Queerness and Villainy in Animated Disney Films
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
University of Wollongong Research Online University of Wollongong Thesis Collection 1954-2016 University of Wollongong Thesis Collections 2016 Unmasking the quillain: queerness and villainy in animated Disney films Dion Sheridan McLeod University of Wollongong Follow this and additional works at: https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses University of Wollongong Copyright Warning You may print or download ONE copy of this document for the purpose of your own research or study. The University does not authorise you to copy, communicate or otherwise make available electronically to any other person any copyright material contained on this site. You are reminded of the following: This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part of this work may be reproduced by any process, nor may any other exclusive right be exercised, without the permission of the author. Copyright owners are entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. A reproduction of material that is protected by copyright may be a copyright infringement. A court may impose penalties and award damages in relation to offences and infringements relating to copyright material. Higher penalties may apply, and higher damages may be awarded, for offences and infringements involving the conversion of material into digital or electronic form. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in this thesis are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the University of Wollongong. Recommended Citation McLeod, Dion Sheridan, Unmasking the quillain: queerness and villainy in animated Disney films, Doctor of Philosophy thesis, School of the Arts, English and Media, University of Wollongong, 2016. https://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/4802 Research Online is the open access institutional repository for the University of Wollongong. For further information contact the UOW Library: [email protected] Unmasking the Quillain: Queerness and Villainy in Animated Disney Films A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY from UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG by Dion Sheridan McLeod, BSc, BA (Hons) Supervisors: Dr Debra Dudek Dr Ika Willis School of The Arts, English and Media 2016 Certification I, Dion S. McLeod, declare that this thesis, submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy, in the school of the Arts, English and Media, University of Wollongong, is wholly my own work unless otherwise referenced or acknowledged. The document has not been submitted for qualifications at any other academic institution. Abstract Utterances of the term “Disney” are likely to bring to mind images of princesses and princes, evil stepmothers, and wicked sorcerers. One image most associated with Disney, however, is “happily ever after,” a happy ending almost always synonymous with a heterosexual union between the princess and prince. My dissertation flips the analysis from the “good” heterosexual characters to examine their narrative nemeses: the queer villains (“quillains”). The villain is more than just a narratological necessity to push the films’ drives towards heterosexual happy endings, yet their narrative significance becomes overshadowed when they are eliminated. My dissertation first explores how the villains are coded as queer, before analysing three ways that queerness is embedded in the actual narrative structure of Disney animated films. The first is through the standardisation of a heteronormative plot structure dependent upon the elimination of the quillain. The second is through the heroines’ and quillains’ musical solos, which function to associate the heroines with forward plot momentum and establish the villains as antagonists. The third and final way I explore the narratively embedded queerness is through a spatiotemporal structure which separates the hero/ines’ “ordinary” or “straight” times/spaces from the “special” or “queer” times/spaces of the villains. Finally, I examine the 2013 film Frozen to show how even when Disney consciously refers to its own narrative conventions, ultimately it falls back to its static negative representation of the villain-as-queer. I argue that Disney films perpetuate heterosexism because of the way the films are narratively structured around the achievement of heterosexuality via the elimination of a queered villain. v vi Acknowledgments Undertaking a project of this size was, well, indescribable. I am thankful to be able to walk away still in love with Disney as much as I was the day I started many, many years ago. This project has taken me across the world, and there are so many people to thank and I know I will inevitably leave people out. The hundreds of conversations about Disney I have had over the past three and a half years have really fuelled my passion for this project. So my first dedication goes to you, the person whose name may not appear in the list below. My first named thanks go to my fellow PhD candidates here at UOW who have provided so much support over the past three and a half years. Your physical, mental, and emotional support has helped keep me afloat during the harder times. Special thanks are due to my office mates of the past year and a bit who have made the final stages of this PhD remarkably fun. Thank you Kristina and Travis! Never again will a PhD office be as memed or as fun as ours. I now pass #finishyourthesis to you, and I’ll Hodor for you two on my way out. I’m done! Thank you also to the Ikoven members, Alison, Elise, and Evan for the fun times and distractions from the dissertation. Another special thanks is due to Raewyn Campbell for really keeping my passion alive, and perhaps more importantly for introducing me to Dr. Who and keeping your Friday nights free for us to watch it together. Never again will I be able to hear the words “Captain Jack” without tearing up a little. My PhD took me to Boston University for a year as a visiting scholar, and this would not have been possible without the amazing assistance from Professor Leland Monk and the English department at BU. Thank you also to the graduate students at BU who provided amazing conversations for my year abroad. Thank you especially to Pardis for our talk on Peter Pan that helped me break through a 5 month conceptual slump. Very big thanks are due to those who have volunteered to read my dissertation and provide me with feedback to get the final kinks out. Thank you Gillian, Jamie, Justin, Kate, Katie, Ryan, and Tina! Thank you to my family for keeping me housed and fed for the past few years, and a very special thanks to my fiancé, Andrew. Getting to live together for a year while I was in Boston was just amazing. Because of that trip I was able to finally visit Disneyworld! The physical distance we have had while we both complete our PhDs will be worth it when we vii finally get to settle down together in the same place. Thank you for all your love and support. My final thanks belong to my two absolutely amazing supervisors, Debra Dudek and Ika Willis, who have been there for me for the past three and a half years. This PhD would not be what it is today if it were not for you, and I can honestly say that I won the supervisor lottery. Because of your amazing support, there has not been a single moment in this PhD where I felt like throwing in the towel, even when I was stuck on certain chapters for longer than I would have liked. I can only hope that one day I am able to be half as good as you as a supervisor and academic. viii Table of Contents ! ! Abstract v Acknowledgements vii Table of Contents ix List of Tables, Figures, Illustrations xi Introduction 1 Section One Introduction 36 Chapter One: Narretemes, Normativity, and the Disney Narrative 37 Chapter Two: Music, Melodrama, and Maternalism 61 Section Two Introduction 91 Chapter Three : Pan, Pirates, and Perpetual Childhoods 97 Chapter Four: Beauties, Beasts, and Buffoons 122 Section Three Introduction 145 Chapter Five: Parody, Poison, and Ponchos 147 Chapter Six: Identity, Ice/olation, and Inverted Ideology 164 Conclusion 197 Appendix One: Disney Endings 202 Appendix Two: Quillain Fates 203 Appendix Three: Quillain Narrative Structure Table 204 Appendix Four: “My Disney Princess Song” Lyrics 205 Appendix Five: “Let It Go” Japanese Translation 207 Works Cited 208 ix x List of Tables, Figures, Illustrations Table!1:!Percolating!Binaries!in!Disney!Films!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!14! Table!2:!Quillain!Narrative!Structure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!39! Table!3:!Quillain!Songs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!59! Table!4:!Percolating!binaries!in!The!Little!Mermaid!and!Tangled! ! ! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!61! Table!5:!Nodelman’s!percolating!binaries! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!93! Table!6:!Comparison!oF!Belle’s!songs! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!135! Table!7:!TENG’s!narratemes! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!154! Table!8:!“For!the!First!Time!in!Forever!(Reprise)”!! ! ! ! ! !! ! !!183! ! Figure!1:!Stuart!Hall’s!coding/encoding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!23! Figure!2:!Disney!male!quillains’!appearance!of!makeup! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!25! Figure!3:!Masculine!representation!oF!Disney’s!male!heroes! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!26! Figure!4:!Male!quillain’s!elegant!clothing! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!27!! Figure!5:!Drag!quality!oF!the!quillainesses! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !!!!28! Figure!6:!Female!quillains!owning!their!sexuality!