Ludwig and I have discussed many spanking related topics lately. One thing we talked about was spanking porn and how it works for us. I thought it would be interesting to ask or readers about their points of view as well. So this is the first post in a mini series about spanking porn related topics.
Imagine the following situation: You are watching a spanking film which on the whole suits your kinky taste. But it also involves elements that you don't like. The positive and negative elements might either be within one single scene. Let's take, for example, a spanking scenario with a nice spankee, your favourite level of severity, beautiful reactions, well shot, but for some reason the attitude of the top annoys you. Or maybe a film consisting of several different scenes involves one spanking which has all the right ingredients for you, but other scenes in that movie turn out to be complete turn-offs.
How do you deal with that ambiguity? Do you watch the film nonetheless and enjoy the parts that suit your taste? Or do you turn away?
Ludwig and I deal with such a situation in very different ways. Ludwig has the ability of compartmentalization, which means that he focusses on the positive elements of the movie and simply ignores the parts he doesn't like. I don't have that ability. If I find one aspect of a scene or the film as a whole strongly annoying or if one element touches any of my personal limits, I can't enjoy the positive parts of the movie any more.
In my opinion this is not only true for spanking porn, it's the same with vanilla films as well. The difference might be a bit stronger when it comes to spanking movies, though, which I explain by the fact that I am more likely to watch films (especially M/F scenarios) rather from the bottom perspective while Ludwig is more likely to be in a toppy mindset. Since we both have more hard limits when bottoming than when topping, I am more likely to find elements that make me feel uncomfortable.
But I still think that the top / bottom mindset is not the main reason for our different behaviour. In my opinion the ability to compartmentalize is the key. Ludwig and I have developed the theory that the different ways in which we process information could explain our different reactions. Ludwig is an INFJ and I am an INTJ in the Myers-Briggs personality type continuum. Our idea is that NF-types are more likely to have the ability to compartmentalize than NT-types.
By the way, I think the question of compartmentalization does not only affect spanking films, it also applies to private spanking scenes. I'm not sure about that aspect, but I assume that even in the bottom position Ludwig is much more likely to simply ignore elements of a scene he doesn't like, while I am much more likely to be thrown out of the erotic fantasy as a whole.
We would like to hear about your experiences. Do you have the ability to compartmentalize? Under which conditions do or don't you have that ability? And, in case you know, which personality type are you?
Imagine the following situation: You are watching a spanking film which on the whole suits your kinky taste. But it also involves elements that you don't like. The positive and negative elements might either be within one single scene. Let's take, for example, a spanking scenario with a nice spankee, your favourite level of severity, beautiful reactions, well shot, but for some reason the attitude of the top annoys you. Or maybe a film consisting of several different scenes involves one spanking which has all the right ingredients for you, but other scenes in that movie turn out to be complete turn-offs.
How do you deal with that ambiguity? Do you watch the film nonetheless and enjoy the parts that suit your taste? Or do you turn away?
Ludwig and I deal with such a situation in very different ways. Ludwig has the ability of compartmentalization, which means that he focusses on the positive elements of the movie and simply ignores the parts he doesn't like. I don't have that ability. If I find one aspect of a scene or the film as a whole strongly annoying or if one element touches any of my personal limits, I can't enjoy the positive parts of the movie any more.
In my opinion this is not only true for spanking porn, it's the same with vanilla films as well. The difference might be a bit stronger when it comes to spanking movies, though, which I explain by the fact that I am more likely to watch films (especially M/F scenarios) rather from the bottom perspective while Ludwig is more likely to be in a toppy mindset. Since we both have more hard limits when bottoming than when topping, I am more likely to find elements that make me feel uncomfortable.
But I still think that the top / bottom mindset is not the main reason for our different behaviour. In my opinion the ability to compartmentalize is the key. Ludwig and I have developed the theory that the different ways in which we process information could explain our different reactions. Ludwig is an INFJ and I am an INTJ in the Myers-Briggs personality type continuum. Our idea is that NF-types are more likely to have the ability to compartmentalize than NT-types.
By the way, I think the question of compartmentalization does not only affect spanking films, it also applies to private spanking scenes. I'm not sure about that aspect, but I assume that even in the bottom position Ludwig is much more likely to simply ignore elements of a scene he doesn't like, while I am much more likely to be thrown out of the erotic fantasy as a whole.
We would like to hear about your experiences. Do you have the ability to compartmentalize? Under which conditions do or don't you have that ability? And, in case you know, which personality type are you?
