Explicit Affects: Confession, Identity, and Desire Across Digital Platforms Brandon Arroyo A Thesis In The Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Film and Moving Image Studies) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada September 2018 © Brandon Arroyo, 2018 CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES This is to certify that the thesis prepared By: Brandon Arroyo Entitled: Explicit Affects: Confession, Identity, and Desire Across Digital Platforms and submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor Of Philosophy (Film and Moving Image Studies) complies with the regulations of the University and meets the accepted standards with respect to originality and quality. Signed by the final examining committee: Chair Dr. Mia Consalvo External Examiner Dr. Susanna Paasonen External to Program Dr. Monika Gagnon Examiner Dr. Marc Steinberg Examiner Dr. Erin Manning Thesis Supervisor Dr. Thomas Waugh Approved by Dr. Masha Salazkina, Graduate Program Director November 13, 2018 Dr. Rebecca Taylor Duclos, Dean Faculty of Fine Arts iii ABSTRACT Explicit Affects: Confession, Identity, and, Desire Across Digital Platforms Brandon Arroyo, Ph.D. Concordia University, 2018 This study accounts for what happens when a gay male identity politics centered around Western state power comes in contact with a pornographic aesthetic queerly subverting the markers composing this type of identity formation. While pornography has long affirmed and legitimized gay sexuality within a homophobic society, this dynamic requires reconsideration within a contemporary neoliberal media environment dictating the parameters of gay identity by showcasing gay reality stars, actors, and storylines. If this homonormative inclusion of gay identity aesthetics within mainstream media assures representation of gay camaraderie, affection, and even sometimes sexuality, then what role can pornography play in influencing gay identity today? Despite these shifts, pornography remains an essential genre within gay communal formations because it showcases what the mainstream cannot: explicit sex. While mainstream media affirms and solidifies normative gay identity, I argue that this dynamic has meant that pornography has become a primary media mode actively destabilizing and confusing identity conventions. While an approach looking for ruptures in identity formation might typically situate itself within the foundations of queer theory as developed by Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Judith Butler, and perhaps Michel Foucault, I instead highlight contexts where their queer conceptions of identity become too easily coopted by nationalist right-wing forces, or in the case of Foucault, does not allow for desire to exist outside of power relations. As an alternative, I argue for an affective understanding of individuation as understood by Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari, Gilbert Simondon, and Brian Massumi. What their understanding of affect theory offers queer thinking is a focus on process rather than stability. This becomes crucial within a social media environment where most users are actively consuming, creating, and exchanging pornographic imagery of themselves and others across various media platforms, and within a multitude of social contexts. This is how gay identity becomes pornographic, by engaging in an active process where identity exists in between both a iv pornographic and non-pornographic assemblage. The three case studies analyzed here are instances where both identity and pornographic aesthetics are situated within a process of becoming. The first chapter considers how confession becomes pornographic. I do so by analyzing the amateur pornographic projects of Colby Keller and the Black Spark, who subvert both confessional and pornographic norms by utilizing masks as part of their pornographic aesthetic. These masks embody a type of queer opacity that makes one question the role of the face within a social media age of overexposure. The second chapter documents how a viral YouTube celebrity becomes a pornographic performer. Chris Crocker’s identity exists across media platforms where he is a singer, a television personality, a documentary subject, and a pornographic performer. Enacting the intensities of these various media forms points to the idea of a transindividual. Simondon’s notion of the transindividual situates identity as being relational rather than inherent. Such an understanding productively shifts gay identity beyond a “Born This Way” ethos. The final chapter considers how a Gay Village becomes pornographic due to the multitude of screens showing pornography as part of its architecture. This visualization of sexuality infuses the neighborhood with pornographic affects enacting the potential to turn any place into a pornographic space. These instances ultimately offer us an opportunity to shift queer identity formations from their traditional understanding within a discipline society, to ones circulating within a control society. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation was written and submitted in solidarity with all fellow working-class PhD students who must work non-academic part-time jobs and rely on the generosity of their family to house them during this period of great financial limitations. No brochure for a PhD program can accurately portray the realities for students who do not receive scholarships or fee- remissions during their tenure. And while this is a journey that I undertook willingly—with an awareness of what the hardships would be—ultimately, the experience that has led to me finishing this dissertation has enriched my life in more ways that I ever could have imagined. As only the second person in my extended family to attain a PhD, and only one of the few who has attained a bachelor’s degree, I continue to believe that higher education offers one access to unique perspectives and enriching life experiences that few other “jobs” afford. While completing this degree I have had the great fortune to present at conference across North America, as well as Europe, I have met many inspiring and brilliant people, and I have learned that I am capable of accomplishing things that I previously thought were impossibilities. I hope that this dissertation might inspire other Puerto Rican Americans to dream bigger, and if I never achieve such world-wide fame to accomplish that, I hope my accomplishments can at least one day inspire my future nephew! My experience at Concordia University, as well as in Montreal, will eternally be defined and remembered alongside the mentorship and friendship of Tom Waugh. Tom is one of the few true intellectuals I have met in my life, and his brilliance will always inspire me. But perhaps even more important than any intellectual lesson, Tom’s practice of being emotionally open and generous to so many people is an example I hope to keep in my heart forever. Being a New Yorker can make you quite cynical; thankfully, Tom and his posse of radical queers have helped to melt what at times has been a cold heart. I am eternally grateful for that. I also feel as if I had the most amazing luck regarding my classmates at Concordia University. Our weekly post-class lunches during that first year meant a lot for me as the sole American in the cohort. I would like to especially thank Andy Djaballah and Samantha Wilson for being such amazing friends. I will never forget Andy teaching me how to ice skate by guiding me along with a hockey stick (so Canadian!). And Samantha’s lasting friendship has provided countless laughs along with countless hours of horrible reality television that I will not soon vi forget! Additional classes also provided fertile ground for making great friends. Micky Story’s friendship during this short time in Montreal was truly something special. Thanks for all the laughs, and all of the green curry! Philipp Dominik Keidl’s friendship over the years has also been invaluable and enriching. Despite your hard German exterior, you are wonderfully soft and caring inside. And we love you for that! I would also like to thank Adam Szymanski for teaching me that sober vegans can actually be awesome people! Thank you for everything you have taught me about life and love from a Deleuzian perspective. Additionally, I would like to thank Catherine Bernier, Kester Dyer, Dominic Leppla, Juan Llamas-Rodriguez, Zach Melzer, and Evangelos Tziallas for their great friendship and advice. Also, a big shout out to all the queers composing our bad-ass SCMS crew! I thank Monika Kin Gagnon and Erin Manning for their time and thoughtfulness while considering this dissertation. I particularly want to thank Marc Steinberg for being so open to sharing his knowledge with me during my time at Concordia. I will also be forever grateful to you for introducing me to the work of Brian Massumi. I doubt this dissertation would exist in its current form without the work of Susana Paasonen. This project is my best attempt at writing a queer sequel to her book Carnal Resonance. Thank you so much for all your work, and I am honored that you dedicated time to considering this dissertation. My experiences outside of academia were also essential in nurturing me through this process. Thank you Eddie Eadicicco for your lifelong friendship. You truly are my second brother. I also thank Robyn Citizen, Şahika Gürler, Matthew Hipps, Ben Hozie, and Alexandre Nothis for all their kindness and lasting friendship. Thank you to Dani, Titi, and “Crazy” uncle