Feminist Psychoanalysis & Queer Theory: Butler's "Gender Trouble" and Cixous' "The Laugh of the Medusa"

Gender Trouble and The Laugh of the Medusa

During the last decades, there is a certain distinction between the concepts of sex and gender. The concept of sex is considered to be a biological category, while gender is social sex - the expectations we have about this or that person in relation to his or her biological sex. However, in the queer theory studies, this relationship has also been questioned. Very often, the word "queer" is used as a synonym for representatives of the LGBT community. These concepts always go together. Each representative of the gay, lesbian, queer, feminist of other communities tries to express him or herself to the public and be treated equally to the heterosexual community. All these groups express their concerns in the literature of various magazines or newspapers posts. It is crucial for them to be heard and understood. Thus, the feminist psychoanalysis argues about the existing of women literature, which is completely different from those written by men, and queer theory states on the possibility for the person to determine his or her gender according to the social environment not taking into account the biological sex.

All the representatives of queer communities and feminism representatives demand the equality in the society, which must not be determined by sexual belonging. Sometimes they argue about their superiority as it was done by Hélène Cixous in her famous work “The Laugh of the Medusa” (1976). The main thesis of this work is the existence of the women writing which is completely different from men. The author is the representative of French feminism which is mainly psychoanalytic and is focused on curbing. All the feminists throughout the world are trying to find terminology that would save femininity from its stereotyped links with inferiority (Butler 9). In her work, the methods of female subjectivity expressions are combined with corporeality. The philosopher believes that a woman thinks through the body because of the peculiarities of her physiology.Such a peculiarity is needed to be used for the woman’s creativity. According to Cixous, Freud's and Nietzsche's masculinist doctrines made her believe in her inferiority (Cixous 877-79). The author identifies the writing with a breakthrough and a revelation of her own sexuality because when returning to the original female nature, a woman can become free. She calls all women for writing to find harmony and faith in themselves. From a philosophical point of view “The Laugh of the Medusa”  is a feminist manifesto for the liberation of women. The author argues that the future must not be determined by the past (Cixous 881). In the past, women did not have enough rights. That is why they have to live according to the current perspectives and create their future themselves.

The feminist movements were the starting point of the sexual minorities movements. The Queer Theory claims that the surroundings and person’s will and feelings determine his or her gender. Tyson (2006) and Parker (2015) have paid much attention in their works to the queer criticisms and theory development. They wrote about the manifestations of gay, lesbian, and queer ideas in the society. According to Judith Butler (1990), from the very beginning, there is a built-in hierarchy in the society which is divided into two separate genders. Thus, the equality of two genders cannot be achieved, because they are artificially constructed in a system that does not provide equality (Butler 4-6). However, even if the destruction of the framework of gender may sound like a utopia, the Queer theory has already managed to "shake" the framework of this construct. In particular, this concerns ideas about the romantic and sexual drives towards other people, as well as gender identity and gender expression (Parker). However, queer theory is much more complex than gut or lesbian criticism. The category of sexuality is much broader here than the simple opposition of homosexual/heterosexual. It is a kind of mixture, a fluid, fragmented, dynamic collectivity of possible sexualities (Tyson 336). The appearance of such a phenomenon became possible due to the processes of socialization and globalization in the society.

In such a way, every person wants to be equal to the majority in the society. The historical conditions of women treatment caused the appearance of feminist movement and feminist literature. The literature became one of the means of expression where they spoke about their identity. Following this movement, the representatives of LGBT communities began to show themselves and search for their rights and equality. Thus, the feminism and queer criticism became the inherent part of the life in the society where there are a lot of the supporters and opponents of these movements.

Works Cited

Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. New York: Rout‑ ledge, 1990.

Cixous, Hélène, et al. “The Laugh of the Medusa.” Signs, vol. 1, no. 4, 1976, pp. 875–893. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3173239.

Parker, Robert Dale. How to Interpret Literature: Critical Theory for Literary and Cultural Studies. Oxford University Press, 2015.

Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today: a User-Friendly Guide. Vol. 2, Routledge, 2006.

A Queer Theory Reading of Disney’s Mulan

            The animated film Mulan, released in 1998 by Disney, centers around a young Chinese girl who saves her father from being drafted into the army by taking the guise of a young man. The children’s film is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan, a girl who also takes her father’s place in the army and goes to war for her country. A striking difference between the legend and the film, however, is that iterations of the folktale illustrate that Hua Mulan never claimed to be man; she went to war as a woman because she got bored of weaving, was victorious, and then returned home to continue weaving. Alternatively, Disney’s film focuses on a young girl who doesn’t fit in with her environment and is uncomfortable with the activities prescribed to her gender by her culture. Viewers follow Mulan and witness her question the masculine and female binary as she consistently performs somewhere in between the spectrum. A queer theory reading of Mulan shows how the film is capable of challenging the cultural notions of masculine and feminine and implicates the limitations of gender roles.

            The very beginning of the film introduces the customs and pageantry surrounded with becoming the ideal bride which establishes a role for women in society to the viewer. During the song “Honor To Us All,” Mulan is bathed, clothed, and painted with white makeup, rouge, and lip colour to show the elaborate process women must go through to be considered in good taste and desirable. Throughout the song, Mulan looks uncomfortable and lost as her elders continue to groom her making her appear more feminine and passive. When Mulan sees her reflection in the hand mirror presented to her, she is visibly shaken because she does not recognize the woman she sees in the mirror as being her. The makeup and clothes she is dressed in act as a metaphor for the mask she wears to hide her true identity. This instance contributes to our knowledge of queer work because it is akin to the roles people must perform when they do not fall into the category of gender roles or sexual identity. External expectations complicate the ability for individuals to self-actualize as is clear with Mulan. Ultimately, Mulan is acting to “keep [her] father standing tall” and bring honour to her family.

After being rejected by the matchmaker and disappointing her family, Mulan sings the song “Reflection” in which she laments her inability to be who she truly is. The sentiments she expresses are those longing to “show the world what’s inside [her] heart” and to escape “a world where [she has] to hide [her] heart and what [she] believe[s] in.” The imagery used in “Reflection” shows half of Mulan’s face without makeup (masculinity) and the other half painted (femininity) to show the binary opposition existing on the spectrum; queer theory works to break down these opposites. The lyrics of the song coupled with the image of Mulan’s face offer a look into the struggle of those who identify as genderqueer often endure because it shows conflict in coming to terms with one’s own identity. This process is made more complex when one identifies contrary to the expectations of society. More often than not, these individuals are met with judgement and vehement opposition. This is especially true in Mulan’s case where the punishment for a woman impersonating a man in the army is death.

                                           

The film explores other areas of queer theory such as homosocial behavior. When Mulan assumes the role of Ping, she develops an intimate but non-sexual relationship with General Li Shang whom she saves from death at the film’s climax. The initial relationship between both Shang and Ping at the training camp is one of tension. In many cases the tension is homoerotic, especially when a shirtless Shang stares at Ping. A queer theory reading likely would attribute this tension to the problematics of sexuality or sexual identity. Sheng’s song “I’ll Make A Man Out Of You” indicate he subscribes to heteronormative culture. His attraction to Ping conflicts with his heterosexual/hyper-masculine self-schema. As the film progresses, Shang grows closer to Ping. After Ping is revealed to be Mulan, a woman, Sheng is disgusted with himself and with the deception, realizing his sexuality may not be as clear-cut as he had once thought. At the end of the film, Sheng and Mulan are suggested to be romantically involved after she returns to life as a woman. This example illustrates that Sheng was appealed to by the masculine qualities of Ping/Mulan and continued to pursue Mulan in spite of this. This situation presented by the movie may serve as an effective example of a deconstruction of rigid binaries that society has constructed for women/men and homosexuals/heterosexuals that are a focus of queer theory.

                           

Other instances in the film such as the communal male bath, the “effeminate” male advisor to the emperor, and male warriors in drag promote themes that question what gender roles and human sexuality serve as a whole. Offered here is a taste of how these themes are initially explored in Disney’s Mulan. Upon closer examination of these other situations, a more complex look into queer theory can be obtained. Furthermore, this film can offer the opportunity to discuss the issue of “gender is performance” and transgendered identity. It is under these lenses one can learn how a person can have multiple identities rather than be limited to categorization. As a children’s film under this light, Mulan has the potential to facilitate an appropriate discussion and education about acceptance and diversity at a young age.

 Song Lyrics: Mulan, www.fpx.de/fp/Disney/Lyrics/Mulan.html.