Comedy Central’s “˜Porn ‘n Chicken’ reflects sex-focused TV culture

A tub of some cheap, oily, fried chicken and porn. These are
some of the many simple pleasures that males with a smidgen of
lukewarm blood flowing in their veins enjoy.

At least that’s the idea behind “Porn “˜n
Chicken,” Comedy Central’s first original feature film.
Based on a true story about a couple of Yale kids who caused a lot
of hoopla for forming the secretive Porn and Chicken Club, the film
itself is not as racy as its title suggests. It has about as much
sex as the lost episodes of “The Wonder Years.”

But that’s not why I really want to talk about it. Who
cares about the chicken? It’s just a convenient side dish to
what everyone is really interested in.

If we had to ask what came first, the chicken or the porn,
it’d be all about the porn.

We’ve moved from the Victorian era when even piano legs
had to be covered to a time when college girls behave scandalously
a la “Girls Gone Wild” videos and Howard Stern shows.
It’s funny to think that the path of man and his de-evolution
of modesty has led to porn.

But what’s so attractive about fat, ugly, hairy guys
having really bad sex with women who are so obviously faking
orgasms?

Well it’s quite simple: Porn is cool. Why? Because
it’s sex.

Guy on girl, girl on girl, guy on guy, it’s all referring
to the same thing ““ sex. And sex will never be out of style.
It’s something that we all want all the time. Even if you
don’t admit it, it’s still there gnawing away at
you.

Television networks know this. They are extremely aware that
they suck and are prodded into salvaging what ratings they can with
a little bit of flesh.

Now television even looks like porn. Well, soft-core porn at
least. Shows like MTV’s “Undressed” or HBO’s
“Sex and the City” address sexual issues bluntly and
are not shy of showing them either. In the past it was OK to show a
little skin as long it was shown late at night and wasn’t on
one of the big four networks.

But now porn is encroaching on the prime time slots of major TV
networks that have long been pillars for good old-fashioned family
entertainment.

Television’s downplay of family values and focus on
teens’ sexual fantasies is demonstrated by shows like the
WB’s “Smallville” strip tease episode and
Fox’s “Fastlane” trysts.

Since its birth in the 1940s, the television set has established
itself at the center of the family hearth. Now our long-time
sanctum away from racy films and obscene behavior has changed. The
infiltration of debauchery into the realm of TV has little kids
knowing four letter words as well as their ABC’s.

Maybe it had to be this way. Porn is just one of those evils we
will have to endure, like watching Elvis’ hip-shaking on the
“Ed Sullivan Show.” As one of the dirty things we do,
porn deconstructs the swathe of morality and honor that everyone
tries to uphold. And aren’t those the things that everyone is
trying to uphold? Porn is just trying to pop that bubble of
self-importance and let people be themselves. That is the essence
of what Comedy Central’s “Porn and Chicken” is
trying to portray. Of course, I could just say that we are all just
horny at heart, but I like to think there’s something more to
it than that.

I know I’m probably just making a fuss. Porn was always
there and available to see in the privacy of your home, but I
can’t help feeling that at least in the past there was a
choice if we wanted to see porn or not, and now there are a few
less alternatives to choose from.

Dang’s television column will run every Tuesday.

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