Is "smut" a synonym for "erotica?"

[Cagivagurl]

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[gunhilltrain]

I'm going to work on articulating a third option. Haven't got it yet. But it has to do with not knowing why Laura wants the UPS guy, but building up to their coupling in a detailed, evocotive way that doesn't involve cheesy porn music.

So, back to the question in the OP, it sounds like for some folks there's smut (no character/backstory) and not-smut (significant character/back story). I just disagree that there are only those two options.

Let's make it simple. If somebody else creates it, it's smut or porn. (Not convinced of the visual / written distinction yet.) If you or I create it, it's erotica.

 

[gunhilltrain]

View attachment 2274115

I see, that's supposed to be the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard. If the show was made today, they'd never get away with naming it after a Confederate General or painting a Confederate flag on the roof. A 1969 Dodge Charger, by the way. Did they wreck one in the show, or did that happen later?

 

[Euphony]

I see, that's supposed to be the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard. If the show was made today, they'd never get away with naming it after a Confederate General or painting a Confederate flag on the roof. A 1969 Dodge Charger, by the way. Did they wreck one in the show, or did that happen later?

I *believe* it was just a couple of good ol' boys, never meaning no harm.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I *believe* it was just a couple of good ol' boys, never meaning no harm.

Of course, it was just a slightly goofy TV show that was on from 1979 to 1985. I still don't know how the car got wrecked.

 

[AG31]

Let's make it simple. If somebody else creates it, it's smut or porn. (Not convinced of the visual / written distinction yet.) If you or I create it, it's erotica.

Absolutely not! I spend a lot of time looking for stories by other people that are, using your definitions, erotica.

 

[Euphony]

Of course, it was just a slightly goofy TV show that was on from 1979 to 1985. I still don't know how the car got wrecked.

My post was a joke off the opening lyrics of the show.

As to the image used:

The one pictured is a fan built "tribute car." Apparently signed/driven by the original cast but never part of any official production (tv show or 2005 movie)

News article said "unauthorized driver" is responsible. Apparently real owner built it for he and his special needs son.

It's all over google, that's just as far down the rabbit hole as I cared to go.

 

[BrightShinyGirl]

I'm going to work on articulating a third option. Haven't got it yet. But it has to do with not knowing why Laura wants the UPS guy, but building up to their coupling in a detailed, evocotive way that doesn't involve cheesy porn music.

So, back to the question in the OP, it sounds like for some folks there's smut (no character/backstory) and not-smut (significant character/back story). I just disagree that there are only those two options.

All my smut has characters and backstory.

That’s what I find hot.

Stories that are nothing but descriptions of fucking I call “hydraulics” and I don’t write or read them.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Absolutely not! I spend a lot of time looking for stories by other people that are, using your definitions, erotica.

Of course, I was being tongue-in-cheek. I must have used that same joke here at least three times over the years.

 

[ronde]

Is there a consensus on the use/connotations of the word?

There will probably never be a concensus on the differences between "smut" or "erotica".

Here's my definition of both.

Smut - At least 90% of the story is centered on sex with graphic descriptions of body parts, sights, sounds, and vocalizations by the two (or more) partners. Almost no explanation of how the situation occurred or what happened later. Often those body parts are so exaggerated as to be comical, i.e., his 12 inch cock, her 44H breasts and my personal favorite, "hot, steaming cum". Think any porn film you've ever seen and translate it into the written word.

Erotica - A story with characters who seem real, a plot that could actually happen in real life, and an ending that seems appropriate given the plot. The sex fits naturally into the progression of the story instead of being the main theme. Think "Lady Chatterley's Lover", by D.H. Lawrence, "The Memoirs of Josephine Mutzenbacher" by Felix Salten, or "Mystere D'amour", by Anne-Marie Villefranche.

 

[gunhilltrain]

My post was a joke off the opening lyrics of the show.

As to the image used:

The one pictured is a fan built "tribute car." Apparently signed/driven by the original cast but never part of any official production (tv show or 2005 movie)

News article said "unauthorized driver" is responsible. Apparently real owner built it for he and his special needs son.

It's all over google, that's just as far down the rabbit hole as I cared to go.

I never heard the opening song until I just looked on YouTube. I must have been doing something else in the 1980's.

Forgive me Lord, thread drift. Many cars are destroyed during movie filming. For Christine (1983), they had to dig up two dozen 1958 Plymouths to represent just one. Most of them didn't do well by the end. And if it's a really old car, you only get one take. electricblue66 is going to be all over me if he catches this. But I don't think the OP will mind too much.

