Smut as art?

[EmilyNidhoggr]

And do smut really have a "Lord of the flies"? An influential work of the genre that virtually everyone at least knows of?

I think the boring answer is yes, 120 Days of Sodom is uncontroversially smut and so universally known that sadism is named for its author.

But there are more interesting and controversial books I could name. Is Lolita smut? The narration is incredibly erotic in places, but we're also supposed to be disgusted and fascinated and stirred to righteous anger by how erotic it is.

A lot of lewd books with literary ambitions beyond the eternal coom, that try to present a nude drawing of life as opposed to an upskirt shot of it, are branded as smut during cultural moments defined by purity spirals, and then simply as works of art in more liberal times and places.

[EloquentOrc]

And do smut really have a "Lord of the flies"? An influential work of the genre that virtually everyone at least knows of?

I think the boring answer is yes, 120 Days of Sodom is uncontroversially smut and so universally known that sadism is named for its author.

But there are more interesting and controversial books I could name. Is Lolita smut? The narration is incredibly erotic in places, but we're also supposed to be disgusted and fascinated and stirred to righteous anger by how erotic it is.

A lot of lewd books with literary ambitions beyond the eternal coom, that try to present a nude drawing of life as opposed to an upskirt shot of it, are branded as smut during cultural moments defined by purity spirals, and then simply as works of art in more liberal times and places.

Interesting, these are the kind of new perspectives I was hoping for with this thread.

[Aces]

Smut is most definitely not an inferior art form.

Pardon the self-serving nature of this particular reply, as I am bias as fuck, but the story of Fallout: Guts and Glory that I wrote was something that drew people in with the smut and then by the end of the 100 chapter long series I actually had people crying because it touched on topics like

Spoiler: show

abandonment, abuse, even sexual assault, loss, and the most important lesson, using the painful lessons of your own trauma to help other people through their trauma. Seeing the characters overcome these struggles was apparently very profound to some people.

I made people care about the characters a lot which is why it became something so beautiful despite its origin as a god dang vore story. I'm also telling the artists doing the comic side of things to take an artistic take on some chapters where the message is more important than smut.

Now, Little Lamia in the Big City? Pretty much pure smut. :U I see no artistic merit in that story. Maybe a little bit about a young adult learning to be independent but I do a really shit job at trying to tell that kind of story so I gave up.

It's the best way to make art in my opinion. At least, it's certainly the most fun to make. Lure someone in with gratuitous fun, make them care about the characters, then hit them with the things you as an artist actually want to talk about.