Frauke Stark
Frauke Stark | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Julia Brückner 14 April 1960 |
| Nationality | Gylian |
| Alma mater | Federal University of Mişeyáke |
| Occupation | Pornographic actress, producer, and director |
| Known for | Shopping |
| Net worth |  Ŧ12 billion (2020) |
Julia Brückner (Gylic transliteration: Iulia Byryúknáyr, born 14 April 1960), known by the stage name Frauke Stark (Gylic transliteration: Fyrauke Şytaryk), is a Gylian pornographic producer, director, and actress. She became famous in the 1990s with her Shopping series, and is one of Gylias' most successful pornographers.
Early life
Julia Brückner was born on 14 April 1960 in Garés. Her parents were from Acrea and Shalum, met as volunteers in the International Brigades, and remained members of the GSDF after the Liberation War. She has three younger brothers.
She began studying psychology at the Federal University of Mişeyáke in 1978, and ultimately completed a Ph.D in 1985.
Career
She started acting in pornographic films while in university. She chose the stage name "Frauke Stark" as a pun, wishing to have a "soft-hard" duality in her stage name.
Her career progressed slowly during the 1980s. Eventually, she found a niche playing voracious older women. She gradually learned about filmmaking from conversations with colleagues and crew members, and decided to start making her own pornographic films.
She set up her own studio in 1989.
Shopping
Frauke gained her breakthrough in 1990 with the film Shopping for Girls. The film's slick production values, breezy tone, and tongue-in-cheek commercial elements found an unexpected audience. Stark followed it with Shopping for Boys in the same year.
She refined the formula and turned Shopping into an ongoing series with three parts, based on intended audience and partners: Shopping for Girls, Shopping for Boys, and Shopping for TIQles (transgender, intersex, and queer).
Frauke's Shopping films focus on straightforward sexual acts, with elements of clothing fetishism and tongue-in-cheek commercial and transactional elements.
She appears in the films as a wealthy and insatiable woman seeking out partners, preferring younger and less experienced ones. Her characters are humorously portrayed relating everything to money, and basing their attractiveness on a combination of looks and wealth.
All Shopping films begin with the title sequence: an eroticised depiction of Frauke doing her beauty routine and getting dressed, accompanied by the series' theme song "Shopping". It ends with a close-up of her in a flirtatious pose and the series logo, and Frauke whispering the name of the respective series. A humorous sequence follows showing her looking around various people as if browsing a department store, before selecting her partner.
All Shopping films end with a shot of her partner being exhausted after sex, followed by Frauke teasing them about their lack of stamina. She then makes a playful boast or quip directly to the camera, and winks at the audience before the end credits roll.
The series' visual style, directing, and packaging is similarly self-parodic. Soundtracks generally feature Neo-Gylian Sound, city pop, acid jazz, house music, and similar genres.
The success of the Shopping films inspired a subgenre of "business burlesque" pornography, which became one of the largest genres in Gylian pornography.
Other activities
Frauke is one of Gylias' most famous pornographers, and one of the richest. Her net wealth is estimated to be Ŧ12 billion. She has worked with some of the biggest names in Gylian pornography, as well as future stars she mentored. Among her notable Shopping co-stars was Sōko Sōma in 1999, when she became the only co-star to subvert Sōko's insatiable party girl character and leave her exhausted from sex.
Collaborations
Her fame spread beyond pornography in the 1990s, and she became a media personality and household name. She has produced non-pornographic films, made cameo appearances as herself in various productions, and has collaborated with several musical acts, providing spoken word vocals and sexual sounds.
Her collaborations include Shopping for Doom (1997), with protégé Chizuru Ogawa, and guest appearances on songs by Stella Star, The Ins & Outs, New Order, The Rubber Band, and Yoko Kanno.
Merchandise
She has produced a range of merchandise of herself, including "anatomically correct" action figures, branded sex toys, her own sex simulation video game, a line of clothing that duplicates her trademark business-suited appearance, lingerie, perfume, handbags, and footwear.
Impact
As one of Gylias' most popular pornographers, Frauke has had a significant impact on both Gylian pornography and pop culture. Before her, similarly successful pornographic stars like Edwige Ferré and Moana Pozzi emphasised youthfulness and enthusiasm. Frauke was the first pornographic star to base her appeal on maturity, playfully sexualising her older appearance. Even her specific brand of glasses saw a boost in popularity as a result of her Shopping films. Her work thus paved the way for the popularisation of MILF pornography and similar erotic works that emphasised attractive and stylish older women, men, and genderqueers.
She is credited with significantly popularising the name "Frauke" for Gylian children.
She is a prolific participant in the Social Partnership Program, and has been one of the most extensive users of conferred naming rights. She has many buildings and streets named after her across all Gylian regions in recognition of her extensive contributions to their construction and maintenance.
She was interviewed for Rasa Ḑeşéy's documentaries Our Clothes (2012) and Happy Orgasms (2013).
Academia and politics
She maintains a separation between her pornographic work as Frauke Stark and her non-pornographic work as Julia Brückner. She is an occasional university lecturer in psychology, and is politically active with Love, Nature, Democracy. She served in the Gylian Senate between 1 September and 1 December 2016, nominated by President Laura Varnaþ.
Philanthropy and friendships
She is a participant in the Social Partnership Program, frequently takes part in Tax Day ceremonies, and is close friends with Marie-Agnès Delaunay and Agathe Sanna — all three having tongue-in-cheek public images in common — as well as Kanna Miyashita — a former university colleague —, Fusako Fuwa — whose similar appearance earned them frequent comparisons —, and Saira Telyn.
Private life
Frauke is a trans woman, who began transitioning at age 10. She is known for wearing Kaede Nakano business suits and has had breast augmentation.
She identifies as pansexual with a slight preference for female partners, commenting in an interview: "I enjoy doing all three [of the Shopping series], but to tell you the truth I enjoy Shopping for Girls a bit more."
Her autobiography, Hard at Work, was released in 2005.