A University of Sussex DPhil thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. 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 Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details TALKING TORCHWOOD: FLUID SEXUALITY, REPRESENTATION AND AUDIENCES Submitted by Craig Haslop For completion of the qualification of Doctor of Philosophy in Media and Cultural Studies School of Media, Film and Music University of Sussex July 2012 2 DECLARATION In accordance with the regulations of the University of Sussex, I hereby declare that this thesis has not been and will not be submitted in whole or in part to another University for the award of any other degree. Signed………………………………………….. July 2012 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincere thanks to Andy Medhurst and Thomas Austin for all their advice and hard work to help me write this thesis. I also want to say thanks to others in the department who gave me advice during my PhD including Sharif Mowlabocus and Steve Jones. I would also like to thank all the participants for taking part in the focus groups for this study and making the research possible. I am indebted to close friends and family who supported me through the process including my Mum, Alison Barker, Karen Peters and Ken Wheatland who all believed in me even in the darker parts of the six years. 4 CONTENTS DECLARATION.............................................................................................................................2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS...............................................................................................................3 TABLE OF CONTENTS...................................................................................................................4 LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................................8 SUMMARY...................................................................................................................................9 CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………………..….10 Torchwood and the audience………………………………………………………………………………………………….14 Bisexuality and audience research………………………………………………………………………………………….15 Bisexual representation: everything and nothing………………………………………………………………..…16 Sexuality and audience studies……………………………………………………………………………………………….19 Queer(y)ing theory………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………….20 Audience studies, identity and feminism………………………………………………………………………………..22 Gendered sexuality…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………24 Audience, identity and postmodernism………………………………………………………………………………….25 Troubled terrain: media effects………………………………………………………………………………………………29 Generic pressures……………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………30 Queers…lost in space………………………………………………………………………………………………………………32 Summary and structure of the thesis………………………………………………………………………………………34 CHAPTER 2 – THE RESEARCH DESIGN……………………………………………………………………………………..33 Locating the audience………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………..36 Social interaction and context……………………………………………………………………….……………………….38 Performativity/identity………………………………………………………………………………………………………….40 Consciousness raising…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….41 Non-hierarchical……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..42 Cultists, class and the sexuality of the sample………………………………………….………….………………...43 5 Recruitment…………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………………….45 Conducting the groups……………………………………………………………………………..…………………………….48 Episode synopsis………………………………………………………………………………………………………………......49 My own identity in the groups………………………………………………………………………..………………………51 Sensitivity and disclosure in audience research…………………………………………..………………………….55 Disclosure……………………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………...58 Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………….61 CHAPTER 3 – ‘IT’S ABOUT THE SEX ISN’T IT?’: TORCHWOOD, SEXUAL REPRESENTATION AND IDENTITY/FLUIDITY…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………64 Sex………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….65 Sexual liberation and freedom from emotions………………………………………………………………………66 Heteronormative liberation……………………………………………………………………………………………………66 Sexual identity liberation………………………………………………………………………………………………………..71 Sex and violence………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………..74 Boring heterosexuality……………………………………………………………………………………………………………78 Crazy bisexuality………………………………………………………………………..…………………………………………..80 Alien bisexuality……………………………………………………………………………………..……………………………..81 Sexual identity as safety…………………………………………………………………………………………..…………….87 Sexual identity and emotional security…………………………………………………………………………………..90 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………94 CHAPTER 4 - ‘WHAT THEY NEEDED WAS A SEVEN OF NINE IN THERE’: REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN, MEN AND GENDER IN TORCHWOOD………………………………………………………………………96 Mapping the gender terrain……………………………………………………………………………………………………97 Women in Torchwood………………………………………………………………………………………………………….100 Active women, passive bodies……………………………………………………………………………………………..102 Heteronormative dynamic duos…………………………………………………………………………………………..103 Where are the women? ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….105 Women and crime………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..107 6 Women as sexually fluid……………………………………………………………………………………………………….108 Female bonds………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………110 Representation of women – summary…………………………………………………………………………………110 Men as spectacle. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..112 John/Jack………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………115 Representations and discourses of masculinity…………………………………………………………………….117 Gender binarism in group talk………………………………………………………………………………………………119 Softer men and masculinities……………………………………………………………………………………………….120 Stereotypical masculinity……………………………………………………………………………………………………..121 Hyper-masculinity………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..122 Alien masculinity…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..124 Sexuality, gender and the sexed body………………………………………………………………………………….125 Fluid sexual narrative, sub-textual gay men…………………………………………………………………………126 Camp and hyper-masculinity……………………………………………………………………………………………….127 Hierarchies of masculinities…………………………………………………………………………………………………128 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..130 CHAPTER 5 - COS THAT’S HOW IT IS IN THE FUTURE: TORCHWOOD, FLUID SEXUAL REPRESENTATION AND GENRE………………………………………………………………..………………………….132 Torchwood: Imagining future sexualities……………………………………………………………………………..133 Science fiction….set in Cardiff? ……………………………………………………………………………………………138 Multiplication of genre…………………………………………………………………………………………………………141 Media promotion of the series……………………………………………………………………………………………..144 Genre and sex ‘changing’ across the channels……………………………………………………………………..146 ‘Everything Changes’… in season three? ………………………………………………………………………………147 Out of the( fluid sexual) dark and into the (heteronormative) light……………………………………..148 Torchwood as cult and culting Torchwood……………………………………………………………………………152 When the absurd becomes cult…………………………………………………………………………………….……..155 The ‘cult’ of ‘cult’…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………158 7 Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..160 CHAPTER 6 - ‘I CERTAINLY WOULDN’T WANT TO BE PORTRAYED AS A BORING STRAIGHT PERSON’: TORCHWOOD, MEANING MAKING AND THE PERFORMANC OF GENDERED SEXUAL IDENTITIES……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………161 Queer discourses, ‘hetero’ identity……………………………………………………………….…………………….162 Gender awareness……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….164 ‘Reading the romance…in Torchwood? ……………………………………………………………………………….168 He’s here and he’s not queer……………………………………………………………………………………………….169 Linguistic echoes of the history of gay identity…………………………………………………………………….174 Negotiating changing discourses of masculinity and the search for certitude………………………177 Histories of identity making……………………………………………………………………….………………………..180 Contextualising experience through the Torchwood text……………………………….…………………..182 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………….184 CHAPTER 7 – DISCUSSION……………………………………………………………………….………………..………..187 Torchwood: A new flame for UK TV sexual representation?.. …………………………….………………189 Boldly going where no (British) science fiction (TV) has gone before………………………………….189 The gender parallax…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….192 A monster of heterosexual biology……………………………………………………………………………………..195 Towards gender as a solid, not a dotted line……………………………………………………………………….197 The limitations of queer identity debates………………………………………………………………..…………199 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….203 APPENDICES Appendix 1 – Pilot question schedule…………………………………………………………………………………226 Appendix 2 – Brighton group schedule……………………………………………………………………………….228 Appendix 3 – Facebook advertisement………………………………………………………………………………234 Appendix 4 – Informed consent form ………………………………………………………………………………..236 Appendix 5 – Torchwood promotional imagery ……………………………………………………………………237 8 PICTURE INDEX Image