Anytime someone says something to us about gonzo pornography, we smile and nod along with them but secretly picture Gonzo the Great because we’re immature and constantly think about the secret lives of Muppets. Enough is enough! We’re finally buckling down, putting our faces in some books, and figuring out exactly what gonzo pornography is. No more faking it for us!
What’s in a Name?
First thing’s first, we need to figure out what’s up with that G-word. If you’re a Hunter S. Thompson fan, you already know that “gonzo” is part of “gonzo journalism,” which was Thompson’s signature style. Although no one is 100% sure why Thompson chose that term or where exactly he borrowed it from, the voice that comes from gonzo journalism is widely known: it’s reporting and writing done without the (claims of) objectivity and distance that characterize most professional journalism. The reporter becomes her own subject, and her thoughts and emotions help illustrate the scene.
So how does that translate in porn? Gonzo pornography is designed to place you, the viewer, in the scene as much as possible. In many ways, it’s professional porn’s first answer to the simplicity of amateur porn: no sets, no fancy lighting, no scripts, it’s just a person with a camera getting all up in some body’s business and delivering a buttload of close-up shots. In some ways, it’s easier to say what gonzo isn’t than what it is. It’s not reality porn like “Girls Gone Wild,” it’s not feature porn that’s centered around plot, it doesn’t come with many costumes, it’s not aimed at couples, and it’s most certainly not softcore. At least, these are the traditional trappings of gonzo pornography. It’s an ever-changing genre!
[Above: Veruca James provides the world with a great deal of "Jerkoff Material 9"]
The Buttman Cometh
No discussion of gonzo pornography would be complete without mention of the man who’s credited with inventing it: John “Buttman” Stagliano. This Chicagoan auteur started a little pornographic newsprint publication called “Evil Angel” back in 1982, but he didn’t make his first film until 1983 and didn’t develop his idea of gonzo until 1989. As he once told Luke Ford, the idea came to him while watching a scene with Tracey Adams in which she was on her hands and knees with her ass high in the air. “The shot only lasted a couple of seconds,” says Stagliano, “but I knew then what I wanted to do.” He took his passion for posteriors and used it to transform himself into Buttman, righteous defender of rears, and dedicated his life (and now over eighty films) to cutting out the middlemen between your eyes and beautiful butts. Some say that the idea of gonzo had been floating around before Stagliano staked his claim, but even if he’s not the inventor of the genre, Stagliano is, “the Henry Ford of gonzo–he created a character and made the genre his own.”
We’d like to note that even the father of gonzo likes to debate what is and isn’t gonzo, as is exemplified in this interview he did with Roger T. Pipe:
People who say that gonzo has no story aren’t looking at my movies. They aren’t looking at what I slaved over editing the beginnings of these scenes. I try to build up anticipation and eroticism to start a scene. I’ve shot a few “Buttman” scenes where I’m just talking to the girl and then the starts start, but most of my “Buttman” scenes start outside, or there is something weird going on. That is a story. It’s not a conventional story, it’s not people saying lines from a script, but it is a story.
[Above: Buttman can't help but reach out a hand and touch Melody Jordan during "Stretch Class 14"]
Where is Gonzo Going?
It’s been said that there are only two genres in pornography: there are feature films with plot and then there’s and gonzo stuff. If that seems like too broad of a definition for gonzo, you’re probably right, but such is the way the porn industry progresses. Everything expands, lines blur, and you can see the industry respond in the way it constantly creates new categories for awards. Gonzo films weren’t represented at the AVN Awards until 1994, and the award for Best Gonzo Series showed up a year after.
The old-school “Buttman” films in which Stagliano holds the camera, directs the stars, and includes himself in the action from time to time are still definitely gonzo, but we now tend to think of that specific execution as POV porn. Keep in mind that POV porn is always technically gonzo, but gonzo is not always POV.
For another example of the evolution of gonzo, we look to Tristan Taormino and her “Chemistry” series. She takes a group of friendly performers, puts them in the same house for thirty-six hours or so, and lets them have as much sex as they possibly can, all the while encouraging them to take hold of the camera to catch close-up shots, exciting angles, sex scenes they’re not participating in, and even intimate discussions between the stars about the banging they’re doing. As a side note, we recall hearing Taormino talk about this genre at Barnard University in 2002, and she said something to the effect of, “Oh, you can see the boom in the shot? Call it gonzo then.”
This year’s recipient of AVN’s Best Gonzo Release was “Bobbi Violates San Francisco,” in which Bobbi Starr visits the land where she was reared and fucks the bejesus out of a bunch of local pornstars. She isn’t always part of the action, but her presence is always felt, and more often than not, her performers can’t help but stick their tongues in her asshole. What makes this gonzo? A number of things, but we think the most important facet of the film–the thing that keeps this and all other gonzo movies tethered to the term–is the emphasis on authenticity and intensity. People are always arguing about how real porn is or isn’t, whether or not certain orgasms are faked, if the positions displayed are comfortable let alone sexually stimulating, and other nitpicky points, but gonzo doesn’t care about any of that; gonzo performers are too busy fucking to worry about fucking. In our opinion, Hunter S. Thompson’s most famous definition of gonzo gives us the best way to describe what these people do: they make the best damn porn they possibly can with “total commitment, total concentration, and a mad sort of panache.”
[Above: Part of the series that won AVN's Best Gonzo Series of 2011, "Slutty And Sluttier 17." All clips courtesy of AEBN Porn Pay Per View Network and Video On Demand (theater.aebn.net)]
[At top: a behind-the-scenes photo from "Godfather: A Dreamzone Parody," which is most certainly not a gonzo film, but we don't care because the picture looks nice. Oh, and the picture is by Jeff Koga (kogafoto.com)]
