Interview by Keri O’Shea
Artist Robin Bougie has been wreaking his awesome graphic havoc on the world for many years now. His magazine, Cinema Sewer, combines a healthy love of good ol’ fashioned smut with film reviews, articles and retrospectives, all topped off with that inimitable cartoon artwork. As we wait on the release of the new Cinema Sewer compilation, Robin was good enough to take some time out to speak to Brutal As Hell, and definitely went the extra mile with his responses. By the way, it should go without saying that a lot of what follows is not safe for work, unless you work somewhere pretty enlightened…
Brutal as Hell: You’ve been working on Cinema Sewer since the mid-nineties, and – since 2007 – FAB Press has been releasing compilations of the magazine, with Volume 4 due to come out next month. Can you tell us how these compilations came to be, and are you pleased with the response so far?
Robin Bougie: Well, I started out as a comic artist. A self published teenage comic artist who lived on the prairies and xeroxed his silly comics about stuffed animals and farting, and sent them to other lonely disenfranchised kids in other towns. This is pre-internet world, 1991 to be exact. So I did nearly 100 of these little 16 to 24 page comics, and eventually got into movies, and reviewing movies, and using comics to review movies. That was when I started doing Cinema Sewer in 1997. After nearly 10 years of getting pretty good at that (the early issues were terrible) I built up a readership and felt confident enough to start offset printing it with full color glossy covers, and looking to land a publisher for book collection of the best of the magazine. My first choice was FAB Press in the UK, who specialize in genre film books, and are rather legendary for being one of the best at that little niche.
After some convincing and some pleading, and some proving that my work has a built-in audience that I had been carefully fostering for years — a publishing deal came about, and here we are. Cinema Sewer book one has gone into multiple printings (three, at last I checked), and the other volumes have gone to a second printing as well. So yeah, I’m very pleased with the response. I’m not getting rich or anything, but people are paying to read my writing and to look at my comics and art, so I’m very tickled. I feel pretty blessed – but I’ve also paid my dues, you know? I’ve done my time in the gutters. I used to write for Screw magazine in New York, I’ve done time in the salt mines of porn industry journalism, reviewed boring porn dvds for jerk-off mags like Fox and Lollipops… I’ve done my time. I had to quit that freelance porn journalism stuff mostly because it was so hard to get paid. Unless you live in the same cities as these guys, they just pay whenever they feel like it, and they know you can’t do anything about it. What am I gonna do? Jump on a plane and fly down to Los Angeles to collect the $130 they owe me for reviewing “Young, Dumb, and Full of Cum” volumes 3 through 8? I had to get out of that and concentrate on my own little sleaze empire of Bougitude.
BAH: With your interests being what they are, this is reflected in the type of art you create, and a lot of your stuff is pretty graphic – but it seems to me that for you there’s a sense of fun, almost an adolescent sort of glee about drawing what you draw. Is this an accurate impression?
RB: Absolutely! The more graphic the better. We’re all consenting adults, so why the heck not? I’m a big believer that people only think something is “wrong” if you ACT like it is wrong. I’m a pornographer, and I honestly think that is something to be proud of — and so I use the title of pornographer or smut-monger with a sense of pride and enthusiasm. It’s something I’m proud of, and know is totally fun. I feel like a carnival barker sometimes in my writing, you know? Like “Step right up! See the 94 year old woman who gladly made a hardcore sex movie! Who says you can’t make up for lost time?! Does pussy that old still get juicy? It’s like nothing you’ve seen before! You sir! Hey there, ma’am! What’s that? You’ve never seen Brazilian lesbian face-farting videos? Well, let me tell you all about them in this illustrated essay, my good gents and ladies! We’ll delve deep into sight, sound, and smell! It’s a whole other world of delightful perversion and funky debauchery, so step right up!”
BAH: From your point of view as an artist and as a fan of a lot of adult mediums – do you think we are a more permissive society compared to say, thirty or forty years ago?
RB: In some ways, yes. In some ways, not really. There are so many aspects to society, so many levels, and different groups and sub-groups. But let’s focus on the positive. Like for instance, women – a whole new generation of young women under the age of 30 are quite open-minded about all of this for the most part, and that is kind of a new thing. About gender, about sexuality, and about sexual content. They’ve had access to adult material and can finally make up their own minds about what they like, what turns them on, off, and what they think is offensive.
