Elaine is correct in this, except that I might add that Butler, like Diana
Fuss, backed off somewhat in their calls for "strategic essentialism." While
this may have little to do with gangster films and more to do with political
efficacy, it always leaves me with the feeling that Butler et al were either
troubled or frustrated by being unable to square certain aspects of human
behaviour that might appear to be innate, ie, ancient hunter/gatherer
characteristics that have a tendency to run along gendered lines.
Andrew
Quoting Elaine Pigeon <[log in to unmask]>:
> Judith Butler does not reject the notion that gender is constructed, au
> contraire. She rejects the essentialist view of gender and sexuality. A queer
> reading of ganster films would focus on the constructed/performative aspects
> of masculity, emphasizing the exaggerated claims -- camp? --of this hetero
> construct and thereby proceed to deconstruct this model, bringing into focus
> the homosexual aspects of masculinity that haunt it but have been disavowed.
> I suggest reading her now famous Gender Trouble. See also Eve Sedgwick's
> Epistemology of the Closet.
>
> Elaine Pigeon
>
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Andrew Lesk
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