The Spaces Between: Non-Binary Representations of Gender in Twentieth-Century American Film
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The Spaces Between: Non-Binary Representations of Gender in Twentieth-Century American Film Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Pawlak, Wendy Sue Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 30/09/2021 12:46:41 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/238611 THE SPACES BETWEEN: NON-BINARY REPRESENTATIONS OF GENDER IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN FILM by Wendy Sue Pawlak _____________________ Copyright © Wendy Sue Pawlak 2012 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2012 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Wendy Pawlak entitled The Spaces Between: Non-Binary Representations of Gender in Twentieth- Century American Film and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 4/11/2012 Lynda Zwinger _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 4/11/2012 Susan White _______________________________________________________________________ Date: 4/11/2012 Adela Licona Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: 4/11/2012 Dissertation Director: Lynda Zwinger 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Wendy Sue Pawlak 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not exist without the outstanding support of my committee members; my director, Lynda Zwinger, who graciously stepped in at the eleventh hour to rescue this project from oblivion; Adela Licona, who provided me with extensive and immensely helpful feedback on my drafted chapters, and Susan White, whose knowledge of film theory has proved invaluable. I would also like to thank Dr. Daniel Silvermint, my very unofficial dissertation cheerleader/advisor/mentor extraordinaire, who generously spent hours helping me untangle the very complex theoretical issues addressed in this project; I may never have finished without your assistance and general moral support. I wouldn’t have made it this far without my parents, Nick and Cynthia Skiver, for their ceaseless faith and support. You’re the only ones who’ve been with me for the entire journey and are aware of the (many, MANY) obstacles along the way. To my friend, partner, companion, and lifemate, Bennett Burke, your endless patience, emotional stability, and humor have been an invaluable counterpart to my lack of all three of those things; I apologize for the last three years of insanity, and I promise to no longer be driven batty by the dissertation yet to be written. I thank my wonderful community of friends for the various kinds of support they have offered me in the past year, from reassuring hugs and snuggles, to provision of quality adult beverages, to many hours of satisfyingly distracting video games, to occasionally combative bouts of intellectual debate at Tucson’s various Starbucks locations. Thank you to Jason Brown, Ruthann Coyote, Deborah Hotep, Johanna Lewis, Susan Mann, Spencer McCleave, Katy McDowell, Lesa Mitchell, Tom Moore, Dave Parker, Vecordae Rodriguez, Stacy Scheff, Sandy Schwoebel, Gregory Stoltz, and Chad Van Schoelandt. You are each awesome and saintly; I love you all. 5 DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation first to Kate Bornstein, who said in 1994 that “virtually all the books and theories about gender and transsexuality to date have been written by non-transsexuals who, no matter how well-intentioned, are each trying to figure out how to make us fit into their world view” (63). As one such non-transsexual, when I began work on this project, I was doing just that, seeing gender only through my own lens and frustrated when actual transgendered people, both in film and in life, failed to become visible through it. While I still make no lofty claims of universal understanding of all gender identities and people’s lived experiences of them, it is my hope that this completed project comes closer to my goal of seeing, accepting, and celebrating transgendered people not on my terms, but on theirs. Secondly, I dedicate this work to all the people for whom the essentialist and limiting terms “man” and “woman” simply don’t fit, who have been victims of prejudice, discrimination, and even horrific violence as a result. Gender is not a fixed, stable, and concrete “something” for everyone, and this dissertation is my attempt to acknowledge and embrace that fact. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................8 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION AND HISTORY .................................................10 1.1. Preface .................................................................................................................10 1.2. Methodology .......................................................................................................20 1.3. Gender and Transgender: A Positive Account ....................................................28 1.4. No More Checkboxes! Transgender Theory & Abolition of the Gender Binary 41 1.5. Conclusion ..........................................................................................................53 CHAPTER TWO: QUEERNESS AT THE THEATER: FEMINIST, QUEER, AND TRANSGENDER THEORIES OF FILM ....................................................................................................55 2.1. How to Read A Film? .........................................................................................55 2.2. Feminist Film Theory: Representation and Erasure ...........................................56 2.3. Transgender Displacement and Denial ...............................................................61 2.4. Making Film ‘Perfectly Queer’: Textuality and Reception Theory ....................71 2.5. Queer Moments: New Queer Cinema & Transgender in Film ...........................75 2.6. ‘The Sex That Is Both’: Gender-Mixing and Erotic Fascination ........................79 2.7. Transgender Theory & Film: An Under-examined Relationship .......................85 2.8. Conclusion ..........................................................................................................92 CHAPTER THREE: FOLLOWING A SCRIPT: TRANSSEXUALITY AND BINARY GENDER ........................................................................................................................95 3.1. Introduction: Don’t You Find It Odd That Plastic Surgery Can Cure A Mental Disorder? ................................................................................................................................ 95 3.2. The ‘New’ New Queer Cinema: Openness and Acceptance, Playing with the Notions of Male and Female ......................................................................................98 3.3. Transamerica (2005): “My Body May Be a Work in Progress, But There is Nothing Wrong with My Soul” ................................................................................101 3.3-a. Run over at the intersection of crossing and passing .................................101 3.3-b. Queerer than it seems at first? Equating gender and race ..........................104 3.3-c. Communities of (only) two: lack of acceptance ........................................113 3.3-d. Playing it just for laughs ............................................................................119 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued 3.4. Normal (2003): “What We Do for Love” .........................................................121 3.4-a. Creating a conversation: city girl meets country boy/(girl) .......................121 3.4-b. Location, location, location: setting and audience reception .....................123 3.4-c. Positive portrayal: publicly defying gender stereotypes ............................133 3.4-d. “I think it’s cool”: coming around to acceptance ......................................140 3.5. Conclusion ........................................................................................................145 CHAPTER FOUR: IS IT ALL JUST AN ACT? DRAG PERFORMANCE AND GENDER IDENTITY ..................................................................................................147 4.1. Introduction: A ‘Different’ Kind of Female Impersonator