Ever since porn was legalized, if you were a women you had to walk into a porn shop to be exposed to this kind of material – and that wasn’t really open to you thanks to the cultural taboo of such an act, and also the fact that there wasn’t really anything in there made for, or marketed to you — even if you were made welcome, which they were not. Now they can investigate and discover this stuff just as easily as men, and on their own terms. And if what they want to see isn’t there, instead of picketing and getting all pissed off about it like the previous generation did, they get creative and make it themselves – how fucking fantastic is that?
So many of my female friends are totally open about their interest in porn, and masturbating to it, and why shouldn’t they be? “Stud” was always a compliment, and “slut” was always a put-down for the older generation, but the 20-somethings are saying “Fuck that sexist shit!” to that now, and that really makes me happy. Homophobia is slowly dying off, and transphobia is gonna be next to go. I’ve got a lot of hope looking forward. Honestly, I really love this new era of feminism. It’s not the same old sex-negative Dworkinites that gave the word such a negative aura, and it’s sad that some people haven’t figured that out yet. It’s not even so much about being permissive per se, it’s just about being open-minded and a lot less judgemental about what other people are into. Just because it isn’t for you, it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t exist, and I see a more people warming up to that way of thinking. Both men and women.
BAH: Not everyone loves what you do, and I gather you’ve got some rather irate mail down through the years. Tell us about some of the best (worst?) hate mail you’ve ever received…
RB: Oh, the usual stuff. People telling me I’m wrong, or that I don’t have the right to draw what I draw. But they mostly question me. They do the interview thing when they confront me. “Don’t you wonder what kind of damage you’re doing, putting this kind of thing out into the world? This kind of negative imagery? What is it that you like about exploitation? Why do you want to exploit? Why do you hate women? Could you find a more positive use for your talents?”. It’s all very condescending, and it almost always comes from the far left. The Christian right have never bothered me. It’s the people obsessed with political correctness and making the world G-rated, for the most part.
But mostly I barely hear from the haters, to tell you the truth. I skate by because, like I said before, I know I’m not doing anything wrong, here, and I don’t act like I’m doing anything wrong – and when you try to soften the blow and look to legitimize yourself by saying things like “I don’t do porn, I do erotica”, you are indirectly acting like you’re doing something wrong. It’s like how a nude model will tell you she’s not like those dirty disreputable porn girls. She’s legit! And a dominatrix will tell you how she’s not like those lowly prostitutes! Ohhh, she’s so much better than those whores. Why are we stepping on our fellow perverts to curry favour with a vanilla mainstream that thinks we’re lowlife shitbags regardless? Every one of us is a sex-based organism. Own it! Erotica is interchangeable with pornography, anyway. It’s all semantics and perception. One person’s erotica is another person’s porn. And porn, and horror movies, and drive-in movies – they’re just like any other genres. It’s just entertainment.
BAH: You’re a collector: comics, magazines, movies, and more. Is there any one piece in your collection that you treasure above everything else, or is there one item that you covet like hell?
RB: Hmmm. I don’t really know. I have a vintage pair of Vanessa Del Rio’s shoes – signed to me. I really like those. They’re super slutty looking, and totally cool. She’s one of the greatest adult entertainment performers of the 1970s and 80s, so I wouldn’t ever want to get rid of ’em. She’s such a warm, funny, wonderful lady, and worthy of every single ribbon of salty jizz she’s coaxed from her multitude of her happily masturbating minions over the decades. You could probably fill 20 swimming pools with it by now, if it had all been collected. Ewww… what a thought. Festering forty year old goo-pools. Barf.
BAH: Erm, eww indeed! Cinema Sewer is choc-full of obscure movies, many of which have never been released to DVD and probably didn’t get that much of a run on VHS! What 5 ‘lost’ films would you like to see get a DVD release, and why?
RB: These five films are amongst my very favourite of all time, and they have barely been seen – and it’s a goddamn shame! They need to finally be given a proper home format release (special editions with extra features would be nice!) so the people can know what they have been missing. Until then, here are some words about them, and links to the movies on Youtube. Now your week is set on “stun”. You’re welcome.
