disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory Volume 9 manholes Article 3 4-15-2000 (De)Constructing Daddy: The Absent Father, Revisionist Masculinity and/in Queer Cultural Representations Andrew Schopp University of Tennessee Martin DOI: https://doi.org/10.13023/disclosure.09.03 Follow this and additional works at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/disclosure Part of the English Language and Literature Commons This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License. Recommended Citation Schopp, Andrew (2000) "(De)Constructing Daddy: The Absent Father, Revisionist Masculinity and/in Queer Cultural Representations," disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory: Vol. 9 , Article 3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.13023/disclosure.09.03 Available at: https://uknowledge.uky.edu/disclosure/vol9/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory. Questions about the journal can be sent to [email protected] Andrew Schopp (De )Constructing Daddy: The Absent Father, Revisionist Masculinity and/in Queer Cul­ tural Representations Contemporary cultur i almo l ob e eel with a11 Ab ent Fath r mythology. Whether literal or metaphoric, th Ab e 11l Fath r fi gure in nu­ merou cultural repr enlalion and ha b n po it d a th e ~ oure of v rything from problem­ ati c mal e beha vior lo male anxieti es about what it m an to b ma culine. Ilow v r, th e Ab enl Fath r i. an especially troubling fi gu r for gay men. I I t ronormal i ve approach to xuali Ly and p yc hologi ·al developm n t, from Freud 1 lo Jung2 Lo ronl mporary religiou ri ght mini tri that would ''cure" queers/1 have con tructed and maintain cl a cultural paradigm in whi ch th e ho­ mo xual mal e (mo l oft n een a a male who fail al ma culinit. ) i ~ n to kin oth rm n th mal identification that hi fath r failed lo provid and/or that hi domineering mother im­ peded. 1 Although thi ideology i hardl. novel, it con titule th ba i of a di turbingly common l reolyp . Giv n th oppres iv ffect of a cultural hi lory and a p y hological tradition that hav o © 2000 dlsClosure: a Journal of social theory often posi l d the Ab en t Fath er a a ca u of (9). Committee on Social homo xuality, it mi ght m inh r ntl probl m­ Theory, Universi ty of Kentucky, Lexington, KY ali c lo include th Ab nl Father in a tud. of gay male subj cti vi ty. Nonethele , Judith Bull r ha sugge t cl: If it is already true that "lesbians" and 15 Schopp (De )Co nstructing Daddy \\gay men" have been traditionally designated as impossible iden­ tities, errors of classification, unnatural disasters within juridico­ . table arena ( port ' workplac ' bars) and mode ( lap on medical discourses ... then perhaps these sites of disruption, er­ ctl1 allbyaacckce~o l e n ce competition). However, within queer repre en~a - ror, confusion and trouble can be the very rallying points for a .1 e he' Absent Father' invite u lo exp lore gay mal e effort lo revise. certain resistance to classification and to identity as such {16). tb1onoths, th l e paramete1s. ava1· 1a bl for in ti macy between men . and Bthe no1- Butler advocate '"di µ]acing hegemoni · het ro · xual norm " by rcex· mative definitions of ma culi11 ity all men. truggle lo negolliale. e.ca~c.l~e . I I t . ~or gay men ie can p1 ov1 e amining and re-theorizing the di c:o ur e that have empow red hetero· ti 1 Absent Father rema1 n o pro) ema tc , I c . I . ble a gr aler under lane - sexual hegemony. The Ab ent Father paradigm might constitute one a rich figure for an exam111al1on l ial can ena . of a identity, of the gay community, and of gay, uch di cour e. Decon lructing thi paradigm can r veal potential lo in n.rn c ~l1n1l! , ~ . I tg ~b· By examinin!T c1ueer cultural representation Ill which tl~e resist it clas ifyin g power and foreground our c ulture' dependence lla1g 1 01 1. o I r · f D d upon both thi paradigm and a fixed method of uncl r landing it. Rich· bsenl Father figure ignificantly, including .t 1e icl101~ o D ~~1 I ard Mohr ha argued that '"the ocial lrealm nl of gay men and le bi­ eavill and the recent plethora of "erotic'' material exploring .ac y an , in particular th e ocial concept und r which ociety Lri e to cla. on roleplaying fantasy, I demon Lrale that the Ab enl Father ex1 t .as ify lesbian and gay men, affect th e way many dimen ion of oc iely a fraught and schizophrenic figure. 