We'll Have a Gay Ol'time: Trangressive Sexulaity and Sexual Taboo In

We’ll have a gay ol’ time: transgressive sexuality and sexual taboo in adult television animation By Adam de Beer Thesis Presented for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Film Studies in the Faculty of Humanities and the Centre for Film and Media Studies UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN UniversityFebruary of 2014Cape Town Supervisor: Associate Professor Martin P. Botha The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University of Cape Town Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own unaided work. It is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Cape Town. It has not been submitted before for any other degree or examination at any other university. Adam de Beer February 2014 ii Abstract This thesis develops an understanding of animation as transgression based on the work of Christopher Jenks. The research focuses on adult animation, specifically North American primetime television series, as manifestations of a social need to violate and thereby interrogate aspects of contemporary hetero-normative conformity in terms of identity and representation. A thematic analysis of four animated television series, namely Family Guy, Queer Duck, Drawn Together, and Rick & Steve, focuses on the texts themselves and various metatexts that surround these series. The analysis focuses specifically on expressions and manifestations of gay sexuality and sexual taboos and how these are articulated within the animated diegesis. The findings reveal the mutuality between the plasticity of animation, which lends itself to shaping physical representations of reality, and the complex social processes of non-violent cathartic ideological expressions that redefine sociopolitical boundaries. The argument contextualizes the changing face of sexuality and the limits of sexual taboo in terms of current contestations and acceptability and the relationship to animation. Contemporary animation both represents this social performance of transgression and is itself a transgressive product disrupting accepted conventions. Key words: Animation, Transgression, Identity, Gay, Taboo iv Acknowledgements Melda suule verno Elentirmo, Elen sila lumenn’ omentielvo. I’d like to thank my supervisor, Associate Professor Martin Botha, for allowing me an enormous amount of autonomy to pursue my flights of fancy, and my other supervisor, colleague and friend, Associate Professor Lesley Marx, whose support and input were invaluable and greatly appreciated. Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. Albert Einstein It was a high council that I once heard given to a young person, ‘Always do what you are afraid of.’ Ralph Waldo Emerson A university is not, thank heavens, a place for vocational instruction, it has nothing to do with training for a working life and career, it is a place for education, something quite different. Stephen Fry The Gay [frohliche] Science [is practiced by] free spirits… curious to a vice, investigators to the point of cruelty, with uninhibited fingers for the unfathomable, with teeth and stomachs for the most indigestible… [who] may offend people who mistake the researcher’s willingness to uncover and face the morally unacceptable for immorality. Friedrich Nietzsche vi Table of Contents Declaration .............................................................................................. ii Abstract .................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgements ................................................................................. vi Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................... 1 1.1 Are cartoons dirty? ............................................................................ 1 Chapter 2: Literature Survey .................................................................. 11 2.1 A wealth of words ............................................................................ 11 Chapter 3: Methodology ......................................................................... 19 3.1 Animation in the social sphere: why a social science perspective? .......... 19 3.2 Bent Flyvbjerg: an introduction ......................................................... 22 3.2.1 Flyvbjerg explained ................................................................... 23 3.2.2 Methodological focus ................................................................. 27 3.3 Phronetic Research .......................................................................... 28 3.3.1 Cases in Phronetic Research ....................................................... 29 3.3.2 Phronetic Questions ................................................................... 31 3.4 Difficult choices: selecting animation case studies ................................ 32 3.5 Conclusion ..................................................................................... 35 Chapter 4: Theoretical Framework ......................................................... 39 4.1 Animation: subversion or transgression? ............................................ 39 4.1.1 Arguing subversion .................................................................... 39 4.1.2 Arguing transgression ................................................................ 43 4.2 Contextualising transgression? .......................................................... 45 4.3 Transgression, the evolution of Carnival ............................................. 47 4.4 A brief history of transgressive animation ........................................... 51 4.5 Contextualizing transgressive animation ............................................. 57 4.5.1 Family Guy ............................................................................... 58 4.5.2 Queer Duck .............................................................................. 60 4.5.3 Drawn Together ........................................................................ 62 4.5.4 Rick and Steve .......................................................................... 64 4.6 Transgression and censorship ........................................................... 68 4.7 Conclusion ..................................................................................... 72 Chapter 5: Analytical framework ........................................................... 75 5.1 Identity and Representation .............................................................. 75 5.2 Identity .......................................................................................... 75 5.2.1 Understanding Identification ....................................................... 77 5.2.2 Identity and Power .................................................................... 78 5.2.3 Masculine identities ................................................................... 80 5.2.4 Gay identities ........................................................................... 81 5.3 Representation ............................................................................... 82 5.3.1 Stereotyping ............................................................................. 85 5.4 De-constructing Queer ..................................................................... 87 5.5 Constructing Gay ............................................................................ 90 5.6 Queering animation: sexual identity and animation .............................. 94 5.6.1 Animated sexuality: contestation and critique ............................... 97 5.7 Identity and Representation in Animation ........................................... 99 5.8 Conclusion .................................................................................... 105 Chapter 6: Analysis .............................................................................. 107 6.1 You may now kiss the… uh… guy who receives ................................... 108 6.1.1 Episodes and Issues ................................................................. 108 6.1.2 Analysing Themes .................................................................... 116 6.2 I’m gay as a goose ....................................................................... 120 viii 6.2.1 Episodes and Issues ................................................................. 120 6.2.2 Analysing Themes .................................................................... 123 6.3 Is there anybody out there who didn’t think this would go gay? ............ 126 6.3.1 Episodes and Issues ................................................................. 127 6.3.2 Analysing themes ..................................................................... 135 6.4 I can’t believe we’re not queer enough for San Francisco. .................... 141 6.4.1 Episodes and Issues ................................................................. 141 6.4.2 Analysing Themes .................................................................... 146 6.5 Conclusions ................................................................................... 151 6.5.1 Boundaries .............................................................................. 151 6.5.2 Identity and representation: different orders ...............................

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