Money Shot: la storia di Pornhub

No pun intended - and obviously I am not talking about eggs, but something else (no literal or figurative speaking eggs - though some might argue that ... but let's leave this aside). The reason I chose that word was it is close to the actual word, but is not offensive - of course if you are offended by the word that some call "love making" ... you may be on the wrong imdb site and at the wrong movie for you ... well in this case not for you.

Now, since I watched this before anyone was able to write anything about it, I was not aware what this would be about. And I thought it would just be about that ... well site that has a large collection of videos and how it came about - come on, get your mind out the gutter. Although leave it there - not that the documentary is about to entice you and get you ... places you may imagine. For that visit the site or similar sites.

Now I was wrong with what I was thinking - yes the documentary does tell us how the site started out and what it became. But it does have a deep ... deep focus on the latest controversy. The one that made the site delete a lot of videos. That still does not go far enough for some. They really are quite hard on ... well the site and everyone responsible for the content.

Now we do get both sides - and the question of morality and which side you are on will probably inform how you will view certain things that are being said. It is quite difficult to draw a line - to tell who is right and who is wrong. This is not a a chicken or egg thing - which lets me circle back to my summary line - none the wiser. Though maybe a bit hot and bothered ... and with this pun, I'll come ... to the end.

A misleading title and description. I thought we would get a deep dive into the lives of performers, behind the scenes and interesting facts. Instead I got an absolute snooze fest. The majority of this documentary was spent complaining about legal battles, hurdles and legislation that changes the rules. I was not interested in the slightest. I found myself saying so what? What value do I get from watching this? Clearly there is no value for a mass audience. The only audience that might enjoy this are performers in a similar situation. Otherwise it falls flat. The doco should have been called 'Legal battles with PH' and the description clearly saying it documents the legal hurdles performers go through to upload their content. This title was deceitful. Not a good production Netflix, disappointing.

This documentary is ultimately disappointing. It doesn't do a good job of explaining the rise of Pornhub as a social phenomenon. It is also afflicted with a severe case of both side ism. What I mean by that is that it gives equal time both to the supporters and detractors of the company. And this has been, a surprisingly dangerous phenomenon in modern journalism. It suggests that if you take one extreme position and contrast it with another extreme position, the result is the truth. But in this case, it clearly can't be so. Either Pornhub did nothing wrong and their users abused the system, or Pornhub did in fact violate laws and help in the exploitation of minors. I think you can find better examinations of the Pornhub phenomenon both its advantages, and it's dangerous than this. For example, there's a great podcast series by John Ronson called the Butterfly Effect.

One of the only documentaries to show a balanced view of what happened with pornhub. I hadn't realised the widespread implications of their actions and the ripple effect it has had across the broader internet. Zooming out, these effects are truly terrifying when considering the current and developing legal and political environment.

While the documentary was successful in illustrating Pornhub as a company, I do wish that this was a short series. Having read so much about Pornhub's story, and those surrounding it's scandals, like Exodus Cry and NCOSE (previously Morality in Media), there's a lot which wasn't covered which would have completed the picture. Hopefully Netflix consider this going forward.

We all know what pornography is...or do we? The porn industry is not just boobs and butts. The actual industry is far more nuanced than that. Pornhub was able to capitalize on the selling of content via the Internet, but like a lot of companies, it forgot who was making the content and why. It allowed non-consensual content from non-performers who were not able to profit from their exposure (and likely had no intention of ever being on its' platform). All the while, actual performers were directly affected and their opinion meant very little to the company or to the religious zealots who sought to bring down the company. Again, someone forgot about who was being shown on the platform and why.