Mario Casas and 'depornosexual' man: the spectacle of erotic male boy

Abstract

In 2014, journalist Mark Simpson proposed the term “Spornosexual” a concept to identify an emerging trend in the representation of the male body, applicable to advertising, magazine spreads, different types of TV programming (including reality shows) and film. For Simpson, the concept is an evolution of the 1990s “Metrosexual” and shows representations indebted to the world of sports and (gay) pornography and is characterized for the centrality of an ostentatiously manufactured body. Traditional conceptions of virility and representations of the male body tended to steer clear of passivity. Susan Bordo has described the process through which such narcissistic images of the male body become acceptable in mainstream representation. A generation of young male actors both in Spain and in Hollywood represents this new trend. The text argues the case of Mario Casas. How he is a representative of a new approach to the body and a new personal relationship to the body. It illustrates how this new approach engages with two demographics that are often ignored by mainstream critics: teenage girls and gay male audiences. It also illustrates how Casas negotiates the conflict between the model of masculinity implicit in the perspective of critics and his new adopted persona. The main section of the article focuses on Casas 2009 ransformation from teen icon to spornosexual star, particularly in the film Tres metros sobre el cielo.