Cynical Cinema

There is actually a controversy brewing in Canada over the Canadian porn channel. Like, there isn’t already porn all over TV and the internet. Kids are just as likely to be exposed to porn now as they were before. The real controversy ought to be over whether anyone really wants to see Canadian porn. Ever. The series Webdreams makes a good case for Canadian porn being less interesting than any other kind of porn, but still profitable. After all, it’s naked women and men and it’s porn. It will make money. It costs eleven dollars to produce, and makes at least twenty-two dollars when it’s sold. Simple.

But at the same time, I really don’t understand the appeal of a show like Webdreams. It’s a show that chronicles the behind-the-scenes aspects of the adult entertainment industry, mostly here in Canada. It follows people trying to break into the adult industry. Season three follows two guys trying to get into producing gay porn, a guy who has starred in several movies but is moving on to be a director, and an internet bondage girl who wants to become more mainstream. Make the slightly bigger bucks, you see. So…what’s the audience for this show? I understand that some people are fascinated with porn. But they are simply fascinated with the porn itself, are they not? Do they really care about what happens behind the scenes? Are they really pulling for some no-name internet porn chick to make it to the big time? Am I missing something here?

It strikes me that people want to see actual porn. And as I’m sure we’re all aware, there is porn everywhere. The only people who would watch this show are the ones hoping to catch a glimpse of the actual porn in action. And since those glimpses are few and far between…why bother? I’ve just watched episode one of season three, and it made me irritated. And that’s all. This show is staggeringly boring. And the third season begins tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern on Showcase.