It's Not Porn, It's Art: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

It's got lots of naked women (or men) in suggestive poses. But it's thoroughly artistic—I swear! Therefore it can't be considered pornography, and it doesn't matter that it's [[Porn Stash|hidden under my bed]].

 

In either case, the item in question will be something very few people would consider "artistic", unless the trope is being [[Playing with a Trope|played with]]. This trope is something of an inversion of [[Moral Guardians]], who are typically presumed wrong—hence why [[Moral Guardians]] themselves often use this trope in their works. Compare [[I Read It for the Articles]].

 

* Inverted in ''[[Hana Kimi]]'', when [[Wholesome Crossdresser|Mizuki]] buys an illustrated book that contains some nude photos. She doesn't want to show it to Sano, claiming she doesn't want him to look at porn, though in this case it really ''is'' art.

* In ''[[Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai]]'', Sena is caught playing an [[Eroge]] called [[The Sacred Blacksmith|The Sacred]] [[Bland-Name Product|Blackstar]]. She insists that it's art, so Yozora makes her read the dialogue of [["Glad to Be Alive" Sex|the last scene]] out loud.

** "[[Light Bulb Joke|How many Greeks does it take to screw in a vase?]]"

** Not coincidental that "pornography" is from a Greek term meaning "depictions of prostitutes."

* This is a common topic of discussion of [[Deviant ART]]. The webpage allows frontal nudity (since it is considered art) but nothing that seems porn/hentai (example: someone grabbing a naked woman's boob). This leads to some conflict, because some "artists" upload pictures or their model/girlfriend/themselves with their legs opened in a less-than-subtle way;<ref>leading to phrases like "I am no gynecologist, so how come I am always looking at pussy here?"</ref> whereas more artistic drawings/photos are rejected because they show person-to-person contact.

* By simply being old, pornography can lapse into art. Ancient pornographic material such as illustrated Kama Sutras, and Japanese booklets are now on display in museums as historical artifacts.

** Quite a few artists from around the 19th century ran into this problem, I think-at the very least Thomas Eakins got into trouble for this(and a variety of other indiscretions). Sort of what happens when you get the right combination of prudery, the dawn of public art exhibitions, and artist not being dead enough to get away with nudes.

* Likewise, photos of nude women were considered art during photography's heyday as a serious art form, as photography was a recent invention at the time and widely considered a luxury few could afford to maintain. In particular, posing prepubescent girls for nude photos was in vogue when [[Lewis Carroll|a certain well-known mathematician and writer of nonsense children's literature]] decided to get in on the photography craze. Unfortunately, [[Values Dissonance]] and a lack of cultural context led some independent biographers to believe he had an unhealthy interest in young girls.

 

 

* A really weird version happens in "Scarecrow: Year One." Jonathan Crane is about thirteen years old, and at dinner his ''very'' religious grandmother remarks that she looked under his bed, and the terrified and embarrassed look on little Crane's face makes the reader pretty certain Gran found a Playboy - but then she pulls out an anthology of James Joyce short stories. She proceeds to [[Poor Man's Porn|accuse him of masturbating to it]] and punishes him harshly, as though it really were porn, while little Crane protests, "It's literature, Gran!" May actually be something to that accusation, as Joyce's Letters to Nora were... [http://everything2.com/title/James+Joyce%2527s+love+letters+to+Nora+Barnacle impressive].

* When [[Green Lantern|Kyle Rayner]] and [[Wonder Woman|Donna Troy]] broke up, it was for a variety of different reasons. But the thing that kicked it off was Donna Troy walking in on Kyle sketching a topless woman in his apartment and not appreciating his defense of, "But I'm an artist! It's what I do!"

 

 

* High school students in the third ''Porky's'' attempt this on the Principal when caught misusing the Audio-Visual Club's equipment to view a stag film. They insist the film cannot be judged without viewing it in its entirety. While the gym teacher isn't buying it one bit, the principal is more than eager to screen it.

* ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076749/ Spielen wir Liebe]'', possibly the most controversial film of all time, features full frontal nudity and simulated sex between underage participants. The boy and the two girls featured were fourteen and twelve respectively when they made this film. Its defenders have tried—unsuccessfully—to make this argument with the courts in Germany and the Netherlands, where it is now banned as child pornography and the company that released it on DVD has been forced to recall every copy it could. (This has not stopped rips of it—for better or for worse—from remaining available on the internet.)

