Ugly Ducklings: The Construction and Deconstruction of Gender in Shôjo Manga A Thesis Presented by Jennifçr Ricard T 0 McGill University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts in East Asian Studies McGill University, Montreal October 2005 Copyright Jennifer Ricard 2005 Library and Bibliothèque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-22618-6 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-22618-6 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page cou nt, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada 1 Abstract This thesis examines shôjo manga (Japanese comics for girls) as a site of the subversion of gender. The focus will be on stories about cross-dressing, as the cross­ dressed heroine poses from the outset questions about the nature of girls within shôjo manga and the girls who are supposedly reading the texts. The analysis takes place at two leve1s: visual language and narrative. Over the course of five chapters, focusing on a couple of series in each, this thesis will show the various ways categories of gender and sex are undermined in five different subgenres. Yet gender norms are recuperated in the end. The manga always return to the figure of the shôjo, the ambiguously gendered "not­ quite-female" female that must expire at adulthood and the regulatory function heterosexuality plays in this inevitable demise. Nevertheless shôjo manga readers need not necessarily share this end. The various ways that the reader is positioned both visually and narratively suggests that her gender and sexuality remains ambiguous and indefinable. Cette thèse examine les shôjo manga (bandes dessinées japonaises pour filles) comme emplacement de la subversion du genre. Le foyer sera sur les histoires portant sur le travestisme comme la héroïne travestie pose dès le début des questions au sujet de la nature des filles de shôjo manga et les filles qui lisent censément ces textes. L'analyse a lieu à deux niveaux : récit et langage visuel. Au cours de cinq chapitres, se concentrant sur un couple de séries chacun, cette thèse montrera les diverses façons dont les catégories du genre et du sexe sont transgressées dans cinq sous-genre différents. Pourtant les normes de genre sont récupérées à la fin. Les manga retournent toujours à la II figure du shôjo, la femelle "presque-femelle" qui doit disparaître à l'âge adulte, et le role que joue l'hétérosexualité dans cette cession inévitable. Néanmoins les lectrices de shôjo manga ne partagent pas nécessairement cette fin. Les diverses manières que la lectrice est placée visuellement et narrativement suggèrent que son genre et sexualité restent ambiguës et indéfinissables. III A Ilote on names Japanese names have been written in the Japanese manner; that is family name followed by given name. The only exception is when the author is writing in English. A note on translations As much as possible, 1 have tried to use primary materials in their original language. But occasionally, for reasons of availability, 1 had to rely on either North American or French releases of certain manga series. This is noted in the bibliographical references. AIl translations from French and Japanese are my own except when otherwise indicated. Japanese words are romanized using the Hepburn system and kanji is given the first time these words appear. When a manga title is given only in English, this is how it appears on the original text. IV Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................ 1 Notes ........................................................................................... III Table ofContents ............................................................................. IV Acknowledgements ............................................................................ VI Introduction ................................................................................... 1 o A briefhistory .................................................................... 2 o Androgyny ........................................................................ 5 oThe shôjo .......................................................................... 6 o Cross-dressing .................................................................... 8 Chapter 1 - Drawing Gender: Visual Presentations ofGender in Shôjo Manga .......................................... 11 o Gendered conventions ........................................................... 13 o Backgrounds and frames ........ , ....... , .. " ............ " .. , .................. 17 o Perspectives on gender .......................................................... 22 o The position ofthe reader in the play ofgazes ............................... 27 o The indefinable reader ........................................................... .31 Chapter 2 - The Girl Who Would Be Prince: Blending Genders and Creating an Ideal Masculinity ................................... 38 o Female men ....................................................................... 40 o Combining masculinity andjèmininity ........................................ 43 o Revolutionary otokoyaku ........................................................ 47 o Female love ....................................................................... 52 o The end ofthe legends ........................................................... 58 Chapter 3 - Female Male Idols: Conventions ofBeauty and Gender Relations .......... " ................................. 60 o Female bishônen .................................................................. 61 o The body beneath ................................................................. 64 o Love and femininity ......... .. .. .. .. .. ... 67 o Relational genders ............................................................... 71 Chapter 4 - l Want to Be Your Little Boy: The Social Construction ofSex and Gender ................................................ 74 o The social construction ofgender .............................................. 76 o The construction ofsex ........................................................... 81 o Destiny ............................................................................... 83 v o Discomfort ...................................................................... 84 Chapter 5 - Troubled Romance: Stereotyped Gender and Compulsive Heterosexuality ................................... 86 o The fool ........................................................................... 87 o Stereotypes ....................................................................... 91 o Compulsory heterosexuality ................................................... 96 o Queer heterosexuality .......................................................... 98 Conclusion ..................................................................................... 105 Bibliography ................................................................................... 109 VI Acknowledgements l wish to express my gratitude, first and foremost, to my supervisor, Anne McKnight. She read and reviewed my admittedly rough work and helped me pro duce the fini shed product you hold today in spite of distance and time constraints. Thanks also to Thomas Lamarre who suggested reading material and engaged me in discussion about visual regimes and how these might function in manga and who critiqued my first chapter in its early stages. Thank you to Heather Lee Mills, who was perhaps not directly involved in the production of this thesis, but who studied alongside me and offered support as we both faced this difficult stage of our Master studies. Finally to James for his merciless proof-reading and unending encouragement and to my family and friends who put up with me on the good days and the bad. Ricard 1 "Ail girls are ugly