19 comments:
Imagine the following scenario...
You are on the way by sea to the USA, with a fiancée who you don’t actually love.
The ship had compartmentalization. First class, second and third class.
One day out at sea, you are walking around on deck, and meet a girl who absolutely craves a spanking.
Problem is, you are First Class, and she is Steerage.
However, suddenly, a bloody iceberg hits the ship, because the lookouts were not paying attention.
There were only half enough lifeboats for the number of souls on board.
During the following panic, you take her over your knee, bare her bottom, and spank her as the ship goes down.
Titanic. Re-Written.
For me, when I watch a movie that has a spanking scene in it that I like, I watch with keeness, as a turn on. As for the other non-spanking scenes, I watch it but not with such keeness, awareness, or sexual intensity.
I am closer to INTJ (Myers-Briggs on a spanking blog - who would have thought? :) ). The spanking film has to have a theme or story line to do something for me. Which is why the Lupus films with strong story lines (although they are of dramatically varying quality), proper staging and scripts just do so much more for me than other porn. The spanking quality may be the same -- but good quality spanking on its own does not really do it for me. I cannot compartmentalize, to use your term.
Unfortunately, Lupus seems to have lost its way in recent years. Thank goodness we can go back and enjoy the Headmaster's Study again and again. Equally, Mood Pictures is now, for me, completely beyond the pale.
On the subject of F/M (which would be of interest for me), is there anything that comes close to the standards set by Lupus?
Interesting question, once again. After searching for an unified answer, I find that I can only come up with categories, however differently organized: for a spanking movie, I can compartmentalize - it is after all about spanking, and if a majority of conditions are there, as Kaelah describes, then fine, let's focus on the subject at hand and not fuss about the rest.
With vanilla movies, however, I find that the entire thing has to be "just so" otherwise I will not watch it, there are so many other opportunities for entertainment or instruction that do match my requirements, there is no need to compartmentalize in this context. Which brings to mind a special category, vanilla movies that do have some spanking element, with a recent example being that of an US sitcom where a young woman gets switched by a mature lady OTK, an explicit scene for TV I think, or the more extreme case of "Lady Jane" comes to mind - I find such scenes incongruous and therefore incompartmentalizable, thus shooting down the entire movie for me.
And no, I do not know my M-B type, however by the above description, it may turn out as a schizofrenic compartmentalizer - is there such category? ;-)
As a submissive male who enjoys watching films involving men or women spanking women I assume I am watching from the point of view of the bottom. Therefore if I find the top annoying I find I cannot watch the film. Back in the eighties and nineties this was a particular problem as most of the British films available featured an older gentleman handing out the punishment whose supercilious manner I found especially irritating. Even today I prefer pictures and films where everything is just right. In reality I find that I am able to adjust if everything is not how I would prefer. I suppose I am just happy to be in the position I find myself with my delightful Mistress.
One particular site has a fat chap, (gut hanging over his belt),as a "top" who is as threatening as a wet kitten. He also has the irritating habit of raising hie eyebrows and swallowing (presumably nerves). Can't watch it, no matter what the action.
I know what you mean about dissonant elements, Kaelah. But when I think of compartmentalizing, my mind associates that with stories about trauma based mind control programming.
Karl Friedrich Gauss
I think I am a mixture of both: I can ignore distasteful or any kind of scene that does not push my buttons and still enjoy the good ones. But I might not ever watch that video again.
As to the turn-offs: you name it! Fat old tops, fat young bottoms (Northernspanking hits the jackpot here). Mor generalized speaking, I like aesthetic porn, no blood, no brutality, no ugly people. And there must be witty or creative dialogue.
As mentioned already, Lupus has it all, Mood goes too far into brutality (my opinion).
As to the question where to find decent F/M content: There is none. You have to look into the gay sites. Only there you will find, young, good looking guys with firm nice bottoms. Regardless where you look into sites like "women spanking men" or "Vixen ladies" and so forth, their male models are out of the bottom drawer, not worth a look.
Regards
Donpascual
I am an ISFJ. I find I can compartmentalize with a vanilla film, but not so much with spanking videos. Because in the latter case, they are much more personal to me.
When I watch a spanking video, I tend to imagine myself in the spankee's place. Therefore, the elements have to resonate more thoroughly. I have to find the spanker attractive, the dialogue somewhat believable, the reactions authentic, the chemistry between the players real. If one of those elements is off, it's too jarring. Which is probably the main reason why I'm so picky about videos and watch very few these days.
Great question!
Really Donpascual?
