im pretty sure the proper definition of gonzo is when the performers acknowledge there is a camera on them - ala Randy West/Jules Jordan/Red Light District...
I first saw the term gonzo used when discovering the writings of Hunter S. Thompson and his gonzo journalism....I always took it to mean a free form of expression that doesn't really follow any set patterns or rules...writing which was very much shooting from the hip...which I suppose applies to porn since most everything before gonzo was plot filled porn which very much followed a stardard set of rules...that make any sense or help any?
I believe the word gonzo as it is used in porn is taken from its use to describe a style of journalism popularized by Hunter S. Thompson.
"Gonzo journalism is a style of reporting based on William Faulkner's idea that the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism - and the best journalists have always known this. Which is not to say that fiction is necessarily 'more true' than journalism - or vice versa - but that both 'fiction' and 'journalism' are artificial categories; and that both forms, at their best, are only two different means to the same end." ~ ~ Hunter S. Thompson
Legendary for his drug-fuelled Sadeian excesses, Hunter S. Thompson's pioneering Gonzo reportage changed journalism forever.
The word gonzo has also been known to mean weird or strange.
"Gonzo: founder of gonzo is John "Buttman" Stagliano. His wife Tricia Devereaux was kind enough to give us THE definition: "Gonzo can take on several different forms. It can vary from the cameraman (in adult, very often the director) interviewing the actors, or participating in the scene with dialogue and/or sex. It can also mean that the actors are simply acknowledging the fact that there is a camera shooting what they are doing. So, although in adult gonzo, the cameraman is usually somehow visible or audible, simply the actors playing to the camera constitutes a gonzo scene."
I'm not sure that this definition really does the best job of describing what is considered "gonzo" porn today. By this definition, Michael Ninn and Adamo movies could be considered gonzo.
Quite true...I think the definition needs to be tighted up a bit to capture the style of gonzo, not just the objective definition. There's quite a bit of all-sex porn out there probably would better be described as vignette, artistic, etc.
I don't know how to define gonzo, but I definitely know it when I see it!
Many thanks for the replies!! Yeah it's quite a difficult one, this. As I said, I can certainly describe what a gonzo flick is, but to define what gonzo means in porn circles is a different matter. It's like what Saki said...