01.1 .th e one hand,. h~ s~rve a a ti~~~ are socially under lood and normatively configur d" (258). Th us, de· for Lh e critique and revi ion of lrad1t1ona~ mascul1111t., on L~1~ o - 111 pile th e problematic Iii ·Lory of th e Ab · 111 Father for gay m 11, th is fig· hand, he almost al ways rcaffi rms hegemonic norm . of ~ cul rni l~ c~f ure provide ~ a cru cial '"soc ial concept" lo b' i11t crrogat cl, c ·pcciall} p1te· va 1·rnn l effort lo r vi uch . norm. .. Thi qurnt. esI entia· Yr for those who are intere Led in how ma cu li11it y i · UllCI J" loocl an d 11 or· postmodern figure reflect th inC'rcc~1hl e d1ff1 culty ~f c.h~I .n~ingl~- mati vely configu red. revi ing cu ltural gender cripts, ~ pce1 al 1. wh n uc:l.1 1 ."1 . 101 ~ 1 ~ 1~ 1 P er- 1 111 1 In attempting Lo explore th e Ab e 11t Fath er and it impact, th ere are me11Led by or a ociat cl "ith, thos who. e xualtty ~ PI a number of area cholar need lo investi gate. For example, il would eived a ~ challenge/thrrat to pow r, id ology and long tty oft ie be useful lo interrogate tho e juridico-me cli cal di ·cour e that hare dominant cript. erved lo foster and perp tuate th e Ab ent Fath r paradigm, including During the past twrnty-five year , th Ab ent Fath r ha been a sexologi cal and p ychological di cour e , and th e di cur ive children significant pre nc in a range of popu~ar and literary work 3II~~:~d they have sired, uch as th e ''curative'' Lhcorie c pou cl by th e rcli· factored infilm sucha the tarWarsfdm (1977,1980,198 ), i gious right. AL Lhe same Lim e, we need hi toricized inv Li gati ons thal of Dreams (1989), Batman (l 989), I he Terminator film (l 98'1·, l 991), examine whether an increa eel cultural in i Lenee on adhering lo the A Perfect World (1993), the mylhopoelic manife to lef!e ~1ds of th e Fall masculine ideal {mo t often characteriz cl by dominanc , aggre5s io11 , (1994), and th e 1110 t recent filmic tr ati 01~ ma cul1111t<, ~~ght. ~~u~ (1999). Tn e Ah 1 1 trengLh, succes in the workplace, comp Li Lion, emotional Loi cism a11d th e film , th nl Fath r both inform. th lite1al 0 .f ~u ralive on' life and a ·L ion and licit. an interrogat10n of nHL ·ulrnit. · distance) has any connection to an increa ingly vi ·ibl gay identi ty thal During thi ame period, qu r lit ratur and erotica have .off r .ar­ often defie thi ideaJ. !l For th e purpo e of Lhi e ay, however, I am ex­ d ied representation of th Ab nt Fath r. Leavitt' Family Dan crng amining the gay male ubj ect's relation Lo th e Absent Father and 1hi (1983) and Dale Peck's Martin and John (1993) have explor d the relation hip' potential a both a site of re i lane lo th ma cul ine ·impact of 1m· s111g· f al Iiers on gay son , anc I tl1e p1·oliferllion. ' of. fanta ·Y ideal, and a primary ite in th e Lruggle Lo redefin e th parameters thal configure intimacy between men. cI c p1cl1011· · o r Dac ldy / on ro l payl ·111 gay 10· 11· ca1·11cl1cat ' an 111crca .eel fa scination wi th the Daddy figure. Whil th e cxplo ion of Dadd. rotica . Without questi on, Lh e stereotype of th e Ab ent Father fo reground parall el th e explosion of al l rolica into our culture, thank to ~ ss u e of mal e intimacy: in th e primary father/son r lati onship, intimacy lar~cly lcchnology, th e Daddy' incrca ing pre ne in th pa I Len Y ar 1. trll- is barred both by the fa th er' need Lo demon tra l ucc in the work­ i11 g. A I argue. below, th Dac Ic I r·1gur ·1.. a cunou· an cl pr I I m '·1t 1c r - place {he is physically not pre ent) and by a culture 1h at prohibits di - pan e Lo the Ab ent Fath rand all h ignifi e . till, w hould not b plays of affection and emotion between men (Lh e father is emoti onally surpri eel to see the increase of ith r Ab nt Father or Daddy r pr - absent, even if phys ically pre ent).Thesc barrier are then reinscribed sentations given th e incr a in di cou r .