Montana Fishburne, the 19-year-old daughter of actor Laurence Fishburne, is set to release her debut sex tape on August 18th. But Montana isn’t pretending that this tape was leaked without her knowledge or permission. Instead, the budding actress argues that she believes the sex tape is one of the best ways to quickly rise to fame for today’s young female stars.
As Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon puts it:
The younger Fishburne’s foray into adult entertainment might be viewed as a depressing confirmation of what many of us have long suspected – that some of those shocking sex tapes those D-list celebrities didn’t want you to see are in fact carefully contrived publicity stunts.
Fishburne makes no such claim. Instead, she readily cites Kim Kardashian as a major inspiration, saying:
I’ve watched how successful Kim Kardashian became and I think a lot of it was due to the release of her sex tape by Vivid. I’m hoping the same magic will work for me. I’m impatient about getting well-known and having more opportunities and this seemed like a great way to get started on it.”
Many sources are viewing …
… Montana’s actions as a betrayal of her father. And there are some curious details — like the fact that Montana’s DVD art was released on her father’s birthday. But all of the talk about Laurence suggests that his daughter’s body is still, to some extent, his property or responsibility. Example:
Couldn’t her successful Oscar nominated dad get her an audition or two? Nepotism rules in Los Angeles so why couldn’t she cash in on that? And I wonder if her dad had any idea she was going to do this or is it just a rebellious act by impatient teen?
What would you do if she was your daughter?
Perhaps most curious is Montana’s attitude about the tape itself. Initially, she was going to go under the porn name “Chippy D” (?), but the cover of her DVD art proudly displays her full legal name across the front. By being so up-front about her ambitions, Montana seems to overlook one of the most crucial elements of the “surprise” sex tape: the disgraced female who must pretend to be ashamed and betrayed. Since Montana is so clear about her intentions, there is no possibility for a tearful Oprah appearance, sitting next to her father on the big vanilla couch and talking about how she was just a young, confused girl in love. It’s funny how even when we know it’s bullshit (ahem, Kim Kardashian), we still expect this narrative of the ruined, apologetic woman to play out.
But porn is undoubtedly popular, and Montana also isn’t hiding the fact that this is a full porn production. In an interview with the film’s director, adult actor Brian Pumper, he argues that the wide-eyed innocent look is exactly what he’s going for, saying that experienced porn actresses become exhibitionists who are too comfortable with exposing themselves in front of the camera. In fact, “Pumper” argues that women who do too much porn are less desirable because after years in the industry, they no longer “cream.” Charming.
I suppose my biggest question is why we expect women who are releasing a sex tape to still put forth this virgin image. If the sex tape is the new way to break into Hollywood, should we keep expecting female actresses to pretend to be shocked and surprised? And are Montana’s actions really a betrayal of her Father and his hard work in the industry?
Her name and resemblance to her alone would have gotten her auditions. I’m sure Dad could have made a few calls, too. The fact that young women believe this will help them is just plain sad.
Why use a fake name when you’ve already been given an ideal pornstar name? Poor girl.
Something tells me she didn’t really try hard here. Maybe she just wants to do porn – and if so, she’s welcome to. She doesn’t want to act, she just wants to become famous. And these days, hard work is no longer seen as the way to get there.
I thought her name was a porn name, and then I realized it was her real name. You’re absolutely right though, she doesn’t want to work, she just wants to fuck and be famous. At least she’s honest about it, though? Most fame whores try to pretend they have goals, when all they want is the next tabloid cover.
An excellent point. She may be a deluded fame-whore, but at least she’s honest. :D
Honestly this bugs me but not for the “normal” reasons. Seriously gone are the days where women (in the US at least) are shamed , forced or otherwise coerced into doing porn. More and more women are doing it not only professionally but amateur stuff is every where now , we live in a sexual world like it or not. Yet something like this still gets “Airtime” when it is not even remotely worthy of press. If a women of her own free will wants to do porn it should not be press worthy even if her dads famous.
And sorry the porn biz is not easy. There are more then a few good documentaries about it if you are really interested but its not as simple as most wanna make it sound. What really gets me is after all these yrs of fighting for the right to do what ever you girls want , its gonna be the fem sites that are more in a uproar then the conservatives because they are gonna assume shes somehow being exploited.
And for the record I don’t think y’all are doing that here at least not yet :p , that one reason I like reading this site y’all have a lot more common sense then just about any other fem site I have been to. And a sense of humor to boot.
I blame a poor education for all this – the girl thinks ‘Chippy D’ is a good porn name. An English teacher has failed her somewhere along the line.
Ha!
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