Representing the Crisis' in Masculinity: British and North American Male Playwrights, 1990-2005
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Representing the Crisis' in Masculinity: British and North American Male Playwrights, 1990-2005 Kathryn Ann Whittaker, BA (Hons), MA This thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2009 ProQuest Number: 11003508 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11003508 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Copyright © 2009 by Kathryn A. Whittaker All rights reserved Contents Abstract v Acknowledgements vii Introduction The 'crisis' in masculinity 1 Hegemonic masculinity 9 Theorising masculinities on stage 11 Constructions of the 'crisis' 17 The 'backlash' 26 Reflections on the discourse 30 Men and masculinities in cultural representation 33 Methodology 49 Overview of chapters 51 Chapter One Fighting for the Phallus: Straight White Masculinity and Fear of the Feminine in Patrick Marber's Closer and Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things Introduction to the plays and critical responses 60 British context and play writing tropes 68 US context and play writing tropes 86 Postmodern aesthetics 89 Shape, Genesis and Lacan 93 Analysis ofCloser 95 Analysis ofThe Shape of Things 124 Chapter Two The 'Crisis', the Closet and Queer: Alan Bennett'sThe History Boys and Tony Kushner'sAngels in America Introduction 141 Gay activism, AIDS and queer 143 Premieres and critical responses 147 Synopses of the plays 151 British context and playwriting tropes 156 US context and playwriting tropes 169 History 186 Analysis ofThe History Boys 193 Analysis ofAngels in America 213 Chapter Three The Threat of the 'Other' Man: Diasporic Masculinities in Roy Williams's Clubland and David Henry Hwang'sBondage Introduction 243 The playwrights 245 Clubland: critical responses 246 Bondage: critical responses and M. Butterfly 248 Synopses of the plays 250 British context and playwriting tropes 255 US context and playwriting tropes 267 Analysis ofClubland 286 Analysis ofBondage 306 Conclusion 316 Bibliography 336 iv Representing the 'Crisis' in Masculinity: British and North American Male Playwrights, 1990-2005 Kathryn Ann Whittaker, BA (Hons), MA This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2009 Abstract The concept of a '"crisis" in masculinity' came to prominence in Britain and North America during the 1990s. This phenomenon developed out of several decades in which the notion of 'the subject' came under critical scrutiny, both from developments in postmodern and post-structuralist theory, and socio cultural shifts informed by the politicised campaigns of second-wave feminism, gay activism and civil rights movements. In this context, the discursively central position of the white, heterosexual, middle-class male subject looked to be decentred by a host of radical projects that claimed identity positions as constructed and contingent. In exploring the resonance of the 'crisis' in mainstream playwriting practice of the 1990s and early 2000s, this study centres on a range of texts by contemporary British and North American male dramatists:Closer (1997) by Patrick Marber; The Shape of Things (2001) by Neil LaBute; Alan Bennett'sThe History Boys (2004); Tony Kushner'sAngels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (1992 and 1994); Roy Williams'sClubland (2001) and Bondage (1992), by David Henry Hwang. Through evaluating strategies by which v privileged and 'marginalised' masculinities are portrayed, this thesis considers not only how far these works may appear to suggest a state of rupture in 'normative' masculinity, but whether they can be read as re affirming or undermining binaristic and 'stable' notions of identity. These concerns take account of the various ways in which gender is articulated through 'race', sexuality, nationality and class. The primary theoretical framework is drawn from the field of post structuralist philosophy, and, specifically, selected works by Jacques Lacan, Judith Butler and Homi Bhabha. Cultural studies and sociology provide a 'sub-strand' of theory, through analyses that interconnect the themes of masculinity and nostalgia. While the former trope enables psychoanalytic readings, the latter is apt for analyses of cultural texts produced at a time in which masculinity was deemed in a hazardous state of decline. It is in combining these threads with queer, feminist and performance theory, and philosophical accounts of the postmodern, that this thesis looks to reflect on how the male-authored dramas under discussion respond to or evoke the 'crisis' in masculinity, and what might thus be discerned about both this practice and the 'crisis' discourse itself. Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own work, and has not been submitted in substantially the same form for the award of a higher degree elsewhere. Acknowledgements I am indebted, first and foremost, to my supervisor, Gerry Harris, the finest teacher I have ever had, whose warmth, wit and wisdom have inspired every step of this project. Thanks also go to the other members of the Theatre Studies staff at Lancaster University, in particular Karen Juers-Munby and Andrew Quick for their thoughts and feedback. The time, advice and generosity of Raewyn Connell, Christopher Bigsby, Kevin Boon, Brendan Gough, Jonathan Bollen and Tim Miller have likewise been invaluable. I have been lucky enough to have had the friendship and support of some wonderful peers: Philip Purvis, Joe Rigby, Philip Reeder, Andrew Wester side, Peter Petralia, Emma Gallon, Sofia Strid and Jade Dennis. For their challenging opinions and frequent flights into the ridiculous, I am hugely grateful. A special (glitter-coated) thanks tomon cher Adam Greig for the proof-reading, the fajita nights, the visits to the duck pond and a hundred other things besides. Amongst shopping for wedding dresses and changing nappies, Kate Ransby, Anna Chopping and Hongy Evans have been (as ever) unerring sources of affection and support. I owe an enormous thank you to my inspirational parents for their unfailing love and support, and for having faith in me during every stage of this project (and during every one that preceded it); and, finally, to Martin Iddon, for more than I can ever express, in or out of words. Introduction The 'crisis' in masculinity In 1988, two British sociologists observed that: the social and economic changes of the past two decades are beginning to call masculinity into question. The masculinity that once believed itself to be at the pinnacle of the natural hierarchy of things is now being slowly exposed for what it is: a subjectivity that is organised within structures of control and authority.[...] For men who were promised recognition and a secure place in the world, there lies ahead a frightening prospect: that masculinity will be shorn of its [...] power and will become simply one identity among others. (Chapman and Rutherford, 1988: 11) According to other critics, this 'frightening prospect' was, rather, a 'frightening' present. In Crisis in Masculinity (1985), for instance, American Christian counsellor Leanne Payne deemed the 'crisis' a 'growing cultural malady, [...] epidemic in proportions', and one that reflected in men's 'emotional illness or instability' as a result of their being 'split off from their masculine side' (Payne, 1985: 9-11). While many pro-feminist scholars did not share Payne's view of '[mjasculinity and femininity' as 'utterly transcendent'(ibid: 78), a 'crisis' discourse also emerged in their work during the 1980s. Advocating 'a major reconstruction of masculinity [...] in the form of coalitions among feminists, gay men, and progressive heterosexual men', the authors Towardsof a New Sociology of Masculinity (1985) defined '[a] crisis of a form of heterosexual masculinity', resultant from 'recent changes in the constitution of masculinity in advanced capitalist countries' (Carrigan, Connell and Lee, 1985: 598). In another seminal text in this field, Michael Kimmel reflected, 'that masculinity is in "crisis" [...] has become a cultural commonplace' in North America (Kimmel, 1987: 121). Although Rowena Chapman and Jonathan Rutherford's prediction may then seem to come too late, I suggest that it 1 Introduction retains some validity — if not because masculinity wasnecessarily ever 'shorn of its power' in thefin-de-siecle West, but rather through the way in which their claims looked to be confirmed by the discursive explosion of a masculinity 'crisis' from the 1990s. As the innumerable texts on the topic in this decade saw it flourish as a trans-Atlantic phenomenon, the earlier writings cited here may stand as seeds of a particular, contemporary trope. This notion is supported by points of continuity between the theories of the 1980s, and what is arguably the central tenet of the 'crisis' discourse: the decline or disintegration of white, Western, heteronormative masculinity, and concomitant loss of phallic and patriarchal power. In these terms, it has been deemed a response to, or expression of the anxieties of men who fit into the category of hegemonic masculinity: straight, white middle-class men who until recently enjoyed the privilege of assuming their subjectivity, their sense of a clearly defined identity[...]. (Nilsson, 2000: 56) One function of the following chapters is to assess the resonance of this 'crisis' in mainstream, male-authored playwriting practice, through an analysis of British and North American dramatic texts produced at the end of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first. Initially, I will look to provide an overview of the 'thesis' of the 'crisis' in masculinity, and a survey of relevant, existing publications produced out of the field of theatre and performance studies.