Saturday, October 17, 2009

Day 9: COLLEGE BOYS LIVE

The film's title and the publicity stills are just the beginning. Wait till you watch the stories of these young men on screen as they sometimes verge on being a Jerry Springer episode on webcam. I love that the audience would get more than what they expected from this film when they bought their tickets. At least, that's what I'm hoping for.

19 comments:

Stefan said...

Love the Jerry Springer reference, lol. Ahem, yes, I can see that.

This film was very informative I thought. I was just taking it all in...

I can't help but feel for some of these guys, especially the one whose father abandoned him. They're almost lost boys...

My feelings towards websites like that are pretty much neutral. Like, if you wanna do that, fine with me. Though I would love to star in a film, I would never have the guts to be on camera all the time!

Unknown said...

My ONLY choice in movies this festival that I could have lived without. Oh well...just not my thing, although it was interesting to see the "business side" of this arrangement. I can't believe these two owners were necessarily getting rich off this idea... even with a $20,000 a month income, after you deduct the mortgage, taxes, FOOD for all these hungry bums. Seemed like much more aggrivation and headaches than it would be worth, to me.

Woody said...

I have to say I'm very glad I went to this film. I had originally thought of skipping it, since the "porn" aspect of it was not particularly appealing to me. Had I not had a festival pass, it would not have been in my ticket selection.

This is one film that not only challenged my opinions, but changed them. I'm grateful that the documentary was made available to us, and hope ImageOut continues to bring such films to us in the future.

This movie changed my view of cam sites, or at least this one site in particular. The focus was clearly less on porn, and more on the types of guys that were pulled in (in some cases literally off the streets) to "work" there.

The fact that the owners actively pushed the guys to get jobs or go back to school is not something to be overlooked. They could easily have just exploited the "boys" for their bodies, and then summarily voted them off the island when they weren't drawing in revenue. Instead it seems they were almost more focused on getting the guys to become self-reliant, building self-confidence and helping them build a strong base for their inevitable move out. It was clearly not a pure porn/profit motive, as most would assume.

Honestly, having seen the movie I almost find their business appealing now, where before I would have sluffed it off as a pay-for-porn site. Knowing that a chunk of the funding is going toward taking young gay men off the street and giving them a shot at a brighter future is almost enough to make me consider donating to them.

Personally, I wish there had been such a thing when I was young. Given my situation growing up, it certainly would have made my life a lot easier, and probably would have prevented many negative things that happened to me in my youth.

The fact that the owners fell they have to sell memberships with the allure of porn (vs being a charity) is more of a statement about the lack of commitment of the gay community to it's own youth than it is a point of judgment against the operators. The movie itself being touted salaciously in the guide (both sexually and on drama content) is a bitter irony not lost on me.

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment:
OMG. Just like those porn flicks where they interview the "stars" ... boring.

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment from D.F.:
Complete and total dreck. One of the worst films I've ever seen at ImageOut. I had very low expectation going in. I could not believe that the film couldn't even meet the very low expectations.

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment:
Losers live. Painful.

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment:
Just wasn't what it could have been. Shows how kids think these days.

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment:
Even train wrecks can be interesting.

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment:
Hmmm.

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment:
Train wreck and a half! LOL

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment:
Good, but wow. Train wreck city!

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment from C.R.:
Who would have thought a house full of gay boys would have so much drama? :)

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment:
Disturbing, but good.

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment:
- a fair presentation of the general life of a webcam boy
- a very honest and realistic glimpse into the reality of boys from different home situations and sad cases

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment:
Great film - brought out many different emotions from laughter to tears.

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment from B.B.:
Interesting and sad.

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment:
Very insightful.

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment:
Interesting. But really felt sorry for JC.

Anonymous said...

Ballot comment from A.L.:
Good to see - need more follow up of the narcissistic effect on the boys.