I think is only show for what the most people pay!
But is not a feeling is only a Dicount Market!
@ spearthrower: Actually, it was Niki Flynn who first introduced me to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, years ago. So it is a subject that has popped up on this blog (and hers, while it still existed) for some time. Niki's last interview is one example.
I am able to compartmentalize and to enjoy at least elements of spanking videos that are otherwise badly made. However, like you, I greatly prefer porn with a plot. A video has to have a story or at least an interesting setting of some kind for me to rate it as a good one. That is why I am such a fan of the classic Lupus films. I would also say that Mood Pictures were somewhat underrated in the story department. By their own admission, they never put as much effort into scripts, sets and acting as Lupus did. But every once in a while, they would come up with a pretty unusual and interesting scenario idea, like Sweet Revenge, which was inspired by Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill.
It's true that Lupus have lost their way in recent years, with the "Lupus Dreams" series and including hardcore sex in their videos. I don't have anything against sex on film, but I am a bit of a purist when it comes to spanking videos, as I find that throwing in sex scenes usually makes the videos more formulaic and run-of-the-mill instead of more interesting. Likewise, Mood have only made one new film in the past two years, and again, that one is a departure from their previous standard, with light spanking action and hardcore sex. But, as you say, one can always go back to watching the old stuff.
As for F/M videos: no, much to my dismay (and Kaelah's, and everyone else's who enjoys that kind of variety), there is no producer of F/M videos who comes even remotely close to the quality of Lupus. Actually, the F/M producers I am aware of don't even come close to the quality of Calstar or Strictly English. The vast majority are downright awful, and even the better ones are worse than the average x/F fare.
The best producer I currently know of featuring male spankees is an M/M site called Spanking Central. I also have hopes for Pandora Blake's upcoming site Dreams of Spanking, which will feature F/M and M/M videos in addition to x/F. She may very well turn out to be the producer who finally ends the drought of good F/M material, at least in clips although not in feature-length films.
@ Val: I am able to compartmentalize when it comes to vanilla films as well. Even in a film that is mediocre or plain bad overall, I can often find an isolated thing that I like - a scene, a story element, a character, a camera movement, a piece of music... I do take films apart like that when I watch them. Of course, for a film to become a classic, it has to be strong in all departments. But when you are willing to look, you can also find a lot of interesting stuff in films that are rightfully forgotten. Many "This was good, even though the rest of the film wasn't" moments, or "They could have done more with that..."
Kaelah does not watch films like that. For her to like a film, everything has to be in the good zone, otherwise she does not like it. I find this interesting in regards to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. You would think that the more analytical INTJ type would be comfortable with taking films apart like that, and looking at individual elements, while the more intuition-driven INFJ would always look at the whole. But it seems to be the opposite.
If you are curious to find out what Myers-Briggs type you are, you can do the test.
@ Karl Friedrich Gauss: Are you at it with your pseudo-science again? Trauma based mind control this time? *grins*
(I am not saying that brainwashing does not exist. Some totalitarian regimes and cults have done it to various individuals, although success is not nearly as uniform as is sometimes claimed. However, most of the people I see talking about mind control are kooks and conspiracy theorists.)
@ Donpascual: Northern Spanking feature some pretty slender models as well, like Amelia-Jane Rutherford or Niki Flynn. Actually, I have seen some people complaining that Amelia and Niki are "too thin", so the whole body type discussion seems to be a damned-if-you-are, damned-if-you-aren't thing. Hey, who knows, perhaps it is simply a matter of personal taste? *wink*
It depends from film to film. I find I'm much more critical of or annoyed by a detail in spanking
films thant me vanilla films.
I rarely get a feeling that a spanking scene is completely played the way I think it should have been played. It can either be that the scenario doesn't speak to me, the spanker/spankee gets on my nerves, the dialogue is non-existent (i.e. two monologues, where there is no connexion), etc. It breaks the scene for me. I need a certain beliveablity level. I need chemistry. I need to believe the scene was enjoyed by all.
In a vanilla movie, I either do not care or am too absorbed to care. For instance, my all-time favorite movie has a climax I do not believe in, but I'm too absorbed to care. It's a movie about something that passions me (in this case an event that normally happens every June).
I have watched this movie at least 200 times. It's filled with cliché after cliché. I do not care for the main character. In real life, for the actor who played him, it was a personal project and even lost him his prodcution company.
I still find details that annoy me, yet delight me... and I love the whole of the movie.
