatever they want I think it's interesting that he is filming real twins having sex, which I imagine crosses plenty of taboos, and possibly some legal boundaries as well.
posted by andoatnp at 3:09 PM on July 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Thanks, Drexen, that was informative.

Great interview btw. Also, loved the end:

"And finally, I am trying not to take setbacks and losses too seriously. In the end, life (and business, too) is only a temporary situation. Take it as a game; it'll be much more fun.

I wasn't so relaxed and blasé originally. I even went to a shrink at a certain point. He was so amused by my life story that he offered to treat me for free. When I walked out of his office and saw all the really desperate people, I told myself, "If it is fun for the shrink, it can't be so bad." And started to take it easy again."
posted by VikingSword at 3:10 PM on July 11, 2010

I think the interview is significant because the inventor of a leading porn studio is talking candidly about his models, his safety standards, and the future of pornography on the web. But, unlike Bel Ami porn stars, posts aren't one-size-fits-all. Less than two thirds of the posts that land on the front page interest me enough to warrant my reading all the way through them.
posted by hermitosis at 3:10 PM on July 11, 2010

In relation to this interview be sure to check out the films 'Mandragora,' 'Body Without Soul' and 'Not Angels But Angels' by filmmaker Wiktor Grodecki in which he profiles boys/young men who make their living as hustlers and gay porn stars in Eastern Europe in the 1990's.
posted by ericb at 3:14 PM on July 11, 2010 [2 favorites]

And here is a previous metafilter post of mine: "Special report: Gay-4-Pay in Prague"
posted by andoatnp at 3:18 PM on July 11, 2010

Walk down any street in most of Scandinavia and see a brazillion guys like this

Sadly, we don't all live in Scandinavia.

oh for me? Generation Kill/True Blood transference
posted by The Whelk at 3:19 PM on July 11, 2010

Please educate me then. I'll keep an open mind, I promise.

I was actually saying "in light of your username, how dare you!" in what was apparently a rubbish joke, sry.

Nevertheless, my usual recommendation for those who do not see the ASkarz appeal is to repeatedly watch the Hundtricket shower scene, but it will not really have the desired effect if you are not into men in the first place.
posted by elizardbits at 3:23 PM on July 11, 2010

Has anybody ever thought it was a little odd, perhaps, that the director would name his company after a Maupassant novel in which the main character, Georges Duroy, exploits women to better his own life?

If I'd founded the company I think I would have chosen a name with a more positive connotation.
posted by randlesc at 3:25 PM on July 11, 2010

I think I'd watch gay porn before I'd watch anime.

What you're (not) looking for is gay hentai.
posted by incessant at 3:29 PM on July 11, 2010

Oh, I thought Bel Ami was the name of a soap for especially dirty boys.
posted by Short Attention Sp at 3:33 PM on July 11, 2010

I liked his subtle cutdowns on COLT. Like in a "I will go to the mountain and hopefully the master will teach me to be that snide" way. I love this:

Somewhere—I think at a party—I overheard someone say that Bernie Madoff himself could take lessons from the studio's owners. But of course I have no personal knowledge of their teaching credentials. Besides, I've only been in the business for 17 years ... I could hardly be expected to comment on the veracity of any such allegations. They owe Bel Ami only $80,000, and I am glad I had the opportunity to contribute to their business experiment.

Claws of which Wolverine would be proud.
posted by adipocere at 3:41 PM on July 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

andoatnp: I read the interview but I didn't pick up on those nuances. Thanks!
posted by crunchland at 3:48 PM on July 11, 2010

Some background for you. Bel Ami is one of the big mainstream face of gay porn, focusing on skinny, youthful looking men ("twinks") with a soft focus, gauzy European feel. The overall aesthetic is, as the article mentions, wholesome.

FTFY.

Bel Ami specializes in athletic young men. Their models are the sort of guys who aren't "beefy" or "butch" enough to qualify as "hunks" (as defined in the official gay porn dictionary), sure, but they're far from being willowy or questionably legal enough to qualify as "twinks." Give 'em some sports equipment and they'd easily qualify as "jocks," but that is a gimmick best left in Champion's 1960s.
posted by Sys Rq at 4:02 PM on July 11, 2010

Whatevers all you skinny people look alike to me.

tofuburger
posted by The Whelk at 4:22 PM on July 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

my usual recommendation for those who do not see the ASkarz appeal is to repeatedly watch the Hundtricket shower scene

Thanks, I now realize that I'm not a fan of the hairless and glistening look. But half-nekkid ASkarz, oh yeah.

Frankly, he's kinda common and cheap looking.

And this would be a problem because...? But that link showing video of him on the towleroad site doesn't do him any favors.

Not that anyone's taking a vote or anything but this post creeped me out quite a bit less than the Real Doll one. The Real Doll thing seems a couple of steps away from necrophilia.
posted by fuse theorem at 4:33 PM on July 11, 2010

Johan Paulik was the first porn star I knew by name!
posted by Houyhnhnm at 4:34 PM on July 11, 2010

His take on Colt's bankruptcy is pretty funny:

T: What do you think of COLT being put out to pasture?

GD: Although I have certainly read of COLT's filing for bankruptcy, I have been assured by people intimate with the California porn scene that the owners themselves remain fully financially secure. As you can imagine, this is a great relief to me, as if a giant burden has been lifted from my gay shoulders. Somewhere—I think at a party—I overheard someone say that Bernie Madoff himself could take lessons from the studio's owners. But of course I have no personal knowledge of their teaching credentials. Besides, I've only been in the business for 17 years...I could hardly be expected to comment on the veracity of any such allegations. They owe Bel Ami only $80,000, and I am glad I had the opportunity to contribute to their business experiment.

Ouch. The bit about DVD sales vs. video-on-demand is interesting, too; 2/3 of his sales are from DVDs but he hopes to be online only in two years?

...aside from reminding us squares that there are gay men in the world

Can we stop this now? I'm pretty sure most queer MeFites post here because they find interesting links and want to share them with other folks here who might find them interesting, too. Assuming we post because we think "Oh, this is perfect for reminding straight boys we exist!" is really fucking weird. I'm not sure I've ever seen it in another thread about a subculture.
posted by mediareport at 4:34 PM on July 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

Has anybody ever thought it was a little odd, perhaps, that the director would name his company after a Maupassant novel in which the main character, Georges Duroy, exploits women to better his own life?

I find it kinda hard to believe that he named the company after a Maupassant novel. He probably named it that because it sounded euphonious and because he thought it would help sell more porn of blond blue-eyed hairless European dudes giving each other blow jobs over ambient music soundtracks.
posted by blucevalo at 4:50 PM on July 11, 2010

I find it kinda hard to believe that he named the company after a Maupassant novel.

Why exactly is this so hard for you to believe?
posted by Houyhnhnm at 4:55 PM on July 11, 2010

Last night I was sitting in a coffeeshop with casarkos reading the Sean Cody thread, when lo and behold, a trio of gay Ukrainians walked into the coffeeshop wearing practically nothing.

That has almost nothing to do with the merits of this post. Mostly I just wanted to go "neeeener neeeener neeeener, my life is like *this close* to a Bel Ami scene."
posted by greekphilosophy at 4:55 PM on July 11, 2010 [3 favorites]

Johan Paulik was the first porn star I knew by name!
posted by Houyhnhnm at 6:34 PM on 7/11
[+] [!]

Me too, Houyhnhnm!
posted by greekphilosophy at 4:58 PM on July 11, 2010

Dammit, The Whelk, your link to that google images search of "Bear Magazine" exposed me to a picture of Alex Corsi, and now I need to go find a mop and a cold shower. Thank goodness for parquet flooring.
posted by LMGM at 4:59 PM on July 11, 2010

...DVDs keep surprising me. For example, Taboo, we expect to sell over eight thousand units. Regular sales for new films are still around four to five thousand units for us even though I know not everybody is so fortunate...

A large porn studio sells only 8 to 4,000 copies of a DVD and he feels fortunate ?

I thought the interview was entertaining (especially his jibes at his competitors) and I'd never heard of Bel Ami before now.
posted by selton at 5:13 PM on July 11, 2010

I think it's interesting that he is filming real twins having sex, which I imagine crosses plenty of taboos, and possibly some legal boundaries as well.

It's kind of interesting to think about why incest is a taboo, in the first place. It's not like those two could have kids out of their relationship.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:14 PM on July 11, 2010

Incest is taboo? *makes a note*
posted by Short Attention Sp at 5:26 PM on July 11, 2010

It's kind of interesting to think about why incest is a taboo, in the first place. It's not like those two could have kids out of their relationship.

For two males: possibly, there might be some unease in case you are dealing with younger/older brother dynamic - the danger being that the older brother might be exploiting the younger brother by dint of having a psychological advantage. Of course here, this does not apply, these are twins. I would suppose that in the case of twins it's just spillover from the younger/older brother concern, because twins are rare enough that you don't deal with them all the time and so most people have not developed a social psychology that applies to twins.
posted by VikingSword at 5:26 PM on July 11, 2010

So, is there a specific reason why this was posted? I mean, I guess the article is interesting and all

See, you've answered your own question.

MeFi post criteria are easy: Is it online? Is it interesting? Has it not been posted before? Are you completely lacking in affiliation to it? If you said yes, start coming up with a pun for the title field!
posted by Pope Guilty at 5:36 PM on July 11, 2010 [4 favorites]

I found the interview to be surprisingly depressing - although I'll admit that maybe I shouldint be surprised. His argument in favor of barebacking is basically "everybody is doing it, HIV is rare(er) in Europe and besides, I almost went broke not doing it." Its just sad.
posted by Avenger at 6:29 PM on July 11, 2010

His argument in favor of barebacking is basically "everybody is doing it, HIV is rare(er) in Europe and besides, I almost went broke not doing it." Its just sad.

Is the sad part that this is his argument, or that he'd actually go broke because gay guys want to see barebacking in their porn?
posted by me & my monkey at 7:00 PM on July 11, 2010

he'd actually go broke because gay guys want to see barebacking in their porn

it's something that squicks me out something horrid, but I've noticed trends more and more toward extream/dangerous/heavy-fetish stuff from mainstream porn producers - mostly cause the kind of people who are really really into one specific thing will buy anything you put out, and the market for mainstream stuff is smaller and smaller. Business-wise it's kinda interesting, the only money is in dire-hard fans, it fits in with what I've heard (but to a lesser extent) about sex work now compared to say, in the 70s.
posted by The Whelk at 7:07 PM on July 11, 2010

Wait. People actually buy porn?
posted by crunchland at 7:13 PM on July 11, 2010

...which is part of the trends pushing mainstream houses like Bel Ami toward more risky behavior.
posted by The Whelk at 7:19 PM on July 11, 2010

I need to go find a mop and a cold shower. Thank goodness for parquet flooring.

I can't tell whether this is because of inadvertent vomiting or spontaneous jizzing on the floor.

I suppose it could be both.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 7:23 PM on July 11, 2010

I suppose it could be both.

That's a totally different magazine.
posted by The Whelk at 7:25 PM on July 11, 2010 [1 favorite]

I've been trying, from time to time, to figure out why I'm not squicked out by the Peters twins at all. I keep examining myself for signs of discomfort, but it's just not there (nor is any particular interest, either). But interesting that porn producers are going broke, too. Hmm.
posted by jokeefe at 7:58 PM on July 11, 2010

Is it cause mainstream porn stars look so much alike that them being twins isn't a big hurdle?

snap!
posted by The Whelk at 8:05 PM on July 11, 2010

Ooh. Also a bitchy dig at Michael Lucas in there about some of the more fetishy stuff he does on his site.

A couple years ago, I was puttering around the apartment when I heard my ex squeal in the other room. I went into the office to find him sitting there half dressed, holding his dick in one hand and covering his gaping mouth with the other hand. Apparently, he was on Lucas' site and was watching something fairly mainstream when it took a turn for the unexpected. I am confidently vanilla enough that I knew I didn't ever need to learn more. But my ex trudged on, curious about what other unexpected things he could find on there. I don't think he was disappointed.

At the same time, while I'm quite content to watch "Masterpiece Theatre: The Master Race Masturbates," I really don't like his unsubtle digs at other porn demographics.

Also: My phone keeps trying to correct "other" to "otter" and several times I've considered just letting it go.
posted by greekphilosophy at 9:59 PM on July 11, 2010

Twink porn is often about how one wishes life had been when a teenager. Imagine, uninhibited horny teenaged males, happily doing and being done by, at every opportunity. That is plenty of gay male's idea of paradise.
posted by Goofyy at 12:40 AM on July 12, 2010 [1 favorite]

Well, that and being as hairless as Mr. Bigglesworth.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 1:26 AM on July 12, 2010

Twink porn is often about how one wishes life had been when a teenager. Imagine, uninhibited horny teenaged males, happily doing and being done by, at every opportunity.

With some modifications, that's true for hetero porn, too. And it's interesting -- twin girls making out is a Jungian archtype, but twin boys making out is taboo?
posted by crunchland at 5:02 AM on July 12, 2010