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What a Documentary Exposing a Major Porn Brand Teaches Us About Media Discernment
By Movieguide® Contributor
A new documentary exploring the long-lasting impact of the GIRLS GONE WILD brand reveals the importance of media discernment and knowing how to keep yourself out of compromising situations.
The GIRLS GONE WILD brand was popular in the late ’90s and early 2000s, running ads on many major networks featuring raunchy photos and videos that were just censored enough for TV and promised an experience that was way too hot for cable. These DVDs featured photos and videos of everyday women who had been coerced, often under the influence of alcohol, to expose themselves on camera and ever perform sexual acts.
Though the brand is now long forgotten, it has remained relevant to the public’s understanding of sex and pornography, while also leaving a scar on the women who were featured on the DVDs.
Now, a new three-part documentary, GIRLS GONE WILD: THE UNTOLD STORY which released on Peacock on Dec. 3, is exposing the franchise’s dark secrets.
“I feel very aware of how much their lives have changed because they were caught on a GIRLS GONE WILD tape,” documentary producer Saachi Koul told Variety. “It is an impact that I will never fully understand, so I feel that responsibility. But the impact is clear. There is a personal impact, and there is a huge cultural impact. I’m 33 and GIRLS GONE WILD has shaped how I go through the world as a woman with men, inevitably without even trying.”
It is that shaping of culture that Koul wants to highlight in her documentary, especially given how popular the brand was at its height. Furthermore, many people did not realize that these DVDs featured hardcore porn, which further helped it become mainstream and promoted by big-name celebrities of the day.
“It’s on a hat and then a couple of famous people are into it because maybe they don’t fully know what’s on it at first. They only see the ads and they see this guy at these parties, and he has money and he has girls. It was a different time,” Koul explained. “I mean, you couldn’t Google ‘what happens in Act 3 of a GIRLS GONE WILD video.’ You needed to have seen it in its entirety, and not just an advertisement for it.”
The documentary also highlights the importance of having good discernment when engaging with media. When these women allowed themselves to be filmed on camera decades ago, they did not expect their choice to follow them around 25 years later, however, it has.
Today, with cameras more prominent than ever and social media so much a focus in people’s lives, it is more important than ever for parents to be careful with how they allow them and their families to be portrayed in photos and videos.
READ MORE: WHY PARENTS SHOULDN’T CREATE SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS FOR THEIR KIDS
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