ith a growing list of film titles that includes Art School Sluts, Neu Wave Hookers and The Doll Underground, Eon McKai has carved out a niche in the alternative porn scene. While definitely hardcore, his films contrast traditional gonzo porn in that they use lesser-known actors with a punk, goth or generally subcultural look. A graduate of the California Institute of the Arts film school, McKai also favours plot-based storylines and high production values. TORO Sex columnist Louise Bak caught up with McKai for this intriguing alt-porn chat.

 Gallery: The Girls of Eon McKai

Q: How did you start experiencing porn?
A: Well, like many I was too young and I stumbled across some mags. But then later when I was in grad school I started searching out older porn films and that became a fascination.

Q: What led you to directing?
A: I wanted to see things change and I was the guy in the right spot to do it. It was my civic duty almost. My fascination with classic porn landed a job at VCA (a very old porn company) out of grad school. There were a lot of amazing old-school porn people at VCA at that time, but my head was somewhere else. I was taking pics for some girls on suicidegirls.com and I was a part of the early community on that site. VCA started falling apart. LFP (Larry Flint Publications aka Hustler) bought the ailing porn company and was taking it apart and I saw a moment in the chaos that I could exploit. Everyone was so fed up with what was happening at the company they had a ‘fuck it’ attitude to what I was doing. So I made my first movie, Art School Sluts, and it came out totally unfiltered by the normal bad taste that porn companies effect their product with.

Q: What is alt porn? 
A: An alternative to mainstream pornography. But more than that, it’s a movement of people making porn that is based in a subculture. Alt-porn’s audience often has more in common with the films than a mainstream porn viewer. This is where its power lies.

Q: How do you see your own work in relation to others working with alt-sexual forms?
A: Well it’s just another option in the big cornucopia of things you can masturbate to. I see myself in the same community for sure. I’m not some snob who thinks I’m above what everyone else is doing.

Q: In terms of The Doll Underground, I’m curious how you came up with the idea of a sexual liberation army. 
A: It’s based on the Weathermen, which was a radical leftist group that turned violent. Then I started infusing the movie with Los Angeles theory and other societal comments.

Q: You’re evoking a sense of pleasuring girls as rebellious dolls and some of the imagery seems to be influenced by Japanese gothic lolitas. Are you fascinated by the idea of girls in certain uniforms?
A: I always wanted to make a movie with Japanese gothic lolitas. With time, the Japanese porn industry got around to handling this niche so what I did was use the way the gothic lolita style had influenced alt girls here in the U.S. So we used stuff that had found its way into the shops here and did some alterations and fabrication also. So yeah, I’m a bit more than fascinated. I think it’s a hot look for sure.

Q: How do you see the communiqués, the notion of viral sexual messaging, in the film?
A: Well I did not at first intend for the communiqués to work as adult viral messages on the Internet the way they ended up. They were just the broadcast in the movie that drew girls in to join the group. Sometimes I look at the e-mail I get about The Doll Underground and think to myself, shit, I started a cult.

Q: What do you think of the pairing of sexuality with activism, processes of fighting against big business? Have you found examples of this outside of the film?

A: Wow, well I think girls who get out there and do stuff are hot. But I think in most roles for porn, girls that do stuff are like spies or cops vs. cheerleaders and flight attendants who just seem to have cool outfits. I have yet to come across a film that goes where The Doll Underground goes. I’ll admit it’s a bit over the top in that respect, but if its content was not presented in a heightened manner it would be to depressing to masturbate to.

Q: In Girls Lie, all the girls are engaged in lying for different reasons. Porn usually doesn’t want to get at the emotional complexities that can occur with ample sexuality. Are you also interested in tones in the male characters? 
A: Yeah, Girls Lie puts the notion that porn is always presented from a male point of view on its head. Girls Liejust flowed – it was like a stream of consciousness. I was just following stories I came across in these girls’ lives and mixing in what felt right at that moment. I have to admit I’m way more interested in what is going on in a girl’s head than what is going on in a man’s head. I adore women and I’m fascinated with their world. I’m charmed by women and the way they do things, what can I say?

