Eco Porn: Exploring the Limits of Carnal Idealism

[xchrom]

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/fuck-for-forest-documentary-sees-failure-in-carnal-idealism-a-905486.html

Polish director Michal Marczak has made a documentary about the group. He says that two questions primarily interested him: "What price does one have to pay to live in a world without rules?" And: "Are these people freer than the rest of society?"


The film ultimately becomes an examination of failure, of idealism and of communes. The FFF website is promoting Marczak's film because it could boost the popularity of the good cause. But members aren't happy with the film. Marczak is no idealist, they say, but rather a guy who "quite manipulative" and "a money and fame loving movie maker," as it says on the site.

The activists have been living in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain for the past seven years. First, there were three of them: Tommy from Norway, Leona from Sweden and a German woman named Natty. Later, they were joined by Dan, from Norway, and Kaajal, a woman from India. They collect their clothing and food from dumpsters and think that drugs are a waste of time. "We're looking for people who enjoy sex and nakedness," they say. Their lives are disjointed, their apartment is a mess, their sex is a free-for-all -- and they call it freedom.

These are neo-hippies, and they resemble rare plants. They can't sing, but they do it anyway. They can't juggle numbers, but they are collecting money to help save the rainforests. They claim to have already raised over €400,000 ($530,000). Tommy, Leona and the others run a website for eco-porn where, for a fee, members can watch people having sex in the woods.

The group calls itself "Fuck For Forest" (FFF), and Polish director Michal Marczak naturally chose the same name for his recently released documentary, for which he accompanied them for a couple months with camera in hand. Marczak's film, which is showing at cinemas in Germany, is an usual portrayal of Berlin -- and an absurd and comical masterpiece that goes beyond the fringe existence of a handful of nutcases, and the bleak world of pornography, to paint a portrait of a city whose threadbare, prudish Prussian atmosphere is only made bearable by the desires and confusion of the foreigners who end up here for one reason or another.

The perpetually bare-breasted Leona and the perpetually guitar-plucking Dan and their friends have a mission: They are fucking to save the world. For €12 a month, payable by credit card or bank transfer, users can feel like they are saving the rainforests and buying porn in good conscience. They have access to dozens of videos in which the members of FFF have sex with each other and with others.

[penultimate]

1. "They are fucking to save the world."

I've tried using that angle before, but it never worked out the way I hope. It usually ended with me being called a creep and told to take the cape off and put the rest of my clothes back on.

[jollyreaper2112]

2. Whatever happened

What happened with the old communes? I've seen material about the major group marriage and commune movements from the 60's and 70's and they seem to have dissolved. I know there's modern polyamory but I haven't heard as much about the commune angle.

Near as I can tell, most of these things feel apart because they were long on mysticism and short on practical. But there's no reason why people starting from a pragmatic position could not be successful.

Is most of this stuff staying quiet and beneath the radar? Is there less of an incentive to get political about flying the freak flag?

[MadrasT]

4. They call them "intentional communities" now.

I know a few people who live in them. None of them seem very interested in mainstream politics. They just want to be left alone and eat tofu and sit around in drum circles (when they're not fucking), and endlessly "process" their emotions. They mostly seem like self-absorbed navel gazers to me. I hung out with that crowd for a couple years and they just drove me nuts.

Edit to add: you wrote "long on mysticism and short on practical". Yep. Still the same. They have big dreams and no method of reaching them other than to "envision" it.

[jollyreaper2112]

5. ugh, that's depressing

I'm probably going to be labeled a nekulturny philistine but I really dislike x for x's sake stuff. Art for art's sake, religion, philosophy, etc. If it doesn't produce a measurable good, what good is it? Pure aesthetic enjoyment can be wonderful up to a point but I could still put a good on that -- providing joy for the soul. Is the philosophy or religion making the lives of the believers measurably better, helping them through problems, avoiding problems in the first place, finding enjoyment and satisfaction? How many of us would trust in the value of a medicine that has no measurable effect? We call that homeopathy and laugh at it.

If someone says they're satisfied with their lives and happy, I have no argument with that. I once worked with a woman who was formerly homeless. She had a decent job and a house and fell head over heels in love with a guy who could most charitably be described as a colossal fuckup. He was a psychologically scarred veteran, hopelessly addicted to pills and alcohol, suffering from hallucination and delusions. The two of them wound up on the street homeless and hungry but she said it was the happiest time in her life. Dumbass finally OD'd and she found herself back with a house and a job but still in love and missing him every day. Can I argue with that? No, even though I know it isn't the path for me.

If these people have no greater goal than being filthy and fucking together, it looks like they're meeting it. Many conventional folk have no greater vision than finding a spouse, holding down a job and raising a family. But if they think they've got grand plans to put in motion, if they say there's an urgent need to do Important Things, what's the plan to immenatize them?

The real test is this: ask them "how's that working out for you?" If you see doubt in their eyes, that's all the more answer you need.

[enough]

3. Intresting buisiness model. (nt)