The Devil At your Heels (1981. Canada)
This is just astounding, and one of my fave documentaries of all time — bar none. Simply put, this is a movie about a Canadian stunt man named Ken Carter. Keep in mind that I don’t mean the kind of stuntman who substitutes for actors when there is a dangerous situation on a film set. I mean the kind of Evel Knievel-esque daredevils that captured the imagination of the entire world in the seventies. These were showmen. Gloryhounds. Mental cases — and Ken in particular might have been the most insane of them all. Listen, this cat wanted to shoot off a giant ramp, fly a fucking car almost a mile across the St. Lawrence Seaway, and land what was left in some flower bushes in a cow pasture. Watch it to see how that turned out. Hint: NOT WELL. Watch the whole movie here.
Not A Love Story (1981. Canada)
The ultimate hand-wringing anti-porn feminazi screed of its era will amaze you, infuriate you, and titillate you from minute one to its bitter, guilt-packed, victim-flavoured end. If you’re as interested as I am in the classic era of the porn industry, the early knee-jerk baby-steps of the misguided sex-negative Dworkinites, and the days when Times Square was a fetid urine-soaked stink-pit of debauched sin and sleaze, you absolutely must not miss this hilariously one-sided investigation into why men are reprehensible monsters for wanting to see women sans clothing! Mega-props to this propaganda made by the mother of author Naomi Kline! Watch the whole movie here.
The Killing of America (1982. USA)
Leonard (brother of Taxi Driver screenwriter Paul) Schrader compiled, edited, and wrote narration for this, the finest mondo-style documentary ever made about violent death in America. Sound distasteful? Nay, it’s all class, baby. It was made with money raised in Japan, and Leonard scoured several countries, buying footage from TV stations and “several hermit-like collectors”. The material he scraped together was exclusive, truly unforgettable, and has never been topped. From race riots, to police shootings, to interviews with serial killers, to insane and random acts of violence accidentally captured on film, The Killing of America delivered the disturbing goods brilliantly cloaked in a powerful anti-gun message which remained unmatched in the years prior to 2002’s Bowling for Columbine. Watch the whole movie here.
Mindgame (Japan 2004)
Due to some vile injustice I have not been made aware of, this radical animated movie has not yet found a release on any home format in North America, nor was it given much of a theatrical release outside of a few festival screenings halfway through the last decade, where I was lucky enough to peep it. There really hasn’t been much else ever made quite like this batter-blast of imagination that washes over you and melts into your brain like a waking dream. I also happen to find this movie incredibly inspirational. I’m not even going to go into the plot, or why it is so great, because it really is better if one comes to it as innocent as a newborn fawn in a wooded glade – and simply experiences it. Trust me, it is worth your time. Watch the whole movie here.
The Sexy Killer (1976. Hong Kong)
Jack Hill’s Coffy, starring Pam Grier, was one of the greatest blaxploitation films of the 70s, and this is a stone cold fact. But lesser known is that just a short time later, the amazing Shaw Brothers studios in Hong Kong decided to do a remake – which is nearly shot-for-shot the same, and every bit as funky and entertaining. The radical Chen Ping (who did a lot of Chinese exploitation and martial arts films) takes the role that Pam played so well, and totally does it justice. She’s a tough young sexy thang whose sister gets drugged and seduced by an evil dealer working within a corrupt drug industry, and it’s up to Chen to go buckwild, and kick all kinds of ass as she makes the bad guys wish they had never fucked with her or her family! Watch the whole movie here.
BAH: In the past few years we’ve been seeing a lot of exploitation homage – things like the Grindhouse movies/fake trailers, Bitch Slap, Hobo With A Shotgun and so on. What do you think of this trend and the movies it’s produced so far?
RB: I’ve seen pretty much all of these grindhouse throwbacks thus far, and I can tell you that only two of them have gotten it right. There are only two very noteworthy exceptions. One is Anna Biller’s VIVA from 2007, and the other is Black Dynamite from 2009. They both play it for laughs which is a marginal cop-out, but they both do it brilliantly regardless. The really important thing is that they get the tone right. The language, the costumes, the way the movies were made. They did their homework and they got it all correct. Excellent films. The rest of them range in fucking terrible to not-so-horrible in terms of execution.
BAH: Thank-so much for taking the time to chat to us! It’s much appreciated!
Many thanks to Robin Bougie – now go and check out his online store! You’re very welcome.