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Reaffirmation and transformation of gender in popular film: A feminist approach to mythic rhetoric

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Reaffirmation and transformation of gender in popular film: A feminist approach to mythic rhetoric

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Content RE AFFIRMATION AND TRANSFORMATION OF GENDER
IN POPULAR FILM: A FEMINIST APPROACH TO
MYTHIC RHETORIC
by
Barbara Louise Baker
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(Communication Arts and Sciences)
August 1990
Copyright 1990 Barbara Louise Baker
UMI Number: DP71313
All rights reserved
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y.ûi
This dissertation, written by
BARBARA.. LOU.I.SE.. .BAKER..............................
under the direction of h.QX. Dissertation
Committee, and approved by all its members,
has been presented to and accepted by The
Graduate School, in partial fulfillment of re
quirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
Dean of Graduate Studies
Date z «
DISSERTATION COMMITTEE
Chairperson
11
To the memory of my father, Ray Gordon Baker,
who always encouraged me to achieve my best
Ill
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This project was conceived several years ago, growing out of a paper I
delivered to the University Film Association. It had a long, difficult gestation
during which I often felt like the Goddess Ereshkigal, groaning in labor pains.
It has finally arrived into the world, with various strengths and faults, like
any child. The process of working on this project could also be described as
weaving a large tapestry on a hand-operated loom, or slowly simmering a
stew that required a long time to cook in order to be edible. If these
metaphors seem strange as a description for the scholarly process, it is
because they are taken from the experience of being a woman. To reflect
that experience is partly what this study is all about— the analysis and
evaluation of a series of popular films designed primarily to appeal to men,
from a "woman's point of view." If I have been successful in this attempt it
is because I have had a lot of excellent support and advice which I want to
take this opportunity to acknowledge. However, I take full responsiblity for
any errors in the study.
First, I extend thanks to the faculty at USC, most especially my
dissertation committee. The chair, Walter R. Fisher, was extremely helpful in
his comments on the many versions of this study as it progressed toward
completion. He was also supportive of the many difficulties and delays that
plagued my progress. In addition, I thank Karen Altman for her perceptive
suggestions as well as her full support for the project, though she came onto
the committee after it was well underway. I also extend my appreciation to
iv
Marsha Kinder for her clarification of feminist füm theory and her probing
criticisms of my chapter drafts which stimulated me to greater insight and
creativity. Finally, I thank Thomas Hollihan for his contributions to the first
draft of Chapter One.
No project as time-consuming and encompassing as this one can be
completed without the cooperation and help of many persons— too many to
fully list here. However, I do want to thank some of those persons who
assisted in the development of this project in a variety of ways. Most
especially, I wish to convey my appreciation to Victoria O'Donnell, mentor,
former boss, and good friend, who first interested me in the connections
between myth, rhetoric, and film, and who continually supported and
believed in me, even when I doubted myself. Her comments on several
convention papers further clarified my thinking. In addition, I thank two
current colleagues at Central Missouri State University— Sam Cox, for helping
me learn WordPerfect; and Carol Benton, for her friendship and support.
Further, I acknowledge the support of my work from the Women's
Caucus of the Speech Communication Association, first for being selected to
present part of my work for a Caucus-sponsored panel during the annual
meeting of SC A in 1986, and second for the encouragement of Anita Taylor
and Lois Self. I am also grateful to my good friend, Donna Berliner, for her
willingness to engage in many long discussions about feminism, structuralism,
psychoanalysis, and postmodernism. And I value the responses received
from some of my upper-division and graduate students, both current and
former, challenging me to further justify my ideas. Additional thanks are due
V
to Janice Hocker Rushing, for sending me an advance copy of her article on
Alien/Aliens, and to Avis Baker, on staff for the Dean of the College of Arts
and Sciences at CMSU, for helping me format and print the rough drafts of
this study.
Finally, 1 express my deep appreciation to members of my family for
their love and encouragement. In particular, 1 thank my mother, Dorothy
Baker, who provided me with emotional and financial support, both essential
to the successful completion of this project. 1 also thank my sister Nancy,
because she was struggling through a similar process at Tulane University
and could empathize; and my sister Susan, for her continual love, as well as
many long talks about the Star Wars trilogy. 1 owe some important insights
to these discussions. In addition, 1 am profoundly grateful to my husband,
Gregory Whitcher, for his willingness to take over the household tasks and to
move to new states for my career. His love, encouragement, and behef in
my abilities has helped keep me strong enough to persevere. 1 see in him
the truest example of the "new" male hero, and 1 extend to him my deepest
thanks and love, forever and a week.
Barbara Louise Baker
August, 1990
VI
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION................................................................... 1
Purpose
Rationale/Theoretical Justifications
Central Assumptions of the Study
Methodology and Data Selection
CHAPTER 2: RHETORICAL APPROACHES TO MYTHIC
RHETORIC........................................................ 68
CHAPTER 3:
The Heroic Quest Motif
Evolutionary Transformation of the Heroic
Quest Motif
Limitations of the Evolutionary Model of
Mythic Rhetoric
A FEMINIST-RHETORICAL APPROACH TO
MYTHIC NARRATIVES..................................... 126
CHAPTER 4:
The Dialectic of Masculine/Feminine
Rhetorical Responses to Dialectical Tensions
Assessment of Mythic Rhetoric
PUTTING HER IN HER PLACE: INDIANA
JONES AND THE MYTHIC REPRESSION OF
'THE FEM ININE'................................................ 176
CHAPTER 5:
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana lones and the Temple of Doom
Preliminary Assessments
ANDROGYNY AS RHETORICAL RESPONSE
IN STAR W ARS................................................... 232
Star Wars IV: A New Hope
Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
Star Wars VI: Return of the ledi
Preliminary Assessments
vil
Page
CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSIONS...................................................................... 316
Method
Reaffirmation and Transformation of Gender:
The Appeal of Mythic Rhetoric in
Popular Film
The Postmodern Subversion of the Heroic
Quest Myth
Implications for Rhetorical Theory and Criticism
Implications for Feminist Theory and Criticism
Implications for Film/Cultural Studies
Recommendations for Further Research
BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................................................. 354
FILMOGRAPHY................................................................................................. 387
Vlll
LIST OF FIGURES
Page
FIGURE 1: THE MONOMYTH..................................................................... 43
FIGURE 2: MASCULINE MYTHOS.................................................................. 44
FIGURE 3: FEMININE MYTHOS.................................................................. 46
FIGURE 4: MASCULINE VERSUS FEMININE ..................................... 138
FIGURE 5; SIMILARITIES BETWEEN MARION RAVENWOOD
AND WILLIE SCOTT.............................................................. 179
IX
ABSTRACT
j This dissertation examines the portrayal of gender in Raiders of the
! Lost Ark, Indiana Tones and the Temple of Doom, and the Star Wars trilogy,
j These films were chosen because of their popularity, their messages regarding
! patriarchy, and their heroic myth form. Concepts used to critique these films
were drawn from rhetorical and feminist theories involving myth, religion,
and ideology. Archetypal images of "masculinity" and "femininity" were
reconceptualized as socially constructed dualities in dialectical conflict. Each
film then was examined to discover how it responded rhetorically to this
I dialectic, whether through reaffirmation, transformation, or subversion of the
dominant gender-ideology of patriarchy. A feminist-rhetorical perspective for
assessing mythic rhetoric in popular films was developed by combining
feminist values with the narrative paradigm, focusing on narrative coherence—
j how well each film fits the formal requirements of the heroic quest myth— and
I narrative fidelity— how well each film corresponds to women's experience, and
I
] its positive or negative effects concerning both men and women in patriarchal
I
culture.
The central conclusion of this investigation was that these films
reinforced rather than challenged patriarchy. The Star Wars trilogy
synthesized the dialectic of "feminine" and "masculine" through a strategy of
androgyny, which had the rhetorical effect of purifying and reaffirming
patriarchy. However, the ambiguous quality of androgyny also presented an
Utopian transformation of gender, partially alleviating the social strains of a
patriarchal system in crisis. Raiders and Indiana Tones were less successful in
either correcting or rejecting patriarchy. They resolved the tension between
"feminine" and "masculine" through dialectical emphasis, which ideologically
reaffirmed patriarchy by displaying the "feminine" as an evil Other, the object
of male attention, subjection, and control. The study also demonstrated that
although these films are primarily conservative and modernist, they implicitly
provided the grounds for subverting the heroic quest myth through their use
of sophisticated technology, contradictory storylines, and other postmodern
elements. Overall, the study revealed that mythic narratives construct and
represent gender in complex ways to reaffirm, transform, or subvert
patriarchy.
Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Humans need stories. Stories entertain us in good times and bad,
provide lessons as to who we are and how we ought to behave, evoke our
most pressing needs and desires, and present solutions to our most pressing
personal and social conflicts. There is no age, no place, no culture that exists
without stories to make sense of the world.^ The modern world is no
exception. In the late twentieth century, life is fraught with tensions,
confusions, and terrors "dangerous almost beyond the power of imagination
to conceive,"^ yet it is also filled with excitement, energy, and the sense that
we are at a "turning point" where humankind will leap forward into a brave
new world.^ Multiple "voices" clamor for attention in the public arena, each
trying to persuade us of the veracity of their visions, the truthfulness of their
tales.
Recently, rhetorical scholars have turned to an examination of narrative
in a number of contexts, including mediated popular culture artifacts. In
doing so, they join other scholars from a wide variety of disciplines, from
literary criticism to medicine.'^ Rhetorical critic Walter R. Fisher argues that
the concept of narration can be used to interpret and assess any human
discourse, since humans are essentially homo narrans, the storytelling animal.
As "symbolic interpretations of aspects of the world occurring in time and
shaped by history, culture, and character," any text functions as a type of
2
moral rhetoric.® As anthropologist Victor Turner observes, narrative,
especially mythic stories, interacts with the social process, "providing it with a
rhetoric, a mode of emplotment, and a meaning." As such, some story genres
are paradigms which inform social and political action.^
For Alasdair MacIntyre the most pervasive of these genres involves the
traditional heroic quest myth, involving, a goal, or telos, that will presumably
benefit humanity, as weU as providing the criteria for success and failure in a
human life as a whole.'”' Through such mythic quests,
children learn or mislearn both what a child and what a
parent is, what the cast of characters may be in the drama
into which they have been born and what the ways of the
world are. Deprive children of stories and you leave them
unscripted, anxious stutterers in their actions as well as
their words. Hence there is no way to give us an
understanding of any society, including our own, except
through the stock of stories which constitute its initial
dramatic resources. Mythology, in its original sense, is at
the heart of things.®
MacIntyre's work has nourished the current revival of interest in mythic
rhetoric on the part of rhetorical scholars. In trying to understand how
humans (variously labeled "the people," "the collectivity," or "the public
mind") interact with discourse, especially in accepting or rejecting public
fantasies and stories, such scholars have turned to a consideration of mythic
narratives, in particular the quest motif as it works itself out in various forms
of discourse, from film to speeches.^
The most notable work in this area has been by Janice Hocker Rushing,
who has traced the evolution of the American frontier narrative through
numerous mythic transformations presumed to occur during periods of crisis
and change in our culture.^® Rushing's work focuses on science-fiction and
3
fantasy films in particular, because she views such films as "the most
important contemporary genre for presenting and responding to the rhetorical
; exigence of fragmentation." Contained within such films, she claims, is a
"rhetoric of transcendence" that makes "cosmic connections" between certain
dialectical conflicts encoded in the texts, especially that of the individual
versus the community. These connections indicate an emerging mythos of a
I "New Frontier" where individuals cooperate to overcome social and "ultimate"
exigencies (e.g. fears of separation and death)."
Rushing is not the only scholar to note the mythic dimensions of
science fiction and fantasy films, especially those released since 1977. During
j that year both Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the first Star Wars
I (now retitled Episode IV: A New Hope) captured the imaginations of movie-
i
goers all over the world. Numerous reviews and criticisms of these films,
and other films that followed them, pointed out their mythic and spiritual
dimensions, debating the pros and cons of such narrative themes." These
films were seen to be derivations of archaic myths, legends, and fairy tales,
especially what Joseph Campbell called the "monomyth," a narrative structure
thought to be deeply embedded in our collective, unconscious memories."
Despite differences in the way such terms as mvth, legend and fairy tale are
defined, in modern science-fiction and fantasy the distinctions between
narrative types are collapsed into Americanized pastiches to create updated
mythic stories both novel and nostalgic."
Yet, despite increased interest in such films as rhetorical texts, crucial
questions remain largely unaddressed: whose "truth," whose ideals and
4
values are being advocated by the mythic narratives? And what and who are
left out? Many traditional criticisms of mythic texts gloss over or ignore this
issue, missing an important connection of the heroic quest myth to the
denigration and suppression of women by the dominant social order (or
patriarchy). Such criticism does not sufficiently address the primary divisions
underlying mythic narratives, especially the heroic quest myth, i.e. the
primacy of gender difference in maintaining the patriarchal ideology of the
i
dominant culture. Masculinist assumptions undergirding the analysis of
mythic rhetoric are often left unchallenged, leading some critics to conclude
that the science-fiction/fantasy genre is undergoing transformations to more
"enlightened" heroes."
For some time I have been attempting to address such issues in
research on the films of popular directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg.
In 1983 I posited the existence of a dialectical conflict developing within such
texts between the overt narrative, which I labeled the "masculine mythos,"
and a hidden, covert narrative which I called the "feminine" mythos." The
stereotyped presentation/representation of oppositional, essentialistic gender
differences functioned rhetorically to either reaffirm or subvert the status quo.
In subsequent research, I argued that the dialectic could be resolved through
a rhetorical "vanquishing" of one side of the conflict." In particular, the
hypothesized "feminine mythos" might be repressed and suppressed through
the use of symbolic strategies that imply that the hidden "feminine" is
something monstrous, a terrible danger to society which the hero must
contain or defeat. The symbolic clash between "masculine" and "feminine" in
mythic narratives can also be resolved in synthesis. In another study, I
argued for the emergence of an alternative mythic structure which I labeled
the "androgynous mythos," because it combined the other two types of
narratives in an attempt to alter the nature of the hero and his quest, by
altering our conceptions of gender." The rhetorical efficacy of this attempt,
and its usefulness to both women and men in general, and to feminists in
particular, remain unresolved issues.
Just what is the primary message about gender that is being
promulgated in current popular culture? Must the products of culture always
work to further oppress women while supporting the dominant hegemony, as
Marxist- socialist critics argue? Or can there be transformations that challenge
the dominant representations, and which are not recuperated back into the
hegemonic frame? For example, do certain characters embody both
"masculine" and "feminine" traits? If so, how do audiences react to such
hybrid representations, especially the "feminized" male (but also the
"masculinized" woman)? Do such characters provide evidence of cultural
transformation or of ideological reaffirmation? In other words, what type of
j "solution" to the "problem" of gender difference is provided in popular
j culture, especially science-fiction and fantasy films (which might be expected
I to present imaginative new ways of being)? Furthermore, how might this
j "solution" be undercut by various contradictions, ambiguities, and unresolved
I tensions and conflicts in the text? Do such elements destroy the narrative
^ coherence, or do they instead provide "spaces" for resistance? In general.
6
what are the ideological and transformative functions of mythic narratives in
maintaining or altering our societal conceptions about gender?
These questions, and others, form the general basis of this study, which
incorporates and expands my prior research. My general aim is to draw
upon both rhetorical and feminist theory to create a framework for the
criticism of mythic stories in order to explain more fully how the ideological
and transformative discourse used within such narratives both supports
(reaffirms) and changes (subverts/transforms) the patriarchy." By analyzing
and evaluating the dialectical tensions in several representative science-fiction
and fantasy films, between competing mythical narratives, between strategies
of reaffirmation and subversion, between text and countertext, this study aims
to better assess the efficacy and cultural worthiness of such films as rhetorical
)
I responses to the exigencies of modem life.
I
I
!
j Purpose
The specific purpose of this study is to develop a critical perspective
that is specifically feminist and rhetorical in order to analyze mythic
narratives. Such a combined perspective does not currently exist, despite
concerns within rhetorical studies for "women's issues." As discussed later in
this chapter, and in Chapter Two, current research tends toward either a
traditionalist or socialist bias which constrains analysis and evaluation of how
gender is constructed, maintained, and transformed through mythic discourse
in popular culture.
7
More specifically, this study addresses how the dominant gender-
ideology of patriarchal culture is promulgated through mythic narratives,
especially the heroic quest myth, by the use of rhetorical strategies that both
reaffirm and subvert traditional cultural definitions about gender. It examines
how the dialectical conflicts between masculine and feminine are resolved in
the narrative, whether through repression or synthesis; it further analyzes
I how such resolutions function as ideological or utopian rhetorical strategies,
I
j serving to maintain an d /o r transform (or subvert) patriarchy. It also seeks to
j understand the effects of the disjunction between the "moral" (reaffirming and
transforming) functions of mythic narratives and their economic functions as
manufactured commodities. Furthermore, it seeks to assess how effectively
the narrative structures presented in popular culture meet certain exigencies
in the culture, both "local" (i.e. current cultural trends weakening patriarchal
authority and its dominant gender-ideology) and "ultimate" (i.e. the fears of
fragmentation, separation, and death shared by all humans).
To fulfill these goals, the study first discusses some central
assumptions, definitions, and theoretical principles concerning mythic
narratives, genre, rhetoric and feminism. The discussion is limited to those
issues and concepts central to this study, clarifying certain easily
misunderstood terms while explicating the relationship of prior theory and
criticism to my perspective. From this multidisciplinary review,
methodological criteria are developed for the assessment of mythic narratives
in popular culture from a combined rhetorical-feminist perspective. This
methodology is then applied to five popular science-fiction and fantasy films
8
directed (and/or produced) by George Lucas and Steven Spielberg: Star Wars
IV: A New Hope: A New Hope (1977), Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes
Back (1980), Star Wars VI: Return of the ledi (1983), Raiders of the Lost Ark
(1981), and Indiana lones and the Temple of Doom (1984).
These five films were chosen for a variety of reasons which are
discussed later in the chapter; however, it is pertinent to note that these films
consciously employ the heroic quest motif, as explicated by Joseph Campbell.
In doing so, they inevitably deal with issues of gender and patriarchal
dominance, for such issues are at the core of mythic narratives.^” Yet prior
criticism of these films, if it grapples with gender at all, does so from three
limited perspectives: Marxist-socialist interpretations that analyze how such
narratives use the conventions of heroic myths to further suppress, denigrate,
j
j and oppress women; Freudian interpretations that analyze the Oedipal
I development of the central, usually male, heroes; and archetypal criticism that
argues that updated models of heroic action will unify us as humans,
regardless of gender.^^
None of these studies examines the films as potential rhetorical hybrids
that function in complex and contradictory ways, both supporting and
subverting the dominant patriarchal culture. In many cases, stereotyped ideas
of gender difference and identity are accepted as "givens"; when such
identity is questioned, it is assumed that it can onlv function repressively to
maintain an oppressive political and economic system. Furthermore, no other
criticism of these films assesses the rhetorical impact of narrative ruptures in
them (e.g. the submerged "feminine mythos" in conflict with the dominant
9
"masculine mythos," the use of androgyny to resolve such conflicts, and
postmodern phenomena such as the collapse of traditional genres),
particularly the potential for such ruptures to provide "gaps" that permit
audiences to question existing social relations through alternative
interpretations of mythic narratives.
Rationale /Theoretical Iustif ications
The stance taken in this study is explicitly feminist. Feminist inquiry
has both theoretical and political implications. Rather than just a simple
blend of a "woman's perspective" with traditional models, feminism attempts
to reconceptualize and restructure the basic assumptions of research,
attempting a type of "re-visioning," or seeing anew.“ As Sonja Foss
maintains, a feminist approach to rhetorical criticism "challenges the
theoretical tenets of the rhetorical tradition because they were developed
without a consideration of gender." The feminist critic, Foss argues, seeks to
examine and understand how gender difference is created and maintained
through discourse, not just to expand our knowledge, but to change
repressive "constructions of gender" that limit women's lives.^^ Thus,
feminism is both academic and activist. The task of the feminist critic is not
limited to analysis of women's discourse; it also extends to studies of how
gender is inscribed in discourse, and what that means for both women
and men in the culture.
10
Many feminists would agree with Teresa De Lauretis that gender is not
synonymous with biological sex; rather, it is viewed as a symbolic set of
meanings reflecting patriarchal social values and hierarchies, connected to
political and economic conditions which reinforce social inequality7 " * As such
it is ideological. Jane Flax argues that the problematization of gender as a
category for analysis is important in feminist theorizing." Yet no clear
j consensus exists on how to define the category of gender, with some using
I the terms gender and sexual difference interchangeably, while others
j distinguish between them." For some materialist critics, the concept of sexual
j difference implies what Joan Wallace Scott refers to as a linguistic and
I psychic determinism which "tends to universalize the categories and
I
I relationships of male and female . . . .The phallus is the only signifier; the
i
j process of constructing the gendered subject is, in the end, predictable
i
because always the same."" For the Freudian/Lacanian critic, sexual
difference is concerned with the question of how gendered subjectivities are
constructed linguistically, "through the acquisition of language, rather than
through social ascription or cultural practice." Therefore, "to deconstruct
language is to deconstruct gender; to subvert the symbolic order is to subvert
sexual difference.""
This study takes a middle position; gender is symbolically constructed,
but it is more than a linguistic positioning. I agree with the materialists that
gender does not exist independently of social-political conditions, but rather
"is always shaped within ideological frameworks."" As Showalter observes,
gender is not only concerned with questions of difference, but also of power.
11
or dominance. The practice of sexual hierarchization works to reaffirm a
particular gender-ideology.®” Yet I also agree with Linda Alcoffs "concept of
gendered identity as positionality," in which gender is not an essentialistic
given, nor something unknowable, but is instead "a posit or construct,
formalizable in a non-arbitrary way through a matrix of habits, practices and
I
I discourses." This constructed "gender identity" serves as a point of departure
1 for both politics and identification.®^ The use of the term "gender identity" in
I
this study is not meant to imply any inherent or static sense of self, but
merely the concepts of "masculinity" and "femininity" as they apply to the
characters, archetypes, and themes in the films studied, which act as
mechanisms of identification for the potential audience members receiving
these texts.
Feminist theory is rapidly expanding across the academy; its thought is
complex and diffuse, containing within it many diverse points of view. As
Karen Foss observes, "feminist theory is not a unified body of knowledge,
and consensus does not exist about what should be considered the central
and peripheral concerns of feminist theory."®^ However, most feminists would
agree that feminism concerns itself with the issue of what it means "to call
one aspect of human experience female and another male," for this issue is
central to our academic assumptions about the w orld.® ® A feminist
I perspective seeks change, the alteration of the dominant social order and a
questioning of the assumptions that undergird our lives in male-created and
controlled environments. By challenging the patriarchal status quo, a feminist
approach not only provides alternative interpretations, but also empowers
12
women. By pursuing non-traditional questions that validate women's
concerns and experiences, scholars can provide "a necessary step in the
overall struggle for a transformation of social values that will encourage
redefinition of human society and a reassessment of human values."®^
Paula A. Triechler and Ellen Wartella delineate the various intersections
that can be made between communication and feminism. Feminist thought
can offer communication theory new ways of analyzing power and the
functions of gender-ideology in social discourse, while providing a framework
for connecting gender differences to issues of race, ethnicity, class, and age,
providing "an explicit agenda for social change."®® Feminism also encourages
new and stimulating insights into symbolic processes, pointing to research
"gaps" that require "a gender perspective," while further exploring "the
interdisdpHnary nature of the communication field."® ® Feminism further
improves rhetorical criticism by seeking new ways to assess moral rhetoric,
methods grounded in a relationally-based "ethic of care" in which a concern
for life (over abstract notions of "justice") characterizes human moral
development.®^ Such an ethic points to alternative conceptions of both
communication competence and the nature of heroic action in mythic rhetoric.
Karen and Sonja Foss also maintain that feminism shares many assumptions
with "new paradigm" thought, including a concern for wholeness, for process
over structure, for interdependence rather than hierarchy, for cooperation over
competition, and for approximate rather than absolute descriptions.®®
Similarly, rhetorical and communication theory benefits feminist inquiry
by offering expanded critical paradigms and tools that focus on the symbolic
13
interactions between the creators of narrative texts, the texts themselves, and
the social-cultural contexts of their production and the various audiences for
I the texts. Julia Wood suggests that rhetorical and communication theory
j provides a crucial focus on symbolizing, which should be central to feminist
i
\ inquiry, because nothing is more important to personal and social
development. Such a focus can also help create "the means of resistance"
against the "veils of mystification" surrounding gender-identity and oppression
in this culture.®^
Yet, in spite of these potential benefits, much rhetorical theory and
criticism, even that which focuses on women, has not taken an explicitly
feminist stance.'^” This is so for a number of reasons. Traditionally, rhetoric
as persuasion has been defined within the parameters of what Fisher calls the
Rational-world paradigm, with its emphasis on rational argumentation, which
is presumed to provide an objective, neutral observation of reality.^^ From
such a perspective, feminism is viewed with suspicion because it employs
what Phillip Wander calls "an ideological turn," directly challenging such
assumptions."^ Feminism thus employs methods that are considered "non
objective" by traditional criteria.
This mistaken belief— that traditional perspectives are both "objective"
and apolitical— combined with the negative connotations surrounding the word
"feminist," lead to the marginalizing of feminist thought. As Carole Spitzack
j and Kathryn Carter assert, the "presumably universal principles that guide
I inquiry are not universally applicable . . . .the views and judgments contained
I
I within male registers are imposed on others who do not have male
14
experiences."'^ Lana Rakow insists that men have "'structured the structures',"
thus allowing them "to construct a symbol-system which fits and explains
their experiences, creating a gendered world within which we take our
gendered places."^ Within this gendered world, essentialist stereotypes link
masculinity to the cultural and the transcendent, while femininity is defined
in negative and ambiguous ways as Other to males, as synonymous with
nature, or as a mediating symbol between nature and culture.^
Gender issues are important in human relationships, serving as one of
the crucial exigencies motivating narratives, especially the heroic quest myth
which revolves around a search for identity. Yet if this identity is always
masculine, how can it be "rhetorically true" and beneficial to humanity as a
whole? If the feminine aspects of culture and discourse are constantly
denigrated, silenced, erased, repressed, then the messages of such narratives
are certainly ideological. Traditional rhetorical approaches attempt to mask,
or ignore, textual contradictions; those that prove too disruptive are
"explained away" by claiming the narrative is flawed. Traditional rhetorical
approaches also have a predisposition for being essentialistic or totalizing, to
affirm what Francois Lyotard calls "the master narratives of the west."^^
Much feminist inquiry disputes this essentializing, in which static identities
are legitimized as being natural, "true" or "universal" (thus transhistorical),
arguing that such categories serve to legitimize the domination of women
(along with other "muted groups") in hierarchical societies.^^ Contemporary
■ approaches to the study of mythic rhetoric in popular culture have other
limitations; in particular, the perspective of Rushing, based on concepts of
15
rhetorical narration developed by Thomas S. Frentz is not suited to an
ideological critique.^® Though Rushing does argue for a patriarchal co-option
of the "feminine," her analysis is limited by its essentialism. These points are
further developed in chapter two; here, I only intend to compare her
perspective with various feminist conceptions of myth.
The notion of archetypal "feminine principles" comes from feminist
reconceptualizations of Jungian thought combined with historical data on the
archaic Goddess image of pre-literate culture. For Sylvia Brinton Perera, the
Innana narratives of ancient Sumer provide a model for the modern woman's
quest for an autonomous identity, for w holenessM onica Sjoo and Barbara
Mor point out how the original male hero existed only in relation to the
divine Mother, and could only become divine himself by experiencing both
"cosmic dissolution as well as cosmic union." Only then could such heroes
"transcend arrogance and exploitiveness, and come truly wise."®” Rushing
adapts such concepts, arguing that masculinity and femininity represent
archetypal patterns that "express existential value systems and modes of
perception that are present in both sexes." Thus, she argues, both men and
women suffer a "repression of the feminine" in patriarchal culture.®^
I have three reservations about her framework. First, the overall
"hberal" bias of her "perennial synthesis" limits the challenge of her critique.
"Liberalism," as defined by H. Leslie Steeves, involves applying "the principles
of liberal political philosophy" to "capitalist demands for the protection of
individual autonomy and equality of opportunity." Steeves argues that such
liberalism "cannot account for gendered behavior and the ideology of
16
women's secondary status in society."®^ Second, Rushing asserts that these
archetypal "masculine" and "feminine" principles have "a universal psychic
!
j truth," existing as "a priori polarities akin to the Oriental Yin and Yang." ® ®
I While she disputes Annette Kolodny's "static view' of the feminine archetype,
her conception clearly implies some type of essential gender-difference
existing outside of discourse.®^ Further, despite her assertions that such
heavily stereotyped principles are found in both sexes, the representation of
gender-polarities in the culture tends towards privileging the masculine over
the feminine.
Third, I disagree with Rushing's focus on the individual/community
dialectic found in mythic narratives. By limiting herself to this conflict, she
cannot address adequately the importance of gender in developing and
defining mythic texts. My work, and that of other feminists, contradicts her
assertion that the "feminine principle" is only now emerging in heroic
narratives, with quest motifs such as the Authurian Grail legend supposedly
representing a masculine attempt to reintegrate a repressed feminine side, "an
expression of the urge to understand the complementary equality of the
masculine and feminine principles."®® In my earlier research, I pointed out
that the traditional quest story glorifies the masculine over the feminine; the
"marriage" of the hero and the Goddess-figure lauded by Rushing is less of
an integration of both genders, than an Oedipal possession of the feminine.
Teresa DeLauretis questions both the universality of heroic quest myths
and their gender assumptions. She argues that such myths are built upon a
particular kind of sexual difference encoded into our conceptions of
17
"boundary and passage." In order to obtain the "treasure hard to attain," the
lone hero crosses the boundary, and penetrates into an enclosed space, where
he "is constructed as human being," as subject, or male: the penetrated space
is thus oppositionally constructed as object, or female. ® ® To "make sense" of
the world, narrative must continually reconstruct our lives in terms of a two-
character dramatic mythos
in which the human person creates and recreates himself
out of an abstract or purely symbolic other— the womb, the
earth, the grave, the woman; .... The drama has the
movement of a passage, a crossing, an actively experienced
transformation of the human being into— man. This is the
sense in which all change, all social and personal— even
physical— transformation is finally understood.®^
For DeLauretis, myths work to construct this sexual opposition in order to
overcome the primary intolerable difference, that man is bom of woman.
Thus the dialectical conflict of masculine/feminine (male/female) supercedes
any other oppositional pair, whether life/death, raw / cooked, good/evil,
nature/culture, or individual/community. The mythic narrative continually
repeats "the production of Oedipus" in both its cultural and "universal"
(monomythic) forms, at both the structural and enunciative levels of
narrative.®® By reaffirming this primary gender difference, the traditional
heroic quest myths function ideologically; the personal transformation of the
hero is defined in masculine terms which legitimize the existing culture.
Many feminists, especially those using semiotic-psychoanalytic theory,
see such mythic narratives as false to women's lives; their reappearance in
I
I mainstream popular texts is dismissed as a nostalgic conservative response to
I
! what Vivian Sobchack calls "the crisis experienced by the American Bourgoise
18
patriarchy since the late 1960's and the related disintegration and
transformation of the 'traditional' American family."®^ Such nostalgic myths
j are part of a desperate attempt by the patriarchy to overcome a threatened
!
f loss of power and self-esteem. Sobchack argues that this process is especially
I apparent in the science-fiction and fantasy film genre, because it "most visibly
j figures the grandest illusions of a capitalist and patriarchal cinema, and which
1 spatially liberates powerful, born-again male 'children' from social, political
and economic responsibility for the present."®”
Subsequently, most feminist film critics have rejected what Claire
Johnston calls "a sociological analysis" focusing on "images of women"; such
studies are condemned for their "liberal" biases (or their presumed support of
the patriarchal status quo), and their uncritical acceptance of cinematic
representations as being reflective of "real-life" on an almost one-to-one
correspondence. Johnston argues that such non-questioned realism involves
"an acceptance of the apparent natural denotation of the sign and . . . a
denial of the reality of myth in operation."®^ This quasi-Barthian perspective
views myth as operating in a repressive way. The original denotative
meaning of the sign "woman" has been emptied of whatever signification it
might have possessed, and a new connotative meaning has been
superimposed upon it by the patriarchy. This new meaning "is mistaken for
the natural, obvious and evident denotation: this is what makes it the
signifier of the ideology of the society in which it is used."®^
Therefore, the mythic connotative level of "woman" becomes associated
with "nature," with the irrational, with the "eternal feminine," or anima
19
posited by Jung and others. Although symbolic, such images have been
treated as natural "truths" that specify the idealized woman, thus
essentializing and mystifying woman as Other, what man is not. Woman is
seen as both desirable (reflecting a need to return to the womb) and
castrating (reflecting a fear of this return; the specter of the devouring mother
haunts men). Real women are not present in the cinema, but only "images
and tokens" that serve as fetishistic representations of the male phallus. This
objectification of women provides both "visual pleasure" and the working out
of masculine Oedipal conflicts.®®
Film is arguably the primary creator of modem mythology, with its
values, beliefs and attitudes firmly rooted in the dominant patriarchal ground.
Molly Haskell argues that women in films "are the vehicle for men's fantasies,
the 'anima' of the collective male unconscious, and the scapegoat for men's
fears."®^ Within myth as traditionally conceived, especially the heroic myths
of Western culture, are archetypal structures which preserve patriarchal
prejudices. As Diane Waldman notes, such stmctures "often legitimize
dominance and persecution of women."®® Naome Gilburt argues that Western
culture heroes
have variable roles; yet the Leit-motif of the male myth in
legend and art has architypically [sic] placed him in a
transcendent position. The male image is then
immortalised through the hero's acts even if he himself is
destroyed. The female in mythology is instead portrayed
with an archetypal ambivalence-th e 'Eternal Feminine' in
Western art history has been aesthetically more a principle
for realising male objectives than a person in her own right
.... Men, in using the image of women for artistic means,
have delineated females either with rushes of passion and
impulse, or through the use of static, timeless conceptions.®®
20
For Gilburt, film representations of heroines can no longer fulfill such
mediating symbolic functions, unifying a man and "his inner self," and still
serve the goals of transformative or revolutionary art. Gilburt and other
feminists argue for the creation of an alternative women's cinema to aid in
overcoming patriarchal repression and women's status as "alienated
spectators."®’ ’ As Ruby Rich points out, women audiences are divided, split in
their experience of cinematic narratives. The female spectator is the "ultimate
dialectician" living like an exile in "the tension of two different cultures."
Either the female viewer identifies with the objectified images, or with the
masculine characters and the "male gaze," for this is presumably the only
choice allowed by the "cinematic codes."® ®
The major goals of feminist film criticism have been to explicate the
repressed fears of patriarchy, and the illusion of realism permeating the
classic Hollywood cinema, exposing how "myth transmits and transforms the
ideology of sexism and renders it invisible . . .and therefore natural."®^ Yet,
the production of a "woman's voice" in alternative cinema is not the only
means of resistance to this gender-ideology. Judith Mayne argues for "a
reading against the grain of patriarchal institutions, an unearthing of
contradictions and ambivalences at first invisible to the naked eye."’ ’ ” As
Christine Gledhill notes, "a progressive reading of an apparently reactionary
film" can be made through an examination of gaps in the film's
"unconsciousness," its apparent unified representation of reality. Such an
examination would focus on illogical events, omissions, and contradictions as
a type of psychological revelation of deeper meanings.’ ’ ^
J
21
The conflict between the religious-anthropological feminist approach
favored by Rushing and the psychoanalytical-semiotic approach employed by
most feminist film critics exemplifies what Michael McGee has described as a
clash between "symbolist" and "materialist" perspectives. Materialists believe
that mythic discourse is a "trick" or falsehood, "a self-perpetuating system of
beliefs and interpretations foisted on all members of the community by the
ruling class." Symbolists, however, believe in "transcendence," whereby
people voluntarily agree "to believe in and to participate in a 'myth.'"
Although the conflict between the two perspectives assumes that they are
mutually exclusive or incompatible, McGee points out that both positions are
equally valid and equally in error, and can be considered (theoretically, at
least) as supplemental rather than antagonistic viewpoints.^
Thus symbolist critics might err in the direction suggested by Karlyn
Kohrs Campbell, becoming caught up "entirely within the closed universe of
the discourse and the ideology or point of view it presents . . . .As a
consequence, the methodology produces analyses that are at least covert
advocacy of the point of view taken in the rhetorical act— under the guise of
objectivity."^® Conversely, warns Forbes Hill, materialist critics could fail to
take the discourse on its own merits, succumbing to making hostile a priori
judgments about both the rhetor and the rhetoric, misunderstanding the
actual effects of the message on an audience.^^
Although Steeves calls for a socialistic perspective for feminist
scholarship in communication, many feminists argue against such a narrow
approach. Elaine Showalter, for example, argues that such inquiry rests on
22
assumptions biased toward the quasi-scientific, producing criticism presumed
to be "privileged critical discourse" that repudiates "the personal, fallible,
interpretative reading."^® Furthermore, semiotic-psychoanalytic theory is
problematic for women, because it excludes them "as either subjects or
producers of culture, an exclusion that makes studies utilizing these
approaches highly contradictory."^®
Jackie Byars points out that the Lacanian view of woman as abnormal,
represented by "lack," ultimately leads "to an explanation of certain
enunciative practices which result in the objectifying an d /o r fetishing of the
female body by a 'gaze' that is always male." By employing only Freudian-
Lacanian psychoanalytical theory, many feminist critics have just universalized
"a male-oriented theory" which "underestimates the complexity of . . .
[mainstream] texts and their consumptions." Thus such criticism reinforces "a
theoretical domain that not only marginalizes but obfuscates feminine
discourse."’ ^
Byars agrees that feminists need to focus on "contradictory elements in
mainstream texts, exhibiting the ideological incongruity within these forms,"
but argues that it is naive to believe that patriarchal power can only be
disrupted at the margins of discourse. She turns to the theories of Nancy
Chodorow to explicate "a different voice" operating in texts, even the popular
ones.^® Like Lacan, Chodorow posits the individual as a social construction,
but makes females the norm, because the mother is the primary parent. Girls
are not defined through "lack" but rather through identification with the
mother, which develops in a triadic relationship that echoes the archaic.
23
tripartate Goddess (daughter/m other/grandm other— maiden/m other/crone). To
develop "normally" a boy must repress his identification with the mother,
seeing himself as "separate," whereas girls have more flexible and fluid ego
boundaries. Furthermore, "because they don't develop the masculine sense of
justice and morality which is based on a denial of relationship and connection
and which is dependent on an uncompromising superego, females are more
empathetic than men." Yet Chodorow does not conceive of these differences
as essential, but as culturally conditioned symbolic realities.’ ^ ®
This culturallv-produced "feminine voice" constantly challenges the
dominant "masculine voice" in narratives, "preserving the possibility of
change," often where we least expect it, "becoming articulate even within a
genre not traditionally considered the provenance of such matters."®” Byars
argues that mainstream texts, as products of material conditions, can serve as
sites for ongoing ideological struggle, for such narratives "are not simple
texts; not only are they not ideologically coherent, they are not monolithically
repressive."®^ Through an explication of the tensions and contradictions in the
narrative, critics can discover how definitions and representations of gender in
culture might be altered or transformed, and what the effects of such changes
might be on the dominant social order.
In other words, feminist/rhetorical critics need not be reduced to being
either apologists or polemicists. As Fredric Jameson states, every narrative
contains elements that are ideological (those which support and stabilize the
status quo) and utopian (those which seek change and prod us to action
toward an ideal vision).®^ In the clash of ideological and utopian discourse.
24
ambiguities are exposed, which, if not repressed (or, as Kenneth Burke might
say, "vanquished") by the dominant culture, might produce what Janice
Radway calls "ideological seams" in the discourse. Through such cracks an
alternative rhetoric might seep out which exposes the "political
unconsciousness" of the patriarchal hegemony.®® Jameson argues that the
products of mediated culture should not been treated as "mere false
consciousness"; instead, such products must be examined to see how they
work to both manage and transform social and political messages. We need
a method, he claims, "capable of doing justice to both the ideological and
Utopian or transcendent function of mass culture simultaneously," so that
critics do not produce analyses that are "empty denunciations" of a narrative's
manipulation, yet which are also not dead analyses of the formal, aesthetic
properties of a narrative.®^
There are difficulties with any feminist approach. Radway notes that
any feminist analysis of popular culture must extend past simple analyses of
the sexism in a given cultural product, to deeper social critiques that can lead
to political action.® ® Yet it is this potential for political action that causes
scholars to dismiss a feminist approach as "non-academic." In trying to
appease such critics, feminist scholarship is in danger of being co-opted
through accommodist strategies. As Foss and Foss maintain, by
accommodating, feminist research loses its ability to challenge the status quo,
to empower women, and to change social conditions.®® Judith Fetterley notes
how women, "as readers, teachers and scholars," are pressured "to think as
men, to identify with a male point of view, and to accept as normal and
25
legitimate a male system of values, one of whose central principles is
misogyny." The systematic exclusion of women's experiences coupled with
this masculine identification causes women "to experience a peculiar form of
powerlessness." To overcome this powerlessness, feminist approaches are
necessary "to make available to consciousness that which has largely been left
unconscious, and thus to change our understanding of these fictions, our
relation to them, and their effect on us."*^
Rhetorical and feminist theory can fruitfully inform and enrich each
other without becoming overly narrow in scope or method. Men and women
have actual (as opposed to stereotypical) differences in the ways in which
they apprehend the world and communicate to others. Judith Kegan
Gardiner maintains that this is especially true for "all the big, value-laden
abstractions" that we use to give meaning to our lives, and which are
encoded in our mythic narratives.®® Research that ignores real differences
while accepting stereotyped beliefs about the sexes as "inherently true," or
theory that promotes masculine standards of critical efficacy, is as much
political as feminist inquiry acknowledges itself to be. Spitzack and Carter
note that the denigration, oppression and exclusion of women will continue
until the time that "all communication scholars acknowledge the culturally
sedimented presumptions contained in their views" about research.®^ The
benefits of a feminist approach to rhetorical theory include explication of such
presumptions as well as expansion of our concepts of what makes an
efficacious and beneficial narrative. Through a combined feminist-rhetorical
26
approach, scholars can more fully understand the impact of changes in
mythic narratives as encoded in mediated popular culture.
Central Assumptions of the Study
arguing here that there is no "actual" reality outside discourse, or that our
symbol systems are unchanging and monolithic. As the culture changes, so
does the symbolic discourse characterizing it, leading to altered conceptions
about reality, and which stories are meaningful, or "true." Any text may be
considered a story, including popular culture texts, for humans are "story
telling animals." The meanings of popular culture texts are negotiated by the
source (rhetor) and the audience, with the audience free to interpret a text in
ways not intended by the rhetor, and which may be in opposition (resistance)
to the preferred readings of the dominant culture.^”
Such claims are similar to those found in the interpretative approaches
of reader-response theory, which assumes that the meanings of any symbolic
action cannot be taken for granted, but must instead be questioned as
problematic. As Radway points out, interpretation from this perspective "is
conceived of always as a process of interaction." Meaning is not found
within the text so much as it is "constructed by an audience interaction with
that message. Reader theory is diverse, according readers different levels of
In this section I wish to clarify my assumptions about the nature of i
symbolic discourse in society. First, I argue that society is created,
maintained and transformed through symbolic acts— the only reality humans
know is that which is filtered through our symbol systems. Yet I am not
27
power and control, but all agree to some extent that meaning in a text is
produced by the interaction of text and readers (audience). Critics may
I interpret a text different from the "typical" reader, who is more likely to
} respond unthinkingly. But even ordinary readers can discover internal
I conflicts and contradictions within a text. The potential exists for resistance
I
along with "differential interpretation and use," whereby certain audiences
I adapt messages designed by others to their own purposes. Radway asserts
I
that "it is conceivable that the ideological control achieved by any particular
mass culture form may not be complete." Within "interstices in the social
fabric" lie groups or individuals who interpret against the grain of the
dominant readings.” ^ Radway bases part of her interpretative approach on
the ideas of anthropologist Clifford Geertz, viewing culture as that which
! meaningfully organizes an entire way of life," including our conscious and
I unconscious "assumptions about the 'nature' of the world." Following
I Geertz's notion of "the informal logic of eveiyday life," Radway asserts that
I any interpretation is an "imaginary construction" about the workings of mind
j and culture.^®
I Culture narratives are characterized by both myth and ideology. I
I define myths in general as socially shared stories reflecting the deepest values
and beliefs of a culture, which both support (reaffirm) and transform those
values and beliefs, preserving the past while resolving conflicts. Myths
provide social and personal motivations to act in ways consonant with the
dominant culture's concepts of well-being. Yet mythic narratives do not
emerge into public consciousness in a "pure" state, but are filtered through
2 8
ideology and reinvested by "the political unconsciousness."^ Each culture,
each political system, has its own ideology which is also connected to a
particular utopian vision of the future, a vision relating to both the central
"organizing principle" of the culture and its idealized goals for the future. No
mythic text is free from both ideological and utopian functions, though myths
are more clearly perceived as "ideological" when they support outdated or
erroneous central principles, promoting a harmful divisiveness in the guise of
protecting the society. Still, as both Martha Solomon and William Balthrop
observe in their different studies, rhetors and auditors often cling to such
"ideological myths" in spite of their inability to meet modern exigencies, out
of a fear of change.^®
I do not mean to imply here that I view ideology as necessarily "bad",
I while utopian visions are "good." Narratives become driven by ideological
1
f motives because, as Burke points out, humans have a need for social order.
! Ideologies are inescapable in human affairs; these ideologies are legitimized
I through utopian visions that are often conveyed through shared discourse, or
I myth. Louis Althusser notes that "human societies secrete ideology as the
I very element and atmosphere indispensable to their historical respiration and
I
life."^® I agree with Althusser that ideology is not a predetermined set of
meanings, but a code of signification that is articulated through social
j institutions in support of the dominant hegemony, or "naturalized reality"
I created by the power elites.^^ Ideological discourse is thus a structural feature
of a culture, extending beyond political concerns; it is expressed in myths and
other narratives through various symbolic forms (such as mystification) which
29
help to create and preserve a culture according to the overall "organizing
principle" of that culture. As Balthrop asserts, this organizing principle
represents an idealized end-state, "the end of all desire."^® Rather than
looking at myths as producing a "false consciousness," I agree with Balthrop
that myths provide various "controlling images" that give a larger meaning to
collective life. Myths that resonate with the lived experience of persons in a
culture are "taken for granted," their ideological functions not apparent until
they become incommensurate with that lived experience.^^
During times of crisis, popular culture narratives serve as sites for
ideological struggle. Radway notes that ideologies are secured through
"varied and related practices," are thus are not unified. Where such practices
join, there is a potential seam. She argues that ideology is "the product of
imperfectly joined practices; some are congruent, while others are
contradictory and even mutually interactive."^” ” Ideology arises in claims that
particular cultural forms represent a "natural" reality; yet, since many
ideologies do not satisfactorially correspond to actual life, we experience
disjunctions between them, ourselves, and the conditions of our existence.
The "ideological field" is marked with conflict, struggles, and contradiction.
Lawrence Grossberg, following Stuart Hall, notes that a text might imply a
"preferred" reading according to the norms and values of the culture, but it
also contains the potential to be interpreted in alternative ways, serving as a
type of "contested terrain.
Hall delineates at least three positions audiences can take in relation to
the dominant hegemony. Audiences can decode the text according to the
30
wishes of the power elites, which reinforces certain cultural definitions, beliefs
and practices. Such "standard" or "preferred" readings use "rules of
competence and use, of logics-in-use" to judge narratives, thus actively
"enforce or prefer one semantic domain over another." Yet no hegemony is
securely achieved; audiences can distance themselves from the text through
"negotiated" readings which contain "a mixture of adaptive and oppositional
elements," accepting the hegemonic interpretation at the "grand" (abstract)
level, while making their own rules for the interpretation of the situational
(practical) level. Audiences can also deconstruct the preferred meanings and
reconstruct them in an "oppositional" interpretation that corresponds to "some
alternative framework or reference," where "the 'politics of signification'— the
struggle in discourse— is joined."^“ Thus, instead of merely accepting or
rejecting messages, audiences might develop a different interpretation than the
rhetor intends. Meaning is negotiated in different ways by different
audiences and is also influenced by the rhetorical situation.
During times of cultural upheaval and change, cultural products,
including mythic narratives, employ a variety of rhetorical strategies to
convince audiences to interpret a text in the preferred ways, attempting to
defend the hierarchical "organizing principle" of the culture from perceived
internal and external threats. As Balthrop notes, "the greater the threat to the
culture, the greater the need to justify the cultural ideal and the greater
prestige given to ideology."^” ® Rather than face change and upheaval,
dominant groups (and those who identify with them) will defend the
"correctness" and truthfulness of their cultural myths, while denouncing the
31
criticisms of disenfranchised and oppressed groups. Radical rhetoric often is
rejected by audiences because it lacks the pleasure-producing satisfaction that
comes from hearing familiar tales. As Terry Eagleton claims, narrative
! depends upon something that is "lost"; however, we also "know" that this lost
1
t
object will be restored, for if it is not, "our excitation might become
intolerable and turn into unpleasure . . . .our energies have been 'cunningly
bound' by the suspenses and repetitions of the narrative only as a
preparation for their pleasurable expenditure."^” ^
Rushing argues that when mythic narratives change to meet social
exigencies, in response to cultural tensions, hybrid myths can occur, pointing
I the way to "new" mythic structures. For her, these hybrid myths are not
' rhetorically satisfying, for they often exhibit a profound nostalgia for old
I
I mythic forms, while dealing with social problems on a superficial level.
Hybrid myths might also be narratively discordant or incoherent.^” ® I agree in
part, but argue further that hybrid myths reflect ideologically-contaminated
narratives which occur as the culture becomes increasingly strained.
Narratives such as the Americanized frontier myth, or the masculinized heroic
quest (rite-of-passage) myth employ ideological arguments "to explain away
. . .inconsisistencies between ideals and practices."^” ® I disagree with
Rushing's claims that a truly "new" mythos has emerged in popular culture
(even in a rudimentaiy form). I argue instead that the narratives she has
analyzed, and others, constitute various hybrids that grapple with social
changes in contradictory ways; as rhetorical phenomena they have both
positive and negative consequences.
32
Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell call hybrids
"fusions of generic elements." Any genre requires certain recurring elements,
yet individual preference and social conditions may lead to hybrid blends,
! which may better meet the needs of the situation.^” ’ ’ For example, hybrids
i
I might evoke a nostalgicized past which could lead to a retrenchment of
i
I positions within the culture, preventing satisfactory resolutions of conflicts
among different subcultural groups. Yet hybrid narratives might also subvert
' the hegemonic frame by their self-consciousness, reflected in their endless
referencing of eaçh other, and their parodie borrowings from other genres. As
generic forms decay, then collapse, becoming recombined in confusing and
self-reflexive ways, "media-hip" audiences might question their rhetorical
messages. Furthermore, though popular culture texts may attempt ideological
manipulations of the audience through the pleasurable repetition of stock
formulas, Jameson reminds us that such texts also contain a "transcendent
potential" which is, "no matter how faintly, negative and critical of the social
order from which, as a product and a commodity, it springs."^” ®
Yet Jameson does not focus on this "transcendent potential" in his
examination of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the first Star Wars; he argues
that such "adventure serials" are nostalgic "reinventions" of the serials of the
1930's to the 1950's which "recreate cultural experiences in the form of
pastiche as well as reawakening a sense of the past in the viewer." With
their "alien villains, true American heroes, heroines in distress," they satisfy
deep, even repressed needs in audience to experience bygone days.^” ^ His
analysis is further limited because, as Barbara Creed notes, he does not
33
consider "questions of desire and the construction of sexual difference" in
such films, which is regrettable since this genre contains "intensely polarised
gender roles."””
Creed argues for more complex interpretations of such films. She notes
that while adventure serials do represent "a desperate attempt to appropriate
a missing past," this past is less the real historical past than an imaginary
(mythic), symbolic, and qendered past, reflecting an idealized patriarchal
order, "where gender identity was secure and appeared to validate the social
contract established by the myth of romantic love." Yet the "current crisis in
gender roles" requires such films "to both romanticize and parody the roles of
hero and heroine." While the covert, perhaps unconscious motive of these
films might be the restoration of patriarchy, or the symbolic "rule of the
father," this attempt is undermined by the converse motive of "gynesis"
present in science fiction, fantasy, and horror films. Cynesis, "an
intensification in the exploration of 'becoming woman'," is not necessarily
feminist, for it may represent male desires to be female to overcome feelings
of powerlessness. Yet a potentially feminist interpretation could be made
through analysis of "hybrid figures.'””
Vladimir Propp notes that such hybrids as the Sphinx, which combine
masculine and feminine traits, represent real societal contradictions during
periods of change and upheaval. De Lauretis argues that such hybrids
appeared in folktales until "the full establishment of patriarchy, when the
importance of the paternal function is manifested in the theme of the child-
hero who does not know his father and sets out to find him."”^ The use of
34
androgynous characters represents hybrids which may be related to the
process of gynesis. Creed notes that "cults of the androgyne have occurred
throughout history," yet the use of androgynous (or bisexual— the two
concepts are often confused) figures in the cinema is a double-edged sword.
While androgynous characters might challenge the "master narratives," the
"post-modern fascination with the androgyne and the 'neuter' subject may
indicate a desire not to address problems associated with the specificities of
the oppressive gender roles of patriarchal society, particularly those
constructed for women."”®
As represented in mediated popular culture, androgyny is a complex
phenomena open to a variety of interpretations; thus it can serve as a site of
ideological struggle over the "naturalness" of gender-definitions. While the
contradictions that occur in aligning woman with nature and culture can be
recuperated back into the dominant hegemony, the contradictions of
androgyny might instead rupture this hegemony by transforming traditional
conceptions of gender. Yet I am not arguing here that androgyny is the best
or only way to solve the problems that occur in our culture's rigid gender
differentiations; it is not women's salvation, but a rhetorical strategy with
mixed results both ideological and utopian, both reaffirmatory and subversive.
This study examines two potentially disruptive and contradictory
representations of androgyny in mediated popular culture— the mythical and
the postmodern. Mythically, the archetype of the androgyne has occurred
cross-culturally in many aspects and images. Its ideological functions have
been more to oppress women than to grant them equal status, for the
35
masculine god-image is usually depicted as more powerful than the feminine
Goddess-image. Yet the symbol retains the utopian potential to be
transformative in its reconciliation of masculine and feminine, especially if it
is connected to the mythic quest for the archaic Goddess-image, a narrative
predating the monomythic heroic quest and submerged within it. In such
initiation myths, it is the masculine side that is submissive to the feminine.”^
Postmodern conceptions of androgyny also abound in current popular
culture, especially science-fiction and fantasy films, seen in the proliferation of
asexual (or bisexual) androids and aliens. Janet Bergstrom notes that not only
is the distinction between hum an/not-hum an obscured in such films, so is the
difference between man/woman. Furthermore, the "androgynous look" is
modeled on an ideal feminine type, that of the fashion mannequin. Thus, the
"masculine and feminine connotations cancel each other out, so that nothing
is left of sexual identity in the androgynous figure." Its popularity is not in
I its sexual vitality or desirability, but in its ability to "be commodified and
I packaged." Yet a certain sexual suggestiveness remains in its ambiguity,
I
along with new and uncertain possibilities for behavior."®
Androgyny, then, as a rhetorical strategy, is used both to silence
1
I women before they can "speak," suppressing what needs to be exposed (i.e.
that women are oppressed), and to present altered models of heroic action
that might create social transformations. Rakow notes that our ideas of
appropriate gender behavior creates a type of "structuring system"; we are
engaged in a struggle "over who will define what gender means and whose
experiences of the world will be encoded into the symbolic system.""®
36
Androgyny, as a symbolic redefinition of gender, can be used to gain
adherence to the gender-ideology of our culture by emphasizing the
masculine over the feminine, relegitimizing "the father symbol" thereby
supporting the patriarchalized American dream, with its emphasis on
individual accomplishment, the value of the traditional family, and "natural"
divisions between the sexes. Yet such reaffirmations can only be partial,
given the contradictions inherent in the androgynous image. The concept
cannot even be consistently defined, leaving some to apply it to sexually
I neutral or undifferentiated representations, while others see its operation in
bisexual hybrids of both sexes (both psychological and biological). Since the
meaning tends to shift in uncertain directions, it creates challenges that
exacerbate rather than resolve the current confusions about gender, and which j
I
could cause audiences to reject or doubt the traditional social constructions of
; gender. The potential of androgyny to both reaffirm and subvert the
! patriarchal status quo needs to be explicated and evaluated by rhetorical
critics.
Methodology and Data Selection
Although a precise development of methodology must wait until
further explication of both mythic rhetoric and feminist theory, some general
comments about methodology in rhetorical criticism are pertinent. Whenever
a rhetorical critic decides to analyze and/or evaluate a given example of
discourse, he/she must confront several issues. The first is to determine
what counts as data to be observed. According to the National Conference
37
on Rhetoric in 1970, rhetorical criticism could "be applied to any human act,
process, product, or artifact which, in the critic's view, may formulate,
sustain, or modify attention, perceptions, attitudes or behavior.""^ The
conference report recommended a focus on contemporary discourse, because
I daily we are confronted with demanding "communication crises" which place
i
I us in constant conflict. Since "some forms of communication can contribute
j
I to productive management of that conflict," the committee felt ethically bound
I
I to support them while conversely exposing those practices which
"unnecessarily exacerbate tensions.""®
Mythic narratives are a type of contemporary discourse which can serve
as vehicles for the reduction of social conflict or for the promotion of social
change. Much popular culture, especially the science-fiction and fantasy
genres, makes extensive use of cultural myths. As Robert Scholes and Eric S.
Rabkin indicate, the use of myth in science-fiction "concerns itself powerfully
and continually with the examination of symbols central to our vision and
our world and ourselves.""^ Ursula K. LeGuin argues that science-fiction and
fantasy use "the mythmaking faculty to apprehend the world we live in, a
world profoundly shaped and changed by science and technology, and its
originality is that it uses the mythmaking faculty on new material." Because
mythic imagery is shared by us all, myths are "collective," originating in the
unconscious mind, "that vast dim region of the psyche . . . .their vigor comes
from there, and cannot be dismissed as unimportant.""”
Joseph Campbell makes a similar argument, insisting that archaic
mythic forms can aid us in the search for an authentic life as long as they
38
are updated for a modem consciousness, an updating that must occur in
connection with scientific discovery and modern technology."^ Since science-
fiction/fantasy may be considered to be the modern repository of mythic
consciousness in humans, it makes an ideal genre for the study of mythic
rhetoric (and its changes) in popular culture texts. Additionally, science-
fiction and fantasy allow for experimentation with different ways of being,
despite their often conventionally formulaic narrative structures. What
Dudley Andrews calls a "belief/doubt tension" is constructed which permits
contradictions to exist without destroying the coherence of the text. Such
contradictions can lead to possible social change.^" Margit Eichler suggests
that the flexibility of the genre could benefit women by its potential to
restructure our beliefs about appropriate gender-identity and the necessity for
hierarchical political systems.^^
A second major issue for rhetorical critics involves the focus of the
study. Lawrence Rosenfield points out that an approach in which the critic is
actively involved does not automatically translate into a subjective "anything
goes" type of criticism. While the critic is not completely "detached," he/she
is empirical in the sense of being true to a text, and relying upon some type
of criteria for analysis and judgment. By examining the message as it
interacts with the audience (including the critic) and the environment
(context) of the discourse, critics get different, but not necessarily less valid,
assessments than those achieved with more "objective" approaches."^
In addition, the feminist critic must also be aware of hidden masculinist
bias in developing the critical criteria and perspective. As Sonja K. Foss
39
observes even the most "broad-minded" of the rules governing validity in
academic research conform to what psychologist Anne Wilson Schaef labels
"the white male s y s te m .F o s s argues that research into gender and
communication must
question the framework of our knowledge and replace or
supplement it, if necessary. Perhaps, as a result, we will
discover new ways of doing research, new concepts to
investigate, new kinds of data to consider as valid, new
populations to study, new ways of reporting research, and
as a result, new conceptions of communication.
Foss proposes that the primary research question for the feminist critic is to
ask "how has gender been communicated through rhetorical artifacts?" To
answer this question the critic must examine how the artifact embodies
"perceptions and experiences" of both sexes, how masculinity and femininity
j are encoded in the text, and how the artifact itself (or the analysis of it) can
improve women's lives, with the answers providing new conceptions for
1
' rhetorical theory.^^^
Such concerns lead to the next issue for the rhetorical critic, that of
method. How will the discourse be examined, through what critical lens?
Any consistent methodology must grow out of the questions of the critic, yet
not be overly limited by them. Nor can the methodology be constructed
solely from extrinsic categories that are applied in an a priori fashion to a
text. Some of the particulars of method must wait for the textual analysis, in
order to extract what appears to be intrinsically "true" for that particular
artifact. Such an approach is consistent with feminist thought, in which the
discourse itself is "allowed to speak" to the critic in a type of conversation,
with the end result an increase in our knowledge.
40
In seeking to determine how gender is created, maintained, and
potentially altered in mythic rhetoric, this study examines several issues:
1. What are the major cultural and "ultimate" exigencies of modern life as
concerns gender, and how do such exigencies engender dialectical tensions
within mythic texts?
a. are the most salient exigencies those of learning individuate
while overcoming fears of separation and death, requiring an
affirmation of self?
b. or are the most salient exigencies those of patriarchal crisis
requiring a reaffirmation of the primacy of sexual difference?
c. or are both types of exigencies present, leading to conflicting
messages within the text?
i 2. If dialectical tensions occur, how does the mythic text rhetorically respond
' to such tensions?
a. is the myth symbolically encoded in ways that hide or repress
tensions, thus reifying concepts of "universality" that reaffirm
traditional concepts of gender (e.g. connecting men with the
transcendent and women with irrational nature)?
b. or is the myth encoded in ways that transform/transcend
tensions, perhaps in a synthesis that provides an alternative
conception of gender which may function in an ideological
and/or utopian way?
c. alternatively, is the myth symbolically encoded in ways that
rupture the narrative, exposing unresolved conflicts about
gender, undermining notions of "universality" thus
challenging (or potentially subverting the dominant
patriarchal order?
3. What are the rhetorical effects of the mythic text— how will audiences
accept, reject or doubt both ideological (reaffirmatory) and utopian
(subversive/affirmatory) messages?
a. are audiences more likely to accept the "preferred" readings
engendered by the text, leading them to further support the
ideas about gender promulgated by the myth?
b. or will audiences resist the "preferred" readings through
negotiation and opposition, leading them to question the
gender messages promulgated by the myth?
c. or will both effects occur?
41
4. Overall, how should the mythic rhetoric and its effects be evaluated from
a feminist stance?
a. What are the positive and negative consequences of adherence
to and reaffirmation of the presented models of heroic action?
1) does the myth provide a coherent and progressive" story about
human individuation and growth that does not mystify
gender-relations, but instead offers a way to better address
social problems?
2) and/or does the myth provide a coherent, yet "repressive"
story that does mystify gender-relations, reaffirming the
ideology of patriarchy while further repressing women?
b. What are the positive and negative consequences of a
subversion/rejection of the presented models of heroic action?
1) does the myth suggest ways to question the narrative so
that audiences might reject the ideological message
while potentially retaining the utopian one?
2) or does the myth recuperate the subversion back into the
narrative in a way that its challenges are vitiated or
buried?
3) or does the myth become narratively incoherent, thus
causing confusion and potential rejection by the
audience? And would such confusion, doubt, rejection
work toward or against feminist goals?
I To answer these questions, I have posited three mythic "types"
1
! operating in popular culture narratives. The first consists of the traditional
I heroic quest myth, grounded in theory from Joseph Campbell, Northrop Frye,
Carl Jung, and Erich Neumann. This "masculine mythos," as I have
; previously named it, revolves around the concept of the individual acting
! rationally in an ordered cosmos. It is expressed in dramatic narratives of
action (e.g. the struggle of good and evil, the salvation of a city, the rescue of
a princess, the quest for, or theft of, a magic object or prize.Often the
mythic structure corresponds in some way to Campbell's monomyth [see
Figure 1], or Frye's romance. A young, independent, usually male hero
(often a loner or innocent of uncertain origin) gets called to action, primarily
by a wise old m an/father figure. He becomes involved in a perilous journey
42
with adventures, culminating in some type of "test" of his manhood, most
likely a "showdown" with the villain. If the hero wins, he is exalted, and
either integrated into the community or sent back out into the wilderness.
The various symbols and motifs associated with this mythic narrative are
listed in Figure 2.
Counterposed to this mythos, submerged and in dialectical conflict with
it, is what I have previously labeled the "feminine mythos," grounded in
ancient tribal rites of initiation and fertility, centered around the image of the
Great Goddess. In these early rites of passage, it is the Goddess herself who
descends into the underworld, who symbolically dies, and then is reborn.
Later, she is replaced by a son-consort who serves as a sacrificial scapegoat,
and who is disfigured or dismembered in some way (e.g. castration). Other
rituals involved "transformation mysteries" centering in woman's generative
power, seen in her menstruation (bleeding without dying) and her ability to
give birth. For Eliade, this transformative power is symbolized most by the
act of spinning, a task "performed far from the light of the sun and almost in
secret," connected to the moon and cyclical concepts of "Time and Destiny.
Overall, this "feminine mythos" is concerned with the seasonal cycles of the
earth and heavens (e.g. planting, the moon phases, the passing of the seasons)
represented by the triparate Great Goddess figure, who is protective (the
Virgin Daughter and The Nurturing Mother), devouring (the "Terrible
Mother"), and transformative (the Crone).^^ The various symbols and motifs
associated with this mythic narrative are listed in Figure 3.
43
FIGURE 1
THE MONOMYTH
from Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces
"A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of
supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive
victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the
power to bestow boons on his fellow m an." [italics his] (p.30)
I. Separation
A. The Call to Adventure
1. Refusal of the call
2. Acceptance of the call
3. Supernatural aid (often from old m an/wom an figure)
B. Crossing the First Threshold
1. Journey into unknown world
2. Pass/subdue the guardians of the gate
C. In the Belly of the Whale (descent into underworld)
II. Initiation '
A. Round of Trials (aided by supernatural devices) i
B. Meeting with the Goddess j
1. mystical marriage with Goddess j
2. woman as Temptress (must be subdued/m arried or
overcome) I
C. Atonement with the Father I
D. Apotheosis (Reconciliation of opposites, esp. Yin/Yang)
1. Rebirth/enlightenment
2. ultimate boon granted (or, if not granted,then stolen)
III. Return
A. Refusal of the Return
B. Magic Flight (with supernatural aid)
C. Rescue from Without
D. Crossing the Second Threshold
E. Master of Both Worlds
1. providing the gift to others
2. becoming free to live
44
FIGURE 2
MASCULINE MYTHOS
I. STRUCTURE/DRAMATIC CONFLICTS
A. search or theft of treasure; the quest
B. trials by combat
C. dragon-slaying
D. initiation/rite-of-passage
E. Oedipal conflict
F. desert wandering; promised land
G. Flood archetype; covenant
H. redemption through kill-rites
II. THEMES
A. Individualism
B. "kingship"
C. Dualistic, rational
D. Nature objectified
E. Behef in science and technology
III. ARCHETYPES/SYMBOLS
A. Characters
1 . King-hero
2. Divine Child
3. Redeemer/Savior
4. W arrior/Knight
5. W izard/W ise Old Man
6. Devil/ViUain
7. Sidekicks and helpers
8. Fools/Jesters
9. anima (love interest)
B. Non-Human Entities
1 . Minotaur or monsters
2. animals (e.g. bulls, boars, lions, stallions, dogs)
C. Miscellaneous
1. phallic imagery (e.g. poles, weapons)
2. gold/gems
3. sun/light
4. thunder/w ind/storm s
5. Tree of Knowledge/Life
6. ma chines / technology
7. wasteland/desert
8. mountains/rocks
45
The conflict between masculine and feminine is demonstrated through
various agonistic struggles between nature and culture (technology), life (sex-
j fertility) and death, higher(reasoning) and lower (body-emotions), heaven and
I hell, sun and moon, the angelic and the diabolic. These conflicts occur in a
! supposedly "natural" environment which is historically and socially
I
I
I determined through discourse. They are legitimized by references to various
i
: "ultimate" authorities connected to patriarchal principles (e.g. Jehovah, Christ,
' Allah, Krishna-Shiva-Vishnu. Science, Manifest Destiny, the American Dream)
' which makes them seem both inevitable and unchangeable. One critical task,
noted by Jameson, is to unmask or demystify these "naturalized" binary
I
I oppositions in the text, including those of "speech and writing, presence and
^ absence, norm and deviation, center and periphery, experience and
I supplementarity, and male and female." Binary oppositions function as
methods for power elites to legitimize "concrete structures of power and
domination" because they elevate one term by marginalizing or "defeating"
the other, often in an ethical struggle between good and evil, with evil
defined as "whatever is radically different from me, whatever by virtue of
precisely that difference seems to constitute a real and urgent threat to my
existence."^^ As Jameson notes
the stranger from another tribe, the 'barbarian' who speaks an
incomprehensible language and follows 'outlandish' customs,'
but also the woman, whose biological difference stimulates
fantasies of castration and devouration, .... or else that
alien being, Jew or Communist, behind whose apparently
human features a malignant and preternatural intelligence is
thought to lurk: these are some of the archetypal figures of
the Other, about whom the essential point to be made is not
so much that he [she] is feared because he [she] is evil; rather
he [she] is evil because he [she] is Other alien, different,
strange, unclean and unfamiliar.^^
46
FIGURE 3
FEMININE MYTHOS
j L STRUCTURE
A. Cyclical rites of passage/rebirth
I B. Fertility rites and transformation mysteries
I IL THEMES
A. Communal, tribal
B. Non-dualistic
C. Nature deified
D. Belief in magic and superstition
I
I III. ARCHETYPES/SYMBOLS
I A. Characters
1 1. Virgin Bride
i 2. Temptress
j 3. W itch/Furies
I 4. Mother Earth
I 5. Crone/healer
I 6. Spinster
j 7. "Homed God" (consort to the Goddess)
I B. Non-Human Entities
I 1. animals (e.g. birds, cats, cows, pigs)
I 2. sea creatures (e.g. fish, whales)
3. spiders and spider webs
I 4. dragons and monsters
I 5. snakes, serpents
C. Miscellaneous
1 . womb-imagery (e.g. cups, bowls, yonic symbols, triangles)
2. blood-red, white, and black
3. moon and moonlight
4. caves, tunnels, labyrinths, mazes
5. snares, nets
6. circles, wheels, spinning wheel,
7. mandala imagery
8. nature (e.g. plants, water, forests)
9. underworld; the dead
10. mirrors; reflections, glass
11. the Labyrs (double ax)
47
Yet the rise of feminism has challenged this representation, escalating the
conflict, leading to increasing attempts to contain the feminine, or to
"transcend" the conflict in ways that seem to erase gender-difference. What 1
have previously called the "androgynous mythos" may occur as a type of
synthesis or mediation between the binary opposition of masculine and
feminine. As such, it functions to provide a resolution to the confusions and
conflicts surrounding gender in modem times, especially the dilemma caused
by challenges to traditional masculinity, as embodied in the hero. A strong
"macho" hero might be less acceptable in the narrative, yet to replace him
would be cultural (as well as ideological) "patricide." The "androgynous
mythos" is posited as one attempt to overcome such dilemmas, while
conceivably providing a transformation of gender-ideology.^^ It is represented
in the narrative through the use of various paradoxes and hybridizations in
characters, plot, themes or motifs, and symbols (e.g. for heroes to be both
I rational and emotional, for nature to be combined with culture and
technology, for yonic symbols to be combined with phallic symbols and so
forth).
I The five films selected for analysis are examined through an explication
; of the dialectical conflict and resolution of masculine and feminine as it
I
j occurs in the monomythic structures of each narrative, focusing on strategies
I of reaffirmation and subversion which have both ideological and utopian
I functions. These films were chosen for several reasons, including the fact that
1
I
they were consciously designed to be monomythic by George Lucas and
Steven Spielberg (in part to pay homage to Joseph Campbell). These films
i _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
48
are also among the top moneymakers in the history of filmmaking, playing to
packed theaters, and remaining popular video rental choices. Interest in them
continues; indeed, the latest entry in the "Indiana Jones" series, Indiana Tones
and the Last Crusade, was released in the summer of 1989. Each film, but
especially the Star Wars series, has generated large revenues from the sale of
ancillary items such as toys, games and books. They have entered the
political lexicon as well, with Ronald Reagan referred to as "Indiana Jones"
and his Strategic Defense Initiative plan dubbed "Star Wars" (over the
vigorous, but ineffectual, objections of George Lucas).^^^
Further, prior criticisms of these films do not sufficiently address the
blend of reaffirmatory and subversive discourse in them, or the potential for
dialectical conflicts to have both ideological and utopian functions, becoming
resolved in confusing, contradictory ways. Such criticism roughly divides into
the symbolist-materialist dichotomy discussed earlier in this chapter. It is
either criticism which takes the filmmakers' claims (that the Star Wars series
is a "modem fairy tale," and that the "Indiana Jones" films are just
entertainment) at face value, praising the films as positive reaffirmations of
universal human values, even celebrations of life ultimately serving to
decrease alienation or separateness, while providing maximum pleasure to
audiences; or, it is criticism that condemns these films as legitimizations of
the dominant Bourgeois culture, spectacles on a grand scale ultimately serving
to increase alienation and separateness through the creation of a "false
consciousness" in the audience.
, - j
49
Additionally, prior criticisms do not sufficiently explicate or evaluate
rhetorical messages about gender as encoded in mediated popular culture
t
i versions of traditional mythic narratives. Representations of male/female and
, masculine/feminine are discussed in simplistic, either-or terms. For example,
' some critics praise the "spunkiness" of Marion Ravenwood (Raiders of the
I Lost Ark) and Princess Leia Organa (Star Wars), while others decry their
I
' "aggressiveness. " Some critics praise Willie Scott (Indiana Tones) as a great
I "broad in distress" who provides valuable comic relief, while others condemn
' her as a stereotyped "dumb blond" golddigger. Some critics praise the
"sardonic" yet virile masculinity of Indiana Jones (Raiders and Indiana Tones)
and Han Solo (Star Wars), while others condemn Luke Skywalker (Star Wars)
for being a "wimp."^^® Overall, critics do not consider the ramifications of
how such characterizations help create, maintain, and alter concepts about
gender in our culture.
Finally, few critics have even addressed, much less assessed, the impact
and implications of various postmodern phenomena in these films. From
1977 to 1984 there were technological advancements and social/material
I changes that contributed to a collapse of genres, a confusing proliferation of
I special effects, and an increasing commodification in science-fiction and
I
I fantasy film s.^® ^ The presentation and reception of the mythic narratives in
I these films are altered by such changes. Textual contradictions and
! confusions further undermine the narrative coherence already bifurcated by
! the dialectical conflict between "masculine" and "feminine" occurring within
I the heroic quest myth, providing "ruptures" that could lead to alternative
50
interpretations which question the "naturalness" and "inevitability" of bipolar
gender differences.
Although other science-fiction and fantasy films could be analyzed, this
study is limited to the first two "Indiana Jones" films and the Star Wars
trilogy. This limitation is primarily for manageability, though all five films
share a common mythic structure and all were either directed or produced by
George Lucas. Some critics believe his influence was stronger than
Spielberg's on the "Indiana Jones" films, and certainly his vision is
predominant in the Star Wars series.
Obtaining data for the study was not difficult. Primary data consisted
of the film texts themselves, readily available on videocassette. Multiple
viewings of each film were supplemented by screenplays, novelizations, and
promotional materials for each film, along with reviews and other materials
drawn from the film libraries at the University of Southern California and the
University of California, Los Angeles. Such supplemental works provided
information not always available in the film texts (e.g., the correct spellings of
names, the histories of characters, and other data). Secondary data consisted
of theoretical sources in feminist theory and criticism, rhetorical theory and
criticism, film /popular culture theory and criticism, anthropology, and
religion.
The remaining chapters in this study address the issues discussed above
as they apply to these five films. Chapters Two and Three explicate the
theoretical and methodological basis of the investigation by extensively
reviewing current rhetorical and feminist approaches to myth, ideology, and
51
narrative. These chapters also address the issues of cultural and "ultimate"
exigencies as related to beliefs about gender in patriarchal culture, noting how
I such exigencies lead to various resolutions of the tensions between
"masculine" and "feminine" mythic structures. Chapter Four then analyzes the
messages about gender encoded in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Tones
and the Temple of Doom (taken as a rhetorical set). In particular, the chapter
discusses how the text represents both the "masculinized" woman (Marion in
Raiders) and the overly "feminized" woman (Willie in Indiana Tones) as
threats to the social order which must be subdued (in remarkably similar
I ways). In addition, the villains are associated with the "feminine" as evil
Other. The resolution not only overcomes the "feminine" by destroying the
villains, it also neuters the "feminine" by making both women more
j androgynous. Yet this resolution is subverted in various ways, especially in
' Indiana Tones where textual contradictions undermine both narrative
coherence and the representation of gender.
Chapter Five further develops the study by analyzing how gender is
represented in the Star Wars trilogy. In particular, the chapter explores how
' the conflict between masculine and feminine mythic structures is resolved
I through an androgynous synthesis occurring in the major characters (Luke,
Han, and Leia) and in the themes of the narrative itself. This synthesis
; functions in complex ideological and utopian ways, reaffirming and
' subverting beliefs about gender in patriarchal culture. An additional
I subversion occurs in the increasing postmodern trends, especially in Return of
i the Tedi, which threaten the narrative coherence, raising questions about the
52
nature of masculinity and heroism, as well as the function of women in
mythic texts.
Chapter Six then completes the study, evaluating the mythic rhetoric in
these five films according to feminist criteria (as discussed in Chapters One,
Two and Three). In particular the chapter addresses the potential benefits
and detriments of messages about gender currently promulgated by popular
culture texts. It explores the implications of the findings for the study of
other types of mythic rhetoric, concluding with some recommendations for
further research.
53
ENDNOTES
^Roland Barthes, Image/M usic/Text, trans. Stephen Heath (N.Y.: Hill
and Wang, 1977) 79.
^Lloyd F. Bitzer, "Rhetoric and Public Knowledge," Rhetoric, Philosophy
and Literature: An Exploration, ed. Don M. Burks (West Lafayette, IN:
Purdue UP, 1978) 91.
^Marilyn Ferguson, The Aquarian Conspiracy: Personal and Social
Transformation in the 1980's (Los Angeles, CA: J. P. Tarcher, Inc., 1980).
^Rhetorical explorations into narrative have included the following:
John Angus Campbell, "A Rhetorical Interpretation of History," Rhetorica 2:3
(1984): 227-266; Thomas B. Farrell, "Knowledge, Consensus and Rhetorical
Theory," Quarterly Journal of Speech 62 (1976): 1-15; Walter R. Fisher,
Human Communication as Narration: Toward a Philosophy of Reason,
Value, and Action (Columbia, S.C.: U of South Carolina P, 1987); Walter R.
Fisher, "Narration as a Human Communication Paradigm: The Case for
Public Moral Argument, Communication Monographs 51 (Mar. 1984): 1-22;
Walter R. Fisher, "The Narrative Paradigm: An Elaboration," Communication
Monographs 52 (Dec. 1985): 347-367; Walter R. Fisher, "The Narrative
Paradigm: In The Beginning," Journal of Communication (Autumn, 1985):
74-89; Thomas S. Frentz, "Rhetorical Conversation, Time and Moral Action,"
Quarterly Journal of Speech 1:71 (1985): 1-18; Frentz, "Mass Media as
Rhetorical Narration," The Van Zelst Lecture in Communication, Northwestern
U, Evanston, II., May 1984; John Louis Lucaites and Celeste Michele Condit,
"Reconstructing Narrative TTieory: A Functional Perspective," Tournai of
Communication 35:4 (1985): 90-108; Michael Calvin McGee and John S.
Nelson, "Narrative Reason in Public Argument," Journal of Communication
35:4 (1985): 139-155; Robert C. Rowland, "Narrative: Mode of Discourse or
Paradigm?" Communication Monographs 54:3 (1987): 264-275; Robert L.
Scott, "Narrative Theory and Communication Research," Quarterly Journal of
Speech 70 (1984): 197-204; and Barbara Warnick, "The Narrative Paradigm:
Another Story," Quarterly Journal of Speech 73:2 (1987): 172-182. Inquiry
into narrative from other disciplines includes the following: Seymour
Chatman, Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell UP, 1978); Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious:
Narrative as a Socially Symbolic Act (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell UP, 1981); and
Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, 2nd Edition
(Notre Dame, IN.: U of Notre Dame P, 1984, 1st ed. 1981).
^Fisher, Human Communication xi.
^Victor Turner, "Social Dramas and Stories About Them," Critical
Inquiry 7:1 (1980): 153.
54
MacIntyre, After Virtue 215-219.
®MacIntyre 216.
^Rhetorical explorations of mythic narratives influenced by MacIntyre
include the following: Janice Hocker Rushing, "E.T. as Rhetorical
Transcendence," Quarterlv Journal of Speech 71 (1985): 188-205; Janice H.
Rushing, "Evolution of 'The New Frontier' in Alien and Aliens: Patriarchal
Co-optation of the Feminine Archetype," Quarterly Journal of Speech 75:1
(1989): 1-24; Janice H. Rushing, "Mythic Evolution of 'The New Frontier' in
Mass-Mediated Rhetoric," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 3:3 (1986):
265-296; Frentz, "Rhetorical Conversation"; Janice H. Rushing, "Ronald
Reagan's 'Star Wars' Address: Mythic Containment of Technical Reasoning,"
Quarterly Journal of Speech 72:4 (1986): 415-433. Qther studies on mythic
rhetoric include the following: Jeff D. Bass, "The Romance as Rhetorical
Dissociation: The Purification of Imperialism in King Solomon's Mines,"
Quarterly Journal of Speech 61:3 (1981): 259-269; Jeff D. Bass and Richard
Cherwitz, "Imperial Mission and Manifest Destiny: A Case Study of Political
Myths in Rhetorical Discourse " Southern Speech Communication Tournai 43
(1978): 213-232; V. William Balthrop, "Culture, Myth and Ideology as Public
Argument: An Interpretation of the Ascent and Demise of 'Southern
Culture'," Communication Monographs 51 (Dec. 1984): 339-352; Waldo W.
Braden, "Myths in a Rhetorical Context," Southern Speech Communication
Journal (1975): 113-126; Michael Breen and Farrell Corcoran, "Myth in the
Television Discourse," Communication Monographs 49 (1975): 127-136;
Kenneth Burke, "Doing and Saying: Thoughts on Myth, Cult and Archetype,"
Salmagundi 15 (Winter, 1971): 100-119; Charles Conrad, "The Rhetoric of the
Moral Majority: An Analysis of Romantic Form," Quarterly Journal of Speech
69:2 (1983): 159-170; Farrell Corcoran, "The Bear in the Backyard: Myth,
Ideology and Victimage Ritual in Soviet Funerals," Communication
Monographs 50 (Dec. 1983): 305-320; Robert A. Davies, James M. Farrell and
Stephen S. Matthews, "The Dream World of Film: A Jungian Perspective on
Cinematic Communication," Western Journal of Speech Communication 46
(1982): 326-343; Walter R. Fisher, "Romantic Democracy, Ronald Reagan and
Presidential Heroes," Western Tournai of Speech Communication 46 (1982):
297-310; Thomas S. Frentz and Janice H. Rushing, "The Rhetoric of 'Rocky':
Part II," Western Journal of Speech Communication 42 (1978): 231-240; Sarah
Russell Hankins, "Archetypal Alloy: Reagan's Rhetorical Image," Central
States Speech Tournai 33 (1983): 33-43; Andrew A. King, "Booker T.
Washington and the Myth of Heroic Materialism," Quarterly Journal of Speech
60:3 (1974): 323-327; Noreen Wales Kruse, "The Myth of the Demonic in Anti-
ERA Rhetoric," Women's Studies in Communication 6 (Fall, 1983): 85-95;
Thomas M. Lessl, "Science and the Sacred Cosmos: The Ideological Rhetoric
of Carl Sagan," Quarterly Tournai of Speech 71:2 (1985): 175-187; Michael
Calvin McSee, "The Qrigins of 'Liberty': A Feminization of Power,"
Communication Monographs 47 (1980): 23-45; Michael McGuire, "Mythic
Rhetoric in Mein Kampf: A Structuralist Critique," Quarterly Journal of
Speech 63 (1977): 1-13; E. W. Mcheling, "Patricia Flearst: MYTH America,
1974, 1975, 1976," Western Tournai of Speech Communication 43 (1979): 168-179;
55
Michael J. Medhurst, "American Cosmology and the Rhetoric of Inaugural
Prayer," Central States Speech Tournai 28 (Winter 1977): 272-282; Michael J.
Medhurst, "Images and Ambiguity: A Rhetorical Approach to The Exorcist,"
Southern Speech Communication Tournai 44 (Fall 1978): 73-92; Michael
Osborn, "Archetypal Metaphor in Rhetoric: The Light-Dark Family," Quarterly
Tournai of Speech 53 (April, 1967): 115-126; Michael Qsborn, "The Evolution of
the Archetypal Sea in Rhetoric and Poetic," Quarterly Tournai of Speech 63
(1977): 347-363; Janice H. Rushing, "The Rhetoric of the American Western
Myth," Communication Monographs 50 (1983): 14-32; Janice H. Rushing and
Thomas S. Frentz, "'The Deer Hunteri: Rhetoric of the Warrior," Quarterly
Journal of Speech 66 (1980): 392-406; Janice H. Rushing and Thomas S.
Frentz, "The Rhetoric of 'Rocky': A Social-Value Model," Western Journal of
Speech Communication 42 (1978): 63-72; Jan Scheutz, "The Exorcist" Images
of Good and Evil," Western Journal of Speech Communication 34:2 (1975): 92-
101; Martha Solomon, "The 'Positive Woman's' Journey: A Mythic Analysis
of STQP ERA," Quarterly Journal of Speech 65 (1979): 262-274; Martha
Solomon, "Redemptive Rhetoric: The Continuity of Motif in the Rhetoric of
Right to Life," Central States Speech Journal 31 (Spring, 1980): 52-62; Martha
Solomon, "The Rhetoric of STQP ERA: Fatalistic Reaffirmation," Southern
Speech Communication Journal 44 (Fall, 1978): 42-59; Martha Solomon,
"Robert Schuller: The American Dream in a Crystal Cathedral," Central States
Speech Journal 34 (Fall, 1983): 172-186; Martha Solomon, "Stopping ERA: A
Phyrric Victory," Communication Quarterly 31:2 (1983): 109-117; Martha
Solomon, "Villainness Quest: Myth, Metaphor and Dream in 'Chariots of
Fire'," Communication Quarterly 31:4 (1983): 274-281; H.G. Stelzner, "The
Quest Story and Nixon's November 3, 1969 Address," Quarterly Journal of
Speech 57 (1971): 163-172; A. J. M. Sykes, "Myth in Communication," Journal
of Communication 20 (1970): 17-31; and Dale E. Williams, "2001: A Space
Qdvssev: A Warning Before its Time," Critical Studies in Mass
Communication 1:3 (1984): 311-322.
^"Rushing, "E.T."; Rushing, "Evolution"; Rushing, "Mythic Evolution";
Rushing, "American Western Myth"; and Rushing, "'Star Wars' Address" are
the most pertinant articles for this study.
11
Rushing, "E.T." 200; also Rushing, "Mythic Evolution."
^^For example, see Arthur Asa Berger, "Return of the Tedi: The
Rewards of Myth," Society, May-June, 1984: n.pag.; Robert Collins, "Star Wars:
The Pastische of Myth and the Yearning for a Past Future," Journal of
Popular Culture (Summer, 1977): 1-10; J.E. Ellington and J. W. Critelli,
"Analysis of a Modern Myth: The Star Trek Series," Extrapolation 24 (1983):
241-250; Andrew Gordon, "Close Encounters: The Gospel According to Steven
1 Spielberg," Literature/Film Quarterly 8:3 (1980): 156-164; Andrew Gordon,
I "E.T. as Fairy Tale," Science Fiction Studies 10 (1983): 298-305; Andrew
' Gordon, "Star Wars: A Myth for Qur Time," Literature/Film Quarterly 7 (Fall,
I 1978); Harvey Greenberg, "In Search of Spock: A Psychoanalytic Inquiry,"
I Journal of Popular Film and Television 12 (1984): 52-65; C. P. Kottack,
! "Structural and Psycological Analysis of Popular American Fantasy Films,"
56
Researching American Culture, ed. C. P. Kottack (Ann Arbor: U of Michigan
P 1982) 87-97; Anne Lancashire, "The Star Wars Saga: Comedy Vs. Tragedy,"
Dalhousie Review Spring, 1982: 5-13; Marie Jean Lederman, "Superman,
Oedipus, and the Myth of the Birth of the Hero," Tournai of Popular Film and
Television 9:2 (1981): 78-82; Constance Markey, "Birth and Rebirth in Current
Fantasy Films," Film Criticism 7:1 (1982): 14-25; Christopher Sharrett, "Myth,
Male Fantasy and the Simulera in 'Mad Max: The Road Warrior': TTie Hero
as Pastische," Tournai of Popular Film and Television 4:1 (1985): 82-91; and
T. Williams, "Close Encounters of the Authoritarian Kind," Wide Angle 5:4
(1983): n.pag.
^^In that sense they are closer to the horror genre, with its emphasis on
the unconscious, than they are to traditional science fiction, with its emphasis
on rationality; see George E. Slusser and Eric S. Rabkin, eds.. Shadows of the
Magic Lamp: Fantasy and Science Fiction in Film (Carbondale: Southern
Illinois UP, 1985); and Vivian Sobchack, Screening Space: The American
Science Fiction Film. 2nd ed.; orig. pub as The Limits of Infinity: The
American Science Fiction Film. 1950-1975 (N.Y.: Ungar, 1987; 1st ed.l980) 223-
305. For a description of the monomyth, see Joseph Campbell, The Hero With
a Thousand Faces. 2nd ed. Bollingen Series XVII (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton
UP, 1968).
^^See Slusser and Rabkin; also Sobchack. For an extensive discussion of
various scholarly approaches to myth see William G. Doty, Mvthographv:
The Study of Myth and Ritual (U of Alabama P, 1986); for a discussion of
fairy tales, see Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning
and Importance of Fairy Tales (N.Y.: Vintage, 1975).
^^For example, Janice Hocker Rushing and Thomas S. Frentz; they claim
that "rhetorical myths .... evolve toward an entelechial end." One function
of such myths might be to repress evils, but other functions are to reaffirm,
reveal and transform ("Critical Methods for Mythic Rhetoric," Speech
Communication Association, New Orleans, LA. 3 November 1988: 1). Their
optimistic, teleological framework cannot explain how myths might function
to repress the good, further oppressing certain social groups.
^^Barbara L. Baker, "It's a Boy's Life: A Rhetorical Examination of
Female Roles in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Conan the Barbarian," University
Film Association, Denton, TX., Aug. 1983.
^^Barbara L. Baker, "Putting Her in Her Place: Sexual Repression and
Hierarchical Mystification in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Tones and
i the Temple of Doom." Speech Communication Association, Chicago, IL.,
I November 1986.
I
I ^®Barbara L. Baker, "Androgynous Mythos as a Rhetorical Framework
j for Feminist Film Criticism: Star Wars. Part I," University Film and Video
j Association, Los Angeles, CA, Aug. 1985; with a revised version presented to
the Rhetoric Society of America, Arlington, TX., May 1986; also Barbara L.
57
Baker, "Reaffirmation and Transformation of Gender-Identity in Mediated
Texts; Androgyny as Rhetorical Response to Patriarchal Crisis," Central States
Communication Association, Detroit, ML, 7 Apr. 1990.
^Tor the concepts of reaffirmation and subversion see Walter R. Fisher,
"A Motive View of Communication," Quarterly Tournai of Speech 56 (1970):
131-139 and "Reaffirmation and Subversion of the American Dream," Quarterly
Journal of Speech 59 (Apr. 1973): 160-167.
^"Teresa DeLauretis, Alice Doesn't: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema
(Bloomington, IN.: Indiana UP, 1984) 103-157; also Barbara Creed, "From Here
to Modernity: Feminism and Postmodernism," Screen (1989): 47-67.
^^Marxist/socialist criticisms include Jon Lewis, "Return of the Tedi: A
Situationist Perspective," Tump Cut 30 [1985]: 3-6; Moishe Postone and
Elizabeth Traube, "Indiana Tones and the Temple of Doom: The Return of the
Repressed," lump Cut 30 [1985]: 13-14; Frank P. Tomasulo, "Mr. Jones Goes To
Washington: Myth and Religion in Raiders of the Lost Ark," Quarterly
Review of Film Studies 7:4 (1982): 331-339; and Patricia Zimmerman, "Soldiers
of Fortune: Lucas, Spielberg, Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark,"
Wide Angle 62 (1984): n.pag. Qedipal criticisms include Andrew Gordon,
"The Power of the Force: Sex in the Star Wars Trilogy," Eros in the Mind's
Eve: Sexuality and the Fantastic in Film, ed. Donald Palumbo (Westport, CT.:
Greenwood Press, 1986) 193-207; C. P. Kottack, "The Father Strikes Back,"
Researching American Culture. 98-104; and Martin Miller and Robert Sprich,
"The Appeal of Star Wars: An Archetypal-Psychoanalytic View," American
Imago 38:2 (1981): 203-220. Archetypal criticisms include Chellis Glendinning,
"'Star Wars' and the Qld ReHgion," Chrysalis: A Magazine of Women's
Culture 6 (1978): 17-21; Lane Roth, "Raiders of the Lost Archeytpes: The
Quest and the Shadow," Studies in the Humanities 1:10 (1983): 13-21; and
Thomas Lee Snyder, "Sacred Encounters: The Myth of the Hero in the
Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy Films of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg,"
diss.. Northwestern U, 1984 (Ann Arbor: UMI, 1986). DA8423307.
“ Adrienne Rich, "When We Dead Awaken: Writing as Re-Vision,"
College English 34 (Qctober, 1972): 18.
“ Sonja K. Foss, "Feminist Criticism," Rhetorical Criticism: Exploration
and Practice (Prospect Heights, IL.: Waveland Press, 1989) 151-159; Sonja K.
Foss, "A Female Perspective on the Research Process," Women's Studies in
Communication 7 (Fall, 1984): 73-76; also Karen A. Foss and Sonja K. Foss,
"Incorporating the Feminist Perspective in Communication Scholarship: A
Research Commentary," Doing Research on Women's Communication:
Alternative Perspectives in Theory and Method, ed. Carole Spitzack and
Kathryn Carter (Norwood, N.J.: Ablex, 1988) 65-91.
^^Teresa De Lauretis, Technologies of Gender: Essays in Theory. Film,
and Fiction (Bloomington, IN.: Indiana UP, 1987) 3-9; also Kay Deaux and
Mary E. Kite, "Thinking About Gender," Analyzing Gender: A Handbook of
58
Social Science Research, ed. Beth B. Hess and Myra Marx Ferree (Newbury
Park: Sage, 1987) 92-117.
“Jane Flax, "Postmodernism and Gender Relations in Feminist Theory,"
Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 12 (Summer, 1987): 627.
“Elaine Showalter, "Introduction: The Rise of Gender," Speaking of
Gender (N.Y.: Routledge, 1989) 1 -13.
“Joan Wallace Scott, "Gender: A Useful Category of Historical
Analysis," American Historical Review 91 (Nov. 1986): 1068.
^®Showalter 3.
^^Showalter 3-4; also Ann E. Kaplan, "Integrating Marxist and
Psycholanalytic Approaches to Feminist Film Criticism," Millennium Film
Journal 6 (Spring, 1980): 8-17.
^ “ Showalter 4; see also De Lauretis, Technologies of Gender 3-9.
®^Linda Alcoff, "Cultural Feminism Versus Post-Structuralism: The
Identity Crisis in Feminist Theory," Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and
Society 13:3 (1988): 431, 433; for a psychoanalytic view of gender-identity, see
Janet Walker, "The Problem of Sexual Difference and Identity," Wide Angle
6:3 (1984): n. pag.
“Karen A. Foss, "Research on Communication and Gender: Making the
Link to Feminist Theoiy," Women's Studies in Communication 7 (Fall, 1984):
83.
“ K. Foss 83. In the last few years, feminist criticism, theory and
research has witnessed a "spinning out" into the communication discipline as
a perspective for inquiry. Aiding this process are the Feminist Scholarship
Interest Group of the International Communication Association; the
Organization for the Research on Women and Communication; the
Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender; and
the Women's Caucus of the Speech Communication Association. Two recent
journal issues have been devoted to feminist inquiry: "Feminist Critiques of
Popular Culture," a special edition of Communication 9:1 (1986), ed. Ellen
Wartella and Paula A. Treichler; and "The Feminist Issue," of Journal of
Communication Inquiry 11:1 (1987). For other current reviews of feminist
scholarship see Lana F. Rakow, "Rethinking Gender Research in
Communication," Journal of Communication 36:4 (1986): 11-26; Carole
Spitzack and Kathryn Carter, "Women in Communication Studies: A Typology
for Revision," Quarterly Journal of Speech 73:4 (1987): 401-423; and H. Leslie
Steeves, "Feminist Theories and Media Studies," Critical Studies in Mass
Communication 4:2 (1987): 95-135.
59
“Julia T. Wood, Eva M. McMahan, and Don W. Stacks, "Research on
Women's Communication: Critical Assessment and Recommendations,"
Feminist Visions: Toward a Transformation of the Liberal Arts Curriculum,
eds. D. L. Fowlkes and C. S. McClure (U of Alabama P, 1984) 41.
“Paula A. Treichler and Ellen Wartella, "Interventions: Feminist Theory
and Communication Studies," Communication 9:1 (1986): 1-18; also Brenda
Dervin, "The Potential Contribution of Feminist Scholarship to the Field of
Communication," Tournai of Communication 37:4 (1987): 107-120.
“K. Foss 84.
“Spitzack and Carter 412-413; also Carol Gilligan, In A Different Voice:
Psychological Theory and Woman's Development (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard
UP, 1982); and Sally Miller Gearhart. "The Womanization of Rhetoric,"
Women's Studies International Quarterly 2 (1979): 195-201.
“ K. Foss and S. Foss, "Incorporating the Feminist Perspective" 70-72.
“Julia T. Wood, "What Distinguishes Feminist Scholarship in
Communication," Speech Communication Association, Boston, MA., Nov. 1987.
^ “ Spitzack and Carter observe that the vast bulk of research in
communication treats women as almost non-existent; see also K. Foss and S.
Foss, "Incorporating the Feminist Perspective." Until very recently, the only
rhetorical studies that could be considered feminist have been some
examining women's liberation discourse.
^^Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 59-62.
'^Philip Wander, "The Ideological Turn in Modem Criticism," Central
States Speech Journal 34 (Spring, 1983): 1-18.
^Spitzack and Carter 413; also Karen E. Altman, "Conversing at the
Margins: A Polemic, or Feminism and Communication Studies," Tournai of
Communication Inquiry 11:1 (1981): 116-117.
^^Rakow 22-23; also Lana F. Rakow, "Feminist Approaches to Popular
Culture: Giving Patriarchy Its Due," Communication 9:1 (1986): 19-41.
^^Several works deal with the nature-culture dichotomy as it applies to
women; see Sherry B. Qrtner, "Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture?"
Women. Culture and Society, eds. Michelle Zimbalist Rosalda and Louise
Lamphere (Stanford, CA.: Stanford UP, 1974) 67-89; also Carol P.
MacCormack, "Nature, Culture and Gender: A Critique," Nature, Culture
and Gender, eds. Carol MacCormack and Marilyn Strathern (Cambridge:
Cambridge UP, 1982) 1-21.
60
461
^Jean-Francois Lyotard, The Postmodern Condition: A Report on
Knowledge, trans. Geoff Bennington and Brian Massumi, Theory and History
of Literature, vol. 10 (Minneapolis, MN: U of Minnesota P, 1984). Lyotard
refers to how narratives work to legitimize "grand narratives"; in the forward
to this edition, Fredric Jameson claims that these "master narratives" are not
totally delegitimized by the postmodern condition, but instead are buried in
the "political unconscious" (xii).
^^For a discussion of women as a "muted group" see Elaine Showalter,
"Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness," The New Feminist Criticism 261-262.
Showalter borrows the concept from Edwin Ardener, "Belief and the Problem
of Women," Perceiving Women, ed. Shirley Ardener (N. Y.: Halstead Press,
1978) 1-17.
^®During a Speech Communication Association workshop. Rushing and
Frentz explicitly limited their framework to reaffirmatory and transformative
functions, to distinguish it from what they called the dominant ideological
approaches (presumably Marxist critiques) in media studies ("Critical Methods
for Mythic lÔietoric," New Orleans, LA., Nov. 1988). However, their choices
of texts pushes them beyond these limits into a consideration of how mythic
texts might function to mystify and oppress; when this occurs the utility of
their framework is weakened by their universalist, teleological assumptions.
^^Sylvia Brinton Perera, Descent to the Goddess: A Way of Initiation
for Women (Toronto, Canada: Inner City Books, 1981) 7.
^ “ Monica Sjôô and Barbara Mor, The Great Cosmic Mother:
Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth (San Francisco: Harper and Row,
1987) 352; also Barbara G. Walker, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and
Secrets (San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1983).
^^Rushing, "Evolution" 44, arguing in a note that she does not mean to
suggest that the unconscious mind is feminine.
“Steeves 106; see also Alison M. Jaggar, Feminist Politics and Human
Nature (Totowa: Rowan and Albuheld, 1983).
53
Rushing, "Evolution" 44.
“Rushing,"Evolution" 12; see also Annette Kolodny, The Lav of the
Land: Metaphor as Experience and History in American Life and Letters
(Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1975).
“Rushing, "Evolution" 14; for examples of other feminist work, see Jane
E. Caputi, "laws as Patriarchal Myth," Tournai of Popular Film 6:4 (1978):
305-326; Barbara Creed, "Horrors and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary
Abjection," Screen 27 (1986): 44-70; Chellis Glendenning; Diane Nelson,
"Imagery of Archetypal Feminine in the Works of Six Women Filmmakers,"
61
Quarterly Review of Film Studies 3:4 (1978): 495-506; and Diane Waldman,
"the Eternal Return of Circe," Velvet Light Trap 9 (Summer, 1973): 49-51.
“ De Lauretis, Alice Doesn't 121-122, emphasis hers.
“ De Lauretis, Alice Doesn't 121-122, emphasis hers.
“ De Lauretis, Alice Doesn't 119-134.
^Wivian Sobchack, "Child/Alien/Father: Patriarchal Crisis and Generic
Exchange," Camera Obscura 15 [1987]: 7-8.
'"Sobchack, "Child/Alien/Father" 31, 21.
'^Claire Johnston, "Women's Cinema as Counter-Cinema," Notes on
Women's Cinema: Screen, Pamphlet 2, ed. Claire Johnston (London: Society
for Education in Film and Television, 1972) 25.
“Johnson, 25; also Roland Barthes, Mythologies, trans. Annette Lavers
(N.Y.: Hill and Wang, 1972) 109-159.
1 “Pam Cook and Claire Johnston, "The Place of Women in the Cinema
I of Raoul Walsh," Feminism and Film Theory, ed. Constance Penley (N.Y.
I and London: Routledge/BFl, 1988) 25-35; also Christine Gledhill, "Recent
Developments in Feminist Film Criticism," Quarterly Review of Film Studies
(Fall, 1978): 457-498; Judith Mayne, "Feminist Film Theory and Criticism,"
Signs: Tournai of Women in Culture and Society 11:1 (1985): 81-100; and
Laura Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," Screen 16:3 (1975),
rpt. in Feminism and Film Theory 46-56.
'^Molly Flaskell, From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in
the Movies (N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1973, rpt. 1975) 40.
“Waldman 49.
“Naome Gilburt, "To Be Qur Qwn Muse: The Dialectics of a Culture
Heroine," Notes on Women's Cinema 5, emphasis hers.
“Gilburt 13; also Judith Mayne, "The Woman at the Keyhole: Women's
Cinema and Feminist Criticism," Re-Vision: Essavs in Feminist Film Criticism,
eds. Mary Ann Doane, Patricia Mellencamp and Linda Williams, American
Film Institute Monograph Series, vol. 3 (Fredrick, MD: University
Publications of America, 1984) 49-66.
“E. Ruby Rich, "The Crisis of Naming in Feminist Film Criticism,"
TumpCut, 19 [1978]: 11.
“Johnston 25.
70
Mayne "The Woman at the Keyhole" 63.
62
^^Christine Gledhill, "Klute 1: A Contemporary Füm Noir and Feminist
Criticism," Women in Film Noir, ed. E. Ann Kaplan (London: British Füm
Institute, 1978, 1980) 11.
^Michael Calvin McGee, "The 'Ideograph': A Link Between Rhetoric
and Ideology," Quarterly Tournai of Speech 66:1 (1980): 2-3.
^^Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, "'Conventional Wisdom— Traditional Form': A
Rejoinder," Quarterly Journal of Speech 58 (Dec. 1972): 453.
^Torbes HiU, "A Turn Against Ideology: Reply to Professor Wander,"
Central States Speech Tournai 34 (Summer, 1983): 123.
^®Elaine Showalter, "Toward a Feminist Poetics," The New Feminist
Criticism 139-142; also Kaplan 17.
^'Steeves 112, paraphrasing De Lauretis, Alice Doesn't.
“Jackie Byars, "Reading Feminist Discourse: Prime-time Television in
the U.S.," Communication 9:3-4 (1987): 292; and Jackie Byars,
"Gazes/Voices/Power," Speech Communication Association, Chicago, IL. Nov.
1986: 5.
^®Byars, "Gazes/Voices/Powers" 3, 8, 12-14.
“Byars, "Gazes/Voices/Powers" 13; also Nancy Chodorow, The
Reproduction of Mothering (Berkeley: U of California P, 1978) 166-167.
®°Byars, "Gazes/Voices/Powers" 43-44.
® ^Byars, "Gazes/Voices /Powers" 6.
®^Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious 235-236; also Fredric
Jameson, "Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture," Social Text:
Theory / Culture /Ideology 1 (1982): 130-148.
® ^Janice A. Radway, "Identifying Ideological Seams: Mass Culture,
Analytical Method and Political Practice," Communication 9:1 (1986): 93-123;
Jameson, "Reification and Utopia" 145-147.
®^Jameson, "Reification and Utopia" 141, 144-145.
“Radway 107-108, 118; also Lana F. Rakow, "Feminist Studies: The
Next Stage," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 6:2 (1989): 209-215.
® 'K . Foss and S. Foss 72-81.
®^udith Fetterly, The Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach to
American Fiction (Bloomington, IN.: Indiana UP, 1978) xi-xii.
63
® ® Judith Kegan Gardiner, ' Gender, Values and Lessing's Cats," Feminist
Issues in Literary Scholarship, ed. Shari Benstock (Bloomington, IN.: Indiana
UP, 1987) 110-123.
'^Spitzack and Carter 415.
% sh er. Human Communication as Narration; also Stuart Hall,
"Encoding/Decoding," Culture, Media, Language, eds. Stuart Hall et al.
(London: Hutchinson, 1980) 134-138.
^^Radway 96.
“Radway 96-97; also Susan R. Suleiman and Inge Crosman, eds.. The
Reader in the Text: Essavs on Audience and Interpretation (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton UP, 1980).
“Radway 100; also Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (N.Y.:
Basic Books, 1973) 89.
^Jameson, The Political Unconscious 115.
“Balthrop 342, 344, 349-351; Solomon, "Stopping ERA"; Jameson, The
Political Unconscious 235-236; and Jameson, "Reification and Utopia" 144; also
Rollo May, The Courage To Create (Toronto, Canada: Bantam, 1976) 113-
114.
“Louis Althusser, "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatus," in Lenin
and Philosophy, trans. Ben Brewster (N.Y.: Monthly Review Press, 1971) 232;
see also Kenneth Burke, Language As Symbolic Action: Essavs on Life.
Literature, and Method (Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1966) 3-22.
“Althusser 127-186.
“Balthrop 341-343.
“Balthrop 341-343; also Kenneth Burke, "Ideology and Myth," Accent:
A Quarterly of New Literature, 7:4 (1947): 196-205. Burke argues that ideology
is like rhetoric, gravitating "to the side of ideas," while myth is more like
poetry, gravitating "to the side of the image" (195). Yet ideological purpose is
based on mythic purpose, because such myths provide a ground for political
and social motives (199).
100-
Rad way 109.
^ “ ^Lawrence Grossberg, "History, Politics and Postmodernism: Stuart
Hall and Cultural Studies," Journal of Communication Inquiry 10:2 (1986):
67-68.
'“Stuart Hall 134-138.
64
'“Balthrop 350.
^°^Terry Eagleton, Literary Theory: An Introduction (Minneapolis, MN:
U of Minnesota P, 1983) 163-168, 185-186.
^°®Rushing, "Mythic Eyolution"; Rushing, "'Star Wars' Address" 417.
^"^Balthrop 349.
^"^Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, "Rhetorical
Hybrids: Fusions of Generic Elements," Quarterly Tournai of Speech 68 (May,
1982): 146-157.
1081
^Jameson, "Reification and Utopia" 144; also Angela McRobbie,
"Postmodernism and Popular Culture," Tournai of Communication Inquiry 10:2
(1986): 109-124.
^ “ ^Fredric Jameson, "Postmodernism and Consumer Society," The Anti-
Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture, ed. Hal Foster (Port Townsend:
Bay Press, 1983) 116; also Fredric Jameson, "Postmodernism, or the Cultural
Logic of Late Capitalism," New Left Reyiew 146 (July-Aug. 1984): 53-92.
110
Creed, "From Here to Modernity" 54.
Creed 54-56, 59, 62-66. Creed takes the idea of "gynesis" from Alice
Jardine, Gynesis: Configurations of Women and Modernity (Ithaca, N.Y.:
Cornell UP, 1985).
"^De Lauretis, Alice Doesn't 115, referring to Vladimir Propp,
Morphology of the Folktale, 2nd ed., rey. and ed. Louis A. Wagner (Austin,
TX.: U of Texas P, 1968) 122-124.
”^Creed 65-66; also Hester Eisenstein, Contemporary Feminist Thought
(Boston, MA: G. K. Hall, 1983) 63. For an exploration of the androgyne
image in history see Elemire Zolla, The Androgyne: Reconciliation of Male
and Female (N.Y.: Crossroads, 1981); and Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty,
Women, Androgynes, and Other Mythical Beasts (Chicago, IL.: U of Chicago
P, 1980).
"^O'Flaherty; also Sj66 and Mor; and Merlin Stone, When God Was A
Woman (N.Y.: Harcourt Brace Joyanoyich/Haryest, 1976).
"®Janet Bergstrom, "Androids and Androgyny," Camera Obscura 15
[1987]: 39-42; also Creed 62-66; and Sobchack, Screening Space 297-298. For a
negatiye reaction to this phenomenon, see Sam Umland, "Sexual Freaks and
Stereotypes in Recent Science Fiction and Fantasy Films: Loathing Begets
Androgyny," Palumbo 225-235.
"^Rakow, "Rethinking Gender Research" 23.
65
"^Thomas O. Sloan et al., "Report of the Committee of the Advancement
and Refinement of Rhetorical Criticism," The Prospect of Rhetoric: Report of
the National Developmental Project, eds. Lloyd F. Bitzer and Edwin Black
(Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1971) 220.
"®Sloan et al. 222.
"^Robert Scholes and Eric S. Rabkin, Science-Fiction: History, Science,
Vision (N.Y.: Oxford UP, 1977) 169.
"“ Ursula K. LeGuin, The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy
and Science Fiction, ed. Susan Wood (N.Y.: Perigree, n.d.) 74-75, 77.
"^Joseph Campbell, interview. "The Hero's Journey," prod. KPBS-TV,
San Diego, CA., 19 May 1988; Campbell makes similar statements in Joseph
Campbell with Bill Moyers, The Power of Myth, ed. Betty Sue Flowers (New
York: Doubleday, 1988); in addition see Gary Abrams, "Man of God Laments
Lack of Modern Myths," Dallas Times Herald, 1 June 1987: C3; Joseph
Campbell The Inner Reaches of Outer Space: Metaphor as Myth and Religion
(N.Y.: Alfred Van Der Marck Ed., St. James Press, 1986); and Joseph
Campbell, Myths to Live By (N.Y.: Bantam Books, 1972).
^"Dudley Andrews, Concepts in Film Theory (N.Y.: Oxford UP, 1984)
114.
"^Margrit Eichler, "Science Fiction as Desirable Feminist Scenarios,"
1 Women's Studies International Quarterly 4:1 (1981): 51-64.
"'^Lawrence W. Rosenfield, "The Anatomy of Critical Discourse," Speech
Monographs 35 (1968): 50-69; also Malcolm O. Sillars, "Persistent Problems in
Rhetorical Criticism," Rhetoric and Communication: Studies in the University
of Illinois Tradition, eds. Jane Blankenship and Hermann G. Stelzner (Urbana,
IL.: U of Illinois P, 1976) 69-88.
"® S . Foss, "A Female Perspective" 73-76; also Anne Wilson Schaef,
Women's Reality: An Emerging Female System in the White Male Society
(Minneapolis, MN.: Winston Press, 1981).
I "^S. Foss, "A Female Perspective" 75.
j "^S. Foss, "Feminist Criticism" 151-155.
! "*W. Charles Redding, "Extrinsic and Intrinsic Criticism," Essays on
Rhetorical Criticism, ed. Thomas R. Nilsen (N.Y.: Random House, 1968)
98-125.
"^Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces; also Joseph
Campbell, The Masks of God, 4 volumes (N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1962-1969);
Northrop Frye, The Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays (N.J.: Princeton UP,
1957); Northrop Frye, The Secular Scriptures (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard UP,
6 6
1976); Carl Gustav Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, 2nd
Ed., trans. R. F. C. Hull, BoUigen Series XX (N.J.: Princeton UP, 1968); Erich
Neumann, The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype, trans. R.
Manheim, Bollinger Series XLVII (N.J.: Princeton UP, 1963); Erich Neumann,
The Origins and History of Consciousness (N.J.: Princeton UP, 1973); and
Ken Wilber, Up From Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution
(Boulder, CO.: Shambala Press, 1983).
"“ Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces 30; Frye, The
Anatomy of Criticism 187-188.
"^Mircea Eliade, Rites and Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of Birth
and Rebirth, trans. W. R. Trask (N.Y.: Harper Torchbooks, 1965) 42-46; also
Marilyn French, Bevond Power: On Women. Men and Morals (N.Y.: Summit
Books, 1985) 25-64; S. B. Perera 9-11; Sjôô and Mor; B. Walker, The Women's
Encyclopedia; and Edward C. Whitmont, Return of the Goddess (N.Y.:
Crossroads, 1984).
"^Many feminists collapse the designation of "Terrible Goddess" into
M aiden/M other/Crone, arguing that the death-bringing aspect of the Goddess
is only terrifying to males due to castration fears; see Naomi Goldenberg,
Changing of the Gods: Feminism and the End of Traditional Religions
(Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1979) 96-100.
Jameson, The Political Unconscious 114.
^^Jameson, The Political Unconscious 115.
^^Balthrop notes that through "ideological dialectics. . . one can become
aware of the dominating myth and can, hence, subject it to critical
examination." Despite the fact that "ideological arguments" might support the
status quo, they can also lead to cultural modification, perhaps even radical
transformation, for "in those circumstances where too much is asked, the
explanation offered in ideological argument may be rejected (350-351;
emphasis his).
"T or examples of articles on these films successes, see the following:
Greg Bear, "'Raiders': A Cinch Success Formula," Los Angeles Times 5 July
1981; Jim Harwood, "'Star Wars' All Time Box Office Force," Variety 3 June
1987: 35, rpt. in Donald Willis, ed. Variety's Complete Science Fiction Reviews
(N.Y. and London: Garland, 1985) 423; Arthur Knight, "Lucas-Spielberg
'Doom' Seems Destined For Box Office Glory," The Hollywood Reporter, 11
May 1984: 4+. See also Bruce Bawer, "My Turn: Ronald Reagan as Indiana
Jones," Newsweek, 27 Aug. 1984: 14; "Charge 'Star Wars' Program Trashing
Lucas Film's Name," Variety, 27 Nov. 1985: 3; and Dale Pollock, Skywalking:
The Life and Films of George Lucas (N.Y.: Ballantine Books 1983).
"Examples of positive criticisms include David Ansen, "Cliffhanger
Classic," Newsweek 15 June 1981: 58-64; Lawrence Christon "The Funny
67
Violence of 'Doom'," Los Angeles Times, 15 July 15 1984; Richard Corliss,
"Keeping the Customer Satisfied," Time 21 May 1984: 82-83; Andrew
Gordon, "A Myth For Our Time"; Rushing, "Mythic Evolution," 286-288; Jay
Cocks,"Star Wars: The Year's Best Movie," Time, 30 May 1977: 55-62; and
Denis Wood, "The Stars in Our Hearts: A Critical Commentary on George
Lucas's 'Star Wars'," Journal of Popular Film 7:3 (1978): 262-279. Examples
of negative criticism include Teriy C. Fox "Star Drek, the 'Star Wars' Wars:
II," Film Comment (July-August, 1977): 22-23; Harlan Jacobson, "Two For the
Rude," Film Comment (July-August, 1984): 49-51; Lewis; David Overby, "Star
Wars: Futuristic Furnishings From the Bargain Basement of Mystico-
Militarism," The Paris Metro, 25 Oct. 1977: 9-10; Postone and Traube; Dan
Rubey, "Star Wars: Not So Far Away," lump Cut, 18 [1978]: 13-14; Tomasulo;
and Zimmerman. As regards these five films, it seems critics mostly loved or
hated them, without much middle ground. Despite the sophistication of
much of this criticism, these polarized views cannot fully address the issues
raised in this study.
"T or example, see Roger Angell, "A Breeze, A Bawd, A Bounty," New
Yorker, 11 June 1984: 101-106; Ansen; Gary Arnold, "Star Wars: A
Spectacular Intergalatic Joyride," Washington Post, 25 May 1977: B1+; Robert
Ashanima, "On Screen: Stale Popcorn," New Leader. 30 May 1983: 19-20;
Sheila Bensen, "Indy's 'Temple of Doom' Desecrated By Too Much Special
Effects," Los Angeles Times, 23 May 1984: Part IV, 1+; Vincent Canby,
"Mixed Adventures," New York Times, 21 May 1981: Sec II, 17+; Christon;
Andrew Gordon, "The Power of the Force"; John Coleman, "As It Happens, "
New Statesman 15 June 1984: 29-30; Herbert G. Gans, "Star Wars: The
Teenager as Democracy's Savior," Social Policv (1984): 54-55; Jack Kroll, "Indy
Strikes Again" Newsweek, 4 June 1984: 70; Rex Reed, "'Indiana Jones' Even
Better Than 'Raiders'," Entertainment Todav, 8 June 1984; Mike Royko, "Luke
Skywalker is a Wimp," Los Angeles Times, 8 June 1983.
"^One critic who notes that changes might have affected the narrative in
Star Wars is Harlan Jacobsen, though the nature of such changes and the
extent of their impact are unexplored; see "Thunder on the Right," Füm
Comment. July-Aug. 1983: 10. Still, enough reviewers were uneasy with the
use of special effects in both Return of the ledi and Temple of Doom to
suggest that a postmodern trend was occurring. See also Sobchack, Screening
Space 223-305.
^ '^ “ The story of the genesis of Raiders is well-known— how George Lucas
told the story to Steven Spielberg on an Hawaiian beach, and the two joined
up with Lawrence Kasdan to create a screenplay. See Richard Schickel and
Michael Smilgis, "Slam! Bang! A Movie Movie," Time, 15 June 1981; also
Zimmerman. Jack Kroll says that Spielberg claims to, be Lucas's "hired hand"
for the "Indiana Jones" films; see "Indy Strikes Again" 79. It is quite likely
that Directors Kerschner and Marquand felt the same way about the Star
Wars films.
68
Chapter 2
! RHETORICAL APPROACHES TO MYTHIC NARRATIVES
I
I Currently there is much debate in the field of communication regarding
I
I the nature and functions of symbolic acts, and the best ways to analyze or
i critique them, especially popular culture artifacts. In this chapter, I will
present the most relevant issues in rhetorical theory regarding current
approaches to myth and narrative, demonstrating how a feminist perspective
will improve our knowledge about them. Because this study employs
theoretical concepts similar to those used by Janice Hocker Rushing, on
similar (or the same) texts, the bulk of this chapter involves an extensive
explication and critique of Rushing's work, focusing on its limitations from a
feminist rhetorical perspective.
Scholars in communication have long been interested in myth, defining it
in numerous ways. For the purposes of this review, the focus is on various
approaches to the heroic quest motif, along with Rushing's "New Frontier"
mythos.
The Heroic Quest Motif
Hermann G. Stelzner calls the quest story "[ojne of the oldest and most
popular themes in narrative," revolving around the search for something lost.^
While the details change, the form remains basically stable and archetypal.
; For Stelzner, the five basic elements of the quest function together to provide
I
, new insights into certain pieces of rhetoric. The primary element is the
69
search for "a precious Object and/or Person to be found and possessed or
married," which can include quests for ideas, as was true in President Nixon's
November 3, 1969 address to the nation on the Vietnam War. Nixon's quest,
Stelzner argues, was one for peace, though not an easily obtained peace;
j instead, Nixon sought "peace with honor." Other elements of the quest motif
i
I include "a long journey to find the Object," various "guardians of the Object
I
who must be overcome before it can be won," one or more "helpers who with
their knowledge and/or magical powers assist the Hero," and, of course, "a
Hero," who could be direct and visionary, or indirect and cautious. For
Stelzner, Nixon's speech contains all these elements, but it is "not a good
Quest story." It contains too many questions left unanswered, among other
flaws.^
' The nature of the hero in mythic quests is further addressed by Sarah
i
: Russell Hankins, as it concerns Ronald Reagan's rhetorical image. Hankins
points out several generic qualities of heroes: heroes are "transcendent"
outsider figures, both human and "godlike," they are ascetic, austere, and
virtuous, they are compassionate regarding society as a whole, but tend to
have an aversion to women, preferring the company of other men (which of
course assumes that the generic, traditional hero is male), and such heroes
1 use their powers positively and wisely to conquer evil, restoring the good.^
Martha Solomon applies Walter R. Fisher's "motive view" to the quest
motifs in the film. Chariots of Fire, analyzing the dialectic between
materialism and moralism as portrayed in the film. She argues that neither
side is exalted over the other, but both serve as counterpoint messages; thus.
70
the quest is "villainless" in its outcomes/ Solomon also analyzes quests which
are less benign. For example, the rhetoric of the STOP ERA movement is
i seen as part of a romantic quest following the ideas of Northrop Frye. Such
I
I a quest includes "a hero who undertakes a quest involving a perilous journey,
a crucial struggle with a foe, and an ultimate triumph."^ This mythic motif
combines "the idealized world with everyday experiences," making mythic
imagery more accessible to the ordinary person, in this case "the positive
woman" and her journey for fulfillment. It is a fatalistic, conservative vision
that motivates this woman on her quest, with ERA supporters cast as villains,
j Solomon notes that "[bjecause romance blends the real and the ideal so
! intricately, it creates a particularly potent appeal." Through the satisfying use ;
i
I of a familiar, repetitive form, an "illusion of progressive development" is '
! provided, a progress that requires no risk or threat.^
I Solomon further notes how the associations of the hero with light and
I :
I salvation become even more important when that hero is a woman. Using ;
I I
I the feminine imagery of Carl Gustav Jung, she observes how the STOP ERA j
' movement connects itself to the positive side of the archetype, with "maternal i
I solicitude and sympathy; the magic authority of the female; the wisdom and
i
spiritual exaltation that transcend reason: any helpful instinct or impulse; aU
that is benign, all that cherishes and sustains, that fosters growth and
fertility"; while the feminist is depicted as the terrible mother, or "anything
secret, hidden, dark; the abyss, the world of the dead, anything that devours
and poisons."^ Solomon notes that such mythic images and themes are
complex, functioning in one of four ways explicated by Joseph Campbell in
I 71
i
I Myths, Dreams and Religion. Campbell's first function is the mystical, which
I reconciles "consciousness with the preconditions of its own existence"; the
i second is the cosmological, which creates and expresses some "image of the
universe"; the third is the sociological, "validating and maintaining some
; specific social order, authorizing its moral code as a construct beyond
criticism or human emendation"; and, finally, the fourth function is the
' psychological, which shapes "individuals to the aims and ideals of their
various social groups, bearing them on from birth to death through the
course of a human life."® STOP ERA rhetoric fulfills all four functions, but
particularly the last, offering a reaffirmation of the traditional image of
womanhood, relegitimized through the archetype of the mother (Goddess).^
i Yet, as Solomon argues in a later study, the success of this movement is "a
pyrrhic victory," for ultimately it exacerbates conflicts, dividing women from
each other.
Noreen Wales Kruse makes a similar argument in her study of the
"myth of the demonic" in anti-ERA rhetoric. For Kruse, myths are
"rhetorically created visions of a past, present, or future that are based on a
group's unquestioned beliefs and attitudes .... [conveying] messages about
'life in general and life-within-society in particular'." Kruse bases her study
I
I on Solomon's work, pointing out that while Solomon focuses upon "the
I rhetoric of affirmation" she has missed its companion motive, that of
I subversion." Kruse argues that such rhetoric involves irony, which is,
! according to Frye, an aspect of the "demonic." Kruse then analyzes the
; rhetoric against the Iowa ERA as representative of "a mythic vision of a
72
demonic universe called forth by the amendment's passage." In this rhetoric,
the hero has been defeated, and "chaos prevails." Kruse concludes by noting
that the emotional power of myth will dominate over the cognitive power of
political ideology, especially when the two conflict. Though the mythic
rhetoric shifted from romance to irony, it was still potent in defeating the
Iowa ERA."
Also employing Frye's notion of the quest are Jeff D. Bass and Charles
Conrad. Bass extends Frye's concept of the romance beyond the merely
reaffirmatory, examining adventure stories of the late Victorian period. For
Bass, these tales "were inherently persuasive artifacts that figured prominently
in the larger rhetorical effort 'to mold the popular attitude toward the glories
of empire'." He focuses on H. Rider Haggard's novel King Solomon's Mines,
arguing that it serves as "a rhetorical attempt to purify an image of
I imperialism that many Britons found disturbing."" This attempt is
accomplished though a strategy of "dissociation" which not only purifies
I
I imperialism, but mystifies its problematic nature. The first half of the novel
corresponds to the traditional quest motif outlined by Frye, but in the second
half the British heroes are dissociated from exploiters and transformed into
redeemers, so that imperialism is presented as "the ultimate means of self-
I realization.""
; Conrad examines the rhetoric of the Moral Majority as a romance in
t
; which the idyllic world combats the demonic. Conrad provides three
' requirements for effective (or credible) uses of romantic form: the "romance
must differentiate a pure and complete idyllic world which is wholly 'pious'
73
from a demonic world which is not"; the two worlds presented in a romance
i must be "congruent with an auditor's reconstructions of his or her past
I
; experiences"; and the romance must also provide "satisfactory symbols" which
I express various truths and falsehoods (depending on which world produces
I them)." The Moral Majority in particular "merges a religious mythology that
!
* is grounded in a conservative Protestant ethic with a secular mythology
j
which depicts America as a society founded in a quest for political freedom
and moral principle." The Moral Majority serves as a guardian of that quest
in both its spiritual and secular aspects. This rhetoric is ultimately nostalgic,
expressing "the frustrations of rhetors whose society has betrayed its religious
heritage and abrogated its most important social contract." Auditors are
called to a type of "crusade" to restore the social order while also affirming 1
their place in the moral future world to come."
In examining the film 2001: A Space Odvssev, Dale Williams employs a i
Burkean view of the "quest." Kenneth Burke argues that a primary human j
motive is to achieve order and transcendence, which is accomplished in four j
stages. First, a "sovereign intelligence" establishes order; second, disobedience |
of order results in guilt which must be punished or otherwise expiated; third, |
I guilt and punishment require sacrifice, and this leads to redemption; fourth,
j redemption leads to transcendence, or "a higher level of understanding."" As
j the symbolic recreation of these four stages, the film 2001 stands as both a
I warning and a challenge to the audience. Through mortification and self-
denial, we "can find communion with god.""
74
In addition to these studies are Jungian-based approaches to mythic
narratives that involve some aspects of the quest motif. Robert A. Davies,
James M. Farrell, and Steven S. Matthews argue for such a Jungian
perspective, focusing on the dream-like nature of film, which makes abundant
use of archetypal images, including the hero myth. Both realistic and
fantastic films make use of quest: which permit "self-discovery through
encounters with images that a restricted consciousness lacks."" They apply
their perspective to the film The Shining, but recommend its usefulness for
I
I many other films, including Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Davies,
i
: Farrell, and Matthews note that such films produce strong emotional
responses in audiences, with archetypal images serving both social and
individual functions beyond mere escapism or the production of "false
consciousness," helping audiences cope with the social strains caused by
"threatening circumstances." Thus, such "mythic fantasies" can be analyzed as
rhetorical "efforts to fill a psychic void created by the rational emphases of
modernity.
Janice Rushing and Thomas S. Frentz also propose a Jungian model of
the hero in The Deer Hunter. They argue that a hero/w arrior confronts his
own shadow, the antithesis of his own persona, the enemy within, making
combat "a holistic ritual," or "universal initiation rite." As such ritual, warfare
I
] can provide mythic reaffirmation which reinforces societal unity. Yet they
I caution that this does not mean "that all values reaffirmed through war are
good." Clearly, many are not. Nor is warfare the best ritual for achieving
such ends. They conclude by noting that film images correspond to dream
75
images, with füm "an art form particularly well-suited to expressing
archetypes," focusing on social awareness of the "collective unconscious."^^
These studies indicate that heroic myths, especially those focused on the
quest motif, do act rhetorically; they persuade audiences. Yet the question of
how they persuade their audiences to accept a particular gender-ideology is
not really addressed by these studies. Most presume a masculine (or
! masculinized) hero. Only Solomon's study on the "positive women" analyzes
j
I any type of "feminine myth." This feminine myth, embodied in the rhetoric
I
of the STOP ERA movement, supports a traditional view of women's roles
I and their functions in society. The Jungian archetype of the mother is used
I rhetorically to reaffirm a repressive split in female identity, though Solomon
I
I does not question the essentialistic thrust of Jung's conception of feminine
I
j identityFor Jung, the mother-image is "a powerful primordial image,"
j
operating on the unconscious level of our psyches.^ Thus it is transhistorical
and idealized, presupposing a type of psychological determinism
^ corresponding to a biological one.
I One task of the feminist researcher is to expose the essentialistic use of
any symbol, especially when it results in undesirable outcomes. Lana Rakow
argues that neither our social gender nor our biological sex "constitutes some
essential essence of the individual. Instead, gender (involving both our
physical and mental selves) is an on-going accomplishment." She concludes,
therefore, "that gender does not cause communication practices; gender is a
communication practice." For Rakow, feminist inquiry needs to examine "how
I
! gender is accomplished and enforced in interactions, in organizations, and
76
through the m edia.K eeping these points in mind, I now turn to the work
of Janice Rushing.
Evolutionary Transformation of the Heroic Quest Motif
Over the course of several years. Rushing has been developing a model
j of how mythic narratives evolve to meet social and "ultimate" exigencies,
especially fears of fragmentation and death. In developing this model.
Rushing has focused primarily on what she calls the "American frontier myth"
as it is represented in popular culture narratives. This "frontier myth" is an
Americanized version of the monomythic heroic quest mythos, though
Rushing is influenced less by Joseph Campbell than by Carl Jung.^®
The foundations of Rushing's perspective are discovered in what she
labels a "perennialist synthesis," or evolutionary view of the development of
I human consciousness. Consciousness, or the collective psyche, is textually
j encoded in mythic narratives that have teleological ends. Through mythic
I stories we find a purpose for our individual lives, a clue to both personal
I and social identity, and a moral vision. The evolution of human
consciousness is deemed a higher principle for all humans than those myths
which are primarily cultural in their functions; such mythic narratives that
focus on the development of human consciousness are assumed to be both
"universal" and non-ideological, transcending the concerns of particular
cultural systems. This function is illustrated through the use of
"transcendent" and "universal" symbols or archetypes." These "transcendent"
77
symbols or archetypes are defined in a traditionally Jungian way as
primordial forms embedded biologically in the collective unconscious, and
represented by "universal symbols"."
From this perspective, history is seen as continually unfolding narrative
toward the final reconciliation of matter and Spirit, a union with the Absolute
in Hegalian terms. Movement toward this ultimate goal occurs through a
process of dialectical synthesis which moves humankind through a number of
; historical stages from primal unconsciousness to pre-conscious awareness of
i
j matter and body, to conscious awareness of mind and ego, to transconscious
awareness of soul and spirit, finally to cosmic reunion with the Ultimate
Ground of Being. This dialectical process occurs through what Thomas
Frentz calls "rhetorical narration" conceived as "an interdependent set of
discourses in teleological time which maps the movement of social
consciousness toward or away from the telos of unity," with social
community and unity the highest moral good." Rushing notes that this
process is "a seamless whole that underlies and includes all multiplicity
. . . .Everyone is interconnected with everyone else, and indeed, with the
whole of the universe.""
Each of the stages of consciousness has its own cultural vision, the
surface structure" of the myth. At the cultural level the myth is "molded
i and conditioned by the force of cultural and historical contingencies."
I Rushing argues that the "universality" of the mythic form lies in its "deep
I
I structure," which is consistent across cultures, and which is primarily
I
I symbolized as a quest. As the myth evolves to the next stage, the heroes of
I
78
the old become the "dragons" (or villains) of the new. By this symbolic
negation, the former stage is transcended; yet the process ideally continues,
with the new level of consciousness preserving and integrating the old in
synthesis.®” As Ken Wilber maintains, the hero of each stage is the "one who
first tries out the next major level of consciousness," providing humans with
"the treasure hard to attain," seen as movement into the next stage.®^
I Rushing sees humanity firmly in the grip of what Wilber calls "the egoic
! stage," which she locates at the top of "an outward arc" of gradual
I
differentiation of the personal self from the natural environment, a process of
' self-assertion. This egoic stage occurred with the emergence of the rational
mind in which the "self became a concept capable of reflecting upon itself,
and time transformed from circular and seasonal to linear and historical."
I This self-awareness had to be wrested, sometimes violently, from tribal pre-
I consciousness, symbolized by the Great Mother/Goddess image. Thus, the
I
! "well-known hero of classical myth and fairy tales," is represented as "solar,
j masculine and heaven dwelling," because he must oppose the prior stage of
consciousness "which is lunar, feminine, and earth-bound." Rushing further
argues that rational, mental consciousness is therefore "everywhere associated
with the sun, light, masculinity, day and waking consciousness."®^
This emerging solar hero "slew" rather than integrated the Great Mother,
I causing the archetype to split into two aspects, the positive "virgin" and the
negative "harlot" or "dragon." The latter aspect was relegated to the
I unconscious, where it emerges in dreams (and popular culture) as terrible
! monsters.®® Furthermore, as Wilber observes, the patriarchal hero "rose up
79
arrogant and aggressive . . . .and begin to sever its own roots in a fantasy
attempt to prove its absolute independence," to play God by remaking the
I
1 world/cosmos "in its own image." By denying the "feminine," this heroic
, ego-ideal has created great discord, for no longer do we have "harmony with
the heavens, but a 'conquering of space,' no longer respect for Nature, but a
; technological assault on Nature."®^
Many religiously-oriented feminists, looking at the historical and
I anthropological record of ancient civilization, argue that the usurpation of the
; Goddess established a patriarchal authority that keeps women oppressed and
dependent. While reasons for the historical overthrow of the Goddess
I religion are debated, the symbolic result was the co-option of the earlier
' myths and the establishment of the Father as the primary signifier. Without
I female images of divinity, female power became submerged, seen as
illegitimate, even evil. Thus many such feminists turn to the image of the
j Goddess for an "affirmation of female power" and to counter the ül effects of
I I
I the patriarchy. Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow note that the dualistic j
! I
perspective fostered by the patriarchal, rational mind is the foundation for the |
current "ecological crisis" among other problems. The control and exploitation ;
; of nature serves as a model for oppressing women, for "when the culture-
I
I creating males identified the positive sides of dualism with themselves and |
, the negative sides with the women," they legitimized their "right to rule."® ® I
1
j Rushing agrees with this view. She argues that for consciousness to
1 progress and evolve, the modern hero must renounce both ego (individuality)
I and traditional rationality (often symbolized through increasingly sophisticated
80
technology), yet paradoxically integrate them in order to move to the next
level of consciousness. In one study. Rushing notes that
whereas the task of the egoic hero was to separate itself from
the grip of the devouring monster to achieve independence, the
task of the modem hero is to merge this independent ego with
the Great Mother and thus transform consciousness.®^
The task of such a hero, therefore, is not to slay dragons, but to make friends
with them, while searching for internal treasures. For men, this means
coming to understand and accept the "feminine" within themselves, with the
Arthurian Grail legends serving as a model; for women, this means coming to
understand and accept the negative (or dark) side of femininity, healing the
split caused by the egoic stage, with the Sumerian myth of Inanna serving as
a model. Such a reintegration of the feminine will permit consciousness to
enter an "inward arc" whereby the divided self is made whole, eventually
culminating in a merger with transconscious spirit through a process of self-
transcendence.® ^
Although the next stage has not yet occurred, we can imagine it and
work toward it. Such progress is the end goal of moral rhetoric. Rushing
believes this new stage is previewed in what she labels "space science fiction."
Such texts are presumed to be more flexible and imaginative, more open to
the "future." Rushing argues that the films she studies confront the ultimate
exigencies of our culture, depicting a "transcendent hero" who will help to
move humanity forward into the next stage, where all prior levels are
reintegrated. In this stage, the individual ego, "split during the mental age
into acceptable persona and unacceptable shadow (in Jung's terms) heals
itself." Additionally, the Great Mother image reemerges to stand "beside the
1 81
' solar hero." Evil technology is reintegrated as well, so that no more demons
I remain lurking in our unconscious m inds.® ®
j According to Rushing, science-fiction and fantasy films also expand our
I notions about space. The frontier conflict between individual and community
I is enacted on a changing mythic scene, from sea to land to space. Rushing
I insists that
the evolution of the frontier must be understood as a cultural
variant of the larger evolution of the archetypes inherent in the
' myth. For example, the latest scenic transition has produced, at
, least in some cases, a new type of hero; as the concept of
I 'frontier^ shifts from finite land to infinite space, the action turns
from conquest to co-existence, from exploitation to conservation.
; The hubris of the old western patriarchal hero recedes, and the
New Frontier hero eventually ceases to dominate the scene and
vanquish the enemy.®^
As the "tyranny of patriarchy" begins unravelling "in the new scene of 1
space," the archetypal themes of the Grail quest and the feminine descent will [
I !
I I
I become more prominent. Rushing further asserts that space, unlike land, has :
! no characteristics, so "is not amenable to the projection of gender." Space is
^ infinite and unknown, with no horizon to conquer. From the perspective of
outer space, the world looks round, "a symbol of the whole— both of the
individual self and of the cosmos, and of their ultimate interdependence."
The globe suggests a conception of the earth as an undivided totality,
representing "the transcendental, the infinite, the eternal." Thus the old heroic
myth is no longer appropriate for this new scene. Rushing believes that the
"new myth for humankind needs to be a quest, not a conquest; its purpose,
to search, rather than to search and destroy."^”
1 _
8 2
Not all narratives fulfill these criteria; as cultural conditions change,
hybrid myths occur which represent less evolved versions of the "new
I frontier," where an "individualistic agent [tries] to act heroically in a
; transcendent scene for which he is woefully ill-equipped." For Rushing, such
' hybrids are "less satisfactory," yet to be expected, "for patriarchal repression
; has sedimented over centuries, and is not easy to dislodge." Her analysis of
the films Alien and Aliens concludes that they constitute such hybrids, for
! though the surface message seems to attack patriarchal institutions and
I
: values, the deeper message symbolizes a defeat of the feminine rather than an
' integration. In these films, "the lost feminine is encountered, found to be
I vengeful at the exploitation of her domain, then killed by a patriarchalized
[ heroine." Instead of such cooptation, narratives must find new ways to
I confront the threatening Goddess so as to achieve the further evolution of
: consciousness.^^
I
' Rushing has done important work in advancing the rhetorical
understanding of mythic narratives, but I find her perspective limited as a
feminist approach. Although her work has increasingly turned to a focus on
I the "feminine" undergirding the traditional heroic myth, and has an
I
increasingly feminist slant, her framework is problematic in three areas of
concern to many feminists: essentialism, realism and genre. In part, these
problems occur because her focus has been more on the cosmological and
psychological functions of mythic narratives than on their social or ideological
functions. Such a focus indicates that Rushing's feminism is "liberal." H.
Leslie Steeves notes that such Uberal feminism is very influential among
83
American women, yet suffers from "an underdeveloped theoretical
framework," which prevents it from addressing social concerns "beyond the
level of the individual and his or her immediate relationships."^ The
"classically liberal" approach also suffers from a tendency to believe in a
"generic human" type who can reaffirm both community and self.^ The next
section provides an extensive critique of Rushing's framework, prior to
suggesting an alternative approach to mythic narratives.
Limitations of the Evolutionarv Model of Mvthic Rhetoric
From the feminist perspective of this study, Rushing's model is flawed
for a number of reasons. First, it is not primarily focused on the question of
gender, and how it is created, maintained, and transformed in modern mythic
narratives. Second, her model is overly utopian, relying on essentialistic
conceptions of the "Eternal Feminine" which can be used to further mystify
gender-identity and difference. In addition, there are difficulties with her
definition (or more precisely, interpretation) of myth, particularly in her i
I
attempt to develop one version of the quest motif as more progressive than :
j
another. Fourth, Rushing's perspective involves a mistaken realism, which '
occurs when filmed space is made synonymous with actual space. Finally, i
i
I Rushing does not sufficiently consider the possibility of generic collapse |
I within the genre of science-fiction and fantasy. These and other criticisms are ]
I I
more fully explicated in the following sub-sections.
84
a. The Issue of Essentialism
Feminists have long been concerned with the issue of essentialism in the
conceptions of women's gender, especially in the study of film. In Alice
Doesn't, Teresa De Lauretis notes how the Marxist-semiotic approach of
feminist film criticism "pointed to the sizable profits accruing to patriarchy
from the accepted view of woman as the possessor of an ahistorical, eternal
, feminine essence, a closeness to nature that served to keep women in 'their'
place.DeLauretis distinguishes the concept woman from women, calling
I the former "a fictional construct," which represents or signifies females as
I Other, or opposite, to males. For DeLauretis, woman
is the term that designates at once the vanishing point of our
culture's fictions of itself and the condition of the discourses in
which the fictions are represented. For there would be no myth
I without a princess to be wedded or a sorceress to be
I vanquished, no cinema without the attraction of the image to be
I looked at, no desire without an object, no kinship without
I incest, no science without nature, no society without sexual
; difference.^
1
j The term women, however, refers to "the real historical beings who cannot as
yet be defined outside of those discursive formations," but who do materially
exist. De Lauretis posits the relationship between these two terms as
arbitrary rather than natural and direct. How the relationship is "culturally
I
i set up" to seem "natural" is a question of feminist concern.^^ De Lauretis also
I argues that the cultural construction of sex into gender oppositions is linked
I
^ to social inequality, a type of "ideology of gender" whereby men and women
are seen in mutually exclusive terms, with a denial of the reality that
85
"masculinity" and "femininity" are historically and culturally constructed.
Women are "unrepresentable except as representation" of Woman.^ ^
Thus the notion of archetypal "feminine principles" is one that creates
suspicion among many feminists. Rushing tries to counter such suspicion by
arguing that her conception of "the feminine" is not "static," and that
' masculinity and femininity represent archetypal patterns that "express
I
: existential value systems and modes of perception that are present in both
I sexes." Both men and women suffer a "repression of the feminine" in
I patriarchal culture.^® Yet, despite such assertions, the issue of essentialism
remains unresolved in Rushing's framework for two reasons.
First is the grounding of her perspective in "the perennial philosophy"
and Turner's Frontier Thesis, both of which are totalizing (and hence
ideological), obscuring questions about gender. Rushing argues that while the
cultural or "surface" level of the mythic narrative, i.e. the Americanized
adaptation of the heroic quest, tied to the American dream of progress, is
affected by various historical and cultural conditions, the teleological goals
that determine moral vision are only found in the "deep structure" of the
mythic narrative. She assumes "a distinction . . . between 'sacred'
I (transcendent) or universal myth, . . . and purely cultural or 'ideological'
myths." She further assumes that there is a knowable, unbiased absolute
ground of being guiding history, a force free from ideological taint (because it
transcends politics and cultural beliefs about what is moral).^^
This assumption makes her framework highly utopian. Yet Fredric
Jameson points out that a purely utopian vision is not possible in modern
86
discourse.®” By grounding her model in Hegelian notions of history combined
with Frentz's quasi-Platonic theory of rhetorical narration. Rushing has
I introduced an irreducible "first principle" into her critical schema, which
I
j presupposes the desirability of the teleological goal of ultimate unity with an
I absolute. This ultimate unity is posited as the sine qua non of human
!
i morality; neither Rushing nor Frentz question whether this ultimate unity is
I
1 desirable, if even possible, for humanity as a whole. Even casting this future
! vision as millenia away does not alter the totalizing ramifications of this
' teleological goal.
j Juliet Flower MacCannell notes that the very idea of unity is ideological.
I
I She argues that such unity covers up "a new division, that between one and
' nothing, according to the principles of negative and positive value." In this
joining, one half submits to the other which then "masquerades as 'one.' All
the prestige, all the power, and all the satisfaction will be one the one side
, and none on the other. " ® ^ Furthermore, such unity could mystify the
I operation of oppositions or dichotomies in the culture, especially those that
! revolve around gender. As Elaine Showalter points out, "dominant groups
1 control the forms and structures in which consciousness can be articulated."
Marginal (or muted) groups "must mediate their beliefs through the allowable
I forms of the dominant structures."®^ Such gender-mystifications are
ideological. Bill Nichols points out how the use of ideology in discourse
(especially in representation through images) is done so as "to persuade us
I
I that how things are is how they ought to be and that the place provided for
I us is the place we ought to have."® ®
87
The second reason why the issue of essentialism persists in Rushing's
framework is related to the first, involving her non-critical reliance on Jungian
notions of archetypes as "universal symbols." The Jungian conception of the
"Eternal Feminine" revolves around the role of the Mother image as a
mediator between man and his inner self.® ^ The anima image is conceived on
one level to provide a way for the individuation of the male hero, though at
another level it provides a symbol of the unconscious mind. As developed
by Jung, the notion of archetypes is totalizing (universalist) and essentialistic;
they are seen as primordial forms embedded biologically in the collective
unconscious, represented by certain symbolic patterns that recur in mythic
narratives.®® The static, essential quality of the Mother archetype concerns
many feminists. Although the archetype is not meant to be an inherited
! image, but rather more of an inherited propensity toward certain images,
; Demaris S. Wehr notes that Jungian theory, "ontologizes what is more
accurately and usefully seen as socially constructed reality." Rather than free
i
humans from stereotypes, archetypal imagery has had the opposite effect.
Wehr argues that the Jungian approach "shows very little awareness of the
social conditions that have created certain character types and offers no
explicit criticism of traditional female and male roles."®^
Rushing provides no such criticism either. Although she argues that
images of "masculinity" and "femininity" are present in both sexes, she also
I clearly suggests that some type of essential gender-difference exists outside of
I discourse when she claims that archetypes have "a universal psychic truth,"
j existing as "a priori polarities akin to the Oriental Yin and Yang. Although
88
she also claims to avoid a "static view" of the Goddess archetype, her own
review suggests that the basic features of this archetype have remained
j unchanged since the patriarchal usurpation of the archaic religious imagery of
I the Goddess.®^
It is probably true that the Goddess image is built upon an earlier
conception of the Goddess presumably unrelated to males. It is this archaic
!
: image that is of interest to Jungian feminists such as Sylvia Perera, who has
I reconceptualized ancient myths in a way to resonate with modem women.®®
However, I believe it is necessary to remember that there are different ways
^ to interpret this Goddess image, whether Jungian or archaic. In addition, I
I think it is important to remember that many feminists are skeptical of this
j
' Goddess image, seeing in it a new way to reinforce stereotyped notions of
I gender-identity and difference which cast women as woman, as Other to men,
!
I connected to nature, the body, to those things that man is not.
I Rather than fully develop all possible points of argument concerning the
j Goddess image and the nature of the feminine, I wish to focus my critique in
I these areas: the problematic nature of the Grail legends, alternative
interpretations of the archaic Goddess myth, especially that of the Sumerian
I Goddess Inanna, and a brief discussion of how the Goddess image has been
; treated by some feminist critics of films, ending with a reconception of the
^ idea of "archetype" more in line with feminist theory.
' The first problematic concept is Rushing's use of the Grail legend to
I account for a mythic quest for the feminine that male protagonists can
undertake. I have difficulties with this idea. Rushing's view of the
89
"liberating" effects of the Grail motif relies primarily on concepts from
! Edward C. Whltmont, as developed in Return of the Goddess. Like Perera,
1
I Whitmont is a Jungian who sees in the Grail stories a narrative of wholeness
I
j and unity. While interesting, Whitmont's speculations are not fully supported
by other materials on the Arthurian tales.^^ The Grail quest was probably
I connected to pagan rituals of renewal involving Celtic kings and the Celtic
I
grain-goddesses, though its function was altered by Christian co-option of the
I narrative. The idea that the Grail represents an attempt by men to
reintegrate a feminine side betrays a certain romanticism more properly
appropriate to the later phenomena of courtly love. Marilyn French observes
that this cult was primarily a literary event, occurring during a time when
I "women's sphere of action was being severely curtailed," and attempted to
j argue for a new morality in which women are treated with more respect,
!
I while the knight-hero learns how to be more "feminine"— to integrate
: "feminine values" into his conception of the ideal man. Women were
portrayed as the moral superiors to men, elevated in status temporarily,
though the cult rarely touched the lives of ordinary women, and ultimately
backfired in the sense of maintaining the dichotomy between the sexes.^°
I Rushing accepts surface changes in mythic structure as indicative of a
! transformation of the deep structure, then further presumes that such changes
I point to an evolution of consciousness which is beneficial to women as well
!
j as men. While useful in analyzing the utopian functions of mythic narratives,
I Rushing's framework does not adequately illuminate ideological and
I subversive functions. The archetypal image of the "Eternal Feminine" is not
90
free from ideology, whether a "universal symbol" or not. For many feminists,
the images and archetypes serve as fetishistic signifiers of the male phallus,
functioning to legitimize patriarchal control. The rigid gender distinctions in
mythic narratives are seen to function in many ways; one is to satisfy sexual
anxieties during a time of social change. Laura Mulvey argues that such
stories represent a type of sadism because they center around conflict, "on
making something happen, forcing a change in another person, a battle of
will and strength, victoiy/defeat, all occurring in a linear time with a
beginning and an end."^^
Such conflict occurs in the monomythic quest narrative, though Rushing
claims that the Grail motif transcends such conflict because the hero "marries"
the Goddess figure. Yet, as De Lauretis argues, such a merger serves the
1
I fulfillment of man's destiny, the creation of men able to take their fathers'
I
I places, whether in the tribal council or in the corporate boardroom. By
overcoming obstacles and achieving his prize, the male hero gains "manhood,
, wisdom and power," at the expense of women. The transformation of the
; male is predicated on the idea of sexual/gender difference, even if the final \
\ !
' image of masculinity is "feminized" in some way. De Lauretis specifically {
I
: views sexual difference as the primary distinction on which mythical structure ;
I 1
i depends.® t
Joseph Campbell also reveals the sexist bias of the marriage of the hero
j
with the Goddess-figure:
' The mystical marriage of the queen goddess of the world
represents the hero's total mastery of life; for the woman is life,
I the hero its knower and master. And the testings of the hero,
I which were preliminary to his ultimate experience and deed,
! were symbolic of those crises of realization by means of which
91
his consciousness came to be amplified and made capable of
enduring the final possession of the mother-destrover, his
inevitable bride. With that he knows that he and the father are
one; he is in the father's place.®
I
I Historically, the Goddess image has served to keep women in their places
j while naturalizing a connection of the feminine with the Other; this process
works to valorize the ideal woman while ignoring actual women and their
social conditions.^ In examining the potential benefit or challenge of this
I archetypal image for modern women, such functions must be addressed. The
I patriarchy, defined by Lana Rakow as "the figurative 'rule of the father',"^®
I might very well employ Goddess imagery to relegitimize its authority, rather
than to transform itself into a more equitable social system.
Therefore, Rushing's use of the Goddess archetype as a potentially
liberating "feminine voice," or mythic model for the individuation of women,
requires scrutiny. Following Perera's account of the descent of the Goddess
Inanna, Rushing argues that the mythic goal of women requires an acceptance
of the negative (or unconscious) aspects of femininity, so as to heal the false
split caused by the patriarchy. Rushing's interpretation of the myth
oversimplifies its possible meanings, both for ancient Sumerians and for
modem women. The existing fragments of the myth (dating from 3,000 B.C.)
are sketchy and ambiguous. Why Inanna descends, what happens to her,
how she is rescued, and how she chooses her scapegoat (her consort, the
half-mortal shepherd king, Dumuzi) remain open to interpretation, especially
: when combined with later myth fragments (especially those of the Babylonian
Goddess Ishtar, which changes the myth so that she descends to save her
consort, called in this version Tammuz).^^
92
S. H. Hooke notes that ancient Sumerian culture was undergoing a
change from "a pastoral economy" to an agriculturally-based civilization
I during the time of these mythic narratives. He points out the numerous
j rivalries that existed between the various city-states of Sumer, suggesting that
in addition to their ritualistic functions, such narratives might address "the
struggle for the hegemony of Sumer."® Sjoo and Mor assert that the
establishment of patriarchal order, occurring throughout the ancient world
during this time, required "the suppression and negation of the Great Mother
religion."® This was not just an ideological process, for it represented a
: central truth about women's lives during this period— the men were now
1 armed and dangerous, no longer in awe of women, and to survive, women
I
I had to learn to be more seductive. The Goddess image reflected such
I
changes, becoming increasingly associated with "a seductive and wily Sex
Goddess," who was also mocked and banished by the Sky-Gods.® As
Rushing also notes, the establishment of patriarchy split the Goddess into
positve and negative forms. The new hero of the Iron Age, the masculine
ego, "set itself against the nature and the feminine, creating the initial dualism
upon which the rational mind is based.
Burke notes that when disorder occurs in a hierarchy, guilt ensues.
Social conflict of the type experienced by ancient Sumerians could thus
j logically be assumed to have produced hierarchical guilt, or pollution,
I requiring a symbolic means of expiation, which Burke calls a symbolic kill-
rite.^^ The Inanna narratives can be interpreted as such a kill-rite, focusing
more on mortification than on victimage. To analyze the Inanna narrative as
I
. J
93
] an example of redemptive rhetoric which might purify (and legitimize) the
patriarchal social order would lead to a reassessment of its functions for
modern women, thus it deserves some explication. The brief summary that
follows is meant to provide the background necessary for my later analysis,
where I argue that "versions" of the Inanna narrative as symbolic kill-rite
j occur in both Indiana lones and the Star Wars series.
I
I The first area of reinterpretation involves Inanna's purpose in making
' her descent. She goes, she claims, to attend the funeral of the Bull of
I
Heaven. Yet her garments and adornments suggest another motive, that she
may be going "to bring the nether world under her dominion."^ The Bull of
I Heaven is an image associated with many of the Sky-Gods, particularly Enlil,
i who raped the Goddess Ninlil and carried her into the underworld. There
I Ninlil became Ereshkigal (the dark Goddess), while the underworld aspect of
j Enlil became Gugalanna (or "Bull of Heaven"). Inanna is represented as
j arrogant, yet she makes provision for her rescue, by asking her assistant
Ninshubur to appeal to the Sky-Gods if she fails to return in three days.^^
Inanna can be seen then as both a voluntary sacrifice (she descends of
her own free will) and a scapegoat for the patriarchy. Perera observes that
the Sky-Gods are reluctant to circumvent the laws of the underworld to
rescue Inanna, feeling perhaps that she "got her comeuppance" for being too
ambitious.^^ The death of the Bull of Heaven may represent societal guilt for
I
! "raping" the Goddess and usurping her power. Patriarchal culture could
1 conceivably be attempting to purge itself in this narrative by representing the
aggressive ("uppity") Goddess descending to meet her death at the hands of
94
the dark Goddess; this same Goddess is then saved by the patriarchal social
order in an unconventional way which also serves to mollify and valorize the
injured, vengeful Goddess, Ereshkigal.
Can such an interpretation be justified on the basis of the content of the
myth? I argue that it can. While Perera's account argues for the personal
rebirth potential seen in Inanna's death and rebirth, I believe a social
component exists as well, as illustrated by the events of the narrative. Inanna
descends to a gatekeeper who informs Ereshkigal of her request to attend the
funeral; Ereshkigal, enraged, demands that Inanna be brought to her like
everyone else, naked and bowed low. Inanna passes through seven gates and
relinquishes a part of her garment at each one. Soon she appears, crouched
and naked, before Ereshkigal and the Anunaki, "the seven judges of the
I !
j nether world."^ They turn "the eyes of death" upon her and hang her corpse ]
' on a peg (or stake) where it turns into rotting meat. After three days, ]
! Ninshubur appeals to the Sky-Gods for help and they refuse. Perera notes Î
j that the appeal is not made to the Goddesses, for they are already too |
j diminished in power to be of assistance.^^ In addition, an argument can be
; made that a male deity must rescue the Goddess in order to redeem the
i patriarchal social order. Such a male God is represented in the Water God,
I
I Enki, also known as the God of Wisdom (he is also credited with creating the
I "divine decrees," or ordering principles, of Sumerian society).^
Enki creatively circumvents the laws of the underworld by making two
1
i small, presumably sexless, creatures from the dirt under his fingernails.
I
' These creatures sneak into the underworld with the food and water of life.
95
Ereshkigal is groaning in pain, perhaps giving birth, and the creatures
I empathize with her, groaning when she does, and praising her. Ereshkigal
I
grants them a boon, letting them sprinkle the food and water of life on the
corpse of Inanna, restoring her to life. Yet, since no one can return from the
underworld without providing a substitute, demons accompany Inanna as she
I
i returns to the upper world, reclaiming her garments at each gate. Inanna
i
protects those who have mourned for her, but when she comes to her own
j
I city of Erech, she finds Dumuzi on her throne, unconcerned, refusing to
j grovel before her. Inanna thus turns "the eyes of death" upon him. Dumuzi
Î entreats the Sun-God, Utu, to save him; here the original Sumerian fragment
ends. Other versions have Dumuzi escaping as a snake, or trading off his
sentence with his sister, Gestinanna. Later myths show Inanna mourning for
him.^®
The quest motif represented in this narrative suggests a pollution of
1 Sumerian culture (the banishing/repressing of the old Goddess religion), its
1
purgation through the sacrifice of one Goddess figure by another, and its
t
' redemption through the agency of a male agent who respects the Goddess,
i Despite Rushing's assumptions, Inanna does not provide such respect herself,
I but instead seems to become transformed in order to begin the cycle of
' sacrifice for the male king/consort, which in later myth becomes the
son/consort who dies and is reborn. Furthermore, Ereshkigal is represented
as content to stay in her underworld realm, to have her power curtailed, as
long as she is provided respect by the masculine world. I believe a similar
argument could be made regarding the fate of the Furies in The Eumenides,
L_.
96
in which the establishment of rule by court of law (justice) replaces the blood
feud associated by the old Goddess-religion/’
How might this reinterpretation of the Inanna myth be relevant today?
Certainly we live in uncertain times when our own technology and progress
threaten to destroy us, as evidenced by the Greenhouse Effect. Lately, the
earth itself seems to be rejecting us through earthquakes, hurricanes, and
other natural disasters. Such events have happened before, of course, but
human nature often perceives them as signs that the social order is
disintegrating. It seems to me that mythic imagery might become very
salient at that point, either pointing toward possible change, or shoring up
the past by relegitimizing it. Rushing has argued that archaic, repressed
mythic patterns such as the Goddess image are reappearing in popular
culture (especially science-fiction and fantasy) as harbingers of change. I have
tried to show that, at least in some cases, such mythic patterns might
function to purify and relegitimize the social order, reaffirming the past.
Many people have argued that a "return of the Goddess" is occurring in
symbolic discourse. Only by reintegrating the "feminine" into our
consciousness, accepting this "Goddess" in her beautiful and terrible aspects,
can we as humans prosper and evolve.®” One way to accomplish this,
according to Rushing, is to accept and give respect to the negative Goddess
image that has been repressed in our unconsciousness. Yet, as illustrated by
the alternative interpretation of the Inanna myth explicated above, such
respect can easily be co-opted by the patriarchal world, as can the symbols
and archetypes associated with the Goddess. I argue later in the study that
97
this is precisely what occurs in some science-fiction and fantasy films (though
not all).
; Jane E. Caputi makes a similar argument in her analysis of Taws as
I patriarchal myth. Caputi claims that the film represents the masculine quest
I
to defeat the Great Mother/Goddess in her monstrous, negative aspect. Such
a defeat relieves the fears of men regarding women's sexual and procreative
abilities. For Caputi, such masculinized approaches to the archetypal Goddess
image serve to validate patriarchal power and control. She also argues that
I the film commits a type of "cinematic rape" on women spectators, as well as
i
I transmitting a message that the unconscious mind is dangerous and should
be avoided.®^
Caputi's view represents one type of feminist reaction to masculine use
of the Goddess archetype; the opposite extreme is exemplified by Chellis
Glendinning's analysis of the first Star Wars film. Glendinning argues that
the film embodies the ancient religion of the Great Mother/Goddess,
especially in its concept of "the Force." She claims that various characters in
the film can be associated with Celtic legends about fairies and witches (e.g.
Obi-wan is like Oberon), who represent various celebrants of the "Old
Religion." Princess Leia is also seen to be an emissary from "the Woman's
I
' Culture," which is hiding away on distant planets waiting for the Empire to
1
be overthrown. Glendenning justifies this unusual interpretation by arguing
that since men created the evil technology of the Death Star, men must be
the ones to destroy it. Glendinning also argues that the use of intuition in
the film promotes the dissolution of duality.
_ _ I
82
98
A more complex analysis of the Goddess image and its use by
patriarchal culture is offered by Barbara Creed when she examines possible
links between feminism and postmodernism. In particular. Creed discusses
Aliens as an example of the Demeter myth. Like the Inanna narrative, the
myth of Demeter's search for Persephone is connected to an archaic image of
the Goddess which is not related to men. In Aliens, Ripley is the "good"
mother who searches for her lost "daughter" through the depths of "hell," the
realm of the "bad" mother (the alien queen). Ripley's destruction of this
Terrible Goddess figure is both an attack on the generative abilities of women
and the concept of "woman-as-breeding-machine," thus it is not a clear-cut
condemnation of the feminine principle. Creed argues instead that Ripley
represents a complicated hybrid hero, a type which emerges during times of
social conflict and upheaval. Ripley's combination of masculine and feminine
traits might also represent the process of "gynesis," which may or may not
benefit women.®^
Creed's view is closer to my own than Rushing's, for it poses questions
as to the contradictory function of symbols in cinematic texts, questions raised
in part by the ambiguity of gender signifiers. When not reified to the status
of a priori universal phenomena, archetypes such as the hero or the Goddess
can be fruitful categories for criticism. Yet, if the concept of archetypes is to
have any feminist validity in explicating a "different voice" in mythic rhetoric,
it must be reconceptualized, or, as Weht puts it, "deontologized."®^
One type of reinterpretation is offered by Eric Gould, who asserts that
while the nature of language is to be symbolic, "the nature of myth [is] the
99
rhetoric of that attempt." Gould redefines the concept of archetypes, as a
"sign open to repeated signification rather than a closed and objective fact."
Archetypes convey interpretations about experience, thus they are rhetorical.
Gould believes that archetypes interpret the Other, or what has been
! concealed. Myths attempt to "close the gap" between what is or is not real,
I
j serving as "a working proposition, an unfolding of understanding which
' persuades us of its logic," a type of knowing and being. In order to fulfill
j such epistemological and ontological functions, archetypal motifs are
I
i presented as if they were essential and universal, but they are grounded in
I human culture. Gould argues that "the universal may well be only that
which is always open to interpretation."®^
It is such interpretation, especially recurring interpretations of archetypal
motifs, that make the concept of archetypes a useful one for the critic.
Recurring interpretations present arguments about what is meaningful in the
world, a meaning that does not exist in some ideal realm outside of language,
' but which exist in the nature of language itself.® ® As William Doty argues,
I the concept of archetypes can be retained as long as the meaning is grounded
"within a wider semiotics and semantics of mythicity and discourse:
archetypes are signs for a necessary exteriority of speech in which we
recognize the impossibility of language speaking fully or ultimately." The
significance of an archetype is shared by the sender and the receiver,
functioning metonmyically and metaphorically.®^ Following
Freudian/Lacanian psychoanalysis, the unconscious mind is conceived
as a part of the linguistic setting of human experience-as the
unknown, the lack or desire to supply what is not present-
archetypal expressions become supremely interpretive attempts
100
to temporize, to exist meaningfully before the awesome
Nonbeing of Heidegger and the existentialists . . . .The
archetype of the self in this sense indeed may be 'a universal'
but not a numinous universal so much as a process by which
personal attempts to bridge the ontological gap [between a thing
and its name, the event and the meaning] remain open-ended
and self-consciously limited.®®
j Such a reconceptualization of Jungian thought is necessary in order to
I take into account the different "semantic fields" of modern individuals which
I
j causes them to accept some archetypal interpretations while rejecting others.
I I believe such a reconceptualization makes the concept of archetypes more
I appropriate for both feminist and rhetorical assessments of mythic narratives,
for it better illuminates the possible functions of recurring archetypal motifs
(such as the quest and the Goddess). It also is more useful in discussing
' possible audience responses to changes in archetypal motifs, such as the
I hybrid (or androgynous) hero. In addition, it can be integrated with Linda
I Alcoff's view of "the concept of woman" as positional. Alcoff argues that the
I symbolic positioning of woman "can be actively utilized (rather than
i transcended)" by individual women, who can use it as "a place from where
I
j meaning is constructed, rather than simply the place where a meaning can be
discovered (the meaning of femaleness)."®® One type of constructed meaning
could be a gynocentric interpretation of archetypal imagery.
b. The Issue of Realism
Although Rushing believes the "deep structures" of mythic narratives to
be "universal," she accepts that the "surface structure" is culturally influenced.
Her focus is on the frontier myth as an Americanized version of the heroic
101
quest narrative, based on Fredrick Turner's Frontier Thesis. The Frontier
Thesis developed as an attempt to grapple with the tensions and
I contradictions of the late 1890's, with its political graft, the rise of
i
industrialism (contrary to the agrarian ideal) and the rise of nativism.
Richard J. Ellis and Alan Munslow argue that this American myth sought to
redeem American values rather than transform them. As the actual frontier
disappeared, the mythic structures supporting expansion and growth altered,
leading to a romanticizing of the old west.®” Although the frontier (as
wilderness) no longer existed, it was still seen as a type of "safety valve" for
the problems of American culture.®^
Rushing adapts the Frontier Thesis, arguing that as the mythic scene
changes from sea to land to space, corresponding changes occur in the mythic
! narrative. The first type of change is a hybrid, which occurs when the scene
I
I shifts "from finite land to infinite space" without a corresponding change in
I the hero-agent. The second type is evolution into the "transcendent phase,"
I
where the myth alters into the "New Frontier," and "a reintegrated hero
becomes consubstantial with the infinite scene s/he occupies and dissolves the
dialectic between hero and enemy." For Rushing, this "teleologically
advanced phase" is previewed in many sdence-fiction and fantasy film s.® ^
Rushing errs significantly in not considering the differences between
I
I actual outer space and filmed space; to view filmed space as a mythic
1
I substitute for actual space is to fall into the trap of realism. Two related
I problems ensue from this error. The first is that such a fallacy obscures the
i
material reality of filmed space as technological product. Filmed space cannot
102
"preview" the transcendence of space, for all it can present is the illusion of
space, the illusion of transcendence. For Rushing, space is a place of no
boundaries, with liminal qualities— it is presumably not amenable to ideology.
She accepts filmed space as a non-complicated signifier of real space, instead
of a contained environment.” Although the two-dimensional screen may
appear to have depth and infinity, it actually possesses neither. "Space" in
science-fiction films is a representation, leading audiences to believe two
contradictory ideas about real space— that it is a primal and unknown territory
"where no one can hear you scream," yet also a familiar terrain with aliens
"just like us," its vast distances easily and quickly spanned through "warp
speed" and "hyperdrive." Vivian Sobchack notes how filmed space seems, at
times, less threatening and more friendly than the urban landscape."®^
This first fallacy leads to the second, the ideological transformation of
the cosmic void into a container, a type of Other/boundary easily penetrated
i
j by phallic spaceships and défendable as territory. The illusion of depth and
I
infinity creates a mystification about the properties of real space, making it
seem more amenable to being tamed and conquered rather than less.
Rushing avers that we do not speak of "raping space"; even if true, I believe
many people think it, symbolically linking Space-Nature-Woman. Just as the
sea and land were objectified and connected to the "feminine" in earlier
versions of the frontier narrative, so is space, rhetorically signified as a place
able to be explored and subdued. As De Lauretis argues, any "obstacle,
whatever its personification, is morphologically female and indeed, simply,
the womb."® ®
I
L .
103
The fact that actual space may prove somewhat more resistant to
exploration and subjugation is largely irrelevant in dealing with how space is
I encoded into a technological, material product of capitalistic Western culture,
j We only get an imaginary construction of the images of real space on film— a
type of "space" even more removed from reality than the photographs from
i
Voyager. That the illusion is fostered through special effects makes it more
I
open to gender-mystification, for, as Rakow observes, technology is primarily
' male created and male identified.®® Film as commodity makes use of highly
advanced technology which is not an "autonomous, self-developing
' phenomena," but instead is something created and used by "social actors with
I
: differing constraints and opportunities," for a variety of purposes, some
I ideological. Most technologies have been created and utilized by men.
Rakow argues that feminist critics need to "look at how certain values and
meanings underlie the development of technologies, in particular masculine
j and feminine assigned values and meanings about gender." Technology has
j often been a vehicle for promoting "the dominant masculine value system of
j western culture, which values objectivity, progress, rationality, production and
^ competition." Such technology is often impersonal and destructive; "male
I metaphors personifying nature as female and technology as male led to a
conquest mentality," which has oppressed both nature and women.®’ '
Feminist theory does not argue against technology per se if such
technology reflects feminine values of nurturance, life, empathy, sensitivity,
and intuition. Rakow argues further that if we want to both understand and
change our communication patterns, "we should look to how the gendered
104
meanings and metaphors of technology not only describe but inscribe u s."® ®
Such concerns seem particularly pertinent in today's "postmodern condition,"
where technological advances threaten to subvert personal and social identity.
The hero narrative as conceived, both traditionally and by Rushing, has the
discovery of selfhood as an important goal that aids the broader social-
cultural telos of unity. This unity occurs through the communion of self with
others and the cosmos, eventually culminating in the presumed discovery of
one' higher Self. Yet what happens to such goals when the content of
modern mythic narratives undermines our sense of personal identity and
memory, replacing it with a "commodified" memory, not connected to "real-
life" groups, but to mediated ones instead? What happens when identity is
more influenced by mediated spectacle than personal experience? What
happens as well to the temporal sense of progression that both Rushing and
j Frentz see as important to mythic evolution? A potential subversion of the
I mythic structure occurs when repetitions, replays, and reruns all create a
constant, non-chronological recycling of the past. It is a subversion carried
over into notions of a decentered space which could provide a better
grounding for understanding the transformative power of images of space
than Rushing's reliance on actual space. This possibility is further addressed
in the next section of this critique.
Overall, the utopian and transcendent vision of space as infinite and
unconquerable stands in a dialectical relationship to the ideological concept of
space as "final frontier," the last outpost of both the expansion and the
defense of the American dream. As Jameson notes, both ideological and
i _
j 105
j utopian elements function within mythic narratives; no text is free from
both.® ® Rushing's framework, bound by its essentialist and realist
I assumptions, cannot analyze the more complex relations between these
j elements. Utopian messages might serve to provide "substantial incentives for
ideological adherence," rather than providing a transformation of the
dominant hegemony; or there might be what Janice Radway calls "ideological
seams" occurring in the clash between ideological and utopian messages.
Such "seams" or "gaps" might expose "the political unconsciousness" of
patriarchal culture, serving as sites for rhetorical resistance.^” ”
Mythic narratives both support and transform cultures, preserving the
past, and its cultural values and ideals, while resolving social conflicts
through various strategies, including repression. Mythic narratives provide
social and personal motivations to act in ways consonant with the dominant
culture's definitions of what is best. For many feminists, that means that
mythic narratives in patriarchal culture work to legitimize the traditional
gender differences of our society, while also trying to grapple with the
I conflicts posed by changes in gender-identity and social-material conditions.
I
i When pressing needs demand an emotional commitment to dominant cultural
I myths, ideological motives become more salient. Within the system of
patriarchal culture, mythic transformations of the hero-archetype, or of the
villain, or the scene of action, must be scrutinized for potential "hidden
j agendas" regarding gender which are encoded into the mythic text.
I In examining how audiences adhere to a particular mythic narrative,
j accepting its ideological message, critics need not be fully condemnatory; the
106
reaffirmation of a culture might act as a form of "cultural healing" in its
repressions of disruptive conflicts which might tear a cultural system apart.
Yet there comes a point when dominant groups present increasingly narrower
i options, when opposing views are actively suppressed as well as repressed,
; and divisiveness is heightened. William Balthrop notes that when a culture is
I "stretched to the breaking point" a type of "paradigm shift" can occur as
j alternative myths (even hybrid ones) eventually subvert the dominant one.
{Eventually the new myth replaces the old, but when it does there is a
corresponding change in the society.^” ^ Any lesser result may indicate that a
I "pseudo-synthesis" has occurred after all.^“
c. The Issue of Generic Collapse
Rushing's framework is also limited by its complete lack of discussion j
I I
j about how the science-fiction and fantasy genre has changed over the last few j
I I
I years. The question of whether mythic narratives are hybrids that attempt
either a repressive legitimization of the dominant culture, or a form of
"pseudo" or actual synthesis is, at bottom, a generic one. The science-fiction
and fantasy "genre," far from being a coherent category, has borrowed
extensively from other generic forms and is in danger of collapse. The
general term "science-fiction" has broadened so as to include elements from
horror, adventure, gothic romance, comedy and family melodrama, creating
pastiches both novel and nostalgic.^”
What connects all these parts together has more to do with what Leo
Braudy calls "the resurrection of the past," than with the themes and motifs
107
traditionally associated with science-fiction. Braudy argues that today's
sophisticated movie audiences are "ready and eager for the current genre
bombardment, in which past stories, images, and motifs of all sorts are
repeated, revised and reevaluated in an endless reflection on a past that
seems entirely made up of previous motion pictures." For Baudry, the appeal
of such films lies in part with their ability to make audiences feel "with it";
yet, such films also contain denials of the unpleasant realities of death and
I
I the passage of time. An audience's knowledge of genre conventions serves to
■ turn "discomfort, fear, and anxiety into matters of ritual, elegance and even
I
' routine." Within such films we fulfill our desires to reexperience the past and
be purged by it, "to indulge in the absoluteness of catastrophe and
apocalypse," while knowing that everything is all right.
Jameson argues that "generic forms and signals of mass culture are very
specifically to be understood as the historical reappropriation and
displacement of old structures in the service of the qualitatively very different
situation of repetition." The recycling of older generic traditions provides the
audience with what it wants to see, over and over, serving as nostalgic
attempts to recapture what was "lost," and to reexperience a more innocent
past.^” ® As a product for mass consumption, mainstream science-fiction and
fantasy relies on stock formulas to produce this satisfying repetition of old
forms. Vivian Sobchack argues that such films represent a generic confusion
I in the face of postmodernism and what she calls "patriarchal crisis." She also
I points out that "whether mainstream or marginal, the majority of
contemporary (and popular) SF films celebrate rather than decry an existence
108
and world so utterly familiar and yet so technologically transformed that
traditional categories of time, being and 'science-fiction' no longer apply.
I Confusions within the genre of science-fiction and fantasy can lead to an
I ideological defense of the status quo on one hand, and to a potential
subversion of that ideology on the other. Disjunctions occur when the motifs
and conventions of genres such as horror, westerns, and adventure films are
combined with science-fiction. While this study is not the place for an in-
I depth discussion of generic collapse in modern cinema, the issue remains
j important in understanding mythic narratives, their changes and their
functions. In this section, I focus on how the rhetorical situation and the
I trend toward postmodernism both influence genre.
I For Walter R. Fisher, "a communicator perceives a rhetorical situation in
i
I terms of a motive," with rhetorical discourse "as much grounded in motives
I as it is in situation," creating a relationship between communicator perception
I and response. Fisher notes five motives operating within a given rhetorical
j situation: "affirmation, concerned with giving birth to an image;
! reaffirmation, concerned with revitalizing an image; purification, concerned
j with correcting an image; subversion, concerned with undermining an image;"
j and "evisceration," concerned with denying the truthfulness of any image,
while asserting "the impossibility or absurdity of life."^® Fisher argues that
while motives such as affirmation imply subversion, the motive that
dominates in a text "depends on the perception of the kind of symbolic action
that is performed, how the discourse moves the mind toward assent,
reassurance, corrected vision, or rejection."'®
109
Viewed rhetorically, recurring narrative genres could be seen as
responses to a particular rhetorical situation, especially when such genres
1 become altered. Yet which rhetorical situation is most pertinent in the case of
I
science-fiction and fantasy films? For Rushing, the most important exigencies
are the "ultimates" of human existence, more specifically our fears of death
i
j and separation, which create "a special kind" of rhetorical situation.'” ® She
I
j cites John Angus Campbell, who considers mortality as the "omnipotent
I exigence energizing the 'trail of symbols' which is human history as narrative,
; as lived experience.""”
Although such exigencies are undeniably important. Rushing does not
address other, equally important exigencies which occur because of conflicts
in the society. For Sobchack, the primary exigencies of modern life occur
I
I because there is a breakdown of patriarchal authority, a weakening of the
I paternal signifier, or image of the father. Cultural upheaval has created a
I
I "patriarchal crisis," whereby the
^ representations of both American politics and popular culture
i have attempted to recuperate and revision the past (and
televised) failure of bourgeoise patriarchy— both in relation to its
challenge by the Civil Rights, youth and feminist movements of
the late '60's, and by its loss of face and imperialist power in
Southeast Asia.'"
This nostalgic recuperation occurs through various generic exchanges which
alter traditional generic boundaries. Films such as Close Encounters and E.T..
which Rushing argues are representative of a "new" transcendent myth of the
I frontier, are seen by Sobchack as "ultimately conservative." Such films
sentimentalize domestic space, influenced less by the "fantastic" and more by
; a type of domestic "realism" as family and social life become convergent. By
1 1 0
blurring the distinctions between genres, science-fiction films "attempt to
contain, work out, and in some fashion resolve narratively the contemporary
weakening of patriarchal authority, and the glaring contradictions which exist
between the mythology of family relations and their actual social practice."'"
Such attempts at resolution occur through many strategies, including
shifts in the nature of aliens (from scary to friendly) and shifts in the nature
I of the enemy (from monsters to technology). But the most important strategy
I
! is the representation of "the problematic figure of the child," or child-like
^ hero, related in some way to both the alien Other and the increasingly absent
: father. In what seems to be an attempt to escape the confines of patriarchy,
i the masculine identity of this child-like hero becomes diminished in both
body and behavior. Yet paternal power remains, shifted "to a situation and
space external to traditional, domestic space," paradoxically ensuring that
paternal control remains in the home. The apparent progressiveness of these
films conceals the romantic revisioning of the father-image (and the
patriarchy), which temporarily resolves the crisis situation."®
Yet the potential for subversion of this "regressive" rhetoric remains in
the postmodern trend of contemporary science-fiction. Sobchack points out
the science-fiction genre "keeps dissolving in the context of present structural
and cultural pressure.""^ This pressure works to undermine the coherence of
the narrative in several ways, including the dispersion of memoiy and
identity, the collapse of time, and the inflation/deflation of space. The
increasing postmodern sensibility in popular culture uses such phenomena to
both reinforce and subvert the dominant status quo. Past, present, and future
I ll
are blended; the differences between them eroded. Increasingly audiences are
treated to simulacra with no "orientational center," with "hyper-reality"
I substituting for actual reality. As the confusions and tensions of modern
j
' society escalate, we seek less the challenges of the frontier (with its stress on
; individual heroic action) and more the comforts of home (womb), preferring a
I safe, secure haven where we might delude ourselves that everything is fine,
j where an imaginary mass-mediated community could substitute for actual
j communities. According to Jameson, late capitalism has fragmented and
' dissolved the communities of the past, atomizing them into mere collections
, "of isolated and equivalent private individuals, by way of the corrosive action
I of universal commodification and the market system.""® If this is so, then the
' whole dialectic between individual and community might be destroyed.
I
Furthermore, for Jameson, the "schizophrenic consciousness" in modem
' individuals leads to an obsession of self reflected as cultural narcissism."®
!
I Christopher Lasch observes how the "narcissistic personality of our times"
I
]
I may seem free and liberated, but is really terrified of sexuality, of women (as
castrating), of disease, old age and death.'" Yet this rupturing of self or ego
can also lead to both the erasure of difference and an acceptance of multiple
differences. For Michel Foucault this fragmentation of the self can aid the
j struggle against the privileging of knowledge through the power/mechanism
I of the Gaze. The viewer struggles for a subjectivity that is an assertion of
I
I the right to be, especially the right to be non-conformist."®
I Along with alterations in memory and identity are alterations in our
! sense of "space." No longer is it perceived to be deep or three-dimensional.
J
1 1 2
but instead is more surface-oriented, reflecting the influence of video games.
Overstimulation of the senses through a technological glut could lead to a
j detached euphoria not generated by emotional experience, but through a
J technological "high" which produces a manufactured hallucinatory rapture.
I The transcendence that such euphoria produces is not truly liberating, but
I decentered and detached. The emphasis on effect over affect may lull
1
I audiences into passivity and anomie, yet the potential remains for over
satiation through an excess of special effects that could lead to audience
rejection."®
It is this potential for subversion that interests feminists.
Postmodernism, as a trend in culture and a theoretical position, involves a
complex set of assumptions that would be impossible to summarize
' adequately in this study. Yet there are some connections between
I
postmodernism and feminism that are pertinent to the issues addressed in
1
i this chapter. The first concerns a perception that modern society has grown
i
I increasingly skeptical of the great narratives of Western culture, and of
representation. Within the patriarchal hegemony, the preferred representation
is geared toward what Craig Owens calls "the constitutive male subject.""”
Dualistic thinking creates oppositions which isolate and differentiate anyone
1 or anything not part of the dominant elite. Anne Balsamo asserts that both
postmodernism and feminism reject the universality of the primary totalizing
i visions of such elites, especially any false unities. Balsamo asserts that the
!
postmodern trend is "to subvert the whole, the original 'one,' to uncover
what partialities are hidden behind the utopian unity." This subversion is
113
similar to the feminist questioning of traditional conceptions of the universal
man and woman."'
Postmodernism attacks those concepts which are universal, teleological
and utopian. Dick Hebdige observes that postmodernists see no power center
in the modem world, and no unbroken universal narratives or monolithic
ideologies. All such narratives are undermined by the arbitrary nature of the
sign. Loss of faith in "grand narratives" creates a loss of faith in their
1
j teleological goals. Further, if there is no universal "grand design" then an
j idealized future is not possible.'" Transcendence is negated, contradiction is
insoluble, and progress is denied within some postmodern thought. Yet,
what some may see as pessimistic, others take to be liberating. The
fragmented self of postmodern conditions could provide the site for a non-
1
gendered identity, or for a potential gaze that is not male, or for a celebration
of a "multiplicity of differences" that is not essentialized, provided such a
postmodern approach is integrated with feminist theory.'"
The postmodern trend of science-fiction and fantasy films of the past
decade presents a serious challenge to the unity and coherence of its mythic
narratives. Sobchack notes that whether "conservative or radical," such films
■ have brought "postmodern logic to visibility— symbolically representing the
new structures of experience in tx)th the spatially material form of its figures
I and the temporally material form of its narratives." To understand how
current science-fiction and fantasy films have changed, critics must address
"the changed cultural sphere in which the films were produced." Altered
social conditions have aided the process of "generic exchange," creating
114
narrative hybrids, suggesting the possibility that no truly "new" myth exists to
i unify or synthesize the "old."^^^ Yet this "hybridization" need not be
i
, considered solely as a negative phenomena, particular from the point of view
I
of the feminist critic, since hybrids may lead audiences to question the mythic
; rhetoric presented in the discourse.
I
I This chapter has argued that the mythic perspective of Rushing, which
I
’ appears closely aligned to the "liberal" feminist point of view, suffers from its
I universalist and essentialist assumptions regarding the nature of archetypes
I
' and myths in mediated narratives, while not adequately dealing with the
issues of realism and generic changes in science-fiction and fantasy. While
Rushing's framework is insightful in tracing the rhetorical impact of scenic
changes in America's myths of cultural identity, it is problematic in
understanding how such narratives, on both their "surface" (cultural) and
"deep" (universal) levels, work to reaffirm, transform, or subvert conceptions
about gender. Once we accept that the "deep structure" of the heroic quest
i myth is as culture-bound as the "surface structure," the way is opened for a
shift of emphasis in criticism, or an alternative approach.
115
ENDNOTES
Parts of this chapter were presented to the Central States Communication
Association annual meeting, Detroit, MI, April, 1990.
^Hermann G. Stelzner, "The Quest Story and Nixon's November 3, 1969
Address," Ouarterlv Journal of Speech 57 (1971): 163-172.
^Stelzner 163-172.
^Sarah Russell Hankins, "Archetypal Alloy: Reagan's Rhetorical Image,"
Central States Speech Journal 33 (1983): 33-43.
^Martha Solomon, "Villainless Quest: Myth, Metaphor and Dream in
I 'Chariots of Fire'," Communication Ouarterlv 31:4 (1983).
! ^Martha Solomon, "The 'Positive Woman's' Journey: A Mythic Analysis
; of the Rhetoric of STOP ERA," Ouarterlv Journal of Speech 65 (Oct. 1979):
266, citing Northrop Frye, Anatomy of Criticism (Princeton: Princeton UP,
1957) 186-206.
^Solomon, "The 'Positive Woman's' Journey" 263-266.
’ 'Solomon, "The 'Positive Woman's Journey" 266; also Carl Gustav Jung,
The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, Vol.IX, part 1, Collected
Works of C. G. Jung (N.J.: Princeton UP, 1954) 80.
' ^Joseph Campbell, "Mythological Themes in Creative Literature and Art,"
Mvths, Dreams and Religion (N.Y.: E.P. Dutton, Inc., 1970) 138-141.
I ^Solomon, "The Positive Woman's' Journey" 272-273.
I
I ^°Martha Solomon, "Stopping ERA: A Phyrric Victory," Communication
I Ouarterlv 31:2 (1983): 109-117.
“Noreen Wales JCruse, "The Myth of the Demonic in Anti-ERA Rhetoric,"
Women's Studies in Communication 6 (Fall, 1983): 85-95.
' ^^Kruse 87, 92; Frye, Anatomv of Criticism 140.
I
; ^^Jeff D. Bass, "The Romance as Rhetorical Dissociation: The Purification
, of Imperialism in King Solomon's Mines," Ouarterlv Journal of Speech 67
i (Aug. 1981): 259-260.
I '"Bass 268.
'^Charles Conrad, "The Rhetoric of the Moral Majority: An Analysis of
Romantic Form," Ouarterlv Journal of Speech 69:2 (1983): 161.
116
'^Conrad 169-170.
'’ 'Dale E. Williams, "2001: A Space Odvssey: A Warning Before Its
Time," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 1:3 (1984): 311-322; also
Kenneth Burke, Permanence and Change, 3rd ed. (Berkeley, CA: U of
California P, 1984) 274-294; Kenneth Burke, A Rhetoric of Motives (Berkeley,
CA.: U of California P, 1950) 183-333; and Kenneth Burke, The Rhetoric of
Religion (Berkeley, CA.: U of California P, 1961) 172-316.
'«Williams 321.
'Robert A. Davies, James M. Farrell, and Steven S. Matthews, "The
Dream World of Film: A Jungian Perspective on Cinematic Communication,"
Western Journal of Speech Communication 46 (1982): 329, emphasis theirs;
Davies, Farrell, and Matthews note how Jung groups his archetypes into four
categories: The Mother ("Female figures; animals, dark, lower, and/or
primeval places"). Spirit C'sources or places of renewal, energy, or guidance").
Transcendence ("the hero; rebirth; initiation rituals; images of flight"), and
Wholeness ("the mandata, or circle; stones; golden treasure") (328-329). In
addition, see C.G. Jung, Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious: C. G.
Jung, Man and His Symbols, ed. C. G. Jung and M. L. von Franz (N.Y.:
Doubleday, 1964).
20
Davies, Farrell, and Matthews 341-342.
^'Janice Hocker Rushing and Thomas S. Frentz, "'The Deer Hunter':
Rhetoric of the Warrior," Quarterly Journal of Speech 66:4 (1980): 392-406.
“ Solomon, "The 'Positive Woman's' Journey" 266-270.
“Carl Gustav Jung, Civilization in Transition, Vol. X, Collected Works
(N.J.: Princeton UP, 1931, 1964) 35. In addition, Erich Neumann defines the
three aspects of the Mother-Goddess archetype as the protective (elementary),
the transformative, and the negative (terrible), all of which aid the (male)
hero on his quest for individuation; see The Great Mother: An Analysis of
the Archetype, trans. R. Manheim, 2nd ed. Bollinger Series XLVJJ (N.J.:
Princeton UP, 1963) 7.
^"Lana F. Rakow, "Looking to the Future: Five Questions For Gender
Research," Women's Studies in Communication 10 (Fall, 1987): 80, emphasis
hers.
“Janice Hocker Rushing, "E.T. As Rhetorical Transcendence," Ouarterlv
Journal of Speech 71 (1985): 188-205; J. H. Rushing, "Evolution of 'The New
Frontier' in Alien and Aliens: Patriarchal Co-optation of the Feminine
Archetype," Ouarterlv Journal of Speech 75:1 (1989): 1-24; J. H. Rushing,
"Mythic Evolution of 'The New Frontier' in Mass Mediated Rhetoric," Critical
Studies in Mass Communication 3:3 (1986): 265-296; J. H. Rushing, "Ronald
Reagan's 'Star Wars' Address: Mythic Containment of Technical Reasoning,"
117
Ouarterlv Tournai of Speech 72:4 (1986): 415-433; J. H. Rushing, "The Rhetoric
of the American Western Myth," Communication Monographs 50 (1983): 14-32;
also J. H. Rushing, "Cinema and Cultural Consciousness," Speech
Communication Association, Chicago, IL., Nov. 1986; and J. H. Rushing and
T. S. Frentz, "Critical Methods for Mythic Rhetoric," Speech Communication
Association, New Orleans, LA, Nov. 1987.
“Rushing bases most of her conception on the "perennial synthesis" from
Ken Wilber, Up From Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human Evolution
(Boulder, Co: Shambala, 1983). Other references include G. W. F.
Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A. V. Miller (Oxford: Oxford UP,
1977); G. W. F. Hegel, Reason in History, trans. Robert S. Hartman
(Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1953); Aldous Huxley, The Perennial
Philosophy (N.Y.: Harper and Row, 1970); and Erich Neumann, The Origins
and History of Consciousness, trans. R. F. C. Hull, Bollinger Series XLII
(Princeton: Princeton UP, 1973).
“Jung, "Approaching the Unconscious," Man and His Symbols 228.
“Thomas S. Frentz, "Mass Media as Rhetorical Narration," Von Zelst
Lecture in Communication, Northwestern University, 17 May 1984: 7; and
Thomas S. Frentz, "Rhetorical Conversation, Time, and Moral Action,"
Quarterly Journal of Speech 71:1 (1985): 7. See also Rushing, "Mythic
Evolution" 267-270; and Ken Wilber 7-11.
^^Rushing, "Mythic Evolution" 267-270.
^ “ Rushing, "Mythic Evolution" 271-272.
«'Wilber 180, emphasis his.
“Rushing, "Cinema and Cultural Consciousness" 4-7, emphasis hers; also
Rushing, "Mythic Evolution" 271.
“Rushing, "Evolution" 5-6.
«"Wilber 182, 187.
«^Carol P. Christ and Judith Plaskow,"Jntroduction: Womanspirit Rising,"
Womanspirit Rising: A Feminist Reader in Religion, eds. C. P. Christ and
Judith Plaskow (San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1979) 1-17; and Carol
P. Christ, "Why Women Need The Goddess: Phenomenological, Psychological
and Political Reflections," Womanspirit Rising 273-287. For other feminist
work in ancient religions and myth, see Riane Eisler, The Chalice and the
Blade: Our History, Our Future (San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1987);
Marija Gimbutas, The Gods and (Goddesses of Old Europe, 7000 to 3500 B.C.:
Mvths, Legends and Cult Images (Berkeley, CA.: U of California P, 1974); M.
Esther Harding, Woman's Mysteries: Ancient and Modern (N.Y.: Harper
Colophon Books, 1971); Evelyn Reed, Women's Evolution: From Matriarchal
118
Clan to Patriarchal Family (N.Y.: Pathfinder Press, 1975); Merlin Stone, When
God Was a Woman (N.Y.: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Harvest/HBJ Book,
1976); Monica Sjôô and Barbara Mor, The Great Cosmic Mother: '
Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth (San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, ;
1987); and Barbara G. Walker, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Mvths and i
Secrets (San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1983). j
“Rushing, "Mythic Evolution" 283, emphasis hers; also "Evolution" 8-10. j
“Rushing, "Evolution" 14-16; also Rushing, "Cinema and Cultural I
Consciousness" 4-8, emphasis hers. '
“Rushing, "Cinema as Cultural Consciousness" 8, emphasis hers; also i
Rushing, "E.T."; and Rushing, "Mythic Evolution." j
“Rushing, "Evolution" 2; also Rushing, "Mythic Evolution."
"°Rushing, "Evolution" 17-18, 9, 40, emphasis hers; also Rushing, "Mythic
Evolution" 283-286.
"'Rushing, "Evolution" 9-10, 17-19, 37-39; also Rushing, "Mythic
Evolution" 272-275; and Rushing "Star War's Address" 417.
"^H. Leslie Steeves, "Feminist Theories and Media Studies," Critical
Studies in Mass Communication 4:2 (1987): 100, 106. Feminist approaches can
be categorized in many ways, but the most common groupings include
liberal, cultural, Marxist-socialist, Freudian/Lacanian, and radical perspectives.
See Josephine Donovan, Feminist Theory: The Intellectual Traditions of
American Feminism (N.Y.: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co.,1985), and Alison
M. Jaggar, Feminist Politics and Human Nature (Totowa: Rowan and
Albuheld, 1983).
"«Linda Alcoff, "Cultural Feminism Versus Post-Structuralism: The
Identity Crisis in Feminist Theory," Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and
Society 13:3 (1988): 421. Alcoff argues that "the concept of woman is a
relational term identifiