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Abstract
Erotic imagery is an important component of gay pornographic cinema, particularly, where work of audience reception is concerned. However, to assume the audience engagement with the films is limited solely to the erotic realm is to underestimate the workings of ideological power in the context and aftermath of reception. For example, the director of the film under discussion here (Men of Israel; CitationLucas, 2009b) intended to present an erotic celebration of the nation-state. Yet, most viewers ignore the particulars of context in their comments about audience reception, placing the “Israeli” narrative within a broader framework, using transnational rather than film-specific criteria to guide their “reading” of the Israeli-centered narrative. This article uses as its entry point the language that viewers employ when describing their reactions to Men of Israel on a gay video club's Web site; this article shows how the work of audience reception may draw attention to a film's erotic details while invoking social and political messages that completely reframe the film's erotic narrative.
Notes
1. For similar arguments, see the Lucas Film press release announcing the start of the film project (CitationLucas Entertainment, 2009) and also his interview in the Israeli newspaper Maariv (”The Patriot,” Citation2008).
2. CitationRitchie (2010) considers the tensions stemming from the visibility of same-sex identified subjects of non-Hebraic background in the Israeli state.
3. For other sites where Lucas develops this argument, see CitationLucas, 2008a, Citation2008b.
4. Films in this category from U.S. studios have titles such as: Grunts: Brothers in Arms (CitationWard & Leon, 2007) Gunnery Sergeant Joe McCool (CitationGage, 2006), Military Manholes (CitationSenko, 2002), and Barracks Glory Hole # 9 (CitationYates, 2006).
5. Films in this category include: Made in the Shade 1 (CitationRoss, 1985), Young Warriors (CitationBronco, 1988), Hooked on Hispanics 1 (CitationBrennan, 1989) and Abduction in Spanish Harlem (CitationFranco, 1992.)
6. When I refer to gay pornography in this article, I refer to gay pornographic films, specifically films that are commercially produced for distribution through such for-profit venues as adult theaters, bookstores, video stores, mail-order sales, rental services, and online viewing sites. “Underground,” “amateur,” and additional genres of gay pornography can be distinguished by topic and by commercial base, and will not be addressed in this article.
7. The argument is not limited to gay pornographic context. A similar linkage of sexual and racial positioning oriented the U. S. military's prisoner humiliation at Abu Ghraib (CitationMassad, 2007, pp. 44–47; CitationRudman, 2004) and is reflected in the place that homosexuality occupies in the intensified forms of national desire widely attested in late modernity (CitationHayes, 2000; CitationKong, 2010; CitationPuar & Rai, 2004; CitationŽarkov, 2007).
8. This was one of the analytical problems posed by the early feminist arguments that defined pornography in terms of a gender binary, as I explain earlier.
9. One of the earliest replies to the feminist critique of pornography noted that if pornography was designed to legitimize masculinity through the subordination of women, then women‘s location as object of the masculine gaze prevented them from occupying the subject position of viewer in the context of audience reception (CitationGaines, 1987). CitationDuggan and McCreary (2004) show that viewing gay pornography's displays of embodiment prompt a reevaluation of the viewers' self-assumptions about bodily form, is one of several studies demonstrating that audiences are actively engaged in a creative process of reception. CitationMorrison, Morrison, and Bradley (2007) review other audience-centered studies of gay pornography.
10. My comments about the usefulness of Web site and chat room postings in this section reflect my interests in placing audience voices at the center of conversations about audience reception. Similarly, data from formal interviewing, focus groups and questionnaires are highly appropriate in those instances where research projects want to explore, for example, “The possible associations between pornography exposure and the drive for muscularity, genital esteem … and the perceived importance of practicing safer sex” (CitationMorrison, Morrison, & Bradley, 2007, p. 33) or connections between audience reception and other areas of sexual or psychological practice. Whether focus group data are more reliable than data from Web sites and chat rooms for purposes of audience reception research is a topic for discussion elsewhere, although my remarks about the effects that data-gathering contexts have on language use (and, thereby, discussions of the viewing process) should indicate where my endorsement will lie.
11. Some sites may fall into more than one of these categories. The Web site for the video rental club, Manhattan Men's Media, has space for members to post comments about films they have rented and also maintains message-board and chat room services so members can discuss interests in gay pornography and related themes.
12. There is also an issue of disclosure: Revealing that I am a researcher shuts down the online thread immediately. Failing to do so may solicit useful commentary, but under false pretense. My solution has been not to raise questions or “force” the creation of viewer responses, but to work with whatever online postings and exchanges are available to anyone who has access to the Web site. The database proves to be rich enough under these circumstances, as we will see below.
13. The total number of interviews, focus group discussions and informal conversations for which I have notes of language use (and content) exceeds 100, as of December 2010, with the participants stratified by age, race/ethnicity and income level.
14. In the context of private viewing, viewers may “rewind” so that unclear segments of dialogue or events can be replayed and reheard. Doing so disrupts visual continuity and (particularly in the case of pornographic films) other domains of audience reception.
15. I discuss the MMM Website in the following section.
16. The hyperlink function is helpful in this project in two ways. By enabling comparisons of content and language use across reviews, the hyperlinks help me situate a viewer's comments about particular films within broader discursive practice. Given that the identities of the viewers are otherwise concealed the hyperlinks help me draw inferences about the details of viewer background.
17. Viewers have posted comments about Men of Israel on GayPornBlog.com and other gay pornography-related Web sites. Here again, they do so with lower than expected frequencies for film-related messages posted on those sites. The content of those postings echo the content-details summarized here.
18. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NaCqS0-5zk&feature=player_embedded (last visited April 4, 2010).