University of Denver Digital Commons @ DU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 8-1-2014 Transmission: Premium Television Characters Outside of the Gender Binary Daniel L. Ketchum University of Denver Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd Part of the Film and Media Studies Commons, and the Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons Recommended Citation Ketchum, Daniel L., "Transmission: Premium Television Characters Outside of the Gender Binary" (2014). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 336. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/336 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at Digital Commons @ DU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ DU. For more information, please contact [email protected],[email protected]. TRANSMISSION PREMIUM TELEVISION REPRESENTATIONS OF CHARACTERS OUTSIDE OF THE GENDER BINARY __________ A Thesis Presented to The Faculty of Social Sciences University of Denver __________ In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts __________ by Daniel L. Ketchum August 2014 Advisor: Rodney Buxton 1 Author: Daniel L. Ketchum Title: Transmission: Premium Television Representations of Characters Outside of the Gender Binary Advisor: Rodney Buxton Degree Date: August 2014 ABSTRACT Five fictional characters have emerged on the U.S. premium-pay-cable channels that blur the traditional male-or-female gender divide. The basics of queer theory (sex, gender, orientation, and transgender) and critical/cultural studies (encoding, decoding, and reading a text) are explained as a basis for the analysis of the characters, which seeks to answer the research question: does the premium-pay-cable television format offer truly empathetic non-binary transgender characters that challenge the dominant American ideologies about gender identity and expression? If so, how? If not, why not? Shane McCutcheon from Showtime’s lesbian melodrama The L Word (2004- 2010), Lafayette Reynolds from HBO’s supernatural drama-comedy True Blood (2008- 2014), Roscoe Kaan from Showtime’s corporate drama-comedy House of Lies (2012-), Brienne of Tarth from HBO’s political-fantasy-epic Game of Thrones (2010-) and Job from Cinemax’s pulpy action-thriller Banshee (2013-) are rigorously scrutinized, revealing their surprisingly complex, confident, and transgressive queer power. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 Literature Review............................................................................................... 5 Queer Theory, Gender, and Transgender ............................................... 5 The Binaries .............................................................................. 12 Transsexual Etiquette ................................................................. 15 Non-Binary Identities................................................................. 17 Debates about Transgender Identity .......................................... 24 Critical/Cultural Studies......................................................................... 29 Voyeurism, exhibitionism, and ‘the gaze .................................. 32 Television Criticism ................................................................... 34 Broadcast Formats ..................................................................... 37 Transsexuals in US Film – Miller’s Model................................ 40 Ridicule .......................................................................... 41 Fear ................................................................................ 46 Sympathy ....................................................................... 47 Empathy? ....................................................................... 49 Limitations of Miller’s Model ....................................... 51 Methodology ...................................................................................................... 55 Chapter One: Shane (The L Word)................................................................................. 60 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 84 Chapter Two: Lafayette (True Blood)............................................................................ 89 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 117 Chapter Three: Roscoe (House of Lies) ......................................................................... 121 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 155 Chapter Four: Brienne (Game of Thrones) .................................................................... 160 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 184 Chapter Five: Job (Banshee) .......................................................................................... 187 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 212 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................... 215 Works Cited ................................................................................................................... 237 Chapter One: Shane ........................................................................................... 242 Chapter Two: Lafayette ..................................................................................... 243 Chapter Three: Roscoe ....................................................................................... 244 Chapter Four: Brienne........................................................................................ 245 Chapter Five: Job ............................................................................................... 247 Appendix: List of Episodes and Scenes used for Each Chapter .................................... 248 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 – Roscoe Kaan on Showtime’s House of Lies .................................................... ix Figure 2 – Brienne of Tarth on HBO’s Game of Thrones ................................................ ix Figure 3 – Job on Cinemax’s Banshee .............................................................................. ix Figure 4 – Shane on Showtime’s The L Word .................................................................. ix Figure 5 – Lafayette on HBO’s True Blood...................................................................... ix Figure 6 – Idealized masculinity US vs. Japan ................................................................. 7 Figure 7 – Sex, gender, and orientation Venn diagram (personal creation) ..................... 7 Figure 8 – Buzzfeed comment section discussion of the word queer............................... 8 Figure 9 – Venn diagram of a lesbian transwoman (personal creation) ........................... 13 Figure 10 – Venn diagram of a straight cisgender man (personal creation) ..................... 13 Figure 11 – Carmen Carrera on Katie Couric’s talk show ................................................ 15 Figure 12 – Carmen Carrera’s hand stopping Katie Couric ............................................. 15 Figure 13 – A genderqueer comic (original source unknown) ......................................... 17 Figure 14 – Genderfluid comic (“gender nutshell”) ......................................................... 18 Figure 15 – Gender diversity comic (chotpot) .................................................................. 20 Figure 16 – Comic about the struggles of being trans (Elias Erikson) ............................. 22 Figure 17 – Transgender reveal in The Crying Game....................................................... 24 Figure 18 – Sex role satire in But I’m a Cheerleader ....................................................... 26 Figure 19 - Sex role satire in But I’m a Cheerleader ........................................................ 26 Figure 20 – The Transgender Flag .................................................................................... 26 Figure 21 – The Male gaze in Rear Window .................................................................... 33 Figure 22 – Digital streaming platform – Apple TV ........................................................ 37 iv Figure 23 – Censorship and broadcast formats chart (personal creation) ......................... 37 Figure 24 – Trans ridicule in Anger Management ............................................................ 42 Figure 25 – Trans ridicule in Arrested Development ........................................................ 42 Figures 26-28 – Transgender humor in Sex and the City’s “Cock-a-doodle-do” ............. 43 Figure 29 – Androgynous ridicule in SNL’s Pat sketches................................................. 45 Figure 30 – Buffalo Bill transsexual killer in The Silence of the Lambs .......................... 46 Figure 31 – Norman Bates cross-dress reveal in Psycho .................................................. 46 Figure 32 – Androgynous villain in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword ..................... 47 Figure 33 – Isis, a transwoman contestant on America’s Next Top