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the

fem

ale

gro

tesq

ue

risk,

exc

ess

and

mod

erni

ty

mar

y ru

sso

I~ ~~~!!

;n~~;up

NEW

YOR

K AN

D L

ON

DO

N

16

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

urat

ions

of g

ende

r in

the

prod

uctio

n of

''.po

ssib

le b

odie

s." T

he fi

fth

chap

ter a

ttem

pts t

o re

thin

k th

e so

cial

pro

duct

ion

of cl

ass,

natio

nalit

y,

and

ethn

icity

in r

elat

ion

to t

he s

pect

acle

of f

emal

e pe

rfor

man

ce. I

n co

nsid

erin

g th

e vi

sual

ly a

nd ac

ousti

cally

exce

ssiv

e bod

y of

Geo

rges

du

Mau

rier's

ext

rem

ely

popu

lar h

eroi

ne, T

rilby

, thi

s ch

apte

r also

rei

ter-

ates

the

stro

ng c

onne

ctio

n be

twee

n th

e gr

otes

que,

fash

ion,

and

mod

-els

of t

he b

ody.

Cha

pter

six

, "Re

vam

ping

Spe

ctac

le: A

ngel

a C

arte

r's

Nigh

ts at

the

Circ

us,"

reca

pitu

late

s m

any

of th

e m

ajor

them

es o

f the

pr

ojec

t. W

ithin

the

exp

ande

d sp

atia

l di

men

sion

s of

late

tw

entie

th-

. cen

tury

spec

tacl

e, th

e fe

mal

e sp

ecta

cle

whi

ch e

mer

ges a

s a d

e-fo

rma-

tion

of th

e no

rmal

sug

gests

new

pol

itica

l ag

greg

ates

-pro

visi

onal

, un

com

forta

ble,

eve

n co

nflic

tual

coa

litio

ns o

f bo

dies

whi

ch b

oth

resp

ect t

he c

once

pt o

f situ

ated

kno

wle

dges

and

refu

se to

kee

p ev

ery

body

in it

s pla

ce.

r

rn U

p T

her

e, O

ut

Th

ere:

A

eria

lism

, the

Gro

tesq

ue,

and

Cri

tical

Pra

ctic

e

"Of c

ours

e, s

tunt

ing

may

be

an a

rt if

per

fect

ed a

nd p

ract

iced

by

thos

e w

ho h

ave

the

tale

nt.

It is

popu

lar

for

exhi

bitio

ns w

here

cr

owds

lik

e to

see

airp

lane

s do

i~g

spec

tacu

lar

loop

s or

div

es o

r fly

ing

upsid

e do

wn.

It

shou

ld b

e un

ders

tood

tha

t th

is pr

ecis

ion

flyin

g is

like t

ight

rope

wal

king

-it o

nly

look

s eas

y:'

-Am

elia

Ear

hart

"God

ard

once

said

, 'Te

chni

que

is th

e sist

er o

f Art.

' Wou

ld y

ou a

gree

w

ith h

is at

tribu

tion

of ge

nder

?"

"Art

has m

any

Siam

ese

twin

s.''

-Int

ervi

ew w

ith U

lrike

Otti

nger

1

WE

LL

IN

TO

H

ER

MID

DL

E A

GE,

MY

RT

LE

BU

TL

ER

, m

y au

nt a

nd. m

y ~m

other

's id

entic

al t

win,

was

ask

ed to

per

form

a s

tunt

for

the

Uni

ted

Stat

es A

ir Fo

rce. A

lice

nsed

pilo

t her

self,

she w

as g

iven

the o

ppor

tuni

ty to

ta

ke o

ver t

he c

ontro

ls of

a je

t fig

hter

from

her

son,

a tes

t pil

ot-t

he fi

rst

gran

dmot

her

to do

so. T

he ir

ony

of th

e ''fl

ying

gra

ndm

othe

r" d

epen

ds, I

su

ppos

e, up

on th

e bo

dy m

arke

d by

grav

ity d

efyin

g gra

vity.

Aske

d to

com

-m

ent o

n he

r exp

erien

ce w

hile

bein

g pho

togr

aphe

d in f

ull f

light

gear

in th

e co

ckpi

t with

her

son

(look

ing

at th

e fad

ed n

ewsp

aper

clip

ping

dep

ictin

g th

e ev

ent,

I im

agin

e he

r hes

itant

and

stra

inin

g to

rise

to th

e sp

ecta

cula

r oc

casio

n), s

he re

plied

gran

dly b

ut w

ith so

me i

mpr

ecisi

on: "

The f

utur

e for

wo

men

... i

s in

the a

ir!"

18

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

The

child

of a

n id

entic

al tw

in is

alre

ady

prod

uced

with

in th

e m

ar-

velo

us c

onfin

es o

f a re

prod

uctiv

e stu

nt. F

or su

ch a

child

, bor

n in

to th

e w

orld

of t

he sp

lit-s

ign,

kno

wle

dge

of th

e m

othe

r's b

ody

is po

sed

as a

n un

cann

y qu

estio

n of

diff

eren

ce w

ithin

the

sam

e, r

equi

ring

an a

cute

se

nsiti

vity

to b

odily

acc

outre

men

t, m

ake-

up,

dres

s, sc

ars,

hair,

per

-fu

me,

and

per

form

ance

sty

le.

The

high

-fly

ing

youn

g gr

andm

othe

r w

ith l

acqu

ered

nai

ls an

d au

burn

hai

r w

as n

ot t

he m

etic

ulou

sly

unad

orne

d w

oman

in w

hite

who

left

sile

ntly

for w

ork

each

mor

ning

; th

at w

as a

noth

er w

oman

, but

one

who

in m

y m

ind

was

nev

er e

ntire

ly

alon

e or

self-

sam

e. T

he a

ttach

men

t of s

imila

rity

coul

d gr

ow o

r dim

in-

ish t

hrou

gh ti

me;

but

like

the

sha

red

flesh

of t

he S

iam

ese

twin

, the

ps

ychi

c "e

xtra

" pro

duce

d by

the

mat

erna

l dou

blin

g m

ade

the

spac

e in

be

twee

n bo

dies

an

unco

mfo

rtabl

e, e

ven

frig

hten

ing,

but

non

ethe

less

at

tract

ive

site

of s

pecu

latio

n; a

pla

ce t

o lo

ok b

ut n

ever

to

find

or

"fig

ure

out"

the

body

in th

at m

onst

rous

cal

culu

s fem

inis

t psy

choa

na-

lytic

crit

ics

have

add

uced

, w

here

the

num

bers

nev

er a

dd u

p: "

For

the/

a w

oman

, tw

o do

es n

ot d

ivid

e in

to o

nes."

2

Twin

mot

hers

are

lite

rally

ext

raor

dina

ry in

the

sens

e th

at th

ey c

on-

foun

d fa

mili

ar n

otio

ns o

f orig

in a

nd se

lfhoo

d w

ith th

e pr

ospe

cts o

f an

extra

neou

s se

lf. T

hese

, in

turn

, pro

duce

the

furth

er p

ossi

bilit

y of

the

kind

s of

divi

sions

and

repl

icat

ions

whi

ch F

reud

iden

tifie

s in

his

wel

l-kn

own

disc

ussi

on o

f th

e do

uble

in

rela

tion

to t

he n

otio

n of

the

unhe

imlic

h, o

r unc

anny

. The

redo

uble

d an

d gh

ostly

bod

y ta

kes u

p re

s-id

ence

at t

he si

te o

f the

mat

erna

l, th

reat

enin

g alw

ays

to m

onst

rous

ly

repr

oduc

e: "

In o

ther

wor

ds:'

writ

es F

reud

, "th

ere

is a d

oubl

ing,

div

id-

ing,

and

inte

rcha

ngin

g of

the

self.

And

fin

ally

the

re is

the

con

stan

t re

curr

ence

of t

he s

ame

thin

g-th

e re

petit

ion

of th

e sa

me

feat

ures

or

char

acte

r tra

its o

r vi

ciss

itude

s, of

the

sam

e cr

imes

, ev

en t

he s

ame

nam

es th

roug

h se

vera

l con

secu

tive

gene

ratio

ns:'3

Wha

t pos

sibl

e go

od

coul

d co

me

from

such

gro

tesq

ue re

petit

ion?

B

ut le

t me

begi

n ag

ain.

Afte

r al

l, cr

itica

l pr

actic

e ha

s m

ore

to d

o w

ith o

rdin

ary

way

s of

doi

ng th

ings

than

is g

ener

ally

allo

wed

. Thi

s is

parti

cula

rly tr

ue o

f beg

inni

ngs.

Am

elia

Ear

hart,

for

ins

tanc

e, i

n he

r ro

le a

s ev

eryd

ay t

heor

ist

of

r U

P T

HE

RE

, O

UT

TH

ER

E

19

flyin

g pr

actic

e (a

s opp

osed

to m

oder

nist

, fem

inis

t ico

n), d

escr

ibes

her

in

itiat

ion

into

flyi

ng, a

s a

conv

erge

nce

of m

any

appa

rent

ly u

nrel

ated

an

d of

ten

com

mon

plac

e ex

perie

nces

.4 H

er b

elie

f in

the

pow

er o

f ev

eryd

ay r

ando

mne

ss a

nd f

elic

itous

con

junc

tion

is co

nfid

ently

ex-

pres

sed

in h

er c

hoic

e of

chap

ter h

eadi

ngs

for h

er m

emoi

r, Th

e Fu

n of

It:

Ran

dom

Not

es o

f My

Ow

n Fl

ying

and

of

Wom

an i

n Av

iatio

n:

"Gro

win

g U

p H

ere

and

Ther

e,"

"Avi

atio

n an

d I

Get

Tog

ethe

r;' "

Joy

Hop

ping

and

Oth

er T

hing

s;"5

prep

arat

ion

for

life

or fo

r fly

ing

(and

th

e tw

o w

ere

inse

para

ble

in h

er ca

se) i

nvol

ved

a drif

t fro

m o

ne si

te o

f kn

owle

dge

to a

noth

er, s

omet

imes

lite

rally

a tr

ansf

er fr

om u

nive

rsity

to

uni

vers

ity o

r fro

m o

ne c

ours

e of

stu.

dy to

ano

ther

. Mor

e of

ten

she

simpl

y tra

velle

d an

d to

ok u

p w

hate

ver

seem

ed p

rom

isin

g. F

lyin

g le

sson

s, lik

e ev

eryt

hing

else

in

her l

ife, w

ere

a qu

estio

n of

mas

terin

g la

tera

l mov

emen

t. Ev

eryd

ay c

onsi

dera

tions

of w

hat t

o w

ear,

how

to

mov

e, an

d ho

w to

wea

r her

hai

r ("B

ut y

ou d

on't

look

like

an

avia

trix.

Yo

u ha

ve lo

ng h

air"

) all

con

tribu

te to

her

app

roac

h to

flyi

ng a

nd to

fly

ing

less

ons

(Ear

hart,

26)

. Ye

t, he

r app

roac

h w

as n

ot en

tirel

y id

iosy

ncra

tic. I

n ge

nera

l, th

e con

-.

tent

and

arr

ange

men

t of f

lyin

g le

sson

s w

as m

uch

less

hier

arch

ized

in

the

early

day

s of a

viat

ion

than

was

the

case

late

r, on

ce th

e pr

otoc

ols o

f ae

rona

utic

al p

rofe

ssio

nalis

m w

ere

regu

late

d. In

Ear

hart'

s da

y, th

e di

s-tin

ctio

n be

twee

n se

rious

pilo

t tra

inin

g an

d le

arni

ng s

tunt

s w

as o

nly

grad

ually

put

in p

lace

unt

il ev

entu

ally

the

stun

t was

def

ined

by

the

Dep

artm

ent o

f Com

mer

ce as

"an

y m

anoe

uver

not

nec

essa

ry fo

r no

rmal

fli

ght"

(Ear

hart,

35)

. Tho

ugh

cons

titut

ive

of ea

rly fl

ying

pra

ctic

e (w

hat

one

did

to b

ecom

e a p

ilot),

stun

ting

beca

me

the a

bnor

mal

and

incr

eas-

ingl

y lim

inal

act

ivity

with

reg

ard

to o

ffici

al f

lyin

g. I

ts lim

inal

ity is

un

derli

ned

in E

arha

rt's a

ccou

nt b

y th

e as

soci

atio

n of

stun

t fly

ing

with

tig

htro

pe w

alki

ng.

This

ass

ocia

tion

is by

no

mea

ns o

rigin

al,

since

m

any

popu

lar h

isto

ries o

f wom

en a

nd ae

rona

utic

s beg

in si

mila

rly w

ith

an a

ccou

nt o

f ear

ly a

eria

l ent

erta

iner

s fro

m t

he e

ight

eent

h an

d ni

ne-

teen

th c

entu

ries

-aer

ialis

ts, b

allo

onis

ts, a

nd p

arac

hutis

ts.

The

stun

t bea

rs a

spec

ial r

elat

ions

hip

to g

roup

s who

are

exc

eptio

nal

or a

bnor

mal

in r

elat

ion

to t

he "

norm

al a

ctiv

ity."

As E

arha

rt no

tes,

a

20

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

wom

an in

avi

atio

n w

as (

and

to so

me

exte

nt st

ill is

) con

side

red

a no

v-elt

y. N

onet

hele

ss,

fem

ale

stun

t pilo

ts w

ere

quite

com

mon

. The

ele

-m

ent o

f spe

ctac

le w

hich

Ear

hart

allu

des

to is

wha

t dis

tingu

ishe

s th

e st

unt f

rom

"no

rmal

flyi

ng"

or p

ract

ice

figur

es. I

n di

scus

sing

wom

en

pilo

ts, E

arha

rt m

entio

ns L

aura

Inga

lls, w

ho w

as in

itial

ly d

isco

urag

ed

by h

er in

stru

ctor

s, b

ut th

roug

h he

r pe

rsev

eran

ce b

ecam

e an

"ae

rial

acro

bat"

of s

ome

note

. She

hel

d a

"fem

inin

e re

cord

" fo

r nin

e hu

ndre

d an

d ei

ghty

con

secu

tive

loop

s (a

t a d

olla

r a

loop

, a g

ood

wag

e fo

r a

wom

an in

thos

e da

ys),

and

even

tual

ly h

eld

the

reco

rd fo

r bot

h se

xes i

n ba

rrel

rol

ls (E

arha

rt, 1

79).

Of

cour

se,

such

fea

ts w

ere

disp

arag

ed

desp

ite t

heir

popu

larit

y be

caus

e, a

lthou

gh t

hey

cont

ribut

ed t

o th

e gr

owin

g de

finiti

ons

of p

rofe

ssio

nalis

m w

ithin

avi

atio

n, t

hey

wer

e in

crea

sing

ly th

e sig

n of

the

coun

terf

eit,

exhi

bitio

nist

ic, u

npro

fess

iona

l pi

lot.

Wom

en in

this

cat

egor

y w

ere

doub

ly su

spec

t, ev

en a

s the

y w

ere

intri

guin

g to

audi

ence

s. Ea

rhar

t, ho

wev

er, d

efen

ds st

untin

g an

d w

omen

as s

tunt

pilo

ts:

Som

e cr

itics

pro

test

aga

inst

such

exh

ibiti

ons.

I mys

elf c

anno

t see

w

hat

harm

the

y do

. C

erta

inly

the

ir ex

ecut

ion

requ

ires

stur

dy

equi

pmen

t and

ski

ll an

d de

term

inat

ion

on t

he p

art o

f the

pilo

t. Th

ey m

ay n

ot p

oint

the

way

to p

rogr

ess

in a

viat

ion

but t

hey

dem

on-

stra

te it

s po

ssib

ilitie

s. As

for

a w

oman

's do

ing

them

, tha

t pro

babl

y w

ill b

e ne

cess

ary

for

som

e ti

me-

for

cont

rary

to le

gal p

rece

dent

, th

ey (w

omen

) ar

e co

nsid

ered

gui

lty o

f inc

ompe

tenc

e un

til p

rove

d ot

herw

ise (e

mph

asis

min

e) (

Earh

art,

179)

.

Earh

art i

s co

gniz

ant o

f the

dan

gers

and

diff

icul

ties

of th

ose

wom

en

who

are

"al

read

y gu

ilty"

and

mar

ked

as n

ovel

ties

with

in s

tunt

flyi

ng:

stun

ts w

ithin

stu

nts.

Thei

r sta

tus

as "

alre

ady

guilt

y" c

onsig

ns th

em to

th

e ve

ry a

ctiv

ities

whi

ch f

urth

er t

heir

mar

gina

lizat

ion

and

even

tual

ab

ject

ion

from

"no

rmal

" fly

ing.

