21 May, 2014 | Ollie Vargas

Urban living and Video

IT´S A COMMUNAL THING

Nothing quite defines the seedy underworld of La Paz quite like its many ‘adult cinemas’ or cines privados, as they are called. Watching a bunch of old men sitting together calmly watching what most would consider hardcore porn beamed from a cheap overhead projector is surreal, alongside watching them ‘go to the toilet’ every five minutes, leaving promptly afterwards. As if the dark, smoky room isn’t bad enough, the films themselves will also leave one questioning whether the final triumph of barbarism has already arrived. With an entry fee of just 10 bolivianos, one can watch three hours of feature-length adult films with their comical ‘storylines’ (or rather lack of). One is reminded of the That Mitchell and Webb Look sketch in which David Mitchell plays a porn scriptwriter and explains the complexities of the job: ‘It’s really easy, basically, I get a piece of paper with “they have sex” written on it eight times, and I just have to fill in the blanks, simple’.

Of course the first question one is left with is why men would go to such a public place to watch this type of film. In the UK, such cinemas aren’t a common sight: with DVDs and the Internet there isn’t any reason to go to such a communal place. But the demographic at these cines privados is clearly older married men, whose wives might not approve of these films. After all, a single person would surely rather enjoy these films in the privacy and comfort of their own home. (In fact, at various points in the cine, men would receive calls and quickly reject them—no doubt their long-suffering wives.) Secondly, the reach of the Internet is different in Bolivia than it is in the West. In Europe, almost everyone has access to it in their own homes, and most have multiple connected devices. However, in Bolivia, with home Internet costing the same as in the UK, many ordinary Bolivians are priced out. Only around 30 percent of Bolivians have home access, compared with 83 percent in the UK. As a result, many Bolivians typically rely on cheap public Internet cafes—not the best place to access such explicit material.

Is constitute a tiny, privileged, and often foreign elite. The contradictory world of cheap overhead projectors and white Western actresses makes it a bizarre but thoroughly depressing affair, certainly not a recommendation for those sightseeing in the city.