scene title: love, lust, respect
performers: angela white, courtney trouble
site: shape of beauty ◅ adult time (gamma)
production credits: bree mills (dir., scr.)
release date: february 14, 2020 | trailer
i've been looking forward to this scene for two months, since bree mills and angela white noted having shot it on various social media accounts, and even more since, not long after, courtney trouble appeared on industry photographer and karla lane's boyfriend mo reese's podcast to gush about it (as well as other recent projects). i've known the name courtney trouble for years, of course; i don't think you can be interested in lesbian pornography and not have run across their fiercely independent, proudly queer, and hardscrabble d.i.y. productions before. but because as a consumer i've always stayed on the mainstream, quote-unquote "straight" side of the industry (for several reasons: because high production values were and remain important to me, because when i was younger i had trouble seeing past strict societal norms around women's bodies, and because i didn't identify as queer and so didn't feel comfortable taking up space in that scene), i hadn't seen more than brief clips of their work.
but as i've gotten older and my social circles have grown a lot more queer and politically radical, my tastes have expanded accordingly. i've enjoyed plus-size porn for some years now, as i've noted several times in these blogs, and courtney's unabashed description of themself as a fat pornstar (rather than plus-size or bbw) struck a chord with me. i'm increasingly less interested in girl/girl porn that simulates lesbian sex and more interested in girl/girl porn that contains lesbian sex, which is why i love the we like girls series so much. the mainstream porn industry's rigorous policing of the boundaries of femininity have grown stale and wearisome to me, and i'm now excited more by androgyny, by a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors of bodies, and by authentic passion whether or not it "looks good" on camera than by the artfully posed pretty girls of girl/girl porn tradition.
all of which means that this scene, which bree, angela, and courtney all noted on social media as being one of the most intense and beautiful experiences they've had making porn, has been highly anticipated in this corner. and it did not disappoint. i started watching it a few minutes after it went live (midnight on the east coast), my usual practice with we like girls episodes — and since there was no we like girls this month (the grapevine says there was a scheduling issue), this more than sufficed. in fact, it follows the we like girls pattern, with both angela and courtney talking to camera about each other before the scene begins. both of them are porn veterans — courtney started their first website in 2002, angela started performing in australian girl/girl scenes in 2003 — who have not only survived but thrived to become icons in their respective fields, and their mutual respect and excitement to be working together shone through. angela is always poised, the ultimate porn professional, while courtney is charmingly honest and bubbly; i expected, from the interview, that the sex would once again be angela white taking smooth control over her more visibly excited partner, á là her we like girls with kissa sins.
but they surprised me. after a short tease, in which courtney strips and gives angela a lap dance, the hierarchy was quickly established: angela was courtney's "baby girl," while courtney became angela's "daddy." and of course! despite their softness and giddiness, courtney is more experienced in genuinely queer dynamics, and topped angela effortlessly. a selling point in adult time's promotion of the scene is that it features angela white's first-ever vaginal fisting, and while i'm not sure that as many people are excited about that as would be about (say) a first anal, the actual fisting was astonishing in its intimacy and its effect on angela, whose legendary composure went entirely out the window in the aftermath. but that was only about halfway through the sex; both women had a voracious appetite for pleasuring each other, and no compunctions about using any means necessary to do so. i've never particularly enjoyed seeing a hitachi brought into a scene before (the lingering prejudices of the "lesbian" porn fan who hates toys because they see them as substitute penises), but courtney's matter-of-fact deployment of it as a means to a specific end was thrilling: the scene's laser focus on the two women's pleasure rather than mine was precisely what i wanted.
speaking of which. the visual style of this scene! three camera operators were credited: matt holder is probably the consistently best cameraman in high-end porn; manny bucks is a trusted production assistant who recently made the move to photography after a long apprenticeship; and whitney wright, taking over for a photographer who will go unnamed, also cameos briefly clapping the board on courtney's interview. the three of them shot it gorgeously, often from a high-angle rig capturing the action from above in order to get the full scope as the two women rolled around on the bed. the pink and purple lighting, the fluffy white bedspread and pillows, even their feminine lingerie, made for an overwhelmingly sweet valentine's day theme, which was apparently their plan from the beginning.
i've been listening to bree mills' appearances on several different podcasts as she promoted teenage lesbian in the run-up to awards season, and one element of her thinking that i've come to admire is the desire to get away from the standard porn production template of starting a site, or a sub-site, and then just pumping out scenes that fit that mold until you've exhausted the formula and audience attrition sets in. adult time now has a large collection of brands that can be used to spotlight any number of different projects, whether limited-run series, occasional collaborations, or one-offs, without being tied to factory-line production templates.
audiences trained by the content-firehose model of mindgeek and similar companies (and even girlsway) are still taking a while to get used to mills' conception of brands built around seasons and performer-centered projects, but for my money using shape of beauty to celebrate angela and courtney, rather than using angela and courtney as a teaser for endless shape of beauty content, is the smart way forward. adult time can provide higher-end production values than most performers can achieve on their own, and is more open to genuinely queer sexualities than many mainstream porn outlets; for performers outside of the normative thin white cis porn girl categories, it can be an opportunity for wider exposure and higher-end production values than they might get elsewhere. the thought of what this scene means as a harbinger of things to come is almost as exciting as the content within the scene itself.
below is the highest score i have ever given a scene since i devised this formula last april. it deserves it.
performances: 30
cinematography: 24
editing: 18
script: 15
sjw points: 6
total score:
performers: angela white, courtney trouble
site: shape of beauty ◅ adult time (gamma)
production credits: bree mills (dir., scr.)
