Renegotiating the Heroine: Postfeminism on the Speculative Screen
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CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Sydney eScholarship COPYRIGHT AND USE OF THIS THESIS This thesis must be used in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Reproduction of material protected by copyright may be an infringement of copyright and copyright owners may be entitled to take legal action against persons who infringe their copyright. Section 51 (2) of the Copyright Act permits an authorized officer of a university library or archives to provide a copy (by communication or otherwise) of an unpublished thesis kept in the library or archives, to a person who satisfies the authorized officer that he or she requires the reproduction for the purposes of research or study. The Copyright Act grants the creator of a work a number of moral rights, specifically the right of attribution, the right against false attribution and the right of integrity. You may infringe the author’s moral rights if you: - fail to acknowledge the author of this thesis if you quote sections from the work - attribute this thesis to another author - subject this thesis to derogatory treatment which may prejudice the author’s reputation For further information contact the University’s Director of Copyright Services sydney.edu.au/copyright Renegotiating the Heroine: Postfeminism on the Speculative Screen L.A. Heatwole A thesis submitted in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Arts and Sciences University of Sydney 2015 1 Abstract This thesis examines postfeminism as a multi-faceted cultural phenomenon and considers its lasting impact on understandings of girlhood. Its particular focus is a discussion of speculative fiction texts (literature, television series and films) oriented towards young adults, pursuing the idea that, in the postfeminist context, girl heroes are ideally placed to imagine both the future and the past. Considering the striking popularity of speculative fiction centrally featuring girls, and often addressed to them, this thesis considers the central concerns of postfeminism as it has been conceived in feminist criticism since the 1990s from a contemporary perspective. This thesis offers three key hypotheses: first, that speculative fiction offers a privileged space in which gender identity is interrogated, most often with a central focus on girls; second, that postfeminism marks a cultural shift in which some key elements of feminism are integrated with the culture industry and thus available to be consumed in forms that especially appeal to girls in a complex and at times problematic way; and third, that our contemporary understanding of girlhood as a concept and girls as a category also crucially changed during this period, heavily influenced by media representations of postfeminism. Built on these hypotheses is a thesis that discourse surrounding postfeminism is currently shifting, and issues traditionally associated with postfeminism are being reconsidered within contemporary media. The thesis examines recent popular films such as the Twilight films and The Hunger Games and popular science fiction and fantasy television series, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Orphan Black, and Once Upon a Time. It also pays particular attention to current adaptations of texts key to girl culture, such as Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Disney princess films, to reflect on differences in the way these texts understand both contemporary girlhood and the impact of feminism. It understands these texts as responding to, and producing a contemporary commentary on, crucial feminist issues that themselves centre on ideas about girlhood, including risk, sexuality and desire, and the ‘postfeminist masquerade’. Discussion of contemporary popular culture enables this thesis to historicise feminist representation of girls relative to these issues during the 1980s and 90s. The primary objective of the thesis is to contextualize the popularity of speculative fiction within a changing popular discourse of girlhood and, more specifically, feminist girlhood. 2 Contents Introduction: The Postfeminist Fantasy 5 I. Becoming-Alice: Changing Girlhoods 43 II. Vampires and Virgins: Girl Sexuality and Desire in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 75 Twilight, and True Blood III. “A Mother Knows Her Daughter”: Motherhood, Legacy, and Disney 115 IV. “Just One, I’m a Few”: Cyborgs, Reproductive Rights, and Difference 151 in Orphan Black V. “Real or Not Real?” Class, Consumption and the Postfeminist Masquerade 185 in The Hunger Games Conclusion 223 Bibliography 228 3 Acknowledgements There are many people to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for their help in the production of this thesis. Foremost among them is Catherine Driscoll, who in her position as supervisor has been an endless font of information and assistance. Without her constant support, above and beyond the call of duty, this thesis would simply not have been possible. Her guidance has been truly indispensable, and I am forever grateful to have had her as a