In

fact,

nor

mal

flyi

ng c

omes

to b

e de

-fin

ed in

rela

tion

to "

abno

rmal

" mov

es a

nd v

ice-

vers

a. S

igni

fican

tly, t

he

rela

tions

hip

betw

een

the

two

does

not

dep

end

upon

the

prio

r sta

tus o

f on

e or

the

othe

r; ra

ther

they

are

mut

ually

invo

lved

and

cons

titut

ive.

M

y in

tere

st h

ere

is w

ith th

e st

atus

of t

he st

unt a

nd o

f the

stun

ters

or

stun

ted

poise

d in

rel

atio

n to

risk

and

bla

me.

Stu

nt fl

ying

and

sim

ilar

UP

TH

ER

E,

OU

T T

HE

RE

Fig.

4

"The

God

dess

of F

light

," 1

921.

A c

omm

erci

al im

age

of th

e sl

eek,

aer

o-dy

nam

ic w

oman

on

top

of th

e w

orld

. Am

elia

Ear

hart

was

the

hist

oric

al

embo

dim

ent o

f thi

s m

oder

nist

myt

h of

wom

an/a

irpl

ane.

Cou

rtes

y of

The

L

ibra

ry o

f Con

gres

s.

21

22

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

activ

ities

, whi

ch I

will

cha

ract

eriz

e as

"gr

otes

que

perfo

rman

ces,"

are

ris

ky ac

tiviti

es. O

n th

e one

han

d, th

ey p

erpe

tuat

e th

e bl

amin

g, st

igm

a-tiz

atio

n, a

nd m

argi

naliz

ing

of g

roup

s an

d pe

rson

s w

ho o

ccup

y th

is se

lf-pe

rpet

uatin

g lo

op a

nd ar

e see

n as

"hi

gh-r

isk"

gro

ups;

on th

e oth

er

hand

, the

y el

icit

"ris

k-co

ntro

l" ta

ctic

s whi

ch ch

arac

teriz

e ris

k as

alm

ost

entir

ely n

egat

ive,

seek

ing

to o

ut-r

egul

ate

( or m

ake

invi

sible

) tho

se p

er-

form

ance

s an

d gr

oups

whi

ch e

nact

or e

mbo

dy su

ch d

oubl

e ris

kine

ss.

In o

ur da

y, th

is is

perh

aps m

ost v

ivid

ly p

rese

nt in

the

mor

aliz

ing

of th

e ris

k of

AID

S; in

deed

, the

term

"hi

gh-r

isk"

is b

y no

w la

min

ated

to th

e de

sign

atio

ns "g

ay m

en"

and

"int

rave

nous

dru

g us

ers,"

as i

f the

se c

ate-

gorie

s and

act

iviti

es w

ere

natu

rally

bon

ded.

6

A st

unt m

ay b

e th

ough

t of m

ore

theo

retic

ally

as a

tact

ic fo

r gro

ups

or in

divi

dual

s in

a c

erta

in r

isky

situ

atio

n in

whi

ch a

stra

tegy

is n

ot

poss

ible

. Stra

tegi

es d

epen

d up

on a

pro

per p

lace

, a p

lace

of o

ne's

own,

fr

om w

hich

a c

erta

in "

calc

ulus

of f

orce

" ca

n be

org

aniz

ed a

nd p

ro-

ject

ed o

utw

ard.

By c

ontra

st, i

n Th

e Pr

actic

e of

Ever

yday

Life

, Mic

hel d

e C

erte

au d

efin

es th

e "t

actic

" as

a "l

ogic

of a

ctio

n" fo

r the

disp

lace

d. In

sp

atia

l ter

ms,

"the

pla

ce o

f the

tact

ic b

elon

gs to

the

oth

er. A

tact

ic

insi

nuat

es it

self

into

the

othe

r's p

lace

, fra

gmen

taril

y, w

ithou

t tak

ing

it ov

er ..

. with

out b

eing

able

to k

eep

it at

a di

stan

ce. B

ecau

se it

doe

s not

ha

ve a

pla

ce, a

tact

ic d

epen

ds o

_n tim

e, it

is a

lway

s on

the

wat

ch f

or

oppo

rtuni

ties,

that

mus

t be

seiz

ed o

n th

e w

ing.

"7 As

a te

mpo

ral c

ate-

gory

, the

tact

ic, o

r in

Earh

art's

term

s, th

e pr

actic

e of s

tunt

ing,

bel

ongs

to

the

impr

ovis

atio

nal,

to th

e re

alm

of w

hat i

s pos

sible

in th

e m

omen

t. I o

ffer E

arha

rt's

criti

cal a

necd

otes

and

an

open

ing

biog

raph

eme,

if

you

will

, as

stun

ted

vers

ions

of t

he th

eore

tical

mod

ellin

g of

the

gro-

tesq

ue as

fem

ale

bodi

ly p

erfo

rman

ce w

hich

I w

ill b

e ad

vanc

ing

in th

e co

urse

of t

his

book

. 8 Th

e do

uble

mea

ning

of t

he w

ord

"stu

nt"

bifu

r-ca

tes t

he n

otio

n of

the

extra

ordi

nary

into

1) a

mod

el o

f fem

ale

exce

p-tio

nalis

m (

stun

ting)

des

crib

ed b

y A

mel

ia E

arha

rt as

com

para

ble

to

tight

rope

wal

king

and

ela

bora

ted

in h

er m

emoi

rs a

s m

eton

ymic

ally

re

late

d to

fem

ale

flyin

g, a

nd 2

) th

e do

uble

d, d

war

fed,

dis

torte

d (s

tunt

ed) c

reat

ures

of t

he s

ides

how

whi

ch s

tand

in as

the

repr

esen

ta-

tives

of

a w

ell-k

now

n cu

ltura

l pr

esen

tatio

n of

the

fem

ale

body

as

UP

TH

ER

E,

OU

T T

HE

RE

2J

Fig

.5

Ann

e N

oggl

e, "

Mys

elf a

s a

P,lo

t, 19

82."

Ann

e N

oggl

e re

figu

res

the

fem

ale

pilo

t, re

stor

ing

the

mat

eria

l dim

ensi

ons

of th

e bo

dy a

nd s

pace

. The

co

ntin

uum

of b

ody,

pla

ne, f

ace,

and

land

scap

e re

fuse

s to

sep

arat

e or

tran

-sc

end

thes

e ph

enom

enal

zon

es. B

y pe

rmis

sion

of t

he a

rtis

t.

mon

stro

us a

nd la

ckin

g (o

ne h

as h

eigh

t, th

e ot

her

does

not

). Th

ese

dist

inct

spec

tacl

es o

f fem

ale

stun

ting

in th

e ac

tive

and

pass

ive

mod

es

may

be

thou

ght o

f in

term

s of

the

care

ful c

alib

ratio

n of

anat

omic

al

diffe

renc

es a

nd b

ody

type

s w

hich

cha

ract

eriz

e di

scip

lines

of b

odily

pr

oduc

tion

in c

onsu

mer

soc

iety

; in

term

s, th

at is

, of t

he c

ontin

uing

m

arke

t se

gmen

tatio

n w

hich

req

uire

s di

ffere

nt m

odel

s fo

r di

ffere

nt

mar

kets

and

acco

rdin

gly

sorts

and

mea

sure

s one

fem

ale

body

or b

ody

part

from

and

aga

inst

ano

ther

. O

ne m

ight

cho

ose

any

num

ber o

f cat

egor

ies

to il

lust

rate

this

com

-pa

rativ

e pr

oces

s of

bod

ily d

istri

butio

n an

d va

luat

ion.

Fat

ness

, fo

r in

stanc

e, fu

nctio

ns a

s an

extre

mel

y sig

nific

ant d

iffer

entia

l in

sepa

rat-

ing

off w

omen

of d

iffer

ent

clas

ses

and

ethn

iciti

es,

plac

ing

them

in

diffe

rent

field

s or

mar

kets

of re

pres

enta

tion.

As M

aud

Ellm

ann

forc

e-fu

lly a

sser

ts in

her

stu

dy o

f dis

embo

dim

ent,

The

Hun

ger A

rtis

ts, "

fat

... h

as c

ome t

o re

pres

ent t

he v

ery

hallm

ark

of m

oder

nity

":

24

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

The

fat w

oman

, par

ticul

arly

if sh

e is

nonw

hite

and

wor

king

-cla

ss,

has

com

e to

em

body

eve

ryth

ing

the

pros

pero

us m

ust

disa

vow

: im

peria

lism

, exp

loita

tion,

sur

plus

val

ue, m

ater

nity

, mor

talit

y, a

b-je

ctio

n, a

nd u

nlov

elin

ess.

Hea

vier

with

pro

ject

ions

than

with

fles

h,

she

siph

ons

off t

his

guilt

, des

ire, a

nd d

enia

l, le

avin

g he

r ide

aliz

ed

coun

terp

art

behi

nd:

the

kind

of w

oman

one

see

s on

bill

boar

ds,

sleek

and

stre

amlin

ed li

ke th

e ca

rs th

at s

he is

ofte

n us

ed to

adv

er-

tise,

bat

hed

in th

e ra

dian

ce o

f the

com

mod

ity. 9

The

figur

e of

the

fat w

oman

wor

ks to

lite

rally

"abj

ect,"

by

way

of h

er

abje

cted

bod

y, th

ose

disa

vow

ed a

spec

ts o

f pro

duct

ion

and

"dan

gers

of

over

prod

uctio

n."

This

abj

ectio

n co

nstit

utes

a h

ard

and

hidd

en w

ork

-a w

ork

that

is e

asily

mis

reco

gniz

ed a

s th

e ve

ry o

verc

onsu

mpt

ion

it

is de

sign

ed to

hid

e. T

his l

abor

of t

he fl

eshl

y si

gn is

the s

emio

tic "w

ork-

in"

of fe

mal

e bo

dies

mar

ked

by c

lass

and

rac

e w

hich

sub

sidi

zes

the

"wor

k-ou

t" o

f the

ir m

ore

mob

ile ( e

xerc

ised

) and

afflu

ent n

eigh

bors

.10

Like

oth

er c

ateg

orie

s of

abj

ectio

n w

hich

hav

e hi

stor

ical

ly b

een

rela

ted

to th

e gr

otes

que,

fatn

ess

and

bodi

ly ex

cess

of v

ario

us k

inds

are

m

ost

ofte

n th

ough

t of

in p

assiv

e, i

ndiv

idua

l, or

mer

ely

desc

riptiv

e te

rms

and,

inde

ed, a

s El

lman

n sh

ows,

fat w

omen

in th

e U

nite

d St

ates

pa

rticu

larly

, are

repo

sito

ries

of sh

ame

and

repr

esse

d de

sire

.11 B

ut fa

t-ne

ss in

her

ana

lysis

has

bot

h a

cons

titut

ive

and

a pe

rfor

mat

ive

aspe

ct:

it co

ntri

bute

s to

def

initi

ons

of fe

mal

enes

s an

d to

cla

ss, a

lthou

gh it

is

not e

ssen

tially

or e

xclu

sivel

y cl

ass o

r gen

der-

boun

d. In

oth

er h

isto

rical

pe

riod

s an

d in

oth

er c

ount

ries

and

repr

esen

tatio

nal d

omai

ns, f

atne

ss

may

be

a qu

ite d

iffer

ent s

ocia

l sig

n.12

As a

cer

tain

kin

d of

bodi

ly en

act-

men

t, th

e Fa

t Wom

an h

as b

een

an im

port

ant f

igur

e of

spec

tacu

lariz

ed

wom

anho

od in

the

Wes

t sin

ce th

e ni

nete

enth

cen

tury

. In

our o

wn

day,

fe

min

ist p

erfo

rman

ce ar

tists

hav

e pla

yed

upon

the v

aria

tions

of f

lesh

ly

disp

lay

and

exag

gera

tion

asso

ciat

ed w

ith f

emal

enes

s as

a t

actic

of

coun

ter-

porn

ogra

phy.

13

Thou

gh i

t m

ay s

eem

int

uitiv

ely

mor

e ev

iden

t w

hy o

ne m

ight

de

scrib

e an

exc

essiv

e bo

dy o

r psy

che

as g

rote

sque

(whi

ch is

not

to sa

y th

at th

ere

is an

ess

entia

l qua

lity

whi

ch m

akes

thi

s th

e ca

se),

it m

ay

be le

ss c

lear

why

the

high

-fly

ing

fem

ale

body

in s

pace

is n

ot s

impl

y

i I I I I I I I

UP

TH

ER

E,

OU

T T

HE

RE

25

a th

rillin

g an

d em

anci

pato

ry i

con,

an

inst

ance

of

the

gend

ered

su

blim

e, o

f pr

ogre

ss,

of m

oder

nity

, an

d fr

eedo

m. 14

Th

e im

age

of

Am

elia

Ear

hart

-tal

l, s

lim, a

nd a

erod

ynam

ic li

ke t

he p

lane

s be

side

w

hich

she

mod

elle

d-ca

me

to s

tand

for

all

thes

e lib

erat

ory

aspi

ra-

tions

for

ind

ivid

ual

wom

en i

n th

e U

nite

d St

ates

in

the

1920

s an

d 19

30s.

15 T

he im

age

has

surv

ived

into

the

1990

s as

the

em

blem

con

-fla

ting

liber

al fe

min

ism

and

con

sum

er p

rogr

ess

in th

e V

irgin

a Sl

ims

("yo

u've

com

e a

long

way

, ba

by")

adv

ertis

emen

ts.

Earh

art's

im

age,

w

hile

rep

rese

ntin

g th

e ad

vanc

emen

t of

wom

en i

n th

e po

stsu

ffra

ge

era,

sim

ulta

neou

sly

cam

e to

rep

rese

nt a

n un

load

ing

of th

e fe

mal

e bo

dy as

iden

tifie

d w

ith w

eigh

tine

ss-t

he "

unbe

arab

le w

eigh

t" w

hich

Su

san

Bor

do h

as id

entif

ied

as p

art o

f "th

e ge

nder

ed n

atur

e of

min

d/

body

dua

lism

."16

Ea

rhar

t's b

ody,

unl

ike

my

aunt

's, w

as u

nenc

um-

bere

d. I

t lef

t beh

ind

the

mar

ks o

f the

old

mod

els

of w

oman

hood

and

of

cour

se, a

ll si

gns

of no

n-A

nglo

-Sax

on e

thni

city

. She

and

her

look

-al

ike,

Cha

rles

Lind

berg

h, w

ere

said

to

be a

ttrac

tivel

y "b

oyis

h" i

n a

dist

inct

ivel

y ''A

mer

ican

" way

. Ea

rhar

t's "

boyi

shne

ss"

and

the

sym

bolic

viri

lity

of fl

ight

as

activ

e an

d da

nger

ous

open

ed th

e w

ay fo

r int

erpr

etat

ions

of h

er a

ctiv

ities

as

trang

ress

ive,

mak

ing

her

a so

mew

hat

mor

e am

biva

lent

fig

ure

than

m

ight

firs

t app

ear.

Furt

herm

ore,

this

vas

tly o

verp

rodu

ced

Mod

erni

st

imag

e of

wom

en's

liber

atio

n is

delib

erat

ely

com

prom

ised

in p

ositi

ng

a lin

k be

twee

n fr

eedo

m a

nd th

e co

nstr

uctio

n of

fem

alen

ess

as a

-stu

nt.

As h

er o

wn

writ

ings

indi

cate

, Ear

hart

was

acu

tely

aw

are

of th

e ne

ed

to n

egot

iate

thi

s as

soci

atio

n ca

refu

lly, a

nd b

y th

e en

d of

her

sho

rt

care

er w

as in

crea

sing

ly ac

cuse

d of

com

mer

cial

izin

g ae

rona

utic

al c

ul-

ture

-as

if th

is h

ad e

ver

been

abs

ent f

rom

its

hist

ory.

Had

she

sur

-vi

ved

into

the

sec

ond

phas

e of

aer

onau

tical

his

tory

, w

ith

the

norm

aliz

atio

n of

flig

ht a

nd a

eria

lity

in th

e m

ilita

ry/in

dust

rial

sphe

re,

her

repu

tatio

n m

ight

hav

e m

erge

d w

ith t

hat

of th

e m

any

wom

en

pilo

ts w

ho c

ontr

ibut

ed q

uiet

ly to

the

war

eff

ort.

Like

the

liber

al fe

mi-

nism

she

cam

e to

repr

esen

t, sh

e m

ight

hav

e "s

ettle

d do

wn.

" B

ut th

en,

in a

fina

l and

muc

h cr

itici

zed

atte

mpt

at "

long

-dis

tanc

e st

unt f

lyin

g,"

she

disa

ppea

red.

17

-----·

26

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

Fli

gh

t an

d N

o-F

lig

ht

Sky b

eing

mee

ting

of sk

y an

d no

-sky

Flig

ht, t

hus,

is m

eetin

g of

fligh

t and

no-

fligh

t. -M

urie

l Ruk

eyse

r, Th

eory

of F

light

18

Rec

laim

ing

spac

e ha

s be

en a

cen

tral

met

apho

rica

l con

cern

of m

od-

erni

sm a

nd li

bera

tion

disc

ours

e, in

clud

ing

wom

en's

liber

atio

n w

here

it

is of

ten

unde

rsto

od a

s a

free

dom

fro

m o

ppre

ssiv

e bo

dily

con

tain

-m

ent.

I ha

ve tr

ied

to s

ugge

st, t

hus

far,

that

ther

e m

ay b

e af

firm

ativ

e m

odel

s of

risk

and

dev

ianc

e in

the

high

reg

iste

rs o

f mod

erni

sm, a

nd

way

s in

whi

ch th

e im

age

of fr

eedo

m a

s lim

itles

s spa

ce, t

rans

cend

ence

, in

divi

dual

ism

, and

upw

ard

mob

ility

of v

ario

us k

inds

may

be

embo

d-ie

d an

d di

verte

d, g

ivin

g w

ay t

o a

mod

el o

f fem

inis

t pr

actic

e.19

The

im

agin

ary

geom

etry

of

this

spa

tial

trop

e, h

owev

er,

requ

ires

care

ful

exam

inat

ion.

The

iden

tific

atio

n of

"inn

er sp

ace"

with

the

fem

inin

e in

th

e w

ork

of E

ric E

riks

on, f

or in

stan

ce, r

einf

orce

s a

view

of w

omen

as

rece

ptac

les,

"the

rec

eptiv

e an

d pa

ssiv

e ha

lf o

f a

phal

lic d

ual

unity

:' "V

iew

ed i

n th

is w

ay;'

as J

essic

a B

enja

min

writ

es,

"rec

laim

ing

inne

r sp

ace

beco

mes

unc

omfo

rtab

ly d

ose

to a

ccep

ting

anat

omic

al d

estin

y.

If fe

min

ists

are

not

to ig

nore

the

impo

rtan

ce o

f the

bod

y in

sha

ping

ou

r men

tal r

epre

sent

atio

ns, t

hey

mus

t rea

d su

ch m

etap

hors

diff

eren

t-ly

:'20

Such

rer

eadi

ngs

mus

t inv

olve

a r

esha

ping

of t

he e

ntir

e w

oman

/ sp

ace

conf

igur

atio

n aw

ay fr

om th

e in

ner/

oute

r dic

hoto

mie

s of

bodi

ly

and

spat

ial r

epre

sent

atio

n. F

or ju

st as

inne

r spa

ce h

as b

een

clas

sica

lly

iden

tifie

d w

ith f

emin

ine

cont

ainm

ent,

so o

uter

spa

ce-f

orei

gn,

ex-

plor

able

, em

pty-

has b

een

mar

ked

off a

s fem

inin

e.

The

mer

e de

cons

truc

tion

of th

ese

cate

gorie

s do

es n

ot g

uara

ntee

a

plac

e fo

r fem

ale

agen

cy, h

owev

er. A

s A

lice

Jard

ine

has

poin

ted

out i

n G

ynes

is: C

onfig

urat

ions

of W

oman

and

Mod

erni

ty,

even

tho

se p

ost-

stru

ctur

alis

t dis

cour

ses

whi

ch s

et a

bout

to re

conf

igur

e th

e tim

e/sp

ace

rela

tions

hips

with

in th

e cr

isis

of m

oder

nity

in th

e W

est,

"oft

en tu

rn-

ing

back

upo

n th

eir o

wn

disc

ours

e, in

an

atte

mpt

to c

reat

e a n

ew sp

ace

or sp

acin

g w

ithin

them

selv

es fo

r sur

viva

ls ( o

f diff

eren

t kin

ds),"

iden

tify

UP

THE

RE

, O

UT

TH

ER

E

27

the

Oth

er s

pace

as

fem

ale:

"Th

is o

ther

-tha

n-th

emse

lves

is

alm

ost

alw

ays

a 'sp

ace'

of so

me

kind

(ov

er w

hich

the

narr

ativ

e ha

s lo

st c

on-

trol),

and

this

spa

ce is

cod

ed fe

min

ine,

as

wom

an."

21 T

here

is a

vex

ing

coin

cide

nce h

ere

whi

ch fe

min

ist c

ritiq

ues o

f dec

onst

ruct

ion

and

post

-st

ruct

ural

ism

hav

e no

ted:

Whi

le t

he "

cris

is o

f mod

erni

ty"

has

been

ar

ticul

ated

as a

cris

is o

f sex

ual d

iffer

ence

whi

ch th

reat

ens

to u

ndo

the

phal

loce

ntric

logi

c of

the

sam

e, fo

ldin

g th

e bo

dily

enve

lope

into

itse

lf in

a f

emin

izat

ion

of p

hilo

soph

y, t

here

rem

ains

, in

Ros

i B

raid

otti'

s te

rm, a

crit

ical

"di

sson

ance

" whi

ch is

bot

h hi

stor

ical

and

theo

retic

al in

na

ture

bet

wee

n a

philo

soph

ical

sur

rend

er o

f old

bin

aris

ms

and

fem

i-ni

sm a

s ph

iloso

phy

and

polit

ics.

In

Patte

rns

of D

isso

nanc

e, B

raid

otti

argu

es f

or a

"fu

ndam

enta

l asy

mm

etry

bet

wee

n th

e m

ains

trea

m a

nd

the

fem

inis

t rea

ding

s of

the

cris

is o

f mod

erni

ty:'22

(276

). O

f cou

rse,

as

she

poin

ts o

ut,

this

asy

mm

etry

beg

ins

with

the

fac

t th

at f

emin

ist

philo

soph

ers a

nd th

eori

sts a

re ra

rely

read

, muc

h le

ss re

ad se

rious

ly, b

y th

ose

post

stru

ctur

alis

t w

riter

s w

hose

wor

k th

ey h

ave

so s

erio

usly

en

gage

d. M

ore

impo

rtan

tly, h

owev

er, t

he c

risis

of m

oder

nity

is n

ot a

sa

d st

ory

for g

roup

s w

ho se

e it

as m

arki

ng a

n "o

peni

ng-o

ut o

f une

x-pl

ored

pos

sibi

litie

s" r

athe

r tha

n as

a h

isto

rical

loss

of f

aith

in

reas

on

and

(mal

e) id

entit

y.23

The

disc

ours

e of

pos

tmod

erni

sm w

hich

aris

es c

onte

mpo

rane

ousl

y w

ith p

osts

truc

tura

lism

and

fem

inis

m o

ffers

it o

wn

"spa

tial t

urn"

24 to

di

stin

guis

h its

elf f

rom

mod

erni

sm.25

The

disp

lace

men

t of d

epth

mod

-el

s of e

pist

emol

ogy,

arc

hite

ctur

e, a

nd th

e bo

dy b

y th

e pl

ay o

f sur

face

s of

fers

in

tere

stin

g po

ssib

ilitie

s fo

r re

conf

igur

ing

cultµ

ral

iden

tity

and,

for s

ome

post

mod

erni

st fe

min

ists

, a w

ay o

ut o

f ess

entia

list m

od-

els o

f wom

an-a

s-bo

dy o

r w

oman

-as-

spac

e.26

For

othe

rs, l

ike

Cel

este

O

laqu

iaga

for

ins

tanc

e, t

he e

mph

asis

on

spat

ialit

y, b

odie

s, a

nd t

he

tra~s

loca

tion

of cu

ltura

l obj

ects

has

bee

n an

opp

ortu

nity

to re

situ

ate

post

mod

erni

st d

isco

urse

as

a pa

rt o

f the

met

ropo

litan

"la

tiniz

atio

n"

of cu

lture

whi

ch a

ntic

ipat

ed it

. 27 I

n re

latio

n to

gen

der,

the

polit

ics

of

surf

ace

can

be a

noth

er o

ppor

tuni

ty to

sca

pego

at th

e fe

min

ine.

Dav

id

Har

vey'

s inf

luen

tial T

he C

ondi

tion

of Po

stm

oder

nity

, for

exa

mpl

e, p

ro-

duce

s an

ass

ocia

tion

of p

ostm

oder

nism

with

"su

rfac

e ~l

itter

:' "d

is-

I 1.

28

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

play

," an

d "e

phem

eral

ity"-

attr

ibut

es o

f the

fem

inin

e w

hich

are

illu

s-tr

ated

by

the

nude

fem

ale

bodi

es w

hich

acc

ompa

ny h

is t

ext.28

The

in

fere

nce

is th

at w

e m

ust s

omeh

ow g

et b

eyon

d th

e po

litic

s of

"jou

is-

sanc

e" w

hich

Har

vey

derid

es, 29

and

bac

k to

the

trut

hs o

f a m

ore

viril

e an

d su

bsta

ntia

l mod

el o

f the

pol

itica

l. Th

is n

osta

lgia

, whi

ch is

ofte

n ca

mou

flage

d in

pos

tmod

erni

st te

xts

them

selv

es, i

s on

the

surf

ace

of

his c

ritiq

ue o

f pos

tmod

erni

sm. 30

If H

arve

y ex

empl

ifies

a d

esire

to b

oth

retu

rn to

and

get

bey

ond

the

fem

ale

body

in d

epth

, wha

t are

we

to m

ake

of th

e as

pira

tions

of w

rit-

ers l

ike

Jean

-Fra

m;o

is L

yota

rd a

nd S

lavo

j Ziz

ek to

find

a n

ew tr

ansc

en-

denc

e in

the

fem

ale

body

as

subl

ime

and

mat

eria

l?31

Whe

n Ly

otar

d de

scrib

es "

tran

scen

denc

e in

im

man

ence

" as

the

neg

ativ

e an

swer

to

the

ques

tion

"Can

Tho

ught

Go

on W

ithou

t A B

ody?

" he

see

ms

com

-pe

lled

to re

turn

to th

e ge

nder

ed b

ody

("Sh

e" in

the

essa

y) a

s th

e pl

ace

of la

ck. T

ania

Mod

lesk

i, in

a v

ery

coge

nt c

ritiq

ue o

f Lyo

tard

's es

say,

id

entif

ies

this

"tr

ansc

ende

nce

in im

man

ence

" w

ith t

he fi

gure

of t

he

trape

ze a

rtis

t in

Wim

Wen

ders

film

, W

ings

of D

esire

. In

thi

s fil

m,

Dam

iel,

an a

ngel

, fal

ls in

love

with

a y

oung

trap

eze

artis

t and

cho

oses

at

the

conc

lusi

on o

f the

film

to b

ecom

e a

man

and

to a

ccep

t mor

talit

y.

Writ

es M

odle

ski:

As a

figu

re o

f con

tradi

ctio

n, th

e tra

peze

arti

st is

embl

emat

ic o

f thi

s fil

m's

desir

e to

hav

e it

both

way

s: w

hile

purp

ortin

g to

be

unde

rtak-

ing

the

pain

ful w

ork

of re

mem

berin

g th

e ho

rrors

of t

he p

ast,

revi

s-in

g co

ncep

ts of

mas

culin

ity a

nd fe

min

inity

, com

ing

to te

rms

with

th

e bod

y an

d its

mor

talit

y, a

nd h

oldi

ng o

ut an

idea

l of f

reed

om a

nd

henc

e of

resp

onsib

ility

...

it c

onso

les i

tself

with

nos

talg

ia-f

or

simpl

e sto

ries

and

mot

her's

wom

b-an

d a

hack

neye

d no

tion

of

"des

tiny"

em

bedd

ed in

the

"hap

pily

ever

after

," gr

eate

st-sto

ry-e

ver-

told

nar

rativ

e of

a m

an a

nd a

wom

an. 32

Mod

lesk

i's in

cisi

ve r

eadi

ng o

f thi

s fil

m a

s an

inst

ance

of t

he "

mal

e de

sire

to e

scap

e th

e hu

man

lim

its o

f the

bod

y" is

rei

nfor

ced

by b

ell

hook

s' co

mm

ents

on

the

sam

e fil

m i

n te

rms

of ra

ce a

nd m

ale

priv

i-le

ge. W

hile

I a

m i

n ge

nera

l agr

eem

ent w

ith t

heir

ideo

logi

cal

asse

ss-

r U

P T

HE

RE

, O

UT

TH

ER

E

29

men

ts o

f the

film

, I w

ould

be

in b

ad fa

ith (

and

tran

spar

ently

so, s

ince

th

is b

ook

is fil

led

with

aer

ialis

ts a

nd o

ff-b

eat a

ngel

s) i

fl d

id n

ot a

dmit

to m

y ow

n de

sire

to h

ave

it bo

th w

ays

on th

e tr

ansc

ende

nce/

imm

a-ne

nce

issue

, and

to sh

are

the

dual

pur

pose

s whi

ch M

odle

ski i

dent

ifies

as

"co

min

g to

term

s w

ith th

e bo

dy an

d its

mor

talit

y, a

nd h

oldi

ng o

ut

an id

eal o

f fre

edom

and

hen

ce, r

espo

nsib

ility

." I m

ark

this

dua

l asp

ira-

tion

in m

y ow

n w

ork

as th

e "a

eria

l sub

lime.

" Th

e "a

eria

l sub

lime"

-pr

ecis

ely

like

the

trape

ze a

rtis

t M

odle

ski

desc

ribes

as

a "f

igur

e of

co

ntra

dict

ion"

-is

an e

mbo

dim

ent o

f pos

sibi

lity

and

of er

ror.

In m

y vi

ew, i

t is

not t

he fa

iled

atte

mpt

to h

ave

it bo

th w

ays

that

is p

robl

em-

atic

for f

emin

ism

, but

rath

er th

e no

rmal

izat

ion

of th

e tra

peze

arti

st (a

da

ring

and

am

biva

lent

figu

re w

ho re

appe

ars t

hrou

ghou

t thi

s boo

k) a

s a

safe

wom

an.

Beg

inni

ng th

is b

ook

on th

e fe

mal

e gr

otes

que

"up

ther

e" a

nd "

out

ther

e" re

pres

ents

an

atte

mpt

to a

ckno

wle

dge

the

hist

oric

al c

hasm

be-

twee

n th

e tw

entie

th c

entu

ry v

ersi

ons

of th

is c

ateg

ory

whi

ch n

eces

sar-

Hy i

nvol

ve

a co

nsid

erat

ion

of t

he t

echn

olog

ies

of s

pect

acle

as

mul

ti-ve

ctor

ed, i

n co

ntra

st to

an

earli

er id

entif

icat

ion

of th

e gr

otes

que

with

the

sym

bolic

ally

"lo

w."

The

emph

asis

on

aeria

lity

(rat

her

than

lo

ftine

ss)

is m

eant

to

intr

oduc

e a

prin

cipl

e of

turb

ulen

ce i

nto

the

conf

igur

atio

n fe

mal

e/gr

otes

que.

Mik

hail

Bak

htin

's m

odel

of t

he b

od-

ily g

rote

sque

is in

itial

ly u

sefu

l her

e be

caus

e, a

s I e

labo

rate

in th

e se

c-on

d ch

apte

r, it

pres

uppo

ses

the

body

as

proc

ess

and

sem

iosi

s-a

grot

esqu

e th

at m

oves

-but

as

I ha

ve in

dica

ted,

his

em

phas

is o

n th

e pr

oduc

tion

of a

gen

eral

gro

tesq

ue l

eave

s a

stat

ic a

nd u

nive

rsal

istic

no

tion

of th

e fe

min

ine

secu

rely

in p

lace

. In

theo

ries

of th

e gr

otes

que,

th

e et

ymol

ogic

al s

tart

ing

poin

t th

at l

inks

the

gro

tesq

ue w

ith t

he

grot

to-e

sque

, or

cav

e, pr

ocee

ds q

uite

sw

iftly

to

the

furt

her

iden

-tif

icat

ion

of th

e gr

otto

with

the

wom

b, a

nd w

ith w

oman

-as-

mot

her.

This

mov

e-w

hich

I ha

ve a

rgue

d pr

evio

usly

, in

rela

tion

to B

akht

in's

dram

atic

use

of t

he im

age

of th

e "f

emal

e, p

regn

ant h

ag"

as th

e de

epes

t ex

pres

sion

of t

he g

rote

sque

-is

certa

inly

regr

essiv

e in

bot

h th

e ps

y-ch

ic a

nd th

e po

litic

al re

giste

r. 33

30

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

I am

also

atte

mpt

ing

to d

islo

dge

the

conn

ectio

ns b

etw

een

wom

an,

spac

e, a

nd p

rogr

ess,

to p

ull t

hem

out

of s

ync

thro

ugh

the

use

of th

e gr

otes

que

as a

val

uabl

e ca

tego

ry fo

r ret

hink

ing

tem

pora

lity.

Ear

hart'

s m

odel

of s

tunt

flyi

ng a

s po

intin

g to

inh

eren

t pos

sibi

lity

rath

er th

an

futu

re p

rogr

ess m

oves

in th

is d

irect

ion.

In th

e fo

llow

ing

sect

ion

of th

is

chap

ter,

I fo

llow

up

her

insi

ght i

n br

ief c

ompa

rativ

e di

scus

sion

s of

th

ree

theo

rists

who

con

side

r tem

pora

lity

in re

latio

n to

spe

ctac

le a

nd/

or th

e gr

otes

que.

Fina

lly, a

s mod

els o

f dev

ianc

e, I

revi

sit s

ome

fam

iliar

per

form

ance

s of

wom

en "

in th

e air

." Th

ese

inst

ance

s of

aeria

l lea

ps a

nd fa

lls m

ay

sugg

est a

n al

tern

ativ

e to

the

notio

n of

libe

ratio

n as

upw

ard

mob

ility

an

d fli

ght f

orw

ard,

but

I w

arn

the

read

er th

at th

ey e

nd b

adly

. Fut

ure

exam

ples

are

less

dea

th-d

riven

. The

se "

repe

at p

erfo

rman

ces"

rais

e th

e di

lem

ma

of re

petit

ion

and

diffe

renc

e: W

hat

are

the

poss

ibili

ties

of

rein

habi

ting

the

old

in a

way

that

will

alte

r it?

Can

one

pred

ict w

hich

pe

rfor

man

ces,

mim

etic

act

s, or

re-p

rese

ntat

ions

will

do

so?

Can

one

pr

omis

e, in

the

wor

ds o

f Myr

tle B

utle

r, a

"fut

ure

for w

omen

... i

n th

e ai

r" w

hich

allo

ws

wom

en to

beg

off

the

burd

enso

me

duty

to f

orev

er

repr

esen

t the

new

?

Su

bli

me

Th

rill

s an

d R

egre

ssio

ns:

F

reu

d a

nd

Ba

kh

tin

In hi

s pap

er, "

On

the

Unc

anny

," Fr

eud

iden

tifie

s the

unc

anny

dou

ble

with

two

diffe

rent

psy

chic

mom

ents

: 1) t

he p

rim

ary

narc

issi

sm c

hara

c-te

ristic

of c

hild

hood

; 2)

the

dev

elop

men

t of

the

cons

cien

ce i

n la

ter

life.

34 Th

e re

latio

nshi

p be

twee

n th

ese

two

psyc

hic

form

atio

ns is

pre

-se

nted

as

a ki

nd o

f tem

pora

l lay

erin

g w

hich

per

mits

the

"con

scie

nce"

(la

ter,

as S

trach

ey po

ints

out

in h

is no

te, d

evel

oped

into

the c

once

pts o

f th

e su

pere

go a

nd t

he e

go-Id

eal)

to l

ook

criti

cally

at

the

"old

sur

-m

ount

ed n

arci

ssis

m o

f ear

lier t

imes

." Th

e sh

ame

asso

ciat

ed w

ith th

is

self-

obse

rvat

ion

does

not

how

ever

, in

Freu

d's v

iew, i

ncor

pora

te al

l the

as

pect

s of

the

doub

le.

Ther

e is

a pa

rticu

larly

int

eres

ting

tem

pora

l re

mai

nder

in h

is fo

rmul

atio

n, w

hich

sugg

ests

that

not

onl

y sh

ame,

but

r U

P T

HE

RE

, O

UT

TH

ER

E

31

regr

et a

nd h

opef

ulne

ss re

side

in th

is re

colle

ctio

n of

"unf

ulfil

led

but p

os-

sible

futu

res

to wh

ich w

e stil

l like

to c

ling i

n ph

anta

sy:"

The

fact

that

an a

genc

y of

this

kind

exist

s, w

hich

is a

ble

to tr

eat t

he

rest

of th

e eg

o lik

e an

obj

ect-

the

fact

that

is th

at m

an is

cap

able

of

self

-obs

erva

tion-

rend

ers

it po

ssib

le t

o in

vest

the

old

idea

of a

"d

oubl

e" w

ith a

new

mea

ning

and

to a

scrib

e a

num

ber o

f thi

ngs t

o it

-abo

ve a

ll, th

ose

thin

gs w

hich

see

m to

sel

f-cr

itici

sm to

bel

ong

to th

e old

surm

ount

ed n

arci

ssis

m o

f ear

lier t

imes

. But

it is

not

onl

y th

is la

tter

mat

eria

l, of

fens

ive

as i

t is

to t

he c

ritic

ism

of t

he e

go,

whi

ch m

ay b

e in

corp

orat

ed in

the

idea

of a

dou

ble.

The

re a

re a

lso

all t

he u

nful

fille

d bu

t pos

sible

futu

res

to w

hich

we s

till l

ike

to c

ling

in p

hant

asy,

all

the

striv

ings

of

the

ego

whi

ch a

dver

se c

ircum

-sta

nces

hav

e cr

ushe

d, a

nd al

l our

supp

ress

ed a

cts o

f vol

ition

whi

ch

nour

ish

us in

the

illus

ion

of Fr

ee W

ill. 35

Freu

d's

iden

tific

atio

n of

this

tem

pora

l dim

ensi

on, s

ugge

sting

a k

ind

of no

stalg

ia fo

r th

e fu

ture

in th

e ef

fect

s of

the

unca

nny,

sug

gests

bot

h th

e lim

its a

nd t

he p

ossib

ilitie

s of

an

ethi

cal

appr

opria

tion

of t

he

grot

esqu

e, a

n al

read

y "s

urm

ount

ed"

if n

ot p

erju

red

cate

gory

like

the

subl

ime,

one

of i

ts m

any

Siam

ese

twin

s. In

197

6, T

hom

as W

eiske

l, in

hi

s po

wer

ful s

tudy

of t

he R

oman

tic s

ublim

e, e

mph

atic

ally

stat

ed th

at

the

mov

e fro

m th

e ae

sthet

ic o

f the

sub

lime

to a

n et

hics

of t

he su

blim

e wa

s "ris

ky b

usin

ess"

and

that

it w

as th

eref

ore

no a

ccid

ent t

hat i

t wou

ld

be m

issin

g fr

om t

he a

esth

etic

s of

activ

ists

and

idea

lists.

36 I

n fa

ct,

the

attra

ctio

n to

war

ds th

e sub

lime a

nd th

e ide

olog

y of t

he su

blim

e has

onl

y in

crea

sed

since

the

mid

-sev

entie

s; in

deed

, ide

alist

s an

d cu

ltura

l "ac

t-iv

ists"

hav

e in

corp

orat

ed it

s st

ruct

ure

and

psyc

holo

gy, a

s ou

tline

d by

W

eiske

l hi

mse

lf, i

n m

any

disc

ours

es.37

Pa

trici

a Y

aege

r's i

nflu

entia

l es

say,

"Tow

ards

A F

emal

e Sub

lime,

" beg

ins w

ith W

eisk

el's

nega

tion

of a

cont

empo

rary

subl

ime,

em

phas

izin

g ho

w h

is ne

gatio

n on

ly in

crea

ses a

de

sire

for t

hose

impo

ssib

ilitie

s whi

ch h

e so

com

pelli

ngly

sugg

este

d.38

Wei

skel

's de

scrip

tion

of th

e su

blim

e as

a "

mor

ibun

d ae

sthe

tic"

(Wei

skel

, 6) i

n an

age

whe

n tra

nsce

nden

ce a

nd ex

pans

ioni

sm w

ere

no

long

er th

inka

ble,

is re

late

d to

the

Freu

dian

mom

ent c

ited

abov

e, w

hen

the y

earn

ings

and

imag

inin

gs o

f the

adul

t are

exp

osed

-mos

t int

eres

t-

32

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

ingl

y fo

r ou

r pu

rpos

es h

ere,

whe

n th

ey a

re d

egra

ded

and

turn

ed

tow

ards

the

gro

tesq

ue w

hich

epi

tom

izes

its

cur

tailm

ent.

Writ

es

Weis

kel:

Freu

d wa

s de

finite

ly a

nd re

mar

kabl

y im

mun

e to

the

subl

ime

mo-

men

t, wh

ose

"oce

anic"

and

dem

onic

guise

s he

brill

iant

ly ex

pose

d. To

plea

se u

s, th

e sub

lime

mus

t now

be

abrid

ged,

redu

ced,

and

par

-od

ied

as th

e gro

tesqu

e, so

meh

ow h

edge

d w

ith ir

ony

to a

ssur

e us

we

are n

ot im

agin

ative

adol

esce

nts (

Weis

kel,

6).

Is th

e gr

otes

que,

then

, jus

t one

mor

e ve

rsio

n ( tu

rnin

g) o

f the

sub

-lim

e? A

re th

ey th

e sa

me,

exc

ept i

n de

gree

, as l

esse

ning

s or h

eigh

teni

ngs

of id

entic

al ap

preh

ensi

ons?

Or m

ay th

e qua

litat

ive d

iffer

ence

s sug

geste

d in

at le

ast t

he K

antia

n su

blim

e set

it o

ff an

d up

away

from

the s

tand

ards

, th

e fin

itude

, th

e co

mm

ensu

rabi

lity

asso

ciat

ed w

ith t

he g

rote

sque

? To

re

vers

e Weis

kel's

prio

ritie

s, ca

n th

e R

oman

tic su

blim

e be r

ead

as a

n hi

s-to

rical

ver

sion

of th

e gr

otes

que,

as

it tu

rns

inw

ard

and

back

in

the

regr

essiv

e an

d pr

ivat

ized

mom

ents

des

crib

ed b

y Fr

eud?

39 I

n fa

ct, t

his

stru

ctur

e is s

trong

ly im

plie

d in

his

toric

al ac

coun

ts o

f the

gro

tesq

ue.

The

mas

sive

disa

ppoi

ntm

ent

and

moo

d of

sha

mef

ul a

bjec

tion

whi

ch o

verta

kes t

he n

arci

ssis

tic sc

ene

(in

the

pass

age

quot

ed a

bove

, a

func

tion

of th

e "r

etur

n of

the

repr

esse

d:' a

nd la

ter i

n th

e es

say

a fu

nc-

tion

of ca

stra

tion)

is e

voca

tive

of th

e an

xiet

ies,

sarc

asm

s, an

d em

bar-

rass

men

ts o

f the

gro

tesq

ue in

its

post

Rom

antic

or m

oder

nist

gui

ses.

The

inte

rior

ity a

nd b

itter

ly d

erisi

ve q

ualit

y of

the

Rom

antic

gro

-te

sque

, as

desc

ribed

by

both

Wol

fgan

g K

ayse

r an

d M

ikha

il B

akht

in,

sets

it ap

art f

rom

ear

lier c

omic

and

pub

lic m

anife

stat

ions

. B

akht

in,

who

se m

odel

of

grot

esqu

e re

alis

m i

n Ra

bela

is a

nd H

is

Wor

ld h

as b

een

the

pree

min

ent

influ

ence

in

rece

nt s

tudi

es o

f th

e gr

otes

que

and

cultu

ral

polit

ics,

look

ed t

o ca

rniv

al i

n ea

rly m

oder

n Eu

rope

for

that

form

of t

he g

rote

sque

whi

ch e

mbo

died

mat

eria

l and

so

cial

tra

nsfo

rmat

ion,

and

ind

eed

cele

brat

ed i

t in

all

its c

ultu

ral

aspe

cts.

In c

ontra

st, h

e vi

ewed

with

gre

at sk

eptic

ism

the

"priv

ate

and

egot

istic

for

m"

of t

he b

ody

and

the

grot

esqu

e ex

pres

sed

in t

he

Rom

antic

and

Mod

erni

st c

anon

s an

d ge

nres

, w

here

"th

e ca

rniv

al

r I i I U

P TH

ER

E,

OU

T T

HE

RE

33

spiri

t was

tran

spos

ed in

to a

sub

ject

ive,

idea

listic

phi

loso

phy.

"40 W

ith

Rom

antic

ism

, "la

ught

er w

as c

ut d

own

to c

old

hum

or, i

rony

, sar

casm

" (R

W, 3

8). F

or B

akht

in as

for K

ayse

r, w

hom

he

criti

cize

s for

see

ing

the

grot

esqu

e on

ly in

rel

atio

n to

this

ben

ight

ing

mom

ent,

the

grot

esqu

e tu

rns i

nwar

d an

d th

e fa

mili

ar b

ecom

es th

e alie

n an

d th

e un

cann

y:

All t

hat i

s ord

inar

y, c

omm

onpl

ace,

belo

ngin

g to

eve

ryda

y lif

e, an

d re

cogn

ized

by al

l sud

denl

y bec

omes

mea

ning

less,

dubi

ous a

nd h

os-

tile.

Our

own

wor

ld b

ecom

es a

n ali

en w

orld

. Som

ethin

g fri

ghte

n-in

g is

reve

aled

in th

at w

hich

was

hab

itual

and

secu

re. S

uch

are

the

tende

ncies

of t

he R

oman

tic g

rotes

que

in i

ts ex

trem

e ex

pres

sion

(RW

, 38-

39).

In th

is a

ccou

nt, t

he g

rote

sque

goe

s un

derg

roun

d in

the

cour

se o

f the

ni

nete

enth

cen

tury

, bec

omin

g in

crea

sing

ly h

idde

n an

d di

sper

sed-

a pr

ivat

e an

d "n

octu

rnal

" ca

tego

ry, t

o be

retri

eved

by

Freu

d as

soc

ially

di

sem

bodi

ed in

the

theo

ry o

f the

unc

onsc

ious

. 41

It sh

ould

be

adde

d th

at e

ven

Bak

htin

, in

his a

dmitt

edly

lim

ited

and

pole

mic

al t

reat

men

t of t

he R

oman

tic a

nd p

ostR

oman

tic g

rote

sque

, ac

know

ledg

ed th

e po

sitiv

e sig

nific

ance

of t

he "d

isco

very

" of"

the

inte

-ri

or in

finite

" w

hich

, he

asse

rts, w

as m

ade

poss

ible

by

the

use

of th

e gr

otes

que

in "

its p

ower

to li

bera

te fr

om d

ogm

atis

m, c

ompl

etio

n, a

nd

limita

tion.

The

inte

rior i

nfin

ite c

ould

not

hav

e be

en fo

und

in a

clo

sed

finish

ed w

orld

" (R

W, 4

4). T

he g

rote

sque

, the

n, is

a c

onst

itutiv

e as

pect

of

wha

t is e

lsew

here

cal

led

the

subl

ime.

Eve

n in

its m

ost w

ithho

ldin

g,

secr

etiv

e, a

nd a

nore

xic

form

s, th

e gr

otes

que

reta

ins

for

Bak

htin

its

asso

ciat

ion

with

the

carn

aval

esqu

e vi

ew o

f the

bod

y an

d th

e w

orld

as

rege

nera

tive

and

inco

mpl

ete

proj

ects

, im

plyi

ng th

ose

"unf

ulfil

led

but

poss

ible

futu

res"

whi

ch F

reud

iden

tifie

s as

an

impo

rtan

t asp

ect o

f the

un

~ann

y do

uble

. In

Fre

ud's

view

, of c

ours

e, "

all t

he s

trivi

ngs

of th

e eg

o w

hich

adv

erse

circ

umst

ance

s ha

ve c

rush

ed"

and

"all

our

sup-

pres

sed

acts

of vo

litio

n" r

epre

sent

a c

lingi

ng to

pha

ntas

y an

d to

the

illus

ion

of fre

e w

ill.42

This

is no

t to

say

that

Fre

ud a

nd B

akht

in a

re i

n an

y fu

ndam

enta

l ag

reem

ent

on t

he n

atur

e or

fun

ctio

n of

the

self

or th

e re

latio

nshi

p

34

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

betw

een

the

cons

titut

ion

of th

e se

lf an

d po

ssib

le (

real

) w

orld

s. Th

ey

are

not.

As B

akht

in's

com

men

tato

rs ri

ghtly

poi

nt o

ut, B

akht

in a

nd h

is

circ

le w

ere

high

ly c

ritic

al o

f the

cla

ssic

al p

sych

oana

lytic

al m

odel

of

iden

tity

form

atio

n an

d its

rel

atio

nshi

p to

the

soc

ial.

Kat

erin

a C

lark

an

d M

icha

el H

olqu

ist p

lace

Bak

htin

's m

odel

as th

e "p

olar

opp

osite

" of

Fr

eud's

: "I

n Fr

eud,

sel

f is

supp

ress

ed i

n th

e se

rvic

e of

the

soci

al;

in

Bah

ktin

, sel

f is p

reci

sely

a fu

nctio

n of

the

soci

al. I

n Fr

eud,

the

mor

e of

th

e ot

her,

the

less

of th

e se

lf; i

n B

akht

in, t

he m

ore

of th

e ot

her,

the

mor

e of

the

self.

"43 In

the

follo

win

g ch

apte

r on

the

grot

esqu

e an

d ge

n-de

r, I

will

ret

urn

to a

n el

abor

atio

n an

d re

cons

ider

atio

n of

the

se

diffe

renc

es. W

hat I

wan

t to

sugg

est h

ere

is les

s a c

omm

on g

roun

d th

an

a ce

rtain

pro

visi

onal

spa

ce,

or,

to p

ut i

t in

tem

pora

l te

rms,

a br

ief

inst

ance

, of

the

ante

rior

past

-in

Freu

d, t

he "

futu

re o

f an

illus

ion"

lo

ng s

uppr

esse

d, a

nd in

Bak

htin

, the

nos

talg

ic y

earn

ing

for

the

brig

ht

prom

ise

of th

at e

arly

and

los

t ca

rniv

al w

hich

is l

ocke

d aw

ay i

n th

e "c

ham

ber"

of b

ourg

eois

priv

atis

m.

Mic

ha

el B

ali

nt:

A

eria

lism

an

d T

he

Ph

ilo

ba

tic

Ima

gin

ati

on

In a

sho

rt a

nd p

rovo

cativ

e st

udy

publ

ishe

d in

195

9, e

ntitl

ed T

hrill

s an

d Re

gres

sions

, th

e ob

ject

rel

atio

ns p

sych

oana

lyst

Mic

hael

Bal

int

coin

ed th

e te

rm "p

hilo

batis

m" f

or th

e fie

ld o

f act

iviti

es a

nd se

nsat

ions

or

gani

zed

arou

nd th

e th

rills

of s

eein

g, fe

elin

g, o

r im

agin

ing

the

self-

supp

orte

d hu

man

bod

y in

spa

ce.44

The

thril

l-see

king

indi

vidu

al w

ho

habi

tual

ly l

eans

out

int

o da

nger

ous

and

"frie

ndly

" ex

pans

es a

way

fr

om th

e zo

ne o

f sec

urity

(hom

e ba

se a

nd it

s fa

mili

ar o

bjec

ts) h

e ca

lls

a ph

iloba

t. Th

e ph

iloba

t risk

s ex

tern

al d

ange

r with

a m

ixtu

re o

f ple

a-su

re, f

ear,

and

conf

iden

ce th

at th

e un

iver

se w

ill h

old

her u

p.

The

term

"ph

iloba

t" is

mod

elle

d on

the

Gre

ek "

acro

bat,"

the

per

-fo

rmer

of a

ntiq

uity

who

lite

rally

goe

s up

on

her t

oes

to s

prin

g aw

ay

from

the

earth

. As

Bal

int n

otes

, the

acr

obat

surv

ives

as

a cu

ltura

l fig

-ur

e re

pres

ente

d in

Gre

ek a

nd R

oman

repr

esen

tatio

ns o

f the

stre

et p

er-

form

er, a

nd in

car

niva

ls an

d ci

rcus

es a

s co

ntem

pora

ry v

ersi

ons o

f the

r I U

P T

HE

RE

, O

UT

TH

ER

E

Fig.

6

Lilli

an L

eitz

el, c

a. 1

930.

The

aer

iali

st m

the

city

. Cou

rtes

y of

Cir

cus

Wor

ld M

useu

m,

Bar

aboo

, Wis

cons

in.

35

trape

ze a

ct.

In t

he l

ate

nine

teen

th a

nd e

arly

tw

entie

th c

entu

ry,

the

figur

e of

the

acro

bat b

ecom

es th

e pr

ivile

ged

subj

ect o

f rep

rese

ntat

ion

by w

riter

s an

d ar

tists

, ofte

n, in

fact

, the

figu

re o

f the

mal

e ar

tist h

im-

self.

At t

his

hist

oric

al ju

nctu

re, t

he a

crob

at b

elon

gs to

a c

lass

of p

ro-

fess

iona

ls w

ho a

re "

paid

for

the

ir sk

ill w

hich

cau

ses

thril

ls t

o th

e sp

ecta

tors

and

pos

sibl

y al

so to

them

selv

es"

(Bal

int,

24).

The

philo

bat,

in c

ontra

st, i

s an

amat

eur,

a lov

er a

nd se

eker

of s

uch

expe

rienc

es in

the

exte

rnal

wor

ld a

nd in

the

wor

king

s of

the

imag

inat

ion.

The

tenu

ous

dist

inct

ions

bet

wee

n th

e pr

ofes

sion

al a

nd th

e am

ateu

r, an

d be

twee

n en

actin

g an

d ex

perie

ncin

g th

e th

rills

of p

hilo

batis

m, a

re e

ven

mor

e fra

gile

, as w

e will

see,

whe

n ge

nder

diff

eren

ce is

take

n in

to a

ccou

nt.

Beca

use B

alin

t's p

rimar

y in

tere

st is

in th

e ps

ycho

logy

of s

uch

thril

ls,

he se

es in

adu

lt ph

iloba

ts o

r in

philo

batic

act

iviti

es re

sidu

al, p

rimiti

ve

reen

actm

ents

of

early

sen

satio

ns,

phan

tasm

s, a

nd p

sych

ic s

cene

s.

36

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

With

out

obse

rvin

g a

stri

ct c

hron

olog

y, h

e lo

cate

s an

d de

scrib

es,

in

gene

ral t

erm

s, a

sou

rce

in th

e re

call

of a

free

-flo

atin

g, m

ater

nal e

nvi-

ronm

ent,

sim

ilar

to t

hat t

heor

ized

by

Julia

Kris

teva

as

the

sem

iotic

ch

ora,

an

unsi

gnifi

ed fr

ee s

pace

, ant

erio

r to

lang

uage

and

cul

ture

, but

no

neth

eles

s po

wer

fully

rem

aind

ered

with

in s

ymbo

lizat

ion

as a

n am

-bi

vale

nt (s

afe

and

dang

erou

s) O

ther

ness

.45 U

ltim

atel

y un

recu

pera

ble,

th

is "

spac

e" is

unl

ocat

able

exc

ept i

n re

latio

n to

the

Oed

ipal

mar

kers

w

hich

poi

nt "e

lsew

here

." Th

e si

mila

ritie

s in

thes

e tw

o co

ncep

tual

iza-

tions

of a

n ar

chai

c sp

acio

usne

ss w

hich

is b

oth

thril

ling

and

regr

essiv

e co

ntin

ue in

thei

r us

e of

carn

ival

to d

escr

ibe

the

sym

bolic

reg

iste

r of

ph

iloba

tism

, fo

rmed

in

Kris

teva

's te

rms

thro

ugh

"an

hom

olog

y be

-tw

een

the

body

, dr

eam

, lin

guis

tic

stru

ctur

e,

and

stru

ctur

es

of

d ·

»46

K ·

, .

. es

ire.

nste

va s

evoc

atio

n of

the

carm

vale

sque

in

man

y of

her

ea

rly e

ssay

s is

dire

ctly

insp

ired

by B

akht

in,

alth

ough

her

traj

ecto

ry

thro

ugh

the

disc

ours

e of

carn

ival

in W

este

rn li

tera

ture

radi

caliz

es it

in

the

serv

ice

of an

exc

lusiv

e, lit

erar

y av

ant-g

ardi

sm. 4

7 B

alin

t's d

escr

ip-

tions

of c

arni

val a

nd c

ircus

act

iviti

es s

eem

s to

hav

e be

en b

ased

pri

-m

arily

on

his

own

obse

rvat

ions

of

twen

tieth

cen

tury

am

usem

ent

park

s, o

r "fu

nfai

rs" a

s the

y w

ere c

alle

d in

Eng

land

. Th

eore

tical

ly, T

hrill

s and

Reg

ress

ions

is h

eavi

ly in

fluen

ced

by hi

s col

-le

ague

San

dor F

eren

czi's

Tha

lass

a, w

hich

arg

ues t

hat a

dult

geni

tal s

ex-

ualit

y is

driv

en b

y th

e im

puls

e to

reg

ress

to

the

intr

aute

rine

or

"tha

lass

al"

envi

ronm

ent. 48

Bal

int t

ends

to id

entif

y bo

th th

e "f

riend

ly

spac

es"

betw

een

obje

cts

and

the

safe

ty z

one

or "

hom

e ba

se"

of ph

ilo-

batic

act

iviti

es w

ith th

e m

othe

r's b

ody,

but

at d

iffer

ent s

tage

s or l

ayer

s of

the

expe

rienc

e of

spat

ialit

y. In

oth

er w

ords

, the

phi

loba

tic im

agin

a-tio

n op

erat

es, a

t diff

eren

t sta

ges,

both

with

in a

nd aw

ay fr

om th

e mat

er-

nal b

ody.

Des

pite

Bal

int's

unc

erta

inty

abou

t the

rela

tive

chro

nolo

gy o

f ph

iloba

tic b

ehav

ior i

n re

latio

n to

the

clin

ging

beh

avio

r whi

ch h

e ca

lls

"ocn

ophi

lic:'

the

philo

bat p

ushe

s of

f in

a st

ance

of i

ndep

ende

nce

and

auto

nom

y, su

gges

ting

to B

alin

t a m

ore

adva

nced

stag

e of d

evel

opm

ent

rela

ted

to s

ymbo

lizat

ion

in g

ener

al, a

nd a

sym

bolic

iden

tific

atio

n of

ph

iloba

tism

with

gen

italit

y an

d th

e ph

allu

s. Th

e bo

dy w

alki

ng a

way

fr

om th

e m

othe

r in

an e

rect

pos

ture

, the

tran

sitio

nal o

bjec

ts o

f you

ng

UP

TH

ER

E,

OU

T T

HE

RE

37

child

ren

(toys

, bla

nket

s, et

c.),

and

the

bato

ns, t

ight

rope

wal

kers

' pol

e,

stick

s, gu

ns, p

ens,

and

oth

er a

ccou

trem

ents

whi

ch a

ccom

pany

spo

rt

and

artis

tic ac

tivity

, sug

gest

to B

alin

t tha

t phi

loba

tism

is "

sym

bolic

ally

re

late

d to

ere

ctio

n an

d po

tenc

y, a

lthou

gh i

t is

diff

icul

t to

dec

ide

whe

ther

the

philo

batis

m s

houl

d be

con

side

red

as a

n ea

rly, p

rimiti

ve

stage

of

geni

talit

y or

, th

e ot

her

way

rou

nd,

as a

ret

rosp

ectiv

e, s

ec-

onda

ry g

enita

lisat

ion

in a

dult

age

of a

n or

igin

ally

non

-gen

ital f

unc-

tion"

(Ba

lint,

29).

Leav

ing

the

orig

ins

of p

hilo

batis

m u

ncer

tain

, he

m

oves

his

inve

stig

atio

n in

to th

e sy

mbo

lic re

alm

of a

dult

myt

h-m

akin

g an

d cu

lture

, whe

re ty

polo

gy, s

ymbo

ls, a

rchi

tect

ures

, ritu

als,

and

lan-

guag

e lin

k ps

ycho

anal

ytic

theo

ry w

ith h

isto

ry. 49

Wha

t em

erge

s fr

om B

alin

t's d

escr

iptiv

e ac

coun

t is

the

hist

oric

ally

vi

vid

inst

ance

of t

he re

pres

sive

effe

cts o

f gen

der f

orm

atio

n w

ithin

the

"stra

nge

carn

ival

esqu

e di

aspo

ra"

of th

e tw

entie

th c

entu

ry.50

Giv

en th

e co

nvin

cing

fem

inis

t crit

ique

s of

the

Kris

teva

n m

odel

of t

he c

arni

val

whi

ch p

rivile

ges

the

pre-

Oed

ipal

and

the

Im

agin

ary

as a

neg

ativ

e,

unav

aila

ble,

and

unr

epre

sent

able

spac

e, th

ere

wou

ld s

eem

to b

e ve

ry

little

her

e to

neg

otia

te. A

s Jul

iet M

itche

ll ha

s pu

t it m

ost s

tark

ly: "

You

ca

nnot

cho

ose

the

imag

inar

y, th

e se

mio

tic, t

he c

arni

val a

s an

alte

rna-

tive

to th

e law

. It i

s set

up

by th

e law

pre

cise

ly in

its o

wn

ludi

c spa

ce, i

ts ar

ea o

f im

agin

ary

alte

rnat

ive,

but

not

as a

sym

bolic

alte

rnat

ive.

"51 M

y ow

n po

sitio

n in

rela

tion

to th

e co

nstr

aint

s and

pos

sibi

litie

s of c

arni

val

as a

lim

inal

spac

e is

stak

ed o

ut in

the

follo

win

g ch

apte

r, '.'F

emal

e G

ro-

tesq

ues:

Car

niva

l an

d Th

eory

." It

is m

uch

clos

er t

o th

at. o

f La

ura

Mul

vey,

who

in h

er w

ritin

g an

d in

her

film

mak

ing

with

Pet

er W

olle

n (h

ere,

I am

thin

king

par

ticul

arly

of t

he d

elib

erat

ely

awkw

ard

acro

batic

se

quen

ce in

Rid

dles

of t

he S

phin

x an

d th

e av

iatri

x fil

m, A

my)

atte

mpt

s a f

emin

ist p

hilo

batic

s. 52

As sh

e has

writ

ten,

the p

ossi

bilit

ies o

f car

niva

l an

d th

e ca

rniv

ales

que

are

not t

hose

of a

sym

bolic

alte

rnat

ive

nor o

f a

Kris

teva

n Im

agin

ary,

"bu

t rat

her a

n in

term

edia

te th

at h

over

s on

the

thre

shol

d . .

. th

e te

rrai

n in

whi

ch d

esire

nea

rly fi

nds

expr

essi

on, i

n w

hich

stu

ff (m

agra

) is

repr

esse

d by

the

dom

inan

t po

litic

al c

ultu

re,

and

in w

hich

the

psy

cho-

anal

ytic

al s

truc

ture

s of

soci

ety

erup

t in

to

gest

ure"

(Mul

vey,

28)

.

~----·

38

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

Ret

urni

ng to

Bal

int's

ow

n re

flect

ions

on

thes

e m

ater

ials,

he

singl

es

out a

crob

atic

s as a

pri

mar

y ex

ampl

e of

philo

batic

act

ivity

as s

pect

acle

th

at "

sym

bolic

ally

rep

rese

nt[s

] th

e pr

imal

sce

ne .

.. t

he s

peci

fic

diffe

renc

e be

twee

n sh

ows

in g

ener

al a

nd p

hilo

batic

show

s an

d fe

ats

is th

e pr

esen

ce o

f rea

l ext

erna

l dan

ger"

(Bal

int,

30).

For t

he sp

ecta

tor a

t ci

rcus

es, t

heat

er, a

nd s

ides

how

exh

ibiti

ons,

the

philo

batic

per

form

-an

ce is

mar

ked

by a

pow

erfu

l am

biva

lenc

e w

hich

com

bine

s ad

mira

-tio

n, e

nvy,

and

awe.

Balin

t's o

wn

conc

erns

are

not

his

toric

al, b

ut h

e of

fers

a s

ugge

stion

as

to a

sig

nific

ant c

ultu

ral s

hift

in th

e ni

nete

enth

ce

ntur

y fro

m s

pect

ator

ial t

hrill

s to

a mor

e ac

tive

philo

batis

m:

The

dyna

mic

reas

on fo

r thi

s am

biva

lent

resp

ect i

s tha

t acr

obat

s and

ac

tors

are

allo

wed

and

dar

e to

per

form

pub

licly

phi

loba

tic a

cts

sym

boliz

ing

prim

al sc

enes

. The

com

mun

ity, h

owev

er, i

s allo

wed

to

parti

cipa

te i

n th

e fo

rm o

f pa

ssiv

e sp

ecta

tors

onl

y, t

hrill

ed b

y id

entif

icat

ion.

Th

e qu

estio

n of

wha

t hap

pene

d, m

ainl

y du

ring

the

nine

teen

th

cent

ury,

tha

t tu

rned

the

spe

ctat

ors

into

act

ors

is an

int

eres

ting

prob

lem

...

It is

pos

sible

that

this

chan

ge is

onl

y on

e sy

mpt

om o

f a

gene

ral t

ende

ncy o

f that

epoc

h, pe

rhap

s bes

t exp

ress

ed b

y Nie

tzsch

e,"to

liv

e da

nger

ously

" (e

mph

asis

min

e) (

Balin

t, 3 I

).

Balin

t's e

voca

tion

of N

ietz

sche

in

rela

tion

to t

he s

hift

in r

oles

be

twee

n pe

rfor

mer

s an

d sp

ecta

tors

in t

he c

arni

val

scen

e ef

fect

ivel

y m

oder

nize

s th

e di

scou

rse

of ca

rniv

al. F

or B

akht

in, s

pect

acle

was

the

an

tithe

sis

of th

e ca

rniv

ales

que.

Spe

ctac

le a

ssum

ed a

par

titio

ning

of

spac

e an

d a

crea

tion

of di

scre

te si

ghtli

nes.

It b

roke

dow

n th

e re

cipr

o-ca

l ro

les

play

ed b

y pe

rfor

mer

s an

d sp

ecta

tors

in

carn

ival

, as

acto

rs

beca

me

pass

ive

spec

tato

rs o

r con

tem

plat

ives

invo

lved

in in

crea

sing

ly

inte

rioriz

ed m

onod

ram

as. W

hat B

alin

t is

evok

ing

unde

r th

e sig

n of

N

ietz

sche

is, i

n ef

fect

, a n

ew e

xtro

vers

ion

of th

e sp

ecta

tor-

perf

orm

er

rela

tions

hip

as th

e pa

ssiv

e sp

ecta

tor l

eaps

, im

agin

ativ

ely

at le

ast,

out

of hi

s sea

t and

into

the "

spec

tacl

e with

out a

stag

e," th

us c

reat

ing

a new

an

d sp

lit s

ubje

ct o

f spe

ctac

le a

nd a

new

soc

ialit

y.53

In

Nie

tzsc

hean

te

rms,

how

ever

, it i

s not

onl

y th

e sp

ecta

cle

parti

cipa

nt w

ho is

div

ided

in

the

thril

ling

iden

tific

atio

n de

scrib

ed b

y Ba

lint,

for t

here

is a

lso th

e

r U

P T

HE

RE

, O

UT

TH

ER

E

39

colle

ctiv

e ca

tego

ry o

f th

e cr

owd.

(Th

e an

tago

nism

bet

wee

n "t

he

crow

d" a

nd th

e su

bjec

t who

has

ele

cted

to li

ve d

ange

rous

ly, i

s pl

ayed

ou

t par

adig

mat

ical

ly in

the

Prol

ogue

of Z

arat

hust

ra, i

n th

e de

scrip

-tio

ns o

f the

aeria

list,

Zara

thus

tra's

rope

-dan

cer)

.54

Balin

t's a

ccou

nts

of th

ese

mod

ern

carn

ival

esqu

e sp

ectfl

cles

are

ver

y ge

nder

and

role

-spe

cific

. For

inst

ance

, in

read

ing

the

so-c

alle

d pr

imal

sc

ene

as p

hilo

batic

, he

show

case

s the

mal

e ci

rcus

per

form

er:

... W

e may

say

that

the

philo

batic

thril

ls re

pres

ent i

n a w

ay th

e pr

i-m

al s

cene

in

sym

bolic

for

m.

A p

ower

ful

and

high

ly s

kille

d m

an

prod

uces

on

his o

wn

a pow

erfu

l ere

ctio

n, li

fting

him

far a

way

from

se

curit

y, p

erfo

rmin

g in

his

lofty

stat

e in

cred

ible

feat

s of

valo

ur a

nd

darin

g, a

fter w

hich

, in

spite

of u

ntol

d da

nger

s, he

ret

urns

unh

urt

to th

e sa

fe m

othe

r ear

th. I

n th

is c

onne

ctio

n th

e ea

rth h

as a

dou

ble

aspe

ct c

orre

spon

ding

to th

e am

biva

lent

situ

atio

n; sh

e is

dang

erou

s be

caus

e of

her i

rres

istib

le a

ttrac

tion

whi

ch, i

f unc

ondi

tiona

lly su

r-re

nder

ed to

, may

caus

e m

orta

l dam

age;

but

at t

he sa

me

time

she

is lo

ving

and

forg

ivin

g, o

fferin

g he

r em

brac

ing

safe

ty to

the

defia

nt

hero

on

his

skill

ful

retu

rn.

It is

tra

ditio

nal

in t

he c

ircus

for

the

he

ro-a

crob

at w

hile

per

form

ing

high

-up

in t

he a

ir to

be

assis

ted,

ad

mire

d, a

nd f

inal

ly r

ecei

ved

back

to th

e gr

ound

by

an a

ttrac

tive

youn

g gi

rl. A

crob

atic

s, th

eref

ore,

are

one

spec

ial f

orm

of s

how

s all

of

whi

ch sy

mbo

lical

ly re

pres

ent t

he p

rimal

scen

e (B

alin

t, 29

-30)

.

Alth

ough

Bal

int d

oes

not l

imit

the

philo

batic

exp

erie

nce

or t

en-

denc

y to

men

, hi

s cu

ltura

l m

odel

is

clea

rly t

he "

Bat

man

:' In

his

rem

arks

on

the

circ

us a

ct a

nd f

unfa

irs, h

owev

er, h

e in

clud

es fe

mal

e fig

ures

in

the

aeria

l ac

t or

in t

he "

prim

itive

" sid

esho

ws

as e

ssen

tial

"sho

wpi

eces

":

One

typ

e of

show

piec

e is

eith

er b

eaut

iful,

attra

ctiv

e w

omen

, or

fri

ghte

ning

, odd

, and

stra

nge

fem

ales

; th

e ot

her

type

is p

ower

ful,

boas

ting,

cha

lleng

ing

men

. Sim

plifi

ed to

bar

e es

sent

ials,

pra

ctic

ally

all

stag

e play

s or n

ovel

s, ho

wev

er h

ighb

row

, are

still

con

cern

ed w

ith

thes

e th

ree k

inds

of h

uman

ingr

edie

nts (

Balin

t, 30

).

His

shift

ing

synt

ax h

ere

sugg

ests

that

bot

h th

e "b

eaut

iful,

attra

c-tiv

e" a

nd th

e "o

dd a

nd s

trang

e" f

emal

e fin

ally

bel

ongs

to

the

sam

e

40

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

"typ

e."

But

are

ther

e tw

o ty

pes

or a

re th

ere

thre

e, s

ince

they

sepa

rate

ou

t int

o "t

hree

kin

ds o

f hum

an in

gred

ient

s? H

ere,

inde

ed, i

s th

e se

x th

at is

not

one

! In

that

par

t of t

he tw

in c

ateg

ory

of th

e fe

mal

e/w

omen

th

at in

clud

es th

e "f

right

enin

g, o

dd, a

nd st

rang

e fem

ales

," o

ne as

sum

es

the

pres

ence

of f

reak

s an

d ot

her g

rote

sque

cur

iosi

ties w

ho p

rodu

ce in

th

e vi

ewer

a c

erta

in st

ate

of am

biva

lent

dis

tract

ion

whi

ch is

som

ehow

in

volv

ed o

r tra

nsfo

rmed

in

the

attra

ctio

n of

the

othe

r "w

omen

" (e

mph

ases

min

e).55

The

prox

imity

of

fem

ale

grot

esqu

es t

o th

eir

attra

ctiv

e co

unte

rpar

ts h

as a

long

his

tory

in th

e ty

polo

gy o

f Wes

tern

ar

t and

thea

ter,

espe

cial

ly c

omed

y, in

whi

ch th

e w

horis

h m

atro

n, th

e cr

one,

the

ugly

step

siste

rs, a

nd th

e nu

rse a

re b

roug

ht o

nsta

ge fo

r com

-pa

rison

and

then

dism

issed

. Co

ncep

tual

ly, t

he d

isju

nctu

re b

etw

een

the

rela

tions

hip

of th

e tw

o (m

ale a

nd fe

mal

e) a

nd th

e th

ree

(mal

e and

two

fem

ale)

cat

egor

ies p

ro-

vide

s a

spac

e of

diff

eren

tiatio

n be

twee

n w

omen

whi

ch is

cov

ered

ove

r in

the

dom

inan

t fic

tions

of

gend

er a

nd h

eter

osex

ualit

y. T

eres

a de

La

uret

is ha

s writ

ten

eloq

uent

ly o

f the

"in-

diff

eren

ce" o

f muc

h co

ntem

-po

rary

criti

cal d

iscou

rse,

incl

udin

g fe

min

ist c

ritic

ism

, to

thos

e se

xual

di

ffere

nces

whi

ch c

anno

t be

cont

aine

d w

ithin

or

plac

ed d

efin

itive

ly

outs

ide t

he h

eter

osex

ually

pre

sum

ed o

ppos

ition

al d

iffer

ence

of m

ale t

o fe

mal

e. 56

Thes

e "e

ccen

tric s

ubje

cts"

occ

upy

a pos

ition

in w

hat s

he d

es-

igna

tes,

follo

win

g fil

m th

eory

, as a

"spa

ce-o

ff;'

the

"spa

ce n

ot vi

sible

in

the

fram

e bu

t in

fera

ble

from

wha

t th

e fr

ame

mak

es v

isib

le:'

De

Laur

etis

sees

this

as a

n ex

istin

g "e

lse-w

here

" pro

duce

d by

and

in re

pre-

sent

atio

nal p

ract

ices

and

by

wha

t the

y lea

ve o

ut o

r can

not r

epre

sent

; sh

e al

so s

ees

it as

"a

theo

retic

al c

ondi

tion

of p

ossib

ility

"57

for

fem

i-ni

sm,

defin

ed a

s a

hete

roge

neou

s an

d co

ntra

dict

ory

proc

ess,

rath

er

than

(as

its

criti

cs a

nd s

ome

of it

s fri

ends

wou

ld h

ave

it) a

fin

ished

pr

oduc

t bui

lt al

ong

an u

ntro

uble

d ax

is of

gend

er58

(per

haps

this

"fin

-is

hed

fem

inism

" is

som

ewhe

re so

sim

ple,

but

now

here

I ha

ve b

een)

.59

Som

ethi

ng li

ke th

is th

eore

tical

"sp

ace-

off'

is ce

rtain

ly n

eces

sary

if

fem

inis

m is

to ev

en p

osit

a "n

onre

pres

sive

nar

ciss

ism

:'60 T

he p

ossi

bil-

ities

of a

n ex

pand

ed, i

n Sa

ndra

Bar

tky'

s ter

m, "

revo

lutio

nary

aest

hetic

of

the

body

'' (B

artk

y, 4

3) w

ould

dep

end

certa

inly

on

the

radi

cal a

lter-

r U

P TH

ER

E,

OU

T T

HE

RE

41

natio

n of

sig

htlin

es a

nd i

nter

naliz

ed w

itnes

ses

to t

he p

erfo

rmin

g sc

ene.

61 Th

e co

llect

ive w

itnes

s whi

ch s

he im

agin

es w

ill it

self

be d

iffer

-en

tiate

d an

d "w

hile

not

requ

iring

bod

y di

spla

y, w

ill n

ot m

ake

it ta

boo

eith

er"

(Bar

tky,

43)

. Th

e non

requ

irem

ent o

f vis

ibili

ty in

her

form

ulat

ion

seem

s to

me

as

impo

rtan

t as

the

oppo

rtun

ity to

sho

w o

ff in

a n

ew w

ay. A

lthou

gh th

e gr

otes

que

is a

cate

gory

trad

ition

ally

iden

tifie

d w

ith e

xpre

ssio

n an

d hy

perv

isibi

lity,

the s

urre

nder

of v

isib

ility

and

the a

ckno

wle

dgem

ent o

f so

mat

ic la

ck so

that

"mis

sing

" bod

y pa

rts a

nd m

issi

ng b

odie

s ( v

irtua

l, un

repr

esen

ted,

unr

epre

sent

able

, dis

appe

arin

g, o

r dea

d) w

ould

sur

ely

have

to

be p

art

of th

is n

ew s

cene

of

narc

issist

ic p

erfo

rman

ce.

Of

cour

se,

as P

eggy

Phe

lan

has

writ

ten,

"pe

rfor

man

ce is

the

art

for

m

· whi

ch m

ost

fully

und

erst

ands

the

gen

erat

ive

poss

ibili

ties

of d

isap

-pe

aran

ce."6

2 Fe

mal

e per

form

ance

has

bee

n a p

rivile

ged

site

of e

nact

ing

disa

ppea

ranc

e fr

om C

amill

e to

Am

elia

Ear

hart;

fem

inis

m,

unde

r-sta

ndab

ly, h

as tu

rned

away

from

thes

e im

ages

as id

eolo

gica

lly d

ange

r-ou

s. B

ut e

ven

the

Rom

antic

figu

re o

f the

dyi

ng w

oman

, as

I arg

ue in

ch

apte

r fiv

e, ca

n be

read

or p

erfo

rmed

diff

eren

tly. 63

In th

e m

oder

nist

ca

non,

the o

bses

sion

with

Ear

hart'

s las

t flig

ht a

nd h

er re

peat

ed "s

ight

-in

gs" y

ears

afte

rwar

ds m

ay st

and

for t

his i

nvisi

ble

pote

ntia

l.

Th

e F

ema

le

Ph

ilo

ba

t:

Fly

ing

an

d F

all

ing

as

All

eg

orie

s o

f F

emin

init

y

Alth

ough

Bal

int

keep

s th

em a

naly

tical

ly a

part,

his

two

or t

hree

es

sent

ial t

ypes

are

ver

y su

scep

tible

to tr

ansm

igra

tory

codi

ngs,

parti

c-ul

arly

in th

e si

mul

tane

ity o

f car

niva

l and

circ

us a

ctiv

ities

. The

phi

lo-

batm

an sh

ows t

hrou

gh in

the

unex

pect

ed v

irilit

y of t

he fe

mal

e ac

roba

t in

, for

inst

ance

, the

strik

ing

figur

e of

Miss

Ura

nia

in J.

K. H

uysm

ans's

A

Rebo

urs

(Aga

inst

the

Gra

in).64

Miss

Ura

nia

of th

e m

agni

ficen

t, ste

ely

phys

ique

-"ar

ms o

f iro

n" -i

s, fi

nally

, a g

reat

dis

appo

intm

ent t

o th

e no

vel's

her

o, D

es E

ssei

ntes

, sin

ce h

er v

irilit

y, i

t tur

ns o

ut, i

s on

ly

mus

cle

deep

; she

fails

to p

rovi

de h

im w

ith th

e in

verte

d "s

ex-c

hang

e"

42

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

Fig.

7

Nan

cy S

pero

, "Sh

eela

and

the

Dild

o D

ance

r,"

1987

. Han

dpri

ntin

g an

d co

llage

on

pape

r and

on

wal

l.

whi

ch h

e im

agin

ed, p

refe

rrin

g to

kee

p fo

r he

rsel

f the

pas

sive

("fe

mi-

nine

") se

x ro

le w

hich

he

had

cove

ted.

O

f cou

rse,

the

mal

e ga

ze c

an b

e re

ad m

uch

mor

e co

mpl

exly

in re

la-

tion

to se

xual

ity an

d th

e tra

peze

. In

the

I 920

s, Je

an C

octe

au d

escr

ibed

a

mus

ic h

all a

ct p

erfo

rmed

by

a tra

peze

arti

st a

nd fe

mal

e im

pers

on-

ator

cal

led

Barb

ette

.65

Barb

ette

's on

ly p

rops

wer

e a

diva

n an

d a

trape

ze. T

he v

ertic

al sc

hem

a of h

igh-

low

repl

aced

the

axis

of ge

nder

in

his

act

so t

hat

his

"fem

inin

ity"

was

enac

ted

on th

e di

van

to t

hrow

"d

ust i

nto

the

audi

ence

s ey

es"

(Fra

nko,

596

); hi

s vi

rile

perf

orm

ance

up

on

the

trape

ze w

ould

(al

ong

with

his

fem

inin

e co

stum

e) p

ersu

ade

the

audi

ence

of h

is fe

min

inity

.66 I

n D

juna

Bar

nes'

Nig

htw

ood,

Fra

u M

ann,

an

andr

ogyn

ous

trape

ze a

rtist

who

m I

disc

uss

in c

hapt

er si

x,

uses

her

viri

lity

in p

erfo

rman

ce a

nd h

er c

ostu

me

to fo

recl

ose

hete

ro-

sexu

ality

so th

at it

is c

lear

she

is "t

he p

rope

rty o

f no

man

."67

Miss

Ura

nia,

Bar

bette

and

Fra

u M

ann

are

prec

urso

rs o

f the

fabu

-lo

us F

evve

rs, t

he h

eroi

ne o

f A

ngel

a C

arte

r's p

ostm

oder

nist

. nov

el,

Nig

hts

at th

e Ci

rcus

, disc

usse

d in

the

conc

ludi

ng c

hapt

er o

f thi

s boo

k.

r 1 U

P T

HE

RE

, O

UT

TH

ER

E

43

Fig.

8

Nan

cy S

pero

, "Th

e A

crob

at,"

199

0. H

andp

rint

ing

and

colla

ge o

n pa

per.

C

ourt

esy

of th

e A

rtis

t and

Jos

h B

aer G

alle

ry.

A su

gges

tion

of th

e tra

nsgr

essiv

e po

tent

ial o

f the

fem

ale

usur

patio

n of

th

e ph

allic

func

tion

of th

e ph

iloba

t is

hila

rious

ly p

rese

nt, a

s w

ell, i

n th

e pr

oces

sion

of ar

chai

c fe

mal

e fo

rms

in th

e sc

roll

wor

k of

the

artis

t N

ancy

Spe

ro, w

here

fem

ale a

crob

ats

and

"Dild

o-da

ncer

s" w

ield

hug

e ba

tons

, no

t, as

Bal

int

wou

ld a

ssum

e, f

or b

alan

ce a

nd s

ecur

ity,

but

rath

er as

sym

bols

of di

sequ

ilibr

ium

and

rele

ase.

With

the

adve

nt o

f mas

s cu

lture

, as J

ean

Star

obin

ski n

otes

, the

pow

-er

ful a

mbi

vale

nce

in th

e m

ale

view

ing

of th

ese

fem

ale

icon

s is

asso

ci-

ated

with

the

sca

ndal

of t

he f

emal

e bo

dy e

xpos

ed a

nd p

rovo

cativ

e,

offe

ring

itsel

f as s

imul

tane

ousl

y ac

cess

ible

and

una

ttain

able

with

in th

e pe

rfor

man

ce b

ecau

se o

f the

ver

y in

tens

ity o

f lig

ht a

nd s

paci

ousn

ess,

whi

ch p

rovi

de a

sepa

ratio

n an

d a d

istan

ce b

etw

een

flier

and

wat

cher

.68

The

spec

tato

r pay

s hi

s m

oney

for

this

with

hold

ing,

as

well

as

for

the

tem

pora

ry ca

ptur

e of t

he g

irl o

n th

e w

ing

(Sta

robi

nski

, 65-

66).

For t

he

mod

erni

st m

ytho

logi

sts, t

he f

igur

e of

the

perf

orm

er s

igni

fied

ironi

c de

tach

men

t bot

h fro

m th

e he

avin

ess

of th

e fle

sh a

nd fr

om th

e cla

ss o

f pa

ying

spec

tato

rs; t

he fe

male

per

form

er as

mus

e w

as li

fted

off t

he c

las-

44

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

sical

ped

esta

l to

fly o

r at l

east

dang

le in

the

heav

ens.

Fem

inin

ity a

ir-bo

rne

and

in m

otio

n fig

ured

as t

he h

ighe

st e

xpre

ssio

n of

the

light

ness

of

bein

g. T

he in

tens

ifica

tion

of co

mm

erci

al s

pect

acle

with

in th

e ne

w,

gasli

t ven

ues o

f art·

and

artis

tic p

erfo

rman

ce, m

ixin

g hi

gh a

nd lo

w c

ul-

ture

to b

uild

a ne

w sp

ecta

tors

hip

with

mon

etar

y ex

chan

ge a

t its

cent

er,

figur

ed t

he w

oman

in

the

air

as t

he v

ery

"ela

n hy

perb

oliq

ue"

of th

e N

ew A

ge (S

taro

bins

ki, 3

3).

So

me

Lea

ps

an

d F

all

s

"A g

irl ju

mps

diff

eren

tly ..

. -S

0ren

Kier

kega

ard69

This

des

crip

tion

of th

e st

ruct

ure

of de

sire

and

exc

hang

e in

fem

ale

spec

tacl

e ca

lls f

or a

naly

sis a

ccor

ding

to t

he th

eorie

s of

spec

tato

rshi

p de

velo

ped

so in

tens

ivel

y in

fem

inis

t film

the

ory

unde

r the

rubr

ic o

f th

e gaz

e. W

hat m

akes

thes

e fem

ale

figur

es in

the a

ir so

com

pelli

ng a

nd

dang

erou

s fo

r m

en is

not

just

thei

r si

mila

rity

to o

ther

wom

en, b

ut

rath

er th

eir d

issi

mila

rity

from

them

selv

es. A

s St

arob

insk

i poi

nts

out,

this

fem

ale

perf

orm

er i

s no

t so

diff

eren

t fr

om o

ther

wom

en,

but

"diff

eren

t fro

m h

er o

wn

fem

inin

ity"

(Sta

robi

nski

, 52)

. The

repr

esen

-ta

tion

of fe

min

inity

as

an e

ffortl

ess

mob

ility

impl

ies

enor

mou

s co

n-tro

l, ch

ange

abili

ty, a

nd st

reng

th. "

She

poss

esse

s an

imm

ense

pow

er o

f m

etam

orph

osis

ass

ocia

ted

with

her

mob

ility

...

in th

e su

pple

ness

of

this

bod

y is

hidd

en,

in f

act,

an a

ggre

ssiv

e an

d da

nger

ous

viril

ity"

(Sta

robi

nski

, 52)

. She

is, i

n ot

her w

ords

, "an

idol

of p

erve

rsity

:'7 ° For

th

e ar

tist w

ho b

oth

iden

tifie

s with

and

des

ires t

he fe

mal

e ac

roba

t, se

v-er

al fa

ntas

ies

conv

erge

: the

fant

asy

of a

cont

rolli

ng sp

ecta

tors

hip,

the

fant

asy

of a

rtist

ic tr

ansc

ende

nce

and

free

dom

sig

nifie

d by

the

fligh

t up

war

ds a

nd th

e de

fianc

e of

gra

vity

, and

the

fant

asy

of a

fem

inin

ity

whi

ch d

efie

s the

lim

its o

f the

body

, esp

ecia

lly th

e fem

ale

body

. Th

e ris

k of

such

leap

s an

d fli

ghts

lies

in th

e da

nger

of t

he fa

tal f

all.

The

impa

sse

of th

is m

oder

nist

sym

boliz

atio

n fo

r th

e en

tity

mar

ked

"Wom

an"

is th

at th

ere

is on

ly o

ne w

ay o

ut: d

eath

, wha

teve

r its

repr

e-

r i U

P T

HE

RE

, O

UT

TH

ER

E

45

sent

atio

n-hy

ster

ical

bre

akdo

wn,

unc

onsc

ious

ness

, los

s of

visi

bilit

y,

or m

ore

liter

ally

loss

of l

ife. T

he e

ndle

ssly

rep

eate

d ac

coun

ts o

f the

di

sapp

eara

nce

of A

mel

ia E

arha

rt in

the

Paci

fic m

ay st

and

prov

isio

n-all

y fo

r th

is cr

itica

l cru

x (T

he L

ady

Van

ishes

). Sl

avoj

Ziz

ek s

ums

up

the

situ

atio

n in

bal

dly

Laca

nian

term

s: "

The

elev

atio

n of

an o

rdin

ary,

ea

rthly

wom

an to

the

subl

ime

obje

ct a

lway

s en

tails

mor

tal d

ange

r for

th

e m

isera

ble

crea

ture

cha

rged

with

em

body

ing

the

Thin

g, s

ince

'W

oman

doe

s not

Exi

st."'71

As b

rief

cine

mat

ic e

xam

ples

, tw

o sp

ecta

cula

r hi

gh-a

ltitu

de f

alls

imm

edia

tely

com

e to

min

d: D

orot

hy A

rzne

r's C

hris

toph

er S

tron

g (1

933)

and

Max

Oph

uls'

Lola

Mon

tes

(195

5). B

oth

of th

ese

film

s ha

ve

been

writ

ten

abou

t ext

ensiv

ely

as p

arad

igm

atic

of t

he c

onst

ruct

ion

of

fem

inin

ity i

n do

min

ant

cine

ma.

In

C

hris

toph

er S

trong

, Cy

nthi

a D

arrin

gton

(K

atha

rine

Hep

burn

) is

a fa

mou

s "g

irl fl

ier"

who

falls

in

love

with

the

very

mon

ogam

ous,

mar

ried

Chr

isto

pher

Stro

ng,'

Both

ch

arac

ters

are

sig

nific

antly

intro

duce

d in

to th

e fil

m a

s "E

xhib

it A

and

Ex

hibi

t B:' t

he d

iscov

erie

s of a

hig

h so

ciet

y tre

asur

e hu

nt fo

r a fa

ithfu

l hu

sban

d an

d a

girl

over

tw

enty

who

has

n't

had

an a

ffair;

bot

h ar

e sh

own a

s dev

iate

s, if

only

beca

use o

f the

ir ra

dica

l het

eros

exua

l con

ven-

tiona

lity.

As J

udith

May

ne h

as a

rgue

d, "

Cynt

hia's

'virg

inity

' bec

omes

a

euph

emis

tic c

atch

all

for

a va

riety

of

mar

gins

in

whi

ch s

he is

situ

-ate

d."72

Like

her

put

ativ

e vi

rgin

ity, h

er c

ostu

mes

ten

d to

exce

ed t

he

norm

s of w

ork,

gen

der,

and

hete

rose

xual

ity w

hich

they

wou

ld se

em to

m

odel

, pl

acin

g he

r in

crea

singl

y "o

ut th

ere.

" D

urin

g th

e af

fair

with

St

rong

, she

susp

ends

her

flyi

ng a

ctiv

ities

to b

ecom

e, in

his

eyes

, som

e-th

ing

attra

ctiv

e, n

ew, a

nd st

rang

e. In

an e

arlie

r sce

ne, m

asqu

erad

ing

in

even

ing

dres

s an

d ha

t, sh

e be

com

es, f

or h

im, "

som

ethi

ng e

xqui

site,

a

mot

h pe

rhap

s" w

ho, h

e fe

ars,

"mig

ht fl

y ou

t the

win

dow

and

disa

ppea

r fo

reve

r." L

ater,

whe

n sh

e ha

s ta

ken

up fl

ying

aga

in, a

clo

se-u

p of

her

fa

ce t

hrou

gh th

e pl

ane's

win

dow

, mas

ked

behi

nd h

er le

athe

r he

lmet

an

d go

ggles

, he

r ey

es w

et w

ith t

ears

, un

derli

nes

her

met

amor

phic

id

entit

y as

wom

an-b

ecom

ing-

mot

h in

the

film

's fin

al s

eque

nce.

At

33,0

00 fe

et, in

the

mid

st o

f set

ting

a ne

w a

ltitu

de re

cord

, she

beg

ins t

o di

sinte

grat

e. T

he g

ener

ous p

ietie

s of S

trong

's go

od w

ife ri

ngin

g in

her

46

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

ears

, sh

e re

mov

es h

er o

xyge

n m

ask

and

lose

s co

ntro

l of

the

plan

e;

ambi

guou

sly

clut

chin

g th

e m

ask

(sui

cide

or a

n ac

cide

nt?)

, her

rock

ing

side

to s

ide

and

dow

nwar

d su

gges

ts an

hys

teric

al fi

t. In

con

trast

, the

pl

ane's

des

cent

is s

hot a

t a d

ista

nce

to s

how

off

wha

t mig

ht h

ave

been

he

rs b

ut fo

r lov

e; an

aer

onau

tical

virt

uosi

ty a

nd a

bsol

ute

cont

rol.

The

plan

e ex

pertl

y sp

irals

dow

n an

d in

war

d in

a m

agni

ficen

t loo

ping

stun

t m

aneu

ver u

ntil,

in a

noth

er sh

ot, i

t cra

shes

. W

hen

Lola

Mon

tes

take

s a

dive

from

a p

latfo

rm u

nder

the

big

top,

sh

e el

ects

to d

o it

with

out t

he n

et. A

form

er "

danc

er;'

soci

al c

limbe

r, an

d em

anci

pate

d w

oman

who

se fa

tal c

harm

s ha

ve c

aptiv

ated

arti

sts,

ro

yalty

, and

revo

lutio

narie

s, sh

e ap

pear

s in

the

film

firs

t and

last,

as

the

cent

erpi

ece

of a

circ

us a

ct c

onst

ruct

ed a

roun

d el

abor

atel

y co

s-tu

med

and

orc

hest

rate

d ep

isod

es i

n he

r lif

e. Fl

ashb

acks

sug

gest

anot

her

vers

ion

of h

er l

ife i

n fo

rwar

d m

otio

n, w

hen

she

was

in

dieg

etic

con

trol.

But,

redu

ced

to a

mai

n at

trac

tion

at th

e ci

rcus

, she

is

alm

ost e

ntire

ly im

mob

ile. T

he c

amer

a m

oves

aro

und

her i

n sw

irlin

g,

wid

e sho

ts w

hile

the

ringm

aste

r sna

ps h

is w

hip

and

narr

ates

her

life

as

a se

ries

of co

mm

ands

and

ann

ounc

emen

ts. H

er li

fe r

isks

are

enac

ted

as a

crob

atic

act

s or

on

the

trape

ze.

Her

incr

edib

le r

ise,

"hig

her a

nd

high

er,

to t

he h

eigh

t of

her

car

eer,"

is

mim

icke

d in

her

rise

to

the

uppe

r re

gion

s of

the

circ

us t

ent,

whe

re s

he r

eadi

es h

erse

lf fo

r th

e in

evita

ble

desc

ent.

Poise

d to

jum

p, sh

e sw

ays b

ack

and

forth

whi

le th

e di

zzyi

ng c

amer

a m

ovem

ent (

part

of t

he a

ct?)

sug

gests

illn

ess,

fear

, and

hes

itatio

n, u

ntil

sudd

enly

she

see

ms

to f

aint

into

the

dow

nwar

d sp

aces

whi

ch u

nfol

d be

fore

the

vie

wer

's ey

es a

s if

they

too

wer

e pl

ungi

ng t

o ob

livio

n.

Bla

ckou

t. Lo

la th

en is

seen

for t

he la

st ti

me

as a

side

show

, beh

ind

bars

, in

the

men

ager

ie w

ith th

e an

imal

act

s, ex

tend

ing

her

"ext

raor

dina

ry

and

piqu

ant f

avor

s" to

the

mas

ses o

f men

will

ing

to b

uy ch

eap

ticke

ts.

Her

ide

ntity

is

redu

ced

to p

reci

sely

wha

t ea

rlier

as

an "

attra

ctiv

e w

oman

" sh

e de

nied

: "I a

m n

ot a

fairg

roun

d fre

ak."

The e

xces

s of b

oth

exam

ples

lies

in th

e do

uble

loss

of b

alan

ce w

ithin

th

e fa

ll. T

he h

eroi

nes

both

fain

t/fei

nt a

nd fa

ll, a

nd th

e tw

o m

omen

ts

r U

P T

HE

RE

, O

UT

TH

ER

E

47

are

not i

dent

ical

, or a

t lea

st th

e re

latio

nshi

p be

twee

n th

e fa

int/f

eint

is

not c

erta

in (

out o

f syn

c). D

oes

Lola

colla

pse

and

(tum

ble)

ina

dver

-te

ntly

dow

nwar

d, la

ndin

g m

iracu

lous

ly?

Doe

s La

dy C

ynth

ia p

ass

out

or is

she

com

mitt

ing

suic

ide?

Fur

ther

mor

e, th

e fa

lls in

bot

h ca

ses

are

radi

cally

den

atur

aliz

ed,

in C

hris

toph

er S

tron

g by

the

exp

ert

stun

t fly

ing

whi

ch g

uide

s th

e pl

ane

dow

nwar

d, a

nd in

Lol

a M

onte

s by

the

virtu

osic

cam

era

wor

k w

hich

show

s Lo

la's f

all a

s if

she

wer

e op

erat

ing

the

cam

era

hers

elf,

eyes

wid

e op

en a

nd i

n pe

rfec

t con

trol

until

the

bl

acko

ut. B

oth

of th

ese

wom

en a

re, t

o us

e B

alin

t's te

rms,

"attr

activ

e"

but a

lso "

odd,

frig

hten

ing,

and

stra

nge.

" Th

is su

pple

men

tal d

isto

rtion

and

dis

inte

grat

ion

of th

e fe

mal

e su

b-je

ct p

rese

nts

an a

dditi

onal

thr

eat

to t

he m

ale

view

er f

or w

hom

the

fe

mal

e hu

rdlin

g in

spac

e is

"the

sym

ptom

of M

an."

Zize

k's r

eadi

ng o

f su

ch o

ntol

ogic

ally

des

tabi

lizin

g m

omen

ts in

whi

ch, "

thro

ugh

hyste

ri-ca

l bre

akdo

wn,

" th

e w

oman

"as

sum

es h

er n

onex

iste

nce"

and

"co

nsti-

tute

s he

rsel

f as

'su

bjec

t,"'

depe

nds

on a

shi

ft fro

m t

he m

odel

of

desi

ring

wom

an to

a tra

nsge

nder

ed id

entif

icat

ion

with

her

( Zize

k, 6

5).

Des

crib

ing

this

trans

vers

ion

in fi

lm n

oir,

he w

rites

:

Wha

t is

so m

enac

ing

abou

t the

fem

me

fata

le is

not

the

boun

dles

s en

joym

ent

that

ove

rwhe

lms

the

man

and

mak

es h

im w

oman

's pl

ayth

ing

or s

lave

. It

is no

t W

oman

as

obje

ct o

f fas

cina

tion

that

ca

uses

us

to lo

se o

ur se

nse

of ju

dgm

ent a

nd m

oral

atti

tude

but

, on

the

cont

rary

, tha

t whi

ch r

emai

ns h

idde

n be

neat

h th

is f

asci

natin

g m

ask

and

whi

ch a

ppea

rs o

nce

the

mas

ks fa

ll of

f: th

e di

men

sion

of

the

pure

subj

ect f

ully

ass

umin

g th

e de

ath

driv

e. T

o us

e K

antia

n te

r-m

inol

ogy,

wom

an is

not

a t

hrea

t to

man

inso

far

as s

he e

mbo

dies

pa

thol

ogic

al e

njoy

men

t, in

sofa

r as s

he e

nter

s th

e fr

ame

of a

part

ic-

ular

fant

asy.

The

real

dim

ensi

on o

f the

thre

at is

rev

eale

d w

hen

we

"tra

vers

e" t

he f

anta

sy,

whe

n th

e co

ordi

nate

s of

the

fant

asy

spac

e ar

e lo

st v

ia h

yste

rical

bre

akdo

wn

( Ziz

ek, 6

6).

Zize

k's i

nsis

tenc

e on

the

auth

entic

ity o

f the

hys

teric

al l

eap

as a

n as

sum

ptio

n of

non

exis

tenc

e in

whi

ch th

e fe

mal

e fig

ure

is co

nstit

uted

as

a su

bjec

t (as

opp

osed

to th

e m

asqu

erad

e w

hich

hid

es h

er n

othi

ng-

48

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

ness

) is

a da

nger

ous

and

regr

essi

ve d

are,

if t

houg

ht o

f onl

y fr

om t

he

sigh

tline

s of

the

crow

ds o

f mal

e sp

ecta

tors

sho

utin

g up

war

ds, "

Jum

p!

Jum

p!"

As I

hav

e w

ritte

n el

sew

here

, the

pitf

alls

of a

cul

tura

l pol

itics

ba

sed

on a

vol

unta

rist

ic f

emal

e hy

ster

ia s

eem

evi

dent

. B

ut t

he

assu

mpt

ion

of de

ath,

risk

, and

invi

sibi

lity

may

be

the

pric

e of

mov

ing

beyo

nd a

nar

row

pol

itics

of i

dent

ity a

nd p

lace

. Ziz

ek's

desc

ript

ion

of

the

mal

e tr

aver

sing

of f

anta

sy s

pace

, and

the

resu

lting

loss

of s

ight

-lin

es a

nd c

oord

inat

es in

that

mom

ent w

hen

the

hero

ine

of th

ese

hys-

teri

cal

spec

tacl

es i

s "a

ssum

ing

her

own

fate

," ( Z

izek

, 66

) no

t on

ly

sugg

ests

a r

adic

al "

mal

e su

bjec

tivity

at t

he m

argi

ns,"

73 b

ut a

lso

sug-

gest

s, in

the

term

s el

abor

ated

by

Judi

th B

utle

r, an

und

erst

andi

ng o

f pe

rfor

mat

ivity

as

a co

mpu

lsor

y pr

actic

e bu

t not

one

tha

t fo

recl

oses

ag

ency

.74 To

"as

sum

e on

e's

own

fate

" in

this

inst

ance

is n

ot a

del

iber

-at

e, w

illfu

l ch

oice

mad

e by

an

alre

ady

exis

ting

(fem

ale)

sub

ject

. Id

entit

y is

"ass

umed

" w

ithin

the

com

puls

ory

enac

tmen

t of f

allin

g, a

re

vers

al o

f the

usu

al m

etap

hors

of c

omin

g in

to v

isib

ility

as th

e m

odel

of

empo

wer

men

t and

libe

ratio

n.

The

cine

mat

ic e

xam

ples

off

ered

abo

ve h

ave

been

sur

pass

ed im

plic

-itl

y in

con

tem

pora

ry fe

min

ist p

erfo

rman

ce w

hich

ass

umes

an

"act

ive

vani

shin

g" w

hich

Peg

gy P

hela

n de

scib

es a

s "a

cons

ciou

s ref

usal

to ta

ke

the

payo

ff o

f vis

ibili

ty."

75 I

n ex

peri

men

tal c

ritic

al w

ritin

g, th

e un

usua

l ta

ctic

of s

pect

acul

ariz

ing

the

nonv

isib

le h

as b

een

extr

emel

y ef

fect

ive

in th

emat

izin

g th

e ab

sent

subj

ect.

A s

trik

ing

exam

ple

is co

ntai

ned

in

Sue-

Elle

n C

ase's

witt

y ev

ocat

ion

of th

e im

patie

nt "l

esbi

an v

ampi

re"

as

a gh

ostly

dou

ble

wai

ting

repr

esen

tatio

nally

off

stag

e.76

Eve

Kos

ofsk

y Se

dgw

ick,

who

freq

uent

ly u

ses

the

imag

e of

her

bod

y to

sug

gest

the

com

plex

ities

and

tens

ions

of i

dent

ity p

oliti

cs, d

escr

ibes

an

othe

r kin

d of

activ

e va

nish

ing.

Her

e ag

ain

is th

e fa

llen

wom

an, b

ut

this

tim

e no

t one

who

has

plu

nged

or

tum

bled

fro

m a

gre

at h

eigh

t, bu

t on

e w

ho u

nder

the

mul

tiple

infl

uenc

es o

f hea

t, ex

cite

men

t, an

d th

e re

sidu

al e

ffect

s of s

urge

ry a

nd c

hem

othe

rapy

sim

ply

sits

dow

n in

a fa

int.

She

is m

arch

ing

at a

pub

lic d

emon

stra

tion

in t

he S

umm

er o

f 19

91 i

n N

orth

Car

olin

a, p

rote

stin

g th

e th

e lo

cal P

BS s

tatio

n's

cens

or-

ship

of T

ongu

es U

ntie

d, a

film

by

Mar

lon

Rigg

s w

hich

pre

sent

s im

ages

UP

TH

ER

E,

OU

T T

HE

RE

4!

)

of B

lack

gay

men

in th

e U

.S. A

larg

e, p

ale,

whi

te w

oman

, dre

ssed

in a

bl

ack

ACT-

UP t

ee-s

hirt

with

the

SIL

ENCE

=DEA

TH g

raph

ic a

cros

s he

r ch

est,

she

is s

tand

ing

(up)

for

the

"ap

pare

ntly

unr

epre

sent

ably

dan

-ge

rous

and

end

ange

red

conj

unct

ion,

que

er a

nd b

lack

," a

nd s

he i

s, ho

wev

er in

adve

rtan

tly, a

bout

to s

tand

dow

n, r

esig

n fr

om, b

e cu

t out

of

this

pol

itica

l fra

me

of re

fere

nce:

Afte

r aw

hile

I co

uld

tell

I was

feel

ing

tired

and

diz

zy; s

ensi

bly

I sat

do

wn.

The

re w

as s

omet

hing

so a

bsor

bing

and

so r

adic

ally

het

ero-

gene

ous

abou

t thi

s sp

ace

of p

rote

st th

at w

hen,

nex

t thi

ng I

knew

, th

e ur

gent

sou

nd o

f my

nam

e an

d a

slow

ly-d

awni

ng s

ense

of d

is-

orie

ntat

ion

sugg

este

d th

at I

seem

ed v

ery

oddl

y to

be

stre

tche

d ou

t in

the

dir

t-co

min

g to

-sur

faci

ng v

iole

ntly

from

the

dee

p pi

t of

anot

her w

orld

-wit

h a s

tate

troo

per t

akin

g m

y pu

lse

and

an a

mbu

-la

nce

alre

ady

on th

e w

ay-t

he g

apin

g un

brid

geab

le h

ole

left

in m

y ow

n co

nsci

ousn

ess

felt

like

a m

is-e

n-ab

ime

imag

e of

the

who

le

afte

rnoo

n; n

ot le

ast b

ecau

se th

e im

age,

a c

ompe

lling

one

on

whi

ch

both

TV

cam

eras

wer

e si

ghtli

nes

("N

ow th

at's

cens

orsh

ip,"

the

TV

peop

le r

umbl

ed, w

ith s

ome

just

ice)

-tha

t im

age,

of a

mou

ntai

n-ou

s fig

ure,

supi

ne, b

lack

-dad

, pap

er-w

hite

, wei

rdly

bal

d (s

ince

my

nice

Afr

ican

hat

had

pitc

hed

to a

dis

tanc

e),

S1LE

NCE=

DEAT

H em

blaz

oned

, mot

ionl

ess,

appa

rent

ly fe

mal

e, u

ncan

nily

gra

vid

with

m

eani

ng, b

ut w

ith w

hat p

ossi

ble

mea

ning

? w

hat u

sabl

e m

eani

ng?,

wa

s ava

ilabl

e to

eve

rybo

dy th

ere

exce

pt h

erse

lf. 77

Bot

h C

ase

and

Sedg

wic

k ha

ve p

rodu

ced

exce

ssiv

e bo

dies

, and

eac

h in

a d

iffer

ent w

ay h

as s

ugge

sted

the

crue

l pro

toco

ls o

f exc

lusi

on a

nd

invi

sibi

lity

whi

ch g

over

n co

ntem

pora

ry p

oliti

cal s

pect

acle

. The

com

-pu

lsor

y de

man

d to

"pr

oduc

e th

e bo

dy"

as t

he s

ine

qua

non

of id

en-

tity

-to

pro

ve th

at a

pers

on o

r a g

roup

is "

repr

esen

ted"

in th

e po

litic

al

and

tech

nolo

gica

l sen

se-i

s an

swer

ed u

ncan

nily

with

imag

es th

at a

re

in a

nd o

ut o

f sig

ht si

mul

tane

ousl

y. S

edgw

ick'

s im

age

poin

ts, a

s wel

l, to

th

e na

rrat

ive

inad

vert

enci

es w

hich

pro

duce

im

ages

of

the

self

that

un

pred

icta

bly

and

unco

nsci

ousl

y st

and

as a

nd fo

r ot

hers

. Wha

t new

m

odel

of s

ocia

lity

coul

d ac

com

odat

e th

ese

impr

ovis

ator

y en

sem

bles

of

acci

dent

al b

odie

s?

50

TH

E F

EM

AL

E G

RO

TE

SQU

E

A

Fin

al

Stu

nt

an

d a

n A

nim

al

Act

In th

e m

oder

nist

con

flatio

n of

a ce

rtain

fem

ale

icon

ogra

phy

with

bo

urge

ois

ideo

logy

, fre

edom

is o

ften

uncr

itica

lly c

once

ived

as

limit-

less

spa

ce, t

rans

cend

ence

, new

ness

, ind

ivid

ualis

m, a

nd u

pwar

d m

o-bi

lity

of va

rious

kin

ds. C

onte

mpo

rary

theo

ries o

f spa

tialit

y an

d po

wer

ha

ve s

ugge

sted,

on

the

cont

rary

, tha

t spa

ce is

soc

ially

and

mat

eria

lly

satu

rate

d w

hate

ver i

ts di

men

sion

ality

. No

spac

e is

too

smal

l to

repl

i-ca

te, o

r, to

beg

in to

ove

rthro

w s

truct

ures

of p

ower

, no

spac

e is

too

larg

e (h

ere

read

the

Uni

ted

Stat

es a

s offe

ring

itsel

f to

the

wor

ld a

s th

e m

odel

of f

reed

om)

to d

issol

ve c

onst

rain

ts e

ffortl

essly

. W

hat

mig

ht

subs

titut

e fo

r thi

s ex

pans

ioni

st m

odel

? C

an o

ne lo

cate

the

philo

batic

im

agin

atio

n w

ithin

the

conf

ines

of t

he g

rote

sque

? In

Kaf

ka, o

r Min

or L

itera

ture

, Gill

es D

eleu

ze a

nd F

elix

Gua

ttari

sug-

gest

a m

ore

limite

d an

d iro

nic

conc

ept o

f the

"lin

e of

esca

pe"

or "w

ay

out"

as a

refo

rmul

atio

n of

free

dom

.78 T

hey

refe

r to

Kaf

ka's

shor

t sto

ry,

''A R

epor

t to

an

Aca

dem

y,"

in w

hich

a "

form

er a

pe"

who

has

bee

n fo

rced

int

o ca

ptiv

ity d

escr

ibes

the

ver

y gr

otes

que

absu

rdity

of

the

trape

ze ac

t as u

ncan

ny, m

imet

ic p

erfo

rman

ce:

I fe

ar t

hat p

erha

ps y

ou d

o no

t qui

te u

nder

stan

d w

hat I

mea

n by

"w

ay o

ut."

I use

the

expr

essi

on in

its f

ulle

st an

d m

ost p

opul

ar se

nse.

I

delib

erat

ely

do n

ot u

se t

he w

ord

"fre

edom

." I

do n

ot m

ean

the

spac

ious

feel

ing

of fr

eedo

m o

n all

sid

es. A

s an

ape,

per

haps

, I k

new

th

at, a

nd I

have

met

men

who

yea

rn fo

r it.

But f

or m

y pa

rt I

desi

red

such

fre

edom

nei

ther

then

nor

now

. In

pass

ing:

may

I sa

y th

at a

ll to

o of

ten

men

are

betra

yed

by th

e w

ord

free

dom

. And

as fr

eedo

m is

co

unte

d am

ong

the

mos

t su

blim

e fe

elin

gs,

so t

he c

orre

spon

ding

di

sillu

sion

men

t can

be

also

subl

ime.

In v

arie

ty th

eate

rs I

have

ofte

n w

atch

ed, b

efor

e m

y tu

rn c

ame

on, a

cou

ple

of ac

roba

ts p

erfo

rmin

g on

trap

ezes

hig

h in

the

roof

. The

y sw

ung

them

selv

es, t

hey

rock

ed to

an

d fro

, the

y spr

ang

into

the

air,

they

floa

ted

into

each

oth

er's

arm

s, on

e hu

ng b

y th

e ha

ir fr

om th

e te

eth

of th

e ot

her.

"And

that

too

is hu

man

fre

edom

" I

thou

ght,

"sel

f-co

ntro

lled

mov

emen

t." W

hat

a m

ocke

ry o

f hol

y M

othe

r Nat

ure!

Wer

e th

e ap

es to

see s

uch

a sp

ecta

-cle

, no

thea

ter w

alls c

ould

stan

d th

e sh

ock

of th

eir l

augh

ter.

r l U

P T

HE

RE

, O

UT

TH

ER

E

No,

free

dom

was

not

wha

t I w

ante

d. O

nly

a way

out

; rig

ht o

r lef

t, or

in

any

dire

ctio

n; I

mad

e no

oth

er d

eman

d; e

ven

shou

ld th

e w

ay o

ut

prov

e to

' be

an i

llusio

n; t

he d

eman

d wa

s a

smal

l on

e, t

he d

isap

-po

intm

ent c

ould

be

no b

igge

r. To

get

out

! Onl

y no

t to

stay

mot

ion-

less w

ith ra

ised

arm

s, cr

ushe

d ag

ains

t a w

oode

n w

all.79

51

Wha

t th

e ap

e se

es i

n th

e ci

rcus

act

(re

trosp

ectiv

ely,

sin

ce h

e ha

s go

ne s

ome

way

in b

ecom

ing

hum

an th

roug

h ca

refu

l im

itatio

n) is

the

ludi

crou

snes

s of

the

hum

anis

tic id

eal o

f fre

edom

as

"sel

f-co

ntro

lled

mot

ion.

" Fr

om h

is pe

rspe

ctiv

e, th

e "p

ositi

ve b

iolo

gica

l dis

cont

inui

ty"

whi

ch h

olds

spe

ctat

ors

in a

we lo

oks

like

a hi

lario

us p

arod

y, a

n aw

k-w

ard

imita

tion

of a

nim

al g

race

and

exu

bera

nce.

Hum

an f

reed

om

look

s lik

e th

e ad

aptiv

e, m

imet

ic b

ehav

ior o

f tra

ined

ani

mal

s-a

form

of

self-

defe

nse

whi

ch i

s fin

ally

les

s vi

tal

than

ent

ropi

c. T

he m

uch

soug

ht a

fter

diff

eren

tiatio

n of

the

spec

ies-

free

dom

as

that

whi

ch

mak

es "

us"

hum

an-t

urns

out

to b

e an

othe

r ve

rsio

n of

impr

ison

-m

ent:

the

anim

al a

ct is

alw

ays

dang

erou

sly

cont

iguo

us to

the

trape

ze,

the

clow

n is

alway

s ar

ound

som

ewhe

re ta

king

his

prat

falls

, the

"od

d,

frigh

teni

ng w

omen

" ar

e st

ashe

d so

mew

here

in t

he s

ides

how

. Th

ese

grot

esqu

e an

d "i

nhum

an"

exhi

bitio

ns ar

e ne

ver l

eft e

ntire

ly b

ehin

d by

th

e en

actm

ents

of f

reed

om in

the

air b

ecau

se th

e ve

ry id

ea o

f fre

edom

as

a f

light

fro

m t

he b

odily

tak

es w

ing,

so

to s

peak

, fr

om t

he v

ery

shap

es a

nd m

ovem

ents

it w

ould

leav

e beh

ind.