Money Shot The Pornhub Story is a brand-new documentary that has been released on Netflix. Directed by Suzanne Hillinger, the show follows the story of Pornhub, the adult entertainment site’s evolution and illicit ways to become one of the most successful internet websites. The audience receives an exclusive interview with the former employees and explores how the pornography streaming site changed their lives completely.
With a runtime of approximately 94 minutes, the docufilm is produced by Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions.
-Money Shot The Pornhub Story Review Contains No Spoilers-
Explicit sexual content, or simply put, porn, has become a hot topic currently surrounding multiple crimes that it has been accused of insinuating. Heartbreaking stories of helpless victims being subjected to sexual crimes and having to relive their trauma continuously due to the incompetence of a website are hard to digest. And it is even more disappointing to witness a documentary showcasing very little about those stories.
Yes, it is extremely essential to view both sides of the coin. The docufilm showed, in a detailed process, how attacking the company can affect the employees more than the owners. Devoid of options, the employees are left with nowhere to turn to. Since the companies associated with Pornhub, like, Visa and MasterCard, are executing extensive laws to prevent themselves from associating with any crimes is one of the leading causes of adult performers’ unemployment. Adult entertainment sites like Onlyfans are also forced to take strict actions following the financial service sites’ new rules and regulations.
However, it is impossible to ignore how little is shown about the actual victims. Children have been exposed to an online community of faceless users who watched them in vulnerable situations for pleasure. Videos of women who have been sexually assaulted were uploaded and stayed there for years, and they received no help from either the company or the authorities. Reducing those factual accounts to “sad stories” and suggesting that they do not exist within the industry is utterly ignorant.
Constantly a picture was trying to be painted by the interviewees and explain how welcoming and safe the porn industry is when the facts prove otherwise. Putting the narratives of the victims on the back burner and mostly showcasing the point of view of the adult entertainers felt one-sided and biased. Moreover, the performers/ex-employees were not able to convey the entire truth due to their hands being tied for legal reasons.
It was upsetting, to say the least, how only a snippet of one victim’s story was told. A laundry list of the crimes that Pornhub was accused of was recited without providing any background information. The creators failed to delve deep into the actual problem and provide us with details about those allegations. Anti-Pornhub activist Laila Mickelwait was constantly brought up throughout the documentary, but there was no interview with her. She is one of the big players, the catalyst that started the movement, and her involvement should have been crucial.
Public outrage was also talked about vaguely, and how it “added fuel to the fire”. It continuously indicated that the attack against Pornhub was an attack towards the industry. The ones leading the movement did not care about the victims in the slightest, and the most at loss were the entertainers. 3/4th of the film mostly viewed the negatives of taking down Pornhub and how it will affect the free society, including a woman’s sexuality.
Needless demonstrations of the adult entertainers’ work process were shown with explicit imaging. Additionally, the “changes” brought in adult movies are also viewed, which contain heavy discussions about consent and safe sex. But the exclusion of the important details about the class action cases filed against the sites and the trauma that the victims had to endure was not the right approach.
Going into the docufilm, I expected to see some extraordinary revelations that could actually help the general public form opinions of their own. It is necessary for a docufilm to contain information on most, if not every, aspect of a situation. But the creators omitted monumental details about the case, which was an absolute letdown.
Money Shot The Pornhub Story Review: Final Thoughts
The 90-minute documentary talks a lot about the porn industry, from its history to its current status. However, it fails to include important facets of the major topic behind the creation of the docufilm. It is one-sided and mostly showcases a biased opinion about a grave issue where hundreds of victims are suffering to date. Nevertheless, it is informative to an extent and can be watched with an open mind, provided the audience does some research of their own.
Money Shot: The Pornhub Story is now streaming on Netflix. Did you watch the docufilm yet? What are your thoughts on it? Let us know in the comments below!
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