Hughes, Katherine Ross (2013) Queer possibilities in teen friendships in film, 2000-2009. PhD thesis http://theses.gla.ac.uk/4085/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] Queer Possibilities in Teen Friendships in Film, 2000-2009 Katherine Ross Hughes MA Cinema Studies BA Women’s Studies BA Anthropology Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Culture and Creative Arts College of Arts University of Glasgow August 2012 © Katherine Hughes, 2012 2 Abstract This thesis seeks to determine how representations of dyadic teen homosocial bonds and relationships in film lend themselves to queer possibilities. Looking at teens in film across genre, certain types of dyadic homosocial relationships emerge: the best friendship, the antagonistic teen girl friendship, the boys friendship within a wider homosocial milieu, and friendships which fit these types but include gay and lesbian characters. I ground the research by establishing a record of the films released theatrically in the UK between 2000 and 2009 with teens as primary characters, and develop a qualitative and textual analysis of dyadic homosocial relationship types which illuminates their queer possibilities as well as the modes of denial and compensation which may accompany the threat those queer possibilities represent. As it investigates the policing of gender and heterosexual norms in teen homosocial relationships in key texts such as Aquamarine (Allen 2006), Superbad (Mottola 2007), Thirteen (Hardwicke 2003), The Covenant (Harlin 2006), Evil (Håfström 2003), and My Summer of Love (Pawlikowski 2004), the research here expands teen film studies, and applies queer reading practices to an often under-analysed segment of film. It also contributes to gender studies, as the findings here point to the ways that boys continue to be tied to physicality, violence, and athleticism, while girls continue to be tied to mirrors, masquerade, and manipulation. The move to include a variety of genres allows a consideration of how genre-specific tools of analysis, such as those developed in relation to the teen film genre or to dyadic homosocial relationship films such as the buddy film and female friendship film, can be productively mobilised across genres. Issues such as denial of homosocial desire through displacement, triangulated relationships, and passing heterosexual foils link these films to the history of films about homoerotic homosocial friendships. I argue here that queer possibilities are present in a wide variety of otherwise heteronormative films. My arguments centre on structures of desire and denial within homosocial friendships, as well as to the similarities between the heteronormative representations of homosocial desire and those present in specifically gay and lesbian narratives. The ways that these emerge are gender and age specific. By bringing out the denied and repressed homoerotic desires in these films, I demonstrate their existence in various forms. The thesis demonstrates that, in keeping with dyadic homosocial relationships between adult characters, in representations of dyadic homosocial bonds, the boundaries between homosocial/homosexual remains fluid in friendships between teen girls while it is much more rigidly separated in friendships between teen boys, primarily through homophobia, even in films containing gay and lesbian main characters. 3 Table of Contents Abstract........................................................................................ 2 Acknowledgements .......................................................................... 5 Author’s Declaration ......................................................................... 6 Chapter 1 Introduction: Queer Possibilities in Teen Relationships ................... 7 Scope ........................................................................................ 8 Definitions ................................................................................ 12 Teens ................................................................................... 12 Liminality .............................................................................. 14 Queer ................................................................................... 15 Chapter Outline.......................................................................... 17 Chapter 2 Teens in Film: Genre, Gender, and Representation ..................... 22 Introduction .............................................................................. 22 Teen Film Studies ....................................................................... 23 ‘Images of’ Teens ....................................................................... 37 Queer Reading: ‘Manhandling the Text’ ............................................. 43 Gender Performance .................................................................... 49 Conclusions: Positioning the Thesis .................................................. 64 Chapter 3 Contextualising the Teen in Contemporary Film ......................... 65 Research Origins and Design ........................................................... 65 Findings ................................................................................... 70 Classification .......................................................................... 71 Genre ................................................................................... 74 Leading Characters ................................................................... 76 Relationship Types ................................................................... 78 Setting .................................................................................. 81 Demographics ......................................................................... 82 Conclusion ................................................................................ 83 Chapter 4 Best Friends: Gender and Teen Homosocial Bonds ....................... 85 Boy Buddies .............................................................................. 88 Teen Girls, Buddies, and Female Friends ........................................... 104 Conclusion ............................................................................... 116 Chapter 5 Frenemies: Teen Girls, Aggression, and Masquerade ................... 119 Masquerades, Social Power, and Authentic Femininities ........................ 122 Friends to Enemies: Saved! and Slap Her… She’s French ........................ 125 Becoming One An/Other: Mean Girls and Thirteen ............................... 135 Needy Monsters: Me Without You and Jennifer’s Body .......................... 145 Conclusion: Authentic Femininity, Frenemies, and the Price of Lesbian Visibility ................................................................................. 154 Chapter 6 School Friends: Boys, Bodies, and Violence .............................. 156 Teen Male Homosociality: Contexts ................................................. 160 Boy Wizards: Magical and Homosocial Power in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and The Covenant ................................................................ 163 Violence, Criminality, and Golden Boys: Goodbye Charlie Bright and Evil ... 176 Polymorphous Perversity in the World of Teen Boys: The History Boys ....... 192 Conclusion ............................................................................... 197 Chapter 7 More than Friends: Gay and Lesbian Teen Desire ....................... 199 Best Friends: Blue Gate Crossing .................................................... 202 Frenemies: My Summer of Love ...................................................... 209 School Friends: Summer Storm....................................................... 215 Uncertain Gay Futures: L.I.E. ........................................................ 221 4 Another Gay Movie ..................................................................... 228 Conclusion ............................................................................... 233 Chapter 8 Conclusion: Queering Teen Friendships ................................... 235 Filmography ................................................................................ 245 Bibliography ................................................................................ 249 5 Acknowledgements Early funding for this research came from both the Groeninger Scholarship and the Scotland USA Scholarship Fund. I am grateful to both for the support. A huge thank you to the staff of the School of Critical and Creative Arts and the College of Arts for all their help, particularly Jeanette and Judy. Thanks to everyone in Theatre, Film and TV Studies for the intellectual and social sustenance; I was lucky to have plenty of coffee buddies in Susan, Alexia, Heta, Nessa, Helen, María, and Aimee. My advisors, Karen Boyle and Christine Geraghty, have guided me through the research and execution