‘The Objectifying Gaze’: The Role of Adaptation in Perceptions of Gender on Television by Jessica-Leigh Van de Kemp A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2021 © Jessica-Leigh Van de Kemp 2021 Examining Committee Membership The following served on the Examining Committee for this thesis. The decision of the Examining Committee is by majority vote. External Examiner DR. ANDREW WELSH Associate Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University Internal-External Member DR. TONI SERAFINI Associate Professor, St. Jerome’s University Supervisor DR. MICHAEL MACDONALD Associate Professor, University of Waterloo Internal Members DR. MARCEL O’GORMAN Professor, University of Waterloo DR. GORDON SLETHAUG Adjunct Professor, University of Waterloo ii Author’s Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. iii Abstract For too long, adaptation studies has been limited to film and focused on adaptation as a product (i.e. the transformation of a novel into a film), but expanding the field to television and emphasizing the process of adaptation (i.e. how texts share meaning) invites critics to contemplate between television and society by considering the concepts of adaptation (e.g. doubling, architextuality, citation, and de(re)composing) that perpetuate stereotypes and myths about women across texts and spaces. My dissertation therefore expands the scope of research on gender representation in television by using adaptation theory to reveal the intertextual composition of portrayals of women. Many critics have examined intertextuality in film, and some in television, but none have evaluated the role that concepts of adaptation play in constructing representations of women in television, especially in the fields of justice, science, and technology. The main research question is: What is the impact of television on society? I argue that the relationship between television and society is influenced by intertextuality and apply Fredrickson and Roberts’ theory of objectification, in line with Mulvey’s famous concept of the male gaze, to demonstrate how concepts of adaptation enforce the objectifying gaze on women in television and reinforce mostly stereotypical gender roles. This dissertation is composed of an introduction, four chapters, and a conclusion. Using a case-study methodology, I analyze eight American drama television series that exercise adaptation and the gaze, with many passing references made to art, film, and literature that open the landscape of television to its intertextual roots: uncanny doubles in House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black, architexts between drama and detection in CSI: Cyber and Person of Interest, citations of trauma in Criminal Minds and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, and de(re)compositions of media and society in Wisdom of the Crowd and The X-Files. Four key findings stand out from these case iv studies: (1) uncanny doubles manifest a spatiality of death around female and/or LGBT characters, (2) architexts between drama and detection form through play to debunk gender role stereotypes, (3) citations of torture make and maintain a visual style of terror on screen, and (4) de(re)compositions of media and society insulate the voyeuristic POV. These findings show that violence against women continues to be eroticized on prime-time, but that adaptation plays a role in making a spectacle of rape and other harms. Several original concepts emerge during the research process to describe the role that adaptation plays in shaping perceptions of gender, sexuality, and violence on television, including but not limited to: embodied detection, figural déjà vu, forensic adaptation, and ludic forensics. All told, this dissertation forges a new way of discussing gender representation by applying adaptation theory to television studies. Keywords Adaptation Theory Drama Television Gender Representation The Objectifying Gaze Violence Against Women v Acknowledgements I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my committee. Thank you to my supervisor, Dr. Michael MacDonald, for your exceptional mentorship over the years. And, thank you to my committee members, Dr. Marcel O’Gorman and Dr. Gordon Slethaug, for your outstanding guidance on this research project. I am also grateful to Dr. Andrew Welsh and Dr. Toni Serafini for their superb feedback in the defence. This research project was supported by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS) Program and I am very appreciative to the Province of Ontario and the University of Waterloo for this funding. Special mention goes to the English Department’s administrative staff—Margaret Ulbrick, Tina Davidson, and many others—for their hard work and care. For helping me grow as an educator, I offer my sincerest thanks to Dr. Dorothy Hadfield and Dr. Bruce Dadey. For encouraging me to pursue graduate studies, I recognize Dr. Murray McArthur. Finally, but by no means least, thank you to my parents for your unconditional love and support. vi Table of Contents Examining Committee Membership................................................................................................ii Author’s Declaration......................................................................................................................iii Abstract...........................................................................................................................................iv Acknowledgments..........................................................................................................................vi List of Figures...............................................................................................................................viii Introduction......................................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: Uncanny Doubling in House of Cards and Orange Is the New Black.........................18 Chapter 2: Architexts between Drama and Detection in CSI: Cyber and Person of Interest........58 Chapter 3: Citations of Trauma in Criminal Minds and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit....102 Chapter 4: De(re)composing Media and Society in Wisdom of the Crowd and The X-Files......156 Conclusion...................................................................................................................................202 References....................................................................................................................................212 vii List of Figures Figure 1.1: Photographic reproduction of Schiele’s painting Schwangere und Tod.....................21 Figure 1.2: Screenshot of Morello’s bathtub scene in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black...........25 Figure 1.3: Screenshot of Morello’s bedroom scene in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black.........27 Figure 1.4: Screenshot of Maria’s dance scene in United Artists’ West Side Story......................28 Figure 1.5: Screenshot of Underwood and Cole’s confrontation scene in Netflix’s House of Cards..............................................................................................................................................32 Figure 1.6: Screenshot of Burset’s confinement scene in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black.....37 Figure 1.7: Screenshot of Posner and Stamper’s coercion scene in Netflix’s House of Cards.....39 Figure 1.8: Screenshot of Posner’s confinement scene in Netflix’s House of Cards....................42 Figure 1.9: Screenshot of Stamper and Posner’s car scene in Netflix’s House of Cards..............44 Figure 1.10: Screenshot of Miller’s death scene in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black...............48 Figure 1.11: Screenshot of Underwood and Hale’s confrontation scene in Netflix’s House of Cards..............................................................................................................................................51 Figure 1.12: Screenshot of Hale’s death scene in Netflix’s House of Cards.................................53 Figure 1.13: Screenshot of Duarte and Diaz’s confrontation scene in Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black..............................................................................................................................................56 Figure 2.1: Screenshot of Bat Blue Corporation’s figure on the dark net.....................................66 Figure 2.2: Screenshot of Shaw, Morgan, and Carter’s undercover scene in CBS’ Person of Interest...........................................................................................................................................69 Figure 2.3: Screenshot of Lockhart and Ryan’s interview scene in CBS’ CSI: Cyber.................72 Figure 2.4: Screenshot of Reese and Tillman’s intervention scene in CBS’ Person of Interest...81 Figure 2.5: Screenshot of Reeves and Ryan’s confrontation scene in CBS’ CSI: Cyber..............84 Figure 2.6: Photographic reproduction of Sekine’s sculpture Phase of Nothingness-Water.........88 Figure 2.7: Screenshot of Frey and Groves’ library scene in CBS’ Person of Interest.................94 Figure 2.8: Screenshot of Root’s hospitalization scene in CBS’ Person of Interest.....................97 Figure 2.9: Screenshot of Russell and