mentor. The Gender and Cultural Studies department and the School of Philosophical and Historic Inquiry have also provided excellent support, and there I have found friends and colleagues who have been on hand throughout this process with expert guidance and inspiring discussions. I am also indebted to the University of Sydney itself for providing me with the opportunity to become a part of such a stimulating research environment. Among the many people outside of the university who have aided me on this journey are Sam and Mick and the staff at SEA, who have been incredibly flexible and understanding of my academic priorities; Kimberley Tate and Maria Cecire, who have both provided intellectual inspiration and steadfast friendship for many years; Amanda Cuthbert and Steve Porter, who have been rocks of support throughout; Gabriel Gilbert, who has endured the difficulties of this process by my side; and Bill Simmons and Susie Waters, whose ongoing support, both emotional and technical, has been crucial to my entire academic career. And to my parents, Sam and Deborah Heatwole, I owe a lifetime of gratitude. They have always been my number one allies; I can never repay them for the countless years of late night edits, help with tuition, and constant encouragement and inspiration. They are, and have always been, the source of my empowerment. And to my sister Megan, my original girlhood model, I am grateful both for her support, and the never-ending source of inspiration that is her daughters Lucy and Charlotte. They continue to be my motivation to find things in this world that will inspire them in turn. 4 Introduction: The Postfeminist Fantasy I’m not the pretty, fucking helpless princess in distress. I’m pretty fucking powerful, and ready for success! –FCKH8.com, “Potty-Mouthed Princesses Drop F-Bombs for Feminism” A popular Buzzfeed Column, published in December, 2014, lists “22 Powerful Moments That Made You Proud To Be A Feminist In 2014” (Heasley and Chirico). Among them are activist successes such as seventeen-year-old Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, viral media trends like the #YesAllWomen campaign, publications such as Bad Feminist (2014) by Roxane Gay, and the video featured above, in which little girls dressed as princesses delivered speeches laden with swear words about the stereotypes girls encounter today. But the overwhelming majority of these “powerful moments” are times when feminist principles were seen to leak into popular culture: Beyonce or Taylor Swift laying claim to the title of ‘feminist’; female gamers or science-fiction writers rising above institutional inequalities; and TV series transgressing gender norms. These moments happen on our screens, in our playlists, and in our gossip magazines, and together the assembled list suggests that Beyonce, Gay, and Yousafzai all exist, as feminist representatives, on the same continuum of visibility. Many if not most accounts of political activism by girls would focus on the kind of exceptional impact on a public sphere exemplified by Yousafzai; moments that exceed the everyday, embodied feminism that scholarship and media culture suggests is also taking place across various forms of popular culture and within the everyday lives of its audience of girls as well as women. But such a Buzzfeed list doesn’t make this distinction, nor does it even offer a spectrum along which feminism becomes more political as it becomes less continuous with a public sphere. Thus, we might use this list to exemplify a now widely established integration of 5 certain elements of feminism, and certain kinds of feminist voices, into the broadly accessible field of mass produced popular culture. This recognition is key to the debates surrounding the concept of ‘postfeminism.’ The accomplishments of feminist scholars and politicians are undeniably important and influential, as feminist representations, in ways that popular culture cannot be. But it is equally clear that popular cultural productions—such as music, film, television, or novels—are powerful transmitters of political ideas, including feminist discourse. This thesis is interested in exploring the ways that popular culture shapes ideas about what it means, in the current cultural moment, to be a feminist; and, particularly, what it means to be a feminist girl. My investigation of popular texts is built on the premise that a range of specifically feminist concerns are being raised and discussed within popular culture today, and that the presumed audience for these representations clearly includes, and is even often centered on, girls. These are the connections and overlaps—between feminism and the media, between the media and girls—that I want to describe as ‘postfeminist.’ Decades of scholarship now attest to the difficulty of defining postfeminism. Considering the breadth of popular cultural texts available that represent ideas about gender that have been affected by the visible successes of feminism and by, just as clearly, the ongoing struggles of feminism, and considering also the ambiguities inherent in the word ‘feminism,’ it is necessary to define the terms of my inquiry more narrowly.