The Mortal Instruments and Freeform’S Shadowhunters
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UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI QUEERING THE FANTASTIC Representations of Queerness and Male Masculinities in Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments and Freeform’s Shadowhunters Essi Brunberg Master’s Thesis English Philology Department of Languages University of Helsinki November 2018 Tiedekunta/Osasto – Fakultet/Sektion – Faculty Laitos – Institution – Department Humanistiska fakulteten Institutionen för språk Tekijä – Författare – Author Brunberg, Essi-Lotta Emilia Työn nimi – Arbetets titel – Title Queering the Fantastic. Representations of Queerness and Male Masculinities in Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments and Freeform’s Shadowhunters Oppiaine – Läroämne – Subject Engelsk filologi Työn laji – Arbetets art – Level Aika – Datum – Month and Sivumäärä– Sidoantal – Number of pages year Pro gradu-avhandling November 2018 138 Tiivistelmä – Referat – Abstract Som många studier bevisar är jämställd representation viktig på grund av att sociala grupper kan stereotyperas negativt via kulturella representationer. Det är därför väsentligt att se mångfaldiga och realistiska queera karaktärer i litteratur och massmedia, och i synnerhet är det viktigt att tänka på hur dessa karaktärer förnyar eller raserar queera stereotyper och queerfobiska ideologier som ännu råder i vårt samhälle. I denna pro gradu-avhandling granskar jag hur queera identiteter och maskuliniteter representeras i Cassandra Clares bokserie The Mortal Instruments och dess TV-adaptation Shadowhunters. Jag fokuserar på karaktärernas utveckling, personliga intriger och deras inter-queera interaktioner, och hävdar att TV-adaptationen med dess mångfaldigare och subversivare skildring av queerhet skapar och reproducerar mer positiv representation än bokserien, som skildrar skadliga och problematiska stereotyper. Mitt material består av alla sex The Mortal Instruments-böcker och 41 avsnitt ur de tre första säsongerna av Shadowhunters. I min analys utnyttjar jag genusvetenskaplig maskulinitetsforskning, feministisk litteraturvetenskap, feministisk media- och kommunikationsvetenskap samt adaptionsstudier. Avhandlingen utgår från att mediarepresentationer har en politisk dimension i och med att de utövar inflytande på det sätt som vi i verkligheten ser olika sociala grupper. Detta gäller speciellt för de grupper som historiskt sett har marginaliserats, för de ses ofta som homogena grupper där redan en medlem avgör hur hela gruppen betraktas. Negativa stereotyper har således konsekvenser för de grupper som representeras, och måste därför granskas kritiskt beträffande deras möjligheter för kulturellt inflytande. I analysen framgår det att böckerna förnyar hegemoniska normer av genus och sexualitet på olika sätt. Deras stereotypiska skildring av queera intriger och deras brist på queer fokalisering privilegierar både heterosexuella och vita narrativer och leder till att queera karaktärer definieras av sina sexualiteter. I motsats till detta skildrar TV- serien queerhet och queera maskuliniteter på subversivare sätt. Den bryter ner problematiska stereotyper i stället för att förnya dem, vilket kan ses till exempel i det att den samtidiga förekomsten av karaktärernas maskulinitet och queerhet aldrig ifrågasätts. Dessutom raserar den toxisk maskulinitet genom att skildra queera män som är ömsinta sinsemellan utan att vara stereotypiskt emotionella. Avainsanat – Nyckelord – Keywords representation, queer, maskuliniteter, adaptation, Shadowhunters, The Mortal Instruments Säilytyspaikka – Förvaringsställe – Where deposited Muita tietoja – Övriga uppgifter – Additional information i Table of Contents List of Abbreviations for the Novels Cited 1 Introduction ............................................................................................. 1 1.1 Primary material .............................................................................. 4 1.2 Aims and methods ........................................................................... 7 2 Theoretical Framework ......................................................................... 10 2.1 Theorising gender and masculinities ............................................. 10 2.2 Feminist literary criticism and feminist media studies .................. 13 2.3 Queer: theoretical perspectives...................................................... 16 2.4 Adaptation studies ......................................................................... 21 3 I Queer, Therefore I Am: Characterisation ........................................... 24 3.1 Characterisation in the novels ....................................................... 24 3.1.1 The perpetuation of biphobic stereotypes .............................. 32 3.1.2 Queer masculinities ................................................................ 36 3.2 Characterisation in the television series ........................................ 39 3.2.1 The subversion of biphobic stereotypes ................................. 56 3.2.2 Mental illness, intermale support and the subversion of toxic masculinity ........................................................................................... 59 4 Straight Outta Closet: Coming Out ....................................................... 72 4.1 Coming out in the novels ............................................................... 72 4.2 Coming out in the television series ............................................... 77 5 A Whole Queer World: Relationship Development ............................. 91 5.1 Relationship development in the novels ........................................ 91 5.1.1 Inter-queer conflict ................................................................. 94 5.1.2 Queer intimacy ..................................................................... 100 5.2 Relationship development in the television series....................... 104 5.2.1 Inter-queer conflict ............................................................... 115 5.2.2 Queer intimacy ..................................................................... 122 6 Conclusion .......................................................................................... 126 Works Cited ............................................................................................... 132 ii List of Abbreviations for the Novels Cited City of Bones CB City of Ashes CA City of Glass CG City of Fallen Angels CFA City of Lost Souls CLS City of Heavenly Fire CHF 1 1 Introduction The aim of this thesis is to examine and compare the representation of and the ideologies inherent in the portrayal of the major queer characters and their relationship in Cassandra Clare’s The Mortal Instruments novels and their counterparts in Freeform’s television series Shadowhunters. I analyse not only how ideologies present themselves in the representation of queerness and (queer) masculinities but also how these underlying ideologies gain new form and meaning in a TV adaptation that is less stereotypical and more respectful of traditionally marginalised groups of people. My claim is that the representation in the TV adaptation is more multifaceted and diverse than that which can be found in the original novels. Queerness and queer masculinities in The Mortal Instruments are portrayed in a largely stereotypical manner: a lack of content and queer focalisation makes the character and relationship development sparse and dubious, and the focus on the characters’ sexualities make them the stereotypical token queer characters1 that plague many a fictional story. Both of these factors contribute to stereotypical character arcs, particularly for the only major character of colour in the novels, who is problematically sidelined in favour of white narratives. In comparison, the television series portrays its queer characters in more nuanced, sensitive ways through actual queer focalisation, narrative importance and narratorial agency, and subverts traditional narrative expectations and undermines toxic masculinity.2 The ideological assumptions underlying this thesis, then, are inherently queer- feminist and socially progressive in nature. As I show in more detail below, representations take part in constructing the social world we live in and, as such, the political potential inherent in positive representations3 cannot be ignored. 1 Token queer or token gay characters are characters more or less defined by their sexualities. This is a trope that often draws on stereotypes and harmful tropes even as the characters themselves are made out to be archetypes of their social groups. 2 Toxic masculinity is a form of hypermasculinity that is “characterized by a drive to dominate and by endorsement of misogynistic and homophobic views” (Parent, Gobble and Rochlen 2). An ideology of competition is often par for the course in toxic masculinities, which cause health risks by their “static, rigid, negative embodiments of masculinity” (Creighton and Oliffe 414). 3 A positive representation is not necessarily a character who is portrayed as a good person. Rather, it is a character who is portrayed in a multi-dimensional, realistic way that does not rely on simple stereotypes. 2 To study representations is to study how cultural practices (re)produce, maintain or subvert notions regarding gender, race and sexuality, among others. Representations are necessarily social in nature. They both reflect and construct reality in a cyclical pattern: the ways in which groups of people are depicted affect the ways in which they are seen, which in turn affects the ways in which they are represented (Paasonen 45). Feminist