@ Steve from Kent:
Sounds more intriguing than the original scenario! I'm missing the line “I'm the king of the world!” though. ;-)
@ sixofthebest:
At least you seem to watch the non-spanking parts of the films as well. I think there are quite a few people who only watch the spankings without any context and skip the rest.
@ Spearthrower:
I've been introduced to the MBTI several years ago, and I like it very much because in my opinion one can learn a lot about oneself and also about others with the help of this concept.
Lupus really used to be unique! I'm not such a big fan of their kind of humour and there often is too much humiliation in their stories for my taste (unfortunately a huge turn-off for me in films). But I love their care for detail, their inventive storylines, unexpected twists and excellent cinematography. And more often than not the bottoms are actually the heroines in the plot (the victims are even sometimes called heroines in the plot description given by Lupus Pictures), something I find very attractive.
Unfortunately I don't know any producer of full-length films that comes close to their standard, neither in the x/F nor in the x/M department.
@ Val:
Thanks for sharing your experiences! Funnily enough, I often like spanking scenes or little hints into that direction much more in vanilla movies than in explicit spanking films. I think there are several reasons for that, and I will talk about that topic in another post.
@ Simon(e):
I think it is very fascinating that you as a male bottom seem to be most interested in x/F spanking films. Don't you like watching other guys getting spanked or do you simply not find any x/M scenes that suite your taste?
@ Vincent:
I think the top's look isn't the most important thing for me (as long as he or she doesn't look scruffy). It's the attitude and the habits that can annoy me.
@ KFG:
Compartmentalization can indeed be used in a lot of different fields and meanings (as Wikipedia shows).
@ Donpascual:
As I already mentioned in my reply to Vincent, the look isn't the most important thing for me, as long as the participants don't look scruffy. The storyline and the attitude are more important for me. But of course everyone has certain preferences as far as appearance goes, and it is great when a clip has everything, a good storyline, the right level of severity and good-looking actors (whatever that means in concrete terms for a certain viewer).
@ Erica:
I think like you I am less picky with vanilla films, for the very same reasons as those you have mentioned. I guess that also explains why I am also a little more open when it comes to x/M films. It is easier for me to watch them from a rather toppy point of view, and I have fewer strict limits as a top (as long as the bottom is okay with what is happening) than as a bottom (where I feel more vulnerable).
@ Spankingfreunde:
I think it is a mixture. Of course most of the producers try to show what the majority of viewers want to see. But there seems to be a market for decent F/M films which isn't served by (m)any producer(s).
@ smallhanded:
As I already wrote in my reply to Erica, I am also more relaxed when it comes to vanilla films. I guess Erica's argument that spanking films are something more personal explains why.
Sure many people I am too, make vids from our private session. But not the same as for money.
Kaela,
Interesting. I'm an ENTP (an odd combination, I know...) My I vs E and T vs F are...iffy though. Almost in perfect balance. But I'm like Ludwig - whether a flick is vanilla or butterscotch, I can divvy it into like and dislike and still draw pleasure from it.
(Caveat: unless the turn off is a *BIG* one.)
My beloved, who is a true T, cannot. If he doesn't like one detail - esp. if it's kinky, he walks away - not only unwilling bur unable, to enjoy it.
More later. - I should have been asleep hours ago.)
Lady J
@ Spankingfreunde:
You are right, private clips and clips which are made for publishing (no matter whether you earn money with them or not) are quite different. I think quite a few viewers of spanking porn don't live out their kink, anyway. So, they don't have any private clips or scene memories to fantasize about and rely on finding good professional films that cater to their fantasies.
@ Lady J:
Seems like there might really be a connection between personality types and the ability to compartmentalize then. At least if someone is a true T...
@ Lady J-- I was surprised to see you describe the ENTP type-- which I share-- as rare, given then extroverts outnumber introverts in our population. But then I checked Wikipedia and saw that ENTPs are indeed as rare as INTJs. Excellent, I've always wanted to be special!
@Kaelah-- in this regard, I can compartmentalize to some degree, ignoring features I find annoying in both movies and spanking films. Still, I have a much harder time ignoring such things in films than in books. I think it's because there's more left to the imagination in books, so it's easier to form a mental image that isn't so much at odds with my preferences.
The worst, for me, is a movie based on a book I loved that gets important little things *wrong.* In my opinion, that is, not necessarily the opinion of the author!
@ Indy:
I absolutely agree with you, compartmentalizing is much easier for me when it comes to books than with films. But film versions of books can indeed be very disturbing if they don't fit my mental pictures.
Post a Comment