Scholars are too quick to dismiss porn as an inferior form of pop art unsuitable for serious analysis. The graphic nature of these films often obscure their artistic merits. DreamZone's Rambone XXX provides an example of how porno can package a serious political message in sexual satire.
We first see Joan Rambone, played by Bonnie Rotten, wandering off the beaten path, through desolate and dry country—a symbol of the economic drought that could set California ablaze with the slightest spark. Rotten has traded her stilettos for combat boots. She wears fingerless gloves to protect her from the calluses of hand-to-hand combat and hand-jobs that come with life on the road. Rambone is a sexual vigilante fighting for the first amendment rights and the sexual freedoms of adult performers everywhere. Rotten, who was crowned the female performer of the year at the 2014 AVN Awards is the perfect exemplar and guardian of the adult industry. She is covered in sideshow themed tattoos that speak to the idea that pornography is a kind of freak-show unfit for mainstream audiences. Rambone is a lone wolf forced to live on society's fringes, in the shrinking American wilderness. She is the patron saint of porn, fighting to sustain her way of life against excessive government regulations.
As such, Rambone navigates less traveled paths through California's bleak, economic landscape. She is hunting for a sustainable way of life in the wake of the digital revolution that decimated the adult industry with the rise of free tube and torrent sites. Her red headband is a tribute to the sexual POWs and MIA soldiers who've fallen victim to pirate websites and government persecution.
In this film, Rambone wages a metaphorical war against LA County's efforts to require condoms in porn. In her frayed combat jorts, which reveal more of her sexually liberated ass than they conceal, and a tight t-shirt strategically cut to ventilate her revolutionary breasts, Rambone may seem a bit exposed to the untrained eye. While the general population may need more protections against the elements—concealing clothes, tents, sleeping bags, bug spray, guns—Rambone is trained to survive with less. In essence, while amateurs should use condoms to protect themselves against the dangers of casual sex, porn performers mitigate such risks with the proper preparation: biweekly STD tests.
In contrast, the Sheriff, Tommy Pistol, is outfitted in a uniform with a sidearm strapped to his leg—artifices he believes will shield him from danger. He has just arrested Betsy, Brianna Brooks, for “whoring.” Betsy pays her fine by engaging in the very act for which she was busted. Similarly, porn studios pay their fines with profits derived from condom-free porn. This speaks to the hypocrisy of lawmakers who publicly condemn what they privately enjoy: namely raw-dogging prostitutes.
After picking Rambone up on the road, the Sheriff drops her off at the edge of his jurisdiction. This evokes LA County's attempts to push pornographers out of town with stringent regulations. Before the dust from the Sheriff's cruiser settles, Rambone defiantly marches back toward town. Wherever Rambone goes, she will always face such challenges. She decides to take stand. Many porn studios could have fled LA and dodged a battle with city regulations, but they would have never escaped the war being waged against our sexual liberties. Instead, they chose to stay and fight.
The Sheriff strips Rambone’s backpack, assuming it contains a cache of contraband. It is empty, much like the bank accounts of many adult studios. Rambone and the porn industry are dangerous because they have nothing left to lose. The Sheriff then discovers a foot-long blade attached to her thigh. This is what really terrifies the Sheriff about Rambone, just as I suspect what truly unsettles many politicians about porn is the abundance of giant penises. I can understand the Sheriff's apprehension. I mean, seriously, a six-inch pocketknife is really all you need.
Rambone's knife also symbolizes the porn industry's reliance on what the government considers an inferior means of protection: biweekly STD tests. All of the law enforcement agents in the film rely on firearms, just as most government officials believe condoms are the only effective means of protection. Despite the risk, Rambone prefers her knife; it allows for a more primal and intimate experience.
The Sheriff brings Rambone to the police station where we meet his two deputies, played by Seth Gamble and Kendall Karson. All three officers wear baggy uniforms that significantly muffle their animal sex appeal, much like condoms.
The officers treat Rambone as if she was a stray pit bull. They strip her dog tags and clothes, then spray her down. This act evokes images of civil rights protestors getting blasted with fire hoses. The scene is a metaphor for LA County's attempts to sterilize the adult industry. Rambone becomes ravenous. She resists any attempt to restrain or tame her. The sexual ninja breaks free and runs back into the safety of the wild.
The deputies halfheartedly search for Rambone in the same ineffective way enforcement agencies attempted to police porn. They end up in the basement of the police department, suggesting that this is where the root of corruption resides. After the deputies engage in a quick romp, Rambone slits their throats. Their firearms do nothing to protect them.
The Sheriff phones the governor for assistance, just as LA County petitioned the legislature to support a statewide referendum requiring condoms in porn. The National Guard arrives in the form of Christy Mack and Derrick Pierce. Instead of hunting Rambone, these reinforcements also shack up on the tax payers' dime.
Meanwhile the Sheriff sits in his office, waiting for others to do his job. He is sheltered from the wilderness he governs; a single potted plant ornaments his office while Rambone's workplace is a forest. A small, unmarked map is the only article posted to a corkboard behind his desk. The Sheriff isn't a worldly man. He has little notion of what it means to survive in the harsh wilderness beyond his office walls, just as many lawmakers don't understanding what it means for small business owners to subsist in an economic drought.
Enter Kernel Trapman, played by Ryan McLane. Trapman represents the judicial system, protecting underdogs from the oppression of the ruling class. While the kernel wears a uniform similar to the other agents, he doesn't carry a firearm. In defiance of Trapman’s advice to leave Rambone alone, the Sheriff picks up his gun and joins the hunt. He soon discovers Mack and Pierce lying dead next to their assault rifles. In the same way condoms can't protect incompetent users, these guns couldn't save these weekend warriors.
Rambone sneaks up behind the Sheriff to slit his throat, but Trapman halts the confrontation and negotiates a truce. Trapman and Rambone promptly consummate the cease-fire. Their sex is not confined by walls or contained by condoms. They have aggressive anal sex, reminding audiences that not too long ago sodomy and other natural forms of sex were illegal. In the end, Rambone has an orgasm that gushes to life like a spring bubbling up to replenish the dry landscape.
Neither side is right or wrong. They simply have conflicting ideologies. The Sheriff wants to protect his citizens, but he can't do so at the expense of an individual's liberties. Conversely, Rambone may live on the fringes of society, but this does not exempt her from obeying the laws of that society.
The question Rambone XXX asks is this: should the adult industry be allowed to portray the same sexual freedoms that people enjoy in their private lives, or does the commercialization of these private acts subject them to public scrutiny?
Watch the softcore trailer for Rambone XXX: A DreamZone Parody below. See explicit content from the film or order your own copy at DreamZoneEnt.com. Follow Bonnie Rotten on twitter at @theBonnieRotten
