Framing a Disability Theory of Value for Contemporary Narrative

Not Until I Stand Up: Framing a Disability Theory of Value for Contemporary Narrative by Christopher Matthew Ewart M.A. (English), University of Calgary, 2005 B.A. (English), University of Calgary, 2001 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences © Christopher Matthew Ewart 2014 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2014 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for "Fair Dealing." Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. Approval Name: Christopher Ewart Degree: Doctor of Philosophy (English) Title of Thesis: Not Until I Stand Up: Framing a Disability Theory of Value for Contemporary Narrative Examining Committee: Chair: Jeff Derksen Associate Professor Peter Dickinson Senior Supervisor Professor Clint Burnham Supervisor Associate Professor Kirsty Johnston Supervisor Associate Professor Helen Leung Internal Examiner Associate Professor Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies David Mitchell External Examiner Professor, Department of English George Washington University Date Defended/Approved: June 17, 2014 ii Partial Copyright Licence iii Abstract This dissertation investigates the ways in which representations of disability in fiction, film, performance and media from the modernist period to the present reflect and resist dominant histories of ability, creating surplus moments of disabled agency and value. I employ disability theory, close reading and sociocultural analysis to address inequitable representations of disability across a range of high and pop cultural narratives, from an early novel of Samuel Beckett's to films that use CGI prosthetics. I use the term “sociotextual inequity” to identify moments when disability’s employment and representation (as metaphor or aesthetic signifier) in cultural texts is disproportionate to the materiality of its lived histories and experiences. I then rematerialize such representations in order to generate more equitable understandings of disability in narrative and the larger social world from which they emerge, challenging the oppressive treatment and consumption of the disabled subject. My first chapter uses a critique of normative narratives of the institutionalization of the disabled subject to offer a paradigm shift on canonical readings of Beckett’s Murphy (1938), valuing its material and metaphorical engagements with experiences of disability rather than romanticizing Beckett as author-genius. My second chapter considers two films, The Station Agent (2003) and Freaks (1932), contextualizing their representations of disability amidst past and present socioeconomic inequities in an industry that polices normalcy in ways that are then taken up by the dominant cultural imaginary. In chapter three I place in dialogue and dialectical tension Peter Handke’s language play Kaspar (1967), the historical autistic figure Kaspar Hauser, and disabled playwright John Belluso’s Voice Properties (2002) to reveal dominant stereotypes of disabled experience, and to reflect on alternate ways of communicating embodiment. My final chapter reconsiders theories, histories and materialities of prosthetics to interrogate their use in such pop-culture films as The Machine Girl (2008) and Planet Terror (2007). Examining these works alongside Flannery O’Connor’s classic short story “Good Country People” (1955), I question overdetermined meanings of the prosthesis in culture, and call for an ontological shift in the terms by which we read disabled embodiment and what it means to be whole. Keywords: disability theory and studies; disability in literature, film, performance, media and art; disability culture and history; ablenationalism; sociotextual inequity; cultural value iv For my dad, Gary William Ewart v Acknowledgements Thank you to Sandy, an extraordinary mom who holds our home together while I’m up late typing (still mostly with two fingers and a thumb). I think I’ve been working on a paper since we met a decade ago?! Your love and belief in me keeps me going. My mom’s guidance, generosity and optimism during so much of my postsecondary life reminds me how fortunate I am – as does my ever-growing (in size, volume and remarkable devotion to KC & The Sunshine Band) son, Hamish. My sage brother, Geoff, taught me the value of reading good books well, and to “follow the profs you like.” Though my dad never finished his doctorate at the University of Southern California (around the time I was born), his career in teaching provides a thoughtful model for mine. Without the exceptional ideological and financial support of SFU’s English Department and the Department of Graduate Studies, their awards and others: the Messenger, Temple-Maynard, CTEF and SSHRC, this work would not exist. The unwavering mentorship of Peter Dickinson, my brilliant supervisor, has made this job much, much easier. Jeff Derksen has been an exceptional guide and believer in my critical and creative work. His efforts as graduate chair (like others before him) make students feel important, engaged and supported. Clint Burnham’s encouragement and innovative suggestions offer me new routes of inquiry, and Kirsty Johnston, from UBC’s Theatre Studies Program, brings welcome perspective to my work. The last class I took as an undergrad at the University of Calgary – with another fantastic mentor (and my MA supervisor), Nicole Markotić – was entitled “The Problem Body.” I found a sense of identity and interest there that continues to shape my work. I first met David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder around that time – their compelling contributions to disability studies and theory continue to inspire me. I am very grateful to the department for bringing David in from George Washington University for my defence. vi Table of Contents Approval....................................................................................................................... ii Partial Copyright Licence............................................................................................. iii Abstract........................................................................................................................ iv Dedication.................................................................................................................... v Acknowledgements...................................................................................................... vi Table of Contents......................................................................................................... vii List of Images............................................................................................................... ix Introduction: From the Margins to Full Frontal: Ma(r)king Spaces of Disability Theory ........... 1 Thanks for the Parking Space: What Makes Disabilities Work?.................................. 8 Don’t Park in My Space: My Minority Identity is Better Than Your Minority Identity .... 13 This Sure is a Freaky After-School-Special: What Else Does Disability Theory Do? .. 17 Am I a Special Effect? Visuality, Performance and Aesthetics.................................... 21 Chapter Overview ........................................................................................................ 25 Chapter One: How I Can Go On: The Displeasure of Modernity’s “Murphy” and his Textual Biopower..................................................................................................................... 30 Beckett’s “Murphy”: A Real Twentieth-Century Schizoid Man? ................................... 33 Work With Me Past the Gait......................................................................................... 49 Is It Time to Rethink Murphy’s Law?............................................................................ 60 Chapter Two: You Can’t Show That: Freaking Priceless Babies, False Equalities and What Disability Buys on Film ............................................................................................. 63 “What’s My Role? I Mean, What’s My Problem?”: Or, Why The Cane Seldom Plays Able.............................................................................................................................. 67 Spots Only on Some of Us in Film ............................................................................... 78 You Just have to be a Good Looking Crip to Get The Part.......................................... 97 Chapter Three: Giving Notice or Being Noticed? Embodiment, Performance and Other Stages of Disability..................................................................................................................... 99 Kaspar, or Why Clowns and Ghosts Aren’t That Much Fun ........................................ 104 “Spit it Out, Just Say something” and Other Violent Forms of Sociocultural Impatience ..................................................................................................................................... 114 Rolling beyond Metaphor: What’s so special about being Correct(ed) Anyway? ........ 130 How to Conclude, or Sharing a Language of Disability through New Metonymy ........ 137 vii Chapter Four: What’s Your Sign? Powering the Prosthesis and Disabling Lines of Contemporary Constraint..................................................................................................................

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