Created by model, actress and filmmaker Isabella Rossellini in 2008, the series of short films Green Porno aims to discuss the sexual behavior of animals through comic staging. Green Porno grew out of Isabella Rossellini's contact with Robert Redford and his Sundance Channel.
Robert Redford
According to her: “When Robert Redford, founder of Sundance, had the idea of short environmental films for the Internet, I knew it was a unique opportunity . I particularly love short silent films (George Melies, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton), and the idea that this classic format could be adapted to the Internet where shorts are so popular was appealing”.
Fig.1. 'Lobster'
Scandalous Aspects
So, the Sundance Channel set aside a budget for Rossellini's project and proposed that the shorts be shown on the Sundance show The Green. With an average duration of 4 minutes, each episode deals with an animal and aspects related to its procreation, of which sex stands out for its scandalous aspects:
“I've always been interested in animal behavior, and I certainly know a lot of people who are interested in sex. So, here you have the three elements that make the core concept of Green Porno: short stories, animals, and sex. In each of the films I imagine myself as a particular animal and I make love as that animal would. Each film is scientifically accurate; nature is infinitely scandalous! The first animals I portrayed are the ones that live in my garden—the bee, the earthworm, the snail—and in my home: the spider, the fly”.
Fig.2. 'Duck'
In Depth
Each episode is underpinned by in-depth research Isabella Rossellini has carried out on the animal to be featured. The challenge was to translate, in visual and scenic terms, the research material into something both educational and comic. Therefore, the costumes are essential to achieve these intentions. They were developed by Jody Shapiro and Rick Gilbert, also directors of the series, from paper and glue.
Fig.3. 'Snail'
Fig.4. 'Snail'
Overfishing
Green Porno ran for three seasons. The first season dealt with invertebrate animals and the second season focused on sea creatures. In the third, Green Porno sought to present an environmental theme, dedicated to the issue of overfishing and the mating of animals used as food. In the third season, in addition to Isabella Rossellini, the series has the presence of biologist Claudio Campagna.
Fig.5. 'Shark'
Fig.6. 'Salmon'
Irony
The great asset of Green Porno is in the way Isabella Rossellini exposes the biological aspects related to sex practiced by animals, not only limiting herself to exposing information about it, but ironizing human sexual behaviors, by representing in the animal kingdom what for us it would be absurd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUlxnCmnlas&list=PLG00qfxQCL_QLT7pP0mKWs6qozmO4b_2-&index=6&ab_channel=IsabellaRossellini
Anthropomorphization
The anthropomorphization of animals, which occurs not only through the costumes used by the actress, thus has its comic aspects in the text (Isabella begins the shorts with the expression “If I were...), since the information is many sometimes translated literally, generating a kind of visual metaphor. In the episode about the snail, for example, a single word, unfortunately, is capable of arousing laughter, the moment it follows the explanation of how the snail snuggles inside its shell beside its foot and anus.
(video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgLNYOA2D2o&ab_channel=RomanEgorov
Sadomasochism
The description of the animal's sexual act is comical, since the encounter between the snails takes place violently, one wounded the other, which leads Isabella Rossellini to pronounce: “I can produce starts. I use them to inflict pain on my partners before mating. I love to be hurt too. Sadomasochism excites me”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQh8BnAiP-E&list=PLG00qfxQCL_QLT7pP0mKWs6qozmO4b_2-&index=5
Vagina Like a Cork
In the episode about the bee,, the lines almost become a Shakespearean monologue: “If I were a male bee, I wouldn't have a father and I will be called a drone. I would have many brothers and we would do nothing just waiting to have sex a female ready to mate sex. I would fly after her. I would kill her in flight. It's our natural flight but pulling out from her. Oh my penis will break off. He would get stuck in her vagina like a cork in a bottle but he would prevent other evils from mating with her. She will be queen. She would start a new colony with my babies but I would die without my penis. I would bleed to death”.
Fig.7. 'Fly '
Pain and Pleasure
Isabella Rossellini manages, by passing on information about the animal world, to bring its sexual activities closer to those performed by human beings. The comic element, converted into the absurd, leads us to realize that, although sex is governed by many conventions in human society, aspects such as pain and pleasure are not something limited to sadomasochism clubs, but, perhaps, they are proof that we are as animals as the creatures around usndre Derain, 1936 (wikiart.org)
Fly episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk19yT8ZSbg&ab_channel=SundanceTV
Hamster episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHmhawsJobA&ab_channel=SundanceTV
Duck episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_-I1aRGttY&ab_channel=SundanceTV
Wasp episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzH2XUbDVPM&ab_channel=SundanceTV
Dolphin episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0oSurPpA7I&ab_channel=IsabellaRossellini
Click HERE for an article on Porno Graphics: The Book by Dan Greenburg, Which Must Be Read and Then Hidden.....!!
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