Q: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a girl using a pregnancy test in porn. How do you see the place of emotional complexity in porn generally?
A: My goal in Girls Lie was to be very naturalistic and so it went into a space where things get a bit bleak. Sex still happens in bleak desperate times and for bleak desperate reasons. I know a lot of pornographers only depict happy people having sex. I see a film like Girls Lie like a highbrow Meet Holes (a gonzo porn line where the girls are mentally broken down in an interview conducted by an off-screen voice before the sex starts).

Q: Porn seems deliberate in its intent to arouse. How do you see the more quiet, pensive, intimate moments in your work?
A: I’m obviously into these odd uncomfortable moments and I think the performers reveal more in those moments than they do in the sex scenes, especially, if they do a lot of porn for a living. Sex scenes can be a bit formulaic at times and a lot of the best porn actors really fall out of character during the sex. Sex is people mixing personalities among other things and there is a lot of anticipation that is lost if we don’t know who these people are. So I need those moments to build that. Man, are we still talking about porn here?

Q: I like some of the language in the film, when Pixie Pearl says “I’m an artist so I take mannequins and I turn them into abstract art that show personal and social issues that are really important.” Surprising. What do you think of your sexual representation of various art-based or musical subcultures? 
A: I think that if you’re part of a subculture and you find some sexually-related material that is tied into that subculture – if it’s for real and it’s done to buy someone who really is a member of that same subculture, you’re going to have a much different relationship with this material. You might not be open to porn but if it’s tied to your subculture you might give it a shot. Or you might get a partner that is a part of your subculture to watch something with sex in it when that would never normally happen. So it can be as little as a warm feeling that someone like you is making porn or as big as opening up ideas of sex where there was a roadblock before. I’m not saying that if you’re a hipster you can only watch hipster porn because I sure don’t. But from time to time it’s nice to identify with what you’re being aroused by.

Q: How do you see the sexualizing of youthful bodies generally and what you’re interested in doing? 
A: There is something about seeing youth in a sexual situation that lends itself to the work I’m doing now, but youth is a state of mind I think. That is the world I can speak on with authority at this point. When I get older I would imagine I would be ready to represent things that are not so youthful. I can admit to being as much of a youth culture vulture as most hipsters are. But I’m just not comfortable representing a world I have yet to understand. Also, the majority of the talent available for this type of work is young so that is also limiting.

Q: What sort of porn actors do you look for?
A: I look for performers who have their own style and they wear it. I’m also interested in performers who are willing to be a part of a bigger project with a bigger time and emotional commitment. I’ll be honest at this point, I try to work with performers who know and understand my work.

Q: There are certain spaces that weave through your films, like L.A.’s Belmont Tunnel, some suburban environments, subways. Are there certain spaces that you feel can be most sexually charged?
A: I’m big into adventure and spontaneous sex in random places. I do have an eye for where might be a cool place to sneak off and fuck. But some of those were chosen for narrative resonance. Hey, people need to realize you don’t need to do different freaky sex acts to keep things fresh with your lover. Try a change of scenery and dare to get in trouble.

Q: What is it like working with alternative sexual forms within a mainstream porn company, Vivid?
A: This is the last place I thought I would be, honestly, and it took me a good bit to even consider it. But there is a reason Vivid is the leader in this biz. Vivid is very light on its feet and always trailblazing. I have amazing creative control here and access to the smartest minds in this biz. Sure there are funny moments where the culture of VividAlt might clash with Vivid proper. But in the end, it’s clear in the stuff we put out that we are totally doing what we want. I have only become more in tune with what I’m about and why I’m in this biz from working here because it puts all my choices to the test.

Q: How do you think alt porn can influence mainstream sexual representations?
A: The idea of the ideal woman is featured and I hope it continues to fracture. It’s just not good for society to be focused on one image of what beauty is. So I hope beauty continues the way music has divided into so many subgenres that most people don’t listen to just one type of music anymore.

Q: Your work seems to be influenced by other cultural strands. Do you find alt porn is, in turn, influencing other cultural fields?
A: Yeah, I talked about how what we do is subculture based and how alt porn has fractured the idea of beauty for a social better. Of course, I’m influenced by the stories of the people around me. I’m not really interested in a fantasy world where I invent something that never existed. I want to observe this human experience because there is so much that is real that we are all struggling to figure out.

Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m working on a movie that is more along the lines of how Girls Lie was made called, On My Dirty Knees. This is about the world that attractive women ambush and have access to that young boys don’t. Again, it seems I’m more into a girl’s life than a boy’s – I guess it’s my thing.