From Straight A's to XXX (2017)

I love this movie so much

Thanks for the memories!

Powerful

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The story is about a girl who starts out with porn in order to pay for her tuition fees. The acting is quite ordinary, but the movie does a relatively good job stating both sides of the argument. It throws light on the high college fees and the difficulty that students face in order to pay for it. It also states how people see porn as bad for society, but then there are others who state that a person should not be shamed for it.The problem here lies in the message that the movie sends, which is that is doesn't matter what you work in as all jobs are 'good' jobs. Porn is definitely not a great thing. I also disagree with the argument that people show double standards when they watch porn themselves, but don't like a person doing porn. This is because even those who watch it know that it is wrong. In the movie, the protagonist knew that everyone around thought such as well, and she kept crying throughout the movie. She also knew that her family won't accept it.. yet she went on to do it. This is the very thinking that is plaguing this generation and supporting it will only burn society.If the point of the movie was to give a message (which I believe such movies should do), it should have been that a living can be earned by doing much more respectable jobs.

* Spoiler alertI'm 15 minutes into the movie and I want to smack her. She was offered a full ride to college, but went to a different school she couldn't afford? While I understand not wanting a bunch of loans I am not sure choosing to do porn is a better choice. I am going to finish watching it, but so far I am just annoyed at what a spoiled brat she seems to be.

I watched this without knowing any of the background material and thinking that it was just your typical 'Lifetime Weekly Movie'. I couldn't imagine a real young lady turning to porn to pay for College. But this one did.This character's flaw of bad decision-making was evident when you hear that she did receive offers from several colleges but she was "set on going to Duke". While that is admirable, I think no matter what, compromise and planning could have landed her in a better life decision circumstance. It was a question I am sure that was running through the mind of the viewer.One big flag in this film for me is that I could not ignore that this woman was offered a full ride to another excellent college, but she was "set on going to Duke". This is a choice that young people need to put pen and paper to and analyze it with their parents. Apply to scholarships, etc. One should not get hung up on "one school". But she did, and the resulting personal decisions to stay in that school is what this is about. Her parents thought they could afford it, but circumstances dictated they could not. So what does she do...? Figure out she needs a lot of money fast. A part-time job won't cover it either. Didn't seem like a real life choice, but for this person -- it was. As she dives into that world, you discover that she has had major self-esteem problems before that - that were not properly resolved.Then there is the "women's empowerment" message for the audience. Is it a crutch, a cover for trying to rationalize this with paying for higher education's skyrocketing and out of reach costs, or does she truly think that doing porn is empowerment for the women doing it? She wants the audience to believe women can do whatever they wish with their body, not be bullied about the choices, not know about negative consequences and covering it up under "women empowerment" rather than "a really bad choice when other options were available to ... HER."If one is to feel sorry for her as her double life is exposed, I couldn't. If I were to get a 'women's empowerment' message out of this, I couldn't accept one. It may have empowered her, but not everyone agrees on that type of choice as an empowerment.This film is on par with most Lifetime made Weekly Movies - "female watch bait". It a story told from the woman who did it perspective. It wasn't laid out as a cautionary tale, a tale of how college costs are skyrocketing, nor a tale where one should feel sorry for the character 'having to resort to this to pay for school'. It's just a tale of how one woman ignored other avenues of assistance, other schools to attend (or transfer to Duke later, why not?)and how she was shamed by students, etc., students but stood up for the way she acquired the money. Not a good lesson here as many Lifetime Movie Bio-pics try to do, but an interesting film to watch in how it was done.

This new Lifetime TV movie "From Straight A's To XXX" gets its inspiration from the former media celebrity Miriam Weeks,a college freshman who turned into sex worker and become actress Belle Knox in the industry of pornography,to sustain herself and pay for her college tuition fees at Duke University.The new TV movie stars Halley Pullos and Judd Nelson as Miriam and the porn manager respectively.The story takes us from the time Miriam started her first year of studies at Duke,her family's incapacity to pay for her expensive $43,000 a year tuition fee during the middle of the school year,her joining the porn industry,her initial experiences as a sex worker until achieving success, and the disclosure made by a fellow Duke student that made her stand up for feminism particularly her rights as a sex worker,defense of the porn industry by calling it legal, and her becoming a Libertarian student activist in the end.The movie was definitely not your typical Lifetime TV movie that one is usually used to watching considering the elements such as a common storyline,determined villains who are not taking "no" for answer are going to harass the main characters violently no end, and predictability are not present from it.In fact,the audience is presented with something better than those elements mentioned. Instead,politics was a big theme from it such as feminism and empowerment as well as issues affecting many young Americans today such as expensive college tuition fees are brought up.In addition to that,the audience is provided something that would allow them to give a thought to various themes such as politics,society,pornography,feminism,morality and the ideals of today's young women.Also included are college experiences of cyberbullying,the rape culture and harassment that are common in today's college and universities.Finally,it also would divide the audience in terms on how they view Miriam/Belle in terms of the choices and decisions she has made.