Whenever a porn actor is in the news, the media always refer to a porn “star.” You wold think there are no actors, only stars. Are all these people really stars and I just don’t watch enough porn to know them, or is this some sort of tongue-in-cheek hyperbole?
Its self-promotion within a fairly small industry
It’s not actually all that inaccurate to call them stars, since porn movies don’t typically have large casts and each scene usually doesn’t have more than two or three performers. It’s not like there’s any “supporting roles” in porn, pretty much every performer is the main subject of their particular scene. Basically if you’ve been in a porn movie, you’ve starred in a porn movie, and if you’ve starred in a porn movie, you’re a porn star.
Stanislavski supposedly said, “There are no small parts, only small actors.” Except in porn. In porn, they all have monster cocks. That’s what makes them stars.
Are the male actors also referred to as porn stars?
Questions on show biz go in Cafe Society.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I beg to differ. The female people in porn only occasionally have monster cocks.
You know what? That seems like a total legit loophole they have taken advantage of. There are supporting roles though. Sometimes all a guy does is hand over the motel keys. Or so I’ve heard.
I’ve seen plenty of (badly written) articles refer to mainstream actors as “movie stars” almost exclusively. This isn’t a trope unique to the porn industry.
There are plenty, in which the lady is supported in the air, sometimes upside down even, by the male while he pounds away.
You’ve got it backwards - it’s because no-one wants to compliment them by referring to them as actors.
“pornstar” sounds like “rockstar”
“pornstar” is easier to say and doesn’t make you giggle like when you say “porn actress”
“pornstar” has evolved into its own descriptor. If a person is in porn but has crossed-over enough to warrant reference in mainstream media, go with pornstar.
Same thing happened with supermodel. And rockstar, for that matter, although that has gotten even more diluted and applied as an adjective - rockstar chef, rockstar entrepreneur, etc.
Inflation over time and not restricted to porn.
Remember when there were about about 5 supermodels in the world, and about the same number of celebrity chefs?
But nobody would ever call that guy a porn star, thats just a guy who had a bit part in a porn movie.
The only people who get called porn stars are the people having the sex. The people fucking are the stars of the porn movie. They are pornstars.
Never considered stars, but unsung heroes. I mean, if nobody made the pizzas, none of the rest would ever happen.
I read somewhere that male porn “stars” get paid more on the grounds that it’s harder for them to perform. In these days, with chemical assistance being available, is that still true and are we likely to see an equality claim anytime soon?
That’s never been true. Male porn stars are little more than props, and paid accordingly. Not to mention there’s no shortage of guys willing to take the part. “Known” male stars get more, but run-of-the-mill stunt dicks get paid about the same as the crew.
Yeah - I guess a little research…
National Lampoon once had a cartoon which showed an orgy scene, with an arrow pointing at an anonymous female derriere, and the caption, “As Ethel aged, she no longer commanded star billing, and was relegated to character roles”.
Stanislavski said that?