Analysis Of Stiffed: Betrayal Of The American Man

As describes in the reading “Waiting for Wood.” Stiffed: Betrayal of the American Man by Susan Faludi and in the film “Boogie Nights” we see that the porn industry has changed in many ways. Faludi talks about the evolution of men in the business (the three generations), the accessibility of porn footage (VCR), and porn as a franchise (income generating). According to Faludy, the ability to consume porn in the privacy of the home changes the tone of the movies and culture of the industry by creating the “consumer porn” and the “user friendly porn”. The ability to consume porn in private made the industry explode. It expanded to CD-ROMs, was accessible in hotels, and could be seen on cable. In terms of the corporate culture, having private
It puts into perspective Faludi’s point about how many thousands the industry produces and why it has expanded. In Faludi’s analysis, we read that women are often times more crucial to the industry then men, Boogie Nights -on the contrary- stressed a lot of importance on the men and their genitals. Jointly, both do focus on the concept of the “Money Shot”. We see a scene in Boogie Nights were Dirk Diggler is desperately trying to get “hard” to perform and the pressure that he feels in order to be successful. Faludi explains that the porn industry is literally about masculine prowess and their ability to perform (exploitation of men). Although we do see this in the movie, we clearly see that the women in the film have a specific body figure. Most are skinny and attractive looking bodies. Faludi fails to explain the possible pressure on women in this industry to look a certain way. The exploitation is not necessarily just on men.
Boogie Nights and the Faludi reading both taught me a lot about the porn industry. We see an evolution in term of technology, film directing, financial stability, and consumer culture. Seeing aspects of the Faludi reading in video helped me better understand and disagree with some of the points