Big Dyke Energy? Commodification and Queer Female Meaning-Making in the Reception of Ocean’s 8 (Gary Ross, 2018) Esmé Fransen Department of Media Studies Master Thesis 30 ECTS Cinema Studies Master’s Programme in Cinema Studies (120 ECTS credits) Spring term 2020 Supervisor: Anna Sofia Rossholm Big Dyke Energy? Commodification and Queer Female Meaning-Making in the Reception of Ocean’s 8 (Gary Ross, 2018) Esmé Fransen Abstract In a media landscape that continues to be characterized by heteronormativity, queer female audiences are continuously finding ways to make popular texts their own. Previous scholarship on queer female reception has largely approached queer meaning-making as a text-audience relationship, a perspective which disregards the position of films as commodities surrounded by an extensive promotional network. This thesis investigates the role of commodification in the process of queer meaning-making in popular film through a reception study of the film Ocean’s 8 (Gary Ross, 2018). Using a netnographic method that places social media reception in dialogue with the film and its promotional materials, it challenges the idea that queer meaning is always either embedded in the film text or brought in by the audience “(in)appropriating” the text. Rather, the film and its promotional context create an ambiguity that allows queer readings to flow freely, and actively interacts with a pre-existing Cate Blanchett-as-lesbian fantasy amongst audiences to steer those readings in particular directions. Queer female meaning- making, then, is far from a one-directional action, but rather a complex and constant renegotiation of queerness between commercial actors and audiences alike. Keywords Ocean’s 8, Commodification, Queer Female Reception, Epiphenomena, Popular Film, Commodity Lesbianism, Cate Blanchett Contents Introduction ................................................................................. 1 Previous Research ............................................................................................. 2 Aims ............................................................................................................... 7 Methodology ................................................................................. 9 Why Ocean’s 8? ................................................................................................ 9 Gathering of online reception data ..................................................................... 10 The film and its promotional materials ............................................................... 13 Limitations and considerations .......................................................................... 15 Theoretical Framework ............................................................... 19 The Commodification of Film ............................................................................ 19 Commodity Lesbianism .................................................................................... 21 From Loving Women to Women-Loving-Women: The Queer Ambiguity of the “Heist in Heels” ............................................... 24 Female Friendship and the “Heist in Heels” ......................................................... 25 Reading Friendship in a Queer Context ............................................................... 32 Polysemy without Neutralization ....................................................................... 38 All (Queer) Roads Lead to Blanchett: Commodity Lesbianism in the “Cate-Blanchett-is-a-Lesbian-Cinematic-Universe” .................... 44 Establishing the Blanchett-as-Lesbian Fantasy .................................................... 45 Ocean’s 8 and the “Cate-Blanchett-is-a-Lesbian Cinematic Universe” ..................... 57 Keeping Queerness Safe through Queering-by-Proxy ........................................... 64 Conclusion .................................................................................. 73 Filmography ............................................................................... 76 Bibliography ............................................................................... 80 “and god said, ‘let's give the gays everything they want,’ and there was Ocean's Eight (2018) dir. Gary Ross - genesis 1:3” - pia (studioeight) Introduction Venture into any queer female space online, and you are bound to come across the phrase “big dyke energy” sooner rather than later. Originally coined as a queer alternative to an internet meme1 through which the phrase “big dick energy” came to be synonymous with possessing great confidence, “big dyke energy” combines this confidence with queer cultural elements into a distinctly lesbian reference. Although, as with any internet meme, an exact definition is hard to pin down, “big dyke energy” has been discussed as meaning roughly to be “confrontational and confident,”2 or as containing a “mysterious, sensual appeal that is difficult to quantify or articulate.”3 Perhaps most simply, however, it refers to someone or something that is absolutely, undeniably lesbian – but what it means to be lesbian remains, of course, in the eye of the beholder. One thing that, according to queer female internet users, certainly possesses this “big dyke energy,” however, is Ocean’s 8 (Gary Ross, 2018). Released around the same time that the term gained popularity, the film – and especially lead actress Cate Blanchett – quickly came to serve as a prime example of the concept.4 Even though the film features no explicit queer representation, audiences were quick to pick up on the many ways the film could be read as queer regardless. Ranging from wishful thinking that there might be more than just friendship between the two main characters to declarations that “this is a lesbian movie,”5 the reception of the film quickly became characterized by these queer female discourses, reaching such mainstream visibility that even major media companies such as Netflix and HBO interacted with it.6 Although the high visibility of the queer discourse surrounding Ocean’s 8 is somewhat unusual, the actual processes at work resemble those that have characterized the reception of queer female audiences since the earliest days of the cinema. Located within a media industry that typically seeks to erase or contain queer sexualities, queer female audiences have adapted and continue to adapt popular film into something that more closely resembles the lives and dreams of those women viewing the film. As a subject that has received relatively little scholarly attention, however, the exact workings of queer 1 An internet meme is a piece of content, often of humorous nature, that spreads virally via social media. 2 Hanna Hanra, “Forget Big Dick Energy, It’s All about Big Dyke Energy Now,” I-D, July 2, 2018, https://i- d.vice.com/en_uk/article/zm8pk8/forget-big-dick-energy-its-all-about-big-dyke-energy-now. 3 Sandra Song, “Big Dick Energy and Big Dyke Energy, Explained,” NYLON, June 26, 2018, https://www.nylon.com/articles/big-dick-energy-big-dyke-energy-explained. 4 Josh Jackman, “Forget Big Dick Energy, It’s Time for Big Dyke Energy,” PinkNews, July 19, 2018, https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2018/07/19/viral-forget-big-dick-energy-big-dyke-energy/. 5 Lucy (deathproof), “Ocean’s 8,” Letterboxd, June 11, 2018, https://letterboxd.com/deathproof/film/oceans- eight/1/; brat pitt (bratpitt), “Ocean’s 8,” Letterboxd, June 7, 2018, https://letterboxd.com/bratpitt/film/oceans-eight/. 6 Netflix Canada (@Netflix_CA), “Cate Blanchett in Ocean's 8. That's it. That's the tweet,” Twitter, April 14, 2020, https://twitter.com/netflix_ca/status/1250094511600132097; HBO (@HBO), “Happy #Pride�, ‘friends,’” Twitter, June 1, 2019, https://twitter.com/HBO/status/1134821903531630592. 1 female reception (or queer reception in general) remain largely up for debate. To some, media texts simply are queer, whether because of or despite of the producer’s intentions, with their queerness only inaccessible due to heteronormative or homophobic reading strategies.7 To others, the queerness lies entirely with the audience: as a form of counter-reading, the ability to queer or “lesbianise” a text relies on the individual viewer.8 Both these sides position the process of queering as something happening outside of, or even undesirable to, the context of the film’s production. Yet, in a day and age when queer female audiences are increasingly often perceived as profitable,9 positioning queer readings as a form of resistance fails to account for the vested interest producers have in increasing the size of their audience, even if it involves appealing to audiences they previously did not dare to acknowledge.10 Considering reception as a result of not just the film text or audience agency, but rather as a complex interaction between the film text, its promotional context, and the audience, this thesis will show that queer meaning-making is rarely a one-directional action, but rather a complex and constant renegotiation of queerness between commercial actors and audiences alike. Previous Research The emergence of the word “lesbian” as an identifier for a homosexual woman rather than a person from the Greek island of Lesbos roughly coincides with the early days of cinema.11 To say that there have been popular film audiences who understood their queer sexuality as significantly shaping their identity since the very beginning, then, hardly seems like a stretch. Despite this, queer female audiences were almost entirely invisible in scholarship until the 90s, and continue