* [[Nightwatching]] is allegedly about Rembrandt's angst whilst painting his most famous work. Being a painter, this manifests as an awful lot of sex, drinking, sex, swearing and sex. And sitting around naked.

* Happened a lot in Bravo's [[Reality Show]] ''Work of Art'', about finding the next great artist. Taken to new heights when one contestant actually came on his artwork [[Fetish Fuel|(the piece was about the time when he came at a Disney movie).]]

 

== Literature ==

* Used as an excuse by the [[Anti-Hero]] in Eric Ambler's novel ''The Light of Day''. At one point in his life, he published illegal pornography of no literary value in several European countries and got prosecuted for it. When questioned about this by the Turkish police, he engages in sophistry and references the previous banning of works like ''[[Lady Chatterley's Lover]]'' (which had just been allowed to be published in England at the time Ambler's novel was written).

* In [[Kurt Vonnegut]]'s ''[[God Bless You Mr Rosewater|God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater]]'', conservative Senator Rosewater is quite proud that he created a law that defines what is obscene and not art. If it has pubic hair, it's pornography. (Note that this was before the modern custom of porn stars [[Loophole Abuse|shaving off their pubic hair]]).

{{quote|"So, you claim this film expresses an environmentalist theme?"

"Yes. The woman feels ''very passionately'' about the zucchini." }}

* [[William S. Burroughs]] makes a sly nod this trope in his book [[Naked Lunch]] (which was itself on trial for being pornographic, but later found to have redeeming merit) with the character of The Great Slashtubitch, an "impresario of blue movies and short-wave TV" who takes pornography ''very'' seriously as an art form. Disgusted by "counterfeit orgasm", he thinks it takes "sincerity and art, and devotion" for actors to work in his films in lieu of "shoddy trickery" like "dubbed gasps, rubber turds and vials of milk concealed in the ear and shots of yohimbine sneaked in the wings". Slashtubitch appears again in Burroughs' later book [[The Wild Boys]], spelled Slastobitch and elaborates upon his position.

{{quote|'''Slastobitch:''' The new look in blue movies stresses story and character. This is the space age and sex movies must express the longing to escape from flesh through sex. The way in is the way through . . . The scene where Johnny has crabs and mark makes him undress . . . Who are these boys? Where will they go? They will become astronauts playing the part of the American married idiots until the moment they take off on a Gemini expedition bound for Mars disconnect and lave the earth behind forever . . .}}

 

 

* ''[[30 Rock]]'': in the episode "Cougars", Frank's poorly rendered painting of a mermaid had to have the breasts covered for Standards, yet the outside of 30 Rockefeller Center is covered with carvings of topless women which are shown every week in the title sequence.

* ''[[Boston Legal]]'' has a university professor accused of soliciting prostitution under the guise of "research". He had made a video of himself with the prostitute that the prosecution is going to use as evidence. But, taking advantage of the odd American legal rule, his own lawyers argue that he actually ''was'' creating pornography and was therefore protected under the First Amendment. If it's porn, it's not prostitution and therefore not a crime!

 

== Music ==

 

 

{{quote|These striking depictions of the EXQUISITE FAUNA native to Alternia remind you of the PUREST PHYSICAL IDEAL that must be sought by anyone who professes a LOVE OF STRENGTH. When those of lesser bloodlines turn up their uncultured noses at such stunning material, it MAKES YOU FURIOUS.}}

:: The other trolls seem to consider the portraits to be fine art as well, possibly because [[Bizarre Alien Reproduction|trolls don't reproduce that way]]. To them, it's about as pornographic as a flower.

* In a non-canon ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' comic, Susan catches Sarah looking at nude photos, but Sarah assures her that it's only for art reference.

* Dave Kelly's webcomic from 2000, simply entitled ''[http://smut.comicgenesis.com/d/20010228.html Smut]'', was nothing but drawings of strange cartoon characters having sex while saying strange things. It's still unknown whether or not it was meant to parody this trope or is playing it very straight.

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Art Tropes]]