release date: february 14, 2020 | trailer
 |
| l: courtney trouble, r: angela white |
i've been looking forward to this scene for two months, since bree mills and angela white noted having shot it on various social media accounts, and even more since, not long after, courtney trouble appeared on industry photographer and karla lane's boyfriend mo reese's podcast to gush about it (as well as other recent projects). i've known the name courtney trouble for years, of course; i don't think you can be interested in lesbian pornography and not have run across their fiercely independent, proudly queer, and hardscrabble d.i.y. productions before. but because as a consumer i've always stayed on the mainstream, quote-unquote "straight" side of the industry (for several reasons: because high production values were and remain important to me, because when i was younger i had trouble seeing past strict societal norms around women's bodies, and because i didn't identify as queer and so didn't feel comfortable taking up space in that scene), i hadn't seen more than brief clips of their work.
but as i've gotten older and my social circles have grown a lot more queer and politically radical, my tastes have expanded accordingly. i've enjoyed plus-size porn for some years now, as i've noted several times in these blogs, and courtney's unabashed description of themself as a fat pornstar (rather than plus-size or bbw) struck a chord with me. i'm increasingly less interested in girl/girl porn that simulates lesbian sex and more interested in girl/girl porn that contains lesbian sex, which is why i love the we like girls series so much. the mainstream porn industry's rigorous policing of the boundaries of femininity have grown stale and wearisome to me, and i'm now excited more by androgyny, by a wide variety of shapes, sizes and colors of bodies, and by authentic passion whether or not it "looks good" on camera than by the artfully posed pretty girls of girl/girl porn tradition.
all of which means that this scene, which bree, angela, and courtney all noted on social media as being one of the most intense and beautiful experiences they've had making porn, has been highly anticipated in this corner. and it did not disappoint. i started watching it a few minutes after it went live (midnight on the east coast), my usual practice with we like girls episodes — and since there was no we like girls this month (the grapevine says there was a scheduling issue), this more than sufficed. in fact, it follows the we like girls pattern, with both angela and courtney talking to camera about each other before the scene begins. both of them are porn veterans — courtney started their first website in 2002, angela started performing in australian girl/girl scenes in 2003 — who have not only survived but thrived to become icons in their respective fields, and their mutual respect and excitement to be working together shone through. angela is always poised, the ultimate porn professional, while courtney is charmingly honest and bubbly; i expected, from the interview, that the sex would once again be angela white taking smooth control over her more visibly excited partner, á là her we like girls with kissa sins.
but they surprised me. after a short tease, in which courtney strips and gives angela a lap dance, the hierarchy was quickly established: angela was courtney's "baby girl," while courtney became angela's "daddy." and of course! despite their softness and giddiness, courtney is more experienced in genuinely queer dynamics, and topped angela effortlessly. a selling point in adult time's promotion of the scene is that it features angela white's first-ever vaginal fisting, and while i'm not sure that as many people are excited about that as would be about (say) a first anal, the actual fisting was astonishing in its intimacy and its effect on angela, whose legendary composure went entirely out the window in the aftermath. but that was only about halfway through the sex; both women had a voracious appetite for pleasuring each other, and no compunctions about using any means necessary to do so. i've never particularly enjoyed seeing a hitachi brought into a scene before (the lingering prejudices of the "lesbian" porn fan who hates toys because they see them as substitute penises), but courtney's matter-of-fact deployment of it as a means to a specific end was thrilling: the scene's laser focus on the two women's pleasure rather than mine was precisely what i wanted.
speaking of which. the visual style of this scene! three camera operators were credited: matt holder is probably the consistently best cameraman in high-end porn; manny bucks is a trusted production assistant who recently made the move to photography after a long apprenticeship; and whitney wright, taking over for a photographer who will go unnamed, also cameos briefly clapping the board on courtney's interview. the three of them shot it gorgeously, often from a high-angle rig capturing the action from above in order to get the full scope as the two women rolled around on the bed. the pink and purple lighting, the fluffy white bedspread and pillows, even their feminine lingerie, made for an overwhelmingly sweet valentine's day theme, which was apparently their plan from the beginning.
i've been listening to bree mills' appearances on several different podcasts as she promoted teenage lesbian in the run-up to awards season, and one element of her thinking that i've come to admire is the desire to get away from the standard porn production template of starting a site, or a sub-site, and then just pumping out scenes that fit that mold until you've exhausted the formula and audience attrition sets in. adult time now has a large collection of brands that can be used to spotlight any number of different projects, whether limited-run series, occasional collaborations, or one-offs, without being tied to factory-line production templates.
audiences trained by the content-firehose model of mindgeek and similar companies (and even girlsway) are still taking a while to get used to mills' conception of brands built around seasons and performer-centered projects, but for my money using shape of beauty to celebrate angela and courtney, rather than using angela and courtney as a teaser for endless shape of beauty content, is the smart way forward. adult time can provide higher-end production values than most performers can achieve on their own, and is more open to genuinely queer sexualities than many mainstream porn outlets; for performers outside of the normative thin white cis porn girl categories, it can be an opportunity for wider exposure and higher-end production values than they might get elsewhere. the thought of what this scene means as a harbinger of things to come is almost as exciting as the content within the scene itself.
below is the highest score i have ever given a scene since i devised this formula last april. it deserves it.
performances: 30
cinematography: 24
editing: 18
script: 15
sjw points: 6
total score: