School of Culture and Communication - Theses
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ItemExtreme males: autistic masculinity in three bestsellers( 2015)Inspired by Simon Baron-Cohen’s theory that autism can be understood as an extreme version of typical male behaviour, this thesis will examine whether this view is reflected in the representation of autistic males in best-selling fiction (“Extreme Male Brain” 248). It will investigate autism representations in the context of hegemonic masculinity, by comparing the behaviour of Christopher Boone from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Jacob Hunt from House Rules, and Don Tillman from The Rosie Project to Linda Lindsey’s masculinity norms. These include anti-femininity, emotional reticence, success, intelligence, toughness, aggressiveness and an obsessive heterosexuality (Lindsey 241-7). While Christopher's surprising violence, extreme intelligence, insensitivity and stubbornness are masculine traits, his asexuality disqualifies him from being an extreme male. Jacob’s masculinity is shown in his aggressiveness, intellect and physique, but is undermined by his ambiguous sexuality and patchy career history. Don’s physical appearance, heterosexuality, stoic attitude and intellect are all masculine qualities, unlike his need for social guidance and apparent virginity at the novel’s beginning. All three characters are white and compensate for a lack of emotional awareness with hyper-rationality. Their paradoxical masculinity may account for their novels’ success. This thesis finds that these three fictional autistics are not extreme males by the standards of hegemonic masculinity.
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ItemWe have voices, too: literacy, alternative modernities, and Indonesian domestic workers in Hong Kong( 2015)Migrant domestic workers are arguably one of the most exploited and subordinated groups of women in the international division of labour under global capitalism. However, they are active in negotiating the prevailing power structures in the transnational labour market. My thesis examines the significance of literacy practices to the cultural and subjective experience of Indonesian Domestic Workers (IDWs) in Hong Kong. Using three sites of culture as case studies—the Forum Lingkar Pena Hong Kong (Pen Circle Forum, FLP-HK) writing community, IDWs’ blogging community, and the practice of suitcase libraries—I argue that IDWs actively exercise agency by engaging in literacy practices, which embody various forms of self-modernisation. Through extensive ethnography and textual analysis of IDWs’ writings, the study reveals that IDWs in the FLP-HK writing community define their own meaning of Islamic modernity by writing to maintain and develop self-reflexive and spiritual interiority. Meanwhile, IDW bloggers are engaged in digital literacy practices that consciously challenge the stereotypes of stupid and uneducated maids and create new images of smart and technologically literate women. Furthermore, their engagement in ICTs—a key element of modernity—for social and political activism enables their elaboration of and participation in an alternative public sphere. Finally, IDWs’ suitcase library practices aimed at fostering reading practices carry the literacy mission as another element of modernity. More importantly, suitcase libraries serve as literacy hubs in which the various forms of IDWs’ literacy practices converge, and thus facilitate IDWs’ participation in an alternative public sphere, in which IDWs create forums of literacy-related public discussions. The above three sites of culture and the elements of modernity they negotiate are the manifestations of IDWs’ definitions of their own meanings of modernity.
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ItemThe politics of empowerment: young adult literature, heterotopia and the possibility of social change( 2015)Critical component Young Adult (YA) literature features adolescent protagonists challenging dominant power structures in order to experience transformation and development – the postmodern entwicklungsroman. This thesis will deploy Foucault’s theory of heterotopia to locate spaces that are empowering not only for the adolescents within a fictional text, but also for teen readers. An analysis of Janet Tashjian’s Vote for Larry, David Levithan’s Wide Awake and Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother reveals a seemingly unavoidable ideological didacticism that closes down possibilities for seeing the world differently. Although Meg Cabot’s chick-lit series The Princess Diaries and All American Girl are more successful in achieving a politically transgressive approach, they also ultimately succumb to ideological dogma, failing to open up a dialectical space between author and reader. Although similarly didactic, JK Rowling’s Harry Potter novels contain an incompatible jumble of ideology that prevents the reader from being forced into a closed utopian locus. This contradictory space allows readers to narrate their own ideologies through fan fiction, within the fictional world but outside of the original text. In the case of the Harry Potter Alliance, the fan-space opens up into an alternative pathway to activism – creating transformative and empowering possibilities for young readers. This marriage of fiction, fandom and activism is further explored in an analysis of John Green’s Paper Towns, and the Nerdfighters community. Unlike Rowling, Green is an active participant in this online community, consciously destabilising the author/reader binary and encouraging a cultural hybridity that opens up new possibilities for social organising and activism. The YA heterotopia creates not only new pathways to resistance, transformation and social change, but also offers radical new possibilities for fiction in the space revealed between author, text and reader. Creative component Green Valentine is a YA novel that blends romance, humour, environmentalism, community and social change. The emotional development of protagonist Astrid reflects the procession of arguments in the critical work. Astrid is passionate about politics and environmentalism, but is trapped by her own didactic ideology. After experiencing the transformational power of heterotopian space – a guerilla garden – she learns to see her drab suburb of Valentine differently, empowering her to resist the cultural hegemony of her world and become a catalyst for social change. It is in the alternative space of the garden that Astrid begins to see the world differently – her growth and transformation mirroring the organic metamorphosis of ugly, concrete Valentine into an oasis of subversive greenery. Astrid’s Victory Garden enables her to imagine new ways of thinking and being, beyond the fixed dystopia of present-Valentine, or the stark utopian vision of Mayor Tanaka’s future-Valentine. Astrid gains an understanding of the multitude – realising the futility of trying to impose her own ideological dogma upon others, and instead embracing the rhizomatic power of individual subjectivities united in alternative spaces. By allowing the unpredictability of the wilderness into the static rigidity of Valentine, a heterotopian space opens up that transforms not only Astrid, but the entire Valentine community, empowering them to resist, subvert and bring about social change.
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ItemWriting for singing: conceptualising lyric address in contemporary songwriting( 2015)This project investigates conceptual approaches to writing popular song lyrics. Through examination of a selection of popular song lyrics from Bette Davis Eyes (Carnes 1981) to Snowflake (Bush 2011), I explore two main textual dimensions: the lyric voice and its act of address; and types of writing such as argumentative discourse, descriptive discourse, and narrative discourse, that are used to structure song lyrics. In doing so, this thesis identifies key tensions in the construction of song lyrics between song as a literal address with fictional features and song as a performance text that is designed to facilitate affective listening experiences for its audience. The creative component of this thesis is a folio of song recordings with lyrics that explore the lyric address, including narrative discourse, argument-driven structures, and unfolding lyric description. These texts attempt to negotiate the writing of a fictive address and creating lyrics that facilitate evocative experiences for listeners.