Trans Cinema and Its Exit Scapes Is the Doctoral Dissertation of Trans- Feminist Scholar and Berlin-Based Activist Wibke Straube
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Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 628 2014 Trans embodiment is a growing trope in contemporary film. Particularly since the early 1990s, trans images have become more widespread and frequent within popular culture. Films such as Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Transamerica (2005), Romeos (2011) and Laurence Anyways (2012) have become well-known referents for what is here termed Trans Cinema and for broader cultural understanding of what it means to live in a gender- A Transfeminist Reading of dissident body. Utopian Sensibility and Gender Dissidence in Contemporary Film In conversation with recent transfeminist and queer theory as well as cul- Wibke Straube tural studies, this doctoral thesis by Wibke Straube sets out to investigate the utopian potential of Trans Cinema and makes a novel contribution to the emerging research field of transgender studies. The book offers an entrance to trans films by mapping out the so-called “exit scapes” that appear in scenic moments of dancing, singing or dreaming. These provide openings for alternative ways of imagining reality, and are thus key to the experiencing of trans-affirmative futures. Trans Cinema and iTs exiT sCapes is the doctoral dissertation of trans- feminist scholar and Berlin-based activist Wibke straube. Straube is also a researcher and teacher at Tema Genus (Gender studies), Department of Thematic Studies (Tema), Linköping University, Sweden. Linköping Studies in Arts and Science No. 628, 2014 Wibke Straube Wibke Department of Thematic Studies Gender Studies Linköping University SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden www.liu.se Buch_Wibke_final.indd 1 21.07.14 21:35 Linköping Studies in Arts and Science, No. 628 TRANS CINEMA AND I T S E X I T SCAP ES A TRANSFEMINIST READING OF UTOPIAN SENSIBILITY AND GENDER DISSIDENCE IN CONTEMPORARY FILM Wibke Straube Academic dissertation Academic dissertation for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Gender Studies at Linköping University to be publicly defended on 19 September 2014 at 13:15 in TEMCAS, TEMA building, Campus Valla by Wibke Straube. Abstract Trans Cinema and its Exit Scapes offers a critical and creative intervention into cultural representa- tions of gendered body dissidence in contemporary film. The study argues for the possibility of finding spaces of “disidentification”, so-called “exit scapes” within the films. Exit scapes disrupt the dominant cinematic regime set up for the trans character, which ties them into stories of discrimination, humiliation and violence. In Trans Cinema, for instance films such asHedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Transamerica (2005), Romeos (2011) and Laurence Anyways (2012), scenes of singing, dancing and dreaming allow a different form of engagement with the films. As argued here, they allow a critical re-reading and an affirmative re-imagining of trans embodiment. The aim of this study is to investigate the utopian and hopeful potential within Trans Cinema from a critical transfeminist perspective. While focusing in particular on trans entrants as “spectators” or readers, this study draws on the work of a wide range of feminist and cultural scholars, such as Sara Ahmed, Susan Stryker, José Esteban Muñoz, Trinh T. Minh-Ha, Karen Barad and Donna Haraway. The thesis etches out cinematic spatiotemporalities that unfold possibilities of utopian worlding and trans becoming through a set of conceptual innovations. By utilising a critical approach to audio-visuality and feminist film theory, the thesis re-conceptualises haptic spectatorship theory and its critique in western modernist ocularcentricism through a set of conceptual innovations. The methodological tools developed in this thesis, such as the “entrant”, the “exit scape” and “sensible cinematic intra-activity”, feature here as a multisensorial methodology for transdisciplinary transgender studies and feminist film theory as well as visual culture at large. Keywords: transgender studies, transfeminism, queer, gender, feminism, multisensorial cinema, haptic spectatorship, touch, hearing, seeing, exit scapes, sensible cinematic intra-activity, Trans Cinema, visual cultural studies, film theory Department of Thematic Studies: Gender Studies, Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden ISBN 978-91-7519-254-3 ISSN 0282-9800 Linköping Studies in Arts and Science, No. 628 TRANS CINEMA AND I T S E X I T SCAP ES A TRANSFEMINIST READING OF UTOPIAN SENSIBILITY AND GENDER DISSIDENCE IN CONTEMPORARY FILM Wibke Straube Akademisk avhandling som för avläggande av doktorsexamen vid Linköpings universitet kommer att offentligt fösvaras i sal TEMCAS, TEMA-huset, Universitetsområdet Valla, fredagen den 19 september 2014, kl. 13:15. Abstract Trans Cinema and its Exit Scapes är en kritisk och kreativ intervention med fokus på kulturella representationer av kroppar som bryter mot en könsbinär ordning i samtida film. Studien argumenterar för möjligheten att hitta utrymmen för “disidentification”, så kallade “exit scapes” inom filmerna. Exit scapes stör den dominanta filmiska ordning som skapats för transkaraktären, en ordning som är förbunden med berättelser om diskriminering, förödmjukelse och våld. Inom Trans Cinema, i filmer som exempelvis Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001), Transamerica (2005), Romeos (2011) and Laurence Anyways (2012), öppnar scener med sång, dans och drömmar upp för andra former av engagemang med filmerna. Som det argumenteras för i avhandlingen tillåter dessa ett kritiskt omformulerande av, och ett nytt affirmativt sätt att föreställa sig, transkroppslighet. Syftet med den här studien är att undersöka den utopiska och hoppfulla potential som finns inom transfilm utifrån ett kritiskt transfeministiskt perspektiv. Även om studien främst riktar sig till trans entrants som “åskådare” eller läsare, så har den en bred teoretisk bas hämtad från verk av en lång rad feministiska forskare inom kulturfältet, såsom Sara Ahmed, Susan Stryker, José Esteban Muñoz, Trinh T. Minh-Ha, Karen Barad och Donna Haraway. Denna avhandling skissar filmiska spatiotemporaliteter, vilka öppnar för möjligheter av utopiska värdsliga och transsubjektiva tillblivelser genom utvecklandet av olika teoretiska begrepp. Genom ett kritiskt förhållningssätt till audiovisualitet och feministisk filmteori, revideras och omformuleras haptisk åskådarskapsteori och dess kritik i en västerländsk okularcentrism genom olika teoretiska innovationer. De metodologiska verktygen som utvecklas i avhandlingen, såsom “the entrant”, “the exit scape” samt “sensible cinematic intra-activity” utgör här funktionen som multisensorisk metodologi för transdisciplinära transstudier, feministisk filmteori samt för visuell kultur i stort. Nyckelord: Transstudier, transfeminism, queer, genus, feminism, multisensorisk film, haptic spectatorship, beröring/känsel, hörsel, seende, exit scapes, sensible cinematic intra-activity, trans cinema, visuella kulturstudier, filmteori. Tema Genus, TEMA - Institutionen för Tema, Linköpings universitet, 581 83 Linköping, Sverige ISBN 978-91-7519-254-3 ISSN 0282-9800 TRANS CINEMA AND I T S E X I T SCAP ES A TRANSFEMINIST READING OF UTOPIAN SENSIBILITY AND GENDER DISSIDENCE IN CONTEMPORARY FILM WIBKE STRAUBE Linköping Studies in Arts and Science, No. 628 Linköping University, Department of Thematic Studies - Gender Studies Linköping 2014 Linköping Studies in Arts and Science, No. 628 At the Faculty of Arts and Science at Linköping University, research and doctoral studies are carried out within broad problem areas. Research is organised in interdisciplinary research environments and doctoral studies mainly in graduate schools. Jointly, they publish the series Linköping Studies in Arts and Science. The thesis comes from Tema Genus, the Department of Thematic Studies - Gender Studies. The film stills in this dissertation are used in accordance with the Swedish copyright law (1960: 729) 22nd and 23rd paragraph on the right to reference in academic and critical production. See Henry Olsson (1998), Copyright: Svensk och internationell upphovsrätt, Stockholm: Norstedts Juridik. Distributed by: TEMA - the Department of Thematic Studies Linköping University 581 83 Linköping Sweden Wibke Straube Trans Cinema and its Exit Scapes: A Transfeminist Reading of Utopian Sensibility and Gender Dissidence in Contemporary Film Edition 1:1 ISBN 978-91-7519-254-3 ISSN 0282-9800 ©Wibke Straube TEMA - the Department of Thematic Studies, 2014 Cover image: Tomka Weiss/Wibke Straube; www.tomka.tomec-weiss.de Cover design: Ina Bär; www.inabear.com Typesetting: kai_kerstin Donat; www.kai-mediendesign.de Illustration: Grit Hachmeister; www.gritwirkriegendich.blogspot.de Printed by: LIU-Tryck, Linköping, 2014 For copyright reasons the book contains film scene illustrations by artist Grit Hachmeister. The print version is published with photographic film stills. For my grandmother Traudel Golz (1925 - 2011) CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 11 NOTES ON TRANSING TERMINOLOGIES 21 | PRELUDE | 25 TOPOGRAPHIES OF TRANS CINEMA 29 1 APPROACHING TRANS CINEMA 30 Transgender 31 Trans Cinema 33 SCENES OF CONSTRAINT 45 EXIT SCAPES 48 Dance, Song and Dream 52 Affective Relationality 53 Utopian Sensibility 55 MATERIAL: THE SELECTION OF FILMS IN THIS BOOK 57 Questions and Aims 58 METHOD, AND HOW I ENGAGE WITH THE MATERIAL 60 Close Reading 62 CONCEPTUAL TERMINOLOGY 63 The Entrant 63 Sensible Cinematic Intra-Activity 65 CHAPTER OVERVIEW 72 | INTERLUDE | 75 2 DANC ING DISSID ENCE : TOUCH, CON TAC T, AND CON TAG I O N 77 STORIES OF TOUCH 78 THE POLITICS OF DISORIENTATION IN MA VIE EN ROSE (1997) 82 Disorientation