National Santos and Mariachi Machos: Liberatory Ethics and Aesthetics of Pleasure in Mecos Films’ La putiza and La verganza

Abstract

In the aftermath of the democratisation of Mexico in 2000 and the progressive neoliberalisation of cultural spheres, gay pornography appears as a medium where national identities and the racial/ethnic tensions of the mestizo construction of Mexico have been resituated, challenged, and redefined through a liberatory ethics and aesthetics. Mecos Films’ first two films La putiza and La verganza mobilise popular stereotypes such as the luchador wrestler and sexualise national heroes such as mariachis. By narrating the sexual adventures of a lucha libre wrestler heavily mediated with ethnic markers, the films engage with, de-structure, and finally reassemble stereotypes of sexual(ised) citizenship. The sexual(ised) men on screen reformulate a sexual politics where mutual pleasure is the starting point to developing a sexual citizenship liberated from structurally violent gender norms. Comparing the historical arc of Mexican pornographic production from the 1920s (Colección Callado), this article highlights the use of popular subjects (charros, mariachis, chinas poblanas, etc.) as visible representations of queer and non-normative sexual subjects within the space of the nation. The films foreground role-play as a strategic tool to subvert and redefine Mexican masculine sexualities, and ultimately mobilise an aesthetics of pleasure, particularly anal pleasure, that deconstructs and reconstructs liberated Mexican masculinities.