 

[bumpercars]

I see, that's supposed to be the General Lee from The Dukes of Hazzard.

If you put a flamethrower on top of the General Lee, it becomes the General Sherman.

 

[bumpercars]

Also, y'all have way more specific definitions than I do. I use the term "smut" as a catchall for visual and written erotic material, without positive or negative connotations. Erotica as a term has connotations of either quality or pretentions thereof, and porn feels like a lowbrow term, but smut includes the good and the bad as long as it would offend a Puritan.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have my own nomenclature. “Porn” is visual. “Smut” is written. Both exist so the reader can get off.

“Erotica” is smut with its pinky finger extended so it looks classy.

Calling what I write “smut” is just an acknowledgement that I don’t have any literary pretensions. I expect people to stroke to it.

Pretty much this, for me. Erotica has lace and lingerie, smut has a new pair of panties, porn has nothing at all.

 

[ElectricBlue]

So, back to the question in the OP, it sounds like for some folks there's smut (no character/backstory) and not-smut (significant character/back story). I just disagree that there are only those two options.

It's not black and white. There's every colour in between, you've just got to choose your colours.

I wouldn't worry about it, to be honest. Like most things, xxxx is what the other writer writes. You don't want to be like all the rest. Well, some people do, but that's their call.

 

[ElectricBlue]

And if it's a really old car, you only get one take. electricblue66 is going to be all over me if he catches this. But I don't think the OP will mind too much.

I read somewhere that they used some kind of shape memory plastic for the scenes where Christine smoothed the creases out of her panels. Or filmed it backwards, and some guy pulls the metal into creases, from inside.

 

[XerXesXu]

I can't recall having used either 'smut' or 'erotica'.

I'd define 'smut' as writing to appeal only to the prurient interest ie: a morbid or shameful interest in sex, and 'erotica' as the foregoing but with some redeeming literary or artistic value.

If you see me use these terms, you'll know what I mean. If you see others use these terms, they may be as precise but mean something quite different, a la Humpty Dumpty.

 

[MajorRewrite]

Corn smut is a delicacy in Mexico.

 

[StillStunned]

The very first story I posted here (since deleted) got one comment: "It's just smut. Sorry, but there has to be more."

Not "I prefer stories that offer more", or "you could have added more [undefined ingredient]". There was an immediate judgment that the short sexy story was inferior. "Smut", a sex scene, didn't meet their (to me) undefined standards.

In the two months or so before I had it removed (together with all the other stories in that series), it attracted 96 ratings at an average of around 4.6.

So the one critic who felt that my story wasn't good enough because it was "just smut" was outvoted 96 to 1. People can be snooty all they want, but if I enjoy writing a particular story, and the readers enjoy reading it, that counts as a win for me.

 

[alohadave]

Did they wreck one in the show

They wrecked about 300 of them. The show actually had to switch to using similar cars in later seasons.

 

[Beholders_Eye]

Well, my simple minded definition:

Porn = hamburger
Erotica = prime rib

For me, then: smut = unrefrigerated hamburger.

 

[Fatdog25]

If I'm talking to friends or kidding around here = smut, porn, dirty stories

If I'm trying to keep my job = erotic literature

When I think about what I write, it's erotica. What somebody else calls it is up to them.

When it comes to those Chargers...I cried inside every time they wrecked one. Next to the '68 Roadrunner, it was my favorite Dodge.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I read somewhere that they used some kind of shape memory plastic for the scenes where Christine smoothed the creases out of her panels. Or filmed it backwards, and some guy pulls the metal into creases, from inside.

Yes, that's right, they filmed it backwards, but they usually used rubber duplicates for the panels and such. Now I get an excuse to show the end of one of the Plymouths. Now you know why gas stations have fire suppression systems. And that guy at the end; dude, get off the road and run sideways. 1958 Plymouths didn't have all-wheel drive. But if everybody in movies acted thoughtfully, a lot of movies would be pretty dull.

 

[MillieDynamite]

One may as well ask, is fucking a synonym for lovemaking? Well, that depends on who you are. Is love the same thing as like? Again, that depends on who you are. Some guys and gals can't say I love you. It isn't part of their makeup, and I like you a lot is as close as they come. Words are what they are depending on A, who says them, and B, who hears them. Am I wise or wiseass? Yes, yes, I am.

 

[gunhilltrain]

They wrecked about 300 of them. The show actually had to switch to using similar cars in later seasons.

I guess it was fairly easy to get more Dodges and paint them orange. But that was about forty years ago, and there are probably a lot fewer cars of the 60's and 70's around now.