THE SEX WORKERS ART SHOW
came to the Ann Arbor Film Festival last night for what was said to be its final performance. This is the brainchild of one Annie Oakley. I arrived late (due to watching one of the festival entries) and left early (due to boredom).
I salute the people who work in the sex industry and I salute the perceptive, creative artists among them--especially the many talented suicide girls. But the idea that just because someone works in the sex industry their "art" is worth seeing is a little preposterous.
Perhaps it's because I was suckered in with the implied promise of titillation that I was so disappointed, so maybe the joke's on me. But in the hour I was there this is what I saw on stage, in descending order of appeal:
-A longwinded but often funny, and very comically delivered, memoir from a stripper.
-A short burlesque/strip number from a diminutive but energetic dancer who started out as a nun, became a schoolboy, and then showed her true self.
-Oakley's memoirs of being an anti-porn feminist teenage runaway (mildly entertaining, but way too long and self-indulgent)..
-A long rap and song from a self-proclaimed hip-hop artist, female-to-male transgendered Hispanic American prostitute, of the fuck-Bush-fuck-the-system / let's-form-self--sustaining-communitie-of-indigenous-and-poor-people variety. Very popular in PC Ann Arbor.. Nothing that hasn't been said a million times before.
-Three wretchedly amateurish love songs performed with accordion and xylophone by a grossly overweight phone sex operator with one artificial leg, and a recreation of one of her phone calls (a not very creative one).
-A few other short skits that went nowhere.
The most excitement I had was stealing glances behind me at the patterned-stockinged-legs of what appeared to be one of the sex workers...but whom I eventually determined was a man in drag. S/he was the most interesting revelation of the night.
I'm not surprised that sex workers vary in performance talent, creative, and chutzpah--just like everyone else. But, hey, if you're gonna put on a show, don't think the very fact that you work in the sex industry is enough to make it entertaining.
came to the Ann Arbor Film Festival last night for what was said to be its final performance. This is the brainchild of one Annie Oakley. I arrived late (due to watching one of the festival entries) and left early (due to boredom).
I salute the people who work in the sex industry and I salute the perceptive, creative artists among them--especially the many talented suicide girls. But the idea that just because someone works in the sex industry their "art" is worth seeing is a little preposterous.
Perhaps it's because I was suckered in with the implied promise of titillation that I was so disappointed, so maybe the joke's on me. But in the hour I was there this is what I saw on stage, in descending order of appeal:
-A longwinded but often funny, and very comically delivered, memoir from a stripper.
-A short burlesque/strip number from a diminutive but energetic dancer who started out as a nun, became a schoolboy, and then showed her true self.
-Oakley's memoirs of being an anti-porn feminist teenage runaway (mildly entertaining, but way too long and self-indulgent)..
-A long rap and song from a self-proclaimed hip-hop artist, female-to-male transgendered Hispanic American prostitute, of the fuck-Bush-fuck-the-system / let's-form-self--sustaining-communitie-of-indigenous-and-poor-people variety. Very popular in PC Ann Arbor.. Nothing that hasn't been said a million times before.
-Three wretchedly amateurish love songs performed with accordion and xylophone by a grossly overweight phone sex operator with one artificial leg, and a recreation of one of her phone calls (a not very creative one).
-A few other short skits that went nowhere.
The most excitement I had was stealing glances behind me at the patterned-stockinged-legs of what appeared to be one of the sex workers...but whom I eventually determined was a man in drag. S/he was the most interesting revelation of the night.
I'm not surprised that sex workers vary in performance talent, creative, and chutzpah--just like everyone else. But, hey, if you're gonna put on a show, don't think the very fact that you work in the sex industry is enough to make it entertaining.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
alyk:
I think the fact that they work in the sex industry wouldn't make their art more interesting...As a housewife, I don't think my everyday life is that different from a sex workers...It's work to have sex with my husband and he pays me for it...It doesn't make me anymore interesting and my drawing instructor will attest to the fact that it also doesn't make me very creative...
marieceleste:
