School of Culture and Communication - Theses
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ItemBeyond the femme fatale: the mythical Pandora as cathartic, transformational force in selected Lulu, Lola and Pandora texts( 2009)The Pandora myth lies at the very heart of our cultural self-definition. The phrase 'Pandora's box' is commonly used to denote any form of multiple/uncontrolled disaster, continually reinscribing, at least at the unconscious level, the idea of femininity—and of female sexuality in particular—as alluring and desirable, but also dangerous, irrational, uncontrolled and chaotic, the source of all the world's ills. Of the myriad of textual and artistic manifestations of Pandora since her inception, those that portray her as femme fatale have received the most attention; that Pandora also offers Hope has largely been neglected. This project explores an idea of Pandora which is much more complex and multi-faceted than her traditional casting as early femme fatale. Taking as general background Julia Kristeva's notion of intertextuality and Judith Butler's concept of identity and gender as performatively constructed, multiple and even 'contradictory', this intertextual study interrogates a cluster of interconnected works that incorporate major aspects of the Pandora myth. The investigation demonstrates that Pandora's 'chaos', resisting all attempts to box and frame it, can be read as a cathartic, transformative force which is not always destructive, but may also be productive, generative and even redemptive. The works examined are drawn mainly from the cinema and span the twentieth century. All of these texts feature either a Lulu or related Lola character, or Pandora herself, as female protagonist. Because of the wealth of attention already devoted to the figure of the femme fatale, my primary focus is the texts of the Lulu/Lola/Pandora selection that portray Pandora as Redeemer. A detailed study of these texts in terms of the Pandora myth explores aspects of Pandora that exceed the boundaries of her traditional framing as harbinger of disaster. This broader perspective on Pandora not only enhances the overall conception of the myth and of the Redeemer works, but also adds resonance to the femme fatale texts themselves.