Source: Adult Industry News
By: Rich Moreland
Jacky St. James: A Fearless Journey -By Rich Moreland
In an earlier column I commented on an emerging subgenre in adult film I identified as “submission pornography.” It’s the industry’s response to the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon. Bondage films are nothing new; they’ve been around since the old stag days. In the 1980s and 1990s, Bruce Seven, Fred Lincoln, Ernest Greene and others brought the genre into mainstream porn. Lots of tied up women mildly disciplined was the standard.
Submission porn adds a romantic and consensual flavor to traditional bondage and does it with a storyline. There’s a creative element that escorts BDSM sex past its gonzo component often seen on the Kink.com and the Intersec websites. Think of it as a crossroads where Kink meets New Sensations. They strike a deal to combine the best of couple’s porn with hard hitting BDSM.
Wondering how much care goes into authenticating BDSM in a mainstream film, I asked the writer and co-director of the Submission of Emma Marx, Jacky St. James, how she constructed Emma’s character.
Jacky emphasized what mattered most in her mind.
Unfamiliar with the nuances of the BDSM community, Jacky visited kinkster message boards. She discovered that hard edged BDSM films lean toward violence, at least from her perspective, in portraying the sexual play bondage enthusiasts love so much. Seeking an alternative direction, Jacky decided to capture “The psychological aspects of the lifestyle.” Simply put, she wanted to show the audience why lovers choose a means of mutual affection that can bring misunderstandings and condemnations from others.
“Kinky somehow implies that it’s different from the norm or not standard practice,” Jacky said. “All sex should be normal provided it’s legal and between consenting adults.”
Casting Penny Pax, a seasoned bondage model, as Emma was Jacky’s coup. On the set, Jacky, who is a trained actress, worked closely with Penny to get her “To go to those dark emotional places” necessary to develop Emma’s character. Their collaboration created a tightly presented story with highly dramatic overtones.
The script was designed to get Penny through “those powerful moments” a BDSM education can bring. Jacky presents Emma’s growth in three sex scenes that spotlight the diminutive performer’s talents. The first entails Emma acknowledging what surrender means; the second is her “exploration” into BDSM; and, the third is Emma’s sexual freedom wrapped around BDSM submission. It completes the seemingly contradictory liberation of a bondage relationship.
Crucial to Emma’s journey is her anal scene. Jacky explores it from a woman-friendly point of view, albeit in a BDSM atmosphere. Filming a “violent, rough” act that focused on the “crazy, insane thrusting” so common in gonzo, was off the table, she said. To be “less intimidating and more connected,” Jacky formulated a “romantic anal” encounter between Emma and her lover. It works because Emma must be slowly introduced to something she originally doesn’t want.
Jacky gave Penny the freedom to decide what she was game to do. Penny Pax, who has shot at Kink.com, is a pro who doesn’t disappoint. She “Was gung-ho about some of the more painful montage scenes we shot,” Jacky recalled, referencing the clothespins on Penny’s breasts as an example.
Emma Marx is a classic in submission porn because it moves beyond Fifty Shades’ “weak female protagonist,” as Jacky described the novel’s Anastasia Steele, who is consumed with “winning over the heart of a man as opposed to a fearless journey into the depths of her own sexuality.”
“Emma begins as this insecure, uncertain young woman who is just beginning to own her sexuality,” Jacky said, before moving to levels of confidence and trust in her new found fetish and the man who guides her.
Of course, Jacky’s timing is perfect. She explained that Fifty Shades is “mainstreaming BDSM.” Women previously confined by vanilla definitions of sex are going to adult shops and attending Tupperware type parties to buy sex toys like kegel eggs, ball gags, and floggers. They are taking their sex lives in new directions that swirl around once “taboo” subjects.
Pornographers take heed of Jacky St. James’ innovative approach. Today’s women are cultivating the demand for submission porn, a film adventure they can relish with their lovers.
