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From the evidence, it would seem that society is downright masochistic. Pamela Anderson's and Tommy Lee's homemade video of their lovemaking became the best-selling porn tape of all time, with more than 200,000 copies sold. After the success of Boogie Nights and The People vs. Larry Flynt, a rash of producers--even Ron Howard--tried to put together movies about the porn industry. Next month Orgazmo, a porn-industry spoof by South Park co-creator Trey Parker, will be released, with a sizable part for fat, hirsute porn star Ron Jeremy. Jeremy, easily the most recognizable figure in adult filmdom, exploits his fame better than anyone, branding his fat, hirsute face on cigars, beer, Porn-Star brand T shirts, and, of course, a sex toy based on his anatomy.
Though all this may recall the porn chic of the '70s that sent well-dressed couples into art houses to see Deep Throat, the current trend is without the self-aware camp of the earlier one. The porn stars going mainstream are doing it slowly, in cameos or roles in small independent films, without the freak-show p.r. that trumpeted Traci Lords. Nina Hartley, a porn performer for 14 years, says people are "not using pornography to say how hip they are; they're using it to improve their sex life." Or more likely, as a substitute for one.
Actor-director Brad Armstrong--the only porn star to ever change his name to Brad from Rod--says the trend will continue because "in mainstream you're seeing a lot more nude stuff and a lot more sexually explicit films. That's piqued some interest." And Candida Royalle, a '70s porn star who makes female-oriented erotica through her company, Femme Productions, says advertising, movies and TV have made porn seem less shocking: "If people are going to have sex thrown in their face, then they want the real thing too."
Or the really scary thing. As the four major adult-film companies--Vivid, VCA, Wicked and the NASDAQ-traded Metro--focus on couple-friendly, cable-ready fare, tape rentals and sales are booming for gonzo films, often shot in Eastern Europe and far rawer than anything seen before. Black, who rules in the shock department, sends his mother copies of his movies with the sex scenes edited out. Even then, she says, "I have gotten after him for the things that he's done in some of these movies. I said, 'Rob, I don't want to see any more movies with pregnant women in them. That's so tacky.' He said, 'O.K., Mom. O.K.'"