Porn used to excite the way horror scared, as much by suggestion as by display.
The movie will be out soon but here’s a look at Gretchen Mol, as Bettie Page, tying up a blonde, gagging her, spanking her and then bundling her into the back of a car.
Watching it (it’s cute and nudity free) made me think three things:
- One reason old porn is seen as fun, quaint and acceptable is that it requires more imagination to enjoy. Porn used to excite the way horror scared, as much by suggestion as by display. It’s sad that’s been forgotten excepting pastiches of the 1950’s too pointless to talk about.
- Bettie wasn’t nearly as well put together as Gretchen Mol and was smart enough to know that being a thirty-something sex-icon is easier in supportive underwear.
- I wonder if ‘The Notorious Bettie Page’ will mark the start of more sex-positive films in the American mainstream, or predictably give equal weight to the darker parts of Bettie’s life and produce yet another sex-based morality tale?
Popularity: 36% [?]
I think we will see a lot on the dark end of Page’s life, but I don’t think it will be a sex based morality tale. I just hope it is a fairly honest examination of all aspects of her in that era.
PS: Hey! This text is grey
There is an interview with the director and Gretchen Moll in the recent issue of BUST. From what I read the movie is focused on her time as a model before she left it for the church. They don’t touch on the darker aspects. I think between this movie and the E Story there won’t be much on her darker side. I don’t think people who would want to tell a morality tale will use her that way or that she would let herself be used that way. She avoids the potligth, hoping people remeber her like she was. She can’t be feeling guilt or shame if she says that or accepts the friendhsip of Mr. Hefner.
Bust magazine’s great. The movie looks pretty fluffy – it must be pretty fantastic, Bettie was no Gretchen Mol. It’s a bit like Brad Pitt as Hugh Hefner or Angelina Jolie as Nancy Reagan. I’d like to see ‘The Sharon Mitchell Story’ with Natalie Portman in the lead. Actually I’d like to see Natalie on a lead at the foot of my bed. What were we talking about again?
She might not have been a Gretchen Mol, but there is no doubting that she had a special quality. She is the James Dean of the porn world. Now that she is past her “toubles” she clearly knows it. Even if there are a couple of pictures of the septuagenarian Page running around (and quite well preseved still), she remains frozen in time.
If you scroll down partway on this page http://accstudios.com/f/accproduct.htm you will see her as a near aryan fantasy warrior queen (the rest of the prodcuts the company offers are just as “special”).
I expect the movie itself to take a fairly neutral tone. What I wonder is what the societal reaction will be to it – i mean whoever expected the wacko right to sieze on a bunch of penguins?
Aside: what *is* it about Natalie Portman? I sometimes feel like the only man in LA that appreciates curves…
Portman? Speaks five languages, great eyes and a real sense of humor. Okay – I need some Sam time now.