Exploring the Action Heroine in Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema
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Green 1 “She Has To Be Controlled” Exploring the Action Heroine in Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema Doctor of Philosophy in English Caroline A. Green 2010 Green 2 “She Has to be Controlled”: Exploring the Action Heroine in Contemporary Science Fiction Cinema Submitted by Caroline Ann Green to the University of Exeter as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English in April 2010. This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for the award of a degree by this or any other University Signature .................................................. Green 3 Abstract In this dissertation I explore a number of contemporary science fiction franchises in order to ascertain how the figure of the action heroine has evolved throughout her recent history. There has been a tendency in film criticism to view these strong women as „figuratively male‟ and therefore not „really‟ women, which, I argue, is largely due to a reliance on the psychoanalytic paradigms that have dominated feminist film theory since its beginnings. Building on Elisabeth Hills‟s work on the character of Ellen Ripley of the Alien series, I explore how notions of „becoming‟ and the „Body without Organs‟ proposed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari can be activated to provide a more positive set of readings of active women on screen. These readings are not limited by discussions of sex or gender, but discuss the body in terms of its increased capacities as it interacts with the world around it. I do not argue for a Deleuzian analysis of cinema as such, because this project is concerned with aspects of representation which did not form part of Deleuze‟s philosophy of cinema. Rather I use Deleuze and Guattari‟s work to explore alternative ways of reading the active women these franchises present and the benefits they afford. Through these explorations I demonstrate, however, that applying the Deleuzoguattarian „method‟ is a potentially risky undertaking for feminist theory. Deconstructing notions of „being‟ and „identity‟ through the project of becoming may have benefits in terms of addressing „woman‟ beyond binaristic thought, but it may also have negative consequences. What may be liberating for feminist film theory may be also be destructive. This is because through becoming we destabilise a position from which to address potentially ideologically unsound treatments of women on screen. Green 4 Acknowledgements Throughout my time writing this thesis, I thought acknowledgements to be somewhat of an indulgence. However, through reflection having now reached this blessèd point of completion, I realise that there are many people who have, in their various ways, helped me on this journey whom I‟d really rather like to say a big thank you to. My first thanks go to Professor Steve Neale for very kindly agreeing to supervise this project to completion. It has been a joy to work such a pleasant, understanding and patient person and I fear I really couldn‟t have done it without his support. I also thank the University of Exeter for the bursary that facilitated this study. I would also like to thank my examiners, Dr Helen Hanson and Professor Catherine Constable for their invaluable feedback. The support and encouragement I have received from my fellow students at the University of Exeter and friends has been invaluable. In particular, for proofreading the final drafts of this work, I must thank Dr Alice Barnaby, Ruth Harrison, Dr Amy McGill, Dr Shani Rousso, and Dr Lewis Ward. Especially large amounts of thanks are bestowed upon Dr Stephanie Piotrowski, not only for reading my drafts but also for always having faith in me and being endlessly enthusiastic about my project. I also thank Thomas Malley for the encouragement and for providing me with ample opportunities to gain „critical distance.‟ I must also thank those that helped me prepare for the viva. Firstly, thank you to Tess Nixon and Paul Spiller for their boundless hospitality and providing a safe haven of loveliness in which to prepare. Many, many thanks also to Richard Feltham for the mock viva and, as always, for the laughter. My greatest gratitude is, however, reserved for Pauline Green and Mel Taylor, whom I must thank not only for supporting me throughout this project but also for the love that kept me going. Green 5 Table of Contents List of Figures 6 Introduction 8 Literature Review 28 Chapter One 53 The Talented Lieutenant Ripley: The Changing Sign of Ripley and the Alien in the Alien Series Chapter Two 117 Matriculating the Matrix Franchise: Popular Philosophy and Polysemy Chapter Three 178 Becoming-Bat and Becoming-Cat: Differences in the Representation of Becoming-Animal in the Male- and Female-Embodied Subject in the Batman Series Chapter Four 238 The Consequences of Becoming and the X-Men Trilogy Conclusions 263 Figures 272 Bibliography 293 Filmography 315 Green 6 List of Figures Figure 1: The wrecked spaceship in Alien Figure 2: The „chest-burster‟ of Alien Figure 3: Ridley Scott‟s low-angle crotch shot in Alien Figure 4: The „stereotypically butch‟ character Vasquez in Aliens Figure 5: Ripley‟s „becoming-machine‟ in Aliens Figure 6: The quadruped Alien of Alien 3 Figure 7: Ripley in Alien 3 Figure 8: The Clone Ripley in Alien Resurrection Figure 9: Call the android in Alien Resurrection Figure 10: Rousseau in Alien vs. Predator Figure 11: Room 101 in The Matrix Figure 12: Baudrillard‟s Simulacra and Simulation in The Matrix Figure 13: The body in the Matrix Figure 14: The spoon in The Matrix Figure 15: Magritte‟s „Ceci N‟est Pas une Pipe‟ Figure 16: Trinity in The Matrix: Reloaded Figure 17: Noir tropes in „A Detective Story‟ Figure 18: Trinity‟s death in The Matrix: Revolutions Figure 19: The „slimy rebirth‟ of The Matrix Figure 20: Robin in Batman Forever Figure 21: Robin in Batman Forever Figure 22: Alfred Pennyworth attending Bruce Wayne in Batman Forever Figure 23: The bat-suit adorned with nipples in Batman and Robin Green 7 Figure 24: Marlene Dietrich dressed as a gorilla in Blonde Venus Figure 25: Uma Thurman dressed as a gorilla in Batman and Robin Figure 26: Wayne Manor Figure 27: Bruce Wayne exhibiting bat-like behaviour in Batman Figure 28: The „becoming-bat‟ of Bruce Wayne Figure 29: The sonar machine of The Dark Knight Figure 30: Lucius Fox and the sonar machine in The Dark Knight Figure 31: Batman descending the stairwell in Batman Begins Figure 32: Batman‟s entrance on a wire in Batman Returns Figure 33: Selena Kyle in Batman Returns Figure 34: Catwoman in Batman Returns Figure 35: Point of View shot from Patience Phillips in Catwoman Figure 36: Patience Phillips in Catwoman Figure 37: Close-up of Jean Grey in X-Men 2 Figure 38: Close-up of rupturing dam in X-Men 2 Figure 39: Jean Grey‟s sacrifice Figure 40: Jean Grey‟s resurrection as the Phoenix in The Last Stand Figure 41: Jean Grey as the Phoenix in The Last Stand Figure 42: Jean Grey‟s death in The Last Stand Green 8 Introduction This thesis is both an examination of the representation of the body in the contemporary popular American science fiction cinema and, where appropriate, the discursive response to it. The primary focus of this project is the representation and reception of the female body. The female body here is given primacy as this is a political project. It has its roots in, and is a response to, feminist discussion of film, and it explores new methods of analysis for the female-embodied subject on screen. It is a challenge to dominant modes of reading these women through the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan and its appropriation by the feminist scholars such as Laura Mulvey (1975, 1981) and Mary Ann Doane (1987, 1991). Science fiction is a genre that now regularly presents us with strong, active, independent women. It is therefore necessary to explore other theoretical models to analyse this subject that do not reduce the action heroine to exhibiting a figurative masculinity. As Elisabeth Hills has argued, “feminists working within the dominant theoretical model of psychoanalysis have had extremely limited spaces with which to discuss the transformative and transgressive potential of the action heroine” (39). The purpose of this project is to expand these spaces and explore new ways to address the action heroine, specifically in relation to the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. This is not to say that the work undertaken in this area by the likes of Mulvey is redundant, but that it can now be activated in an alternative fashion. Fredric Jameson writes in The Political Unconscious that: Green 9 Texts come before us the always-already-read; we apprehend them through sedimented layers of previous interpretations; or – if the text is brand-new – through the sedimented reading habits and categories developed by those inherited interpretive traditions. (9) This need not be the case. The texts that are examined in this project, the Alien series1, the Matrix franchise2, the Batman franchise3 and the X-Men film trilogy4 are prime examples of texts under the sediment of which Jameson speaks. For example, any new exploration of Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) as a singular text requires an excavation through its critical history to prove its validity. Any attempt to appropriate Lt. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) as a positive feminist icon must wrestle her away from a psychoanalytically inclined interpretative convention that would see the character as passive or only in terms of „lack‟.