Sean Cody’s Curtis and amateur performance in reality porn

Amateur pornography has often been defined negatively in relationship to its professional counterpart; featuring average-looking people, awkward or disengaged performances, and poorly recorded video. This understanding of amateur performance has yet to be reconsidered in light of the mid-2000s industry shift to 'reality porn,' which boasts professionally-lit scenes shot on clear, high-definition video, and features normatively good-looking performers—performers who are still billed as 'amateur.' This paper fleshes out current definitions of reality porn, suggesting that in addition to adopting the aesthetics and conventions of reality television, it adopts its promise: that by putting real people in a contrived scenario it can produce a truthful document of a human encounter. Because the believability of this encounter hinges on the understanding that the performers are appearing as themselves, reality porn must establish their 'real-life' status via on-camera interviews and behind-the-scenes vignettes.Taking major gay porn studio Sean Cody and one of its star performers Curtis as an example, this paper suggests that the realism of amateur performance is no longer based upon a lack of skill or less-than-ideal looks, but rather constructed within the video itself and across several scenes, creating a serial narrative of sexual exploration and discovery.