IndyPleco wrote:Seconded. My theory has always been that countries with more social securities create fewer stars.
There is some truth to this. But if you look at the UK, France and Spain for example thees are all counties with high standards of living and social securities. But they unlike Scandinavian countries do in fact have a very active porn industry and produce many actresses who we see in European porn productions.
In the past things used to be very different. In fact back in the 1960ies Denmark and Sweden pretty much pioneered and laid the foundation for what would later become the porn industry as we know it today. This year it is exactly 50 years ago since Denmark as the first country in the world legalized pornographic images. Sweden followed shortly after that. But interestingly enough it would take Norway all the way until 2006 to implement the same laws. I think this if anything shows that there are some stark contrasts and polar opposite attitudes toward pornography and sexuality at work in the Scandinavian counties.
So what happened to Scandinavian porn?
Well it pretty much became irrelevant and outdated with the arrival of hardcore pornography. The style of early Scandinavian erotica was always very innocent and lighthearted at its core. Some may say that it was never really intended as actual pornography but was more an act of liberation and a challenge of old norms. With the emergence of hardcore porn in the 1970ies other counties took over the leading role as porn producers. And as hardcore porn developed and became more and more popular the Scandinavian style became increasingly irrelevant.
Sure there where some producer who tried to keep up with the times but they where never quite able to do so successfully. I think i saw some Swedish porn DVDs being released as late as 2012 or somewhere around then. And there may or may not still be some very amateur level productions going on to this date that i don't know of.
Some of the last big budget Swedish porno's where released in the early 2000s. But there was just no way for them to compete. Even if the movies had some hot babes and a few anal scenes here and there they where really nothing compared to the top movies of the same time. Swedish producers were still making silly porn parodies/comedies reminiscent of a happy past. And this is at the same point in time as the Gonzo style is emerging in full force in the rest of the world. If you would put those movies next to something that Rocco Siffredi, Perfect Gonzo or Anabolic was making at the same time they wold pale away as just embarrassing and awkward.
And most importantly the attitudes towards porn changed drastically. From being viewed as something progressive and liberating to being viewed as something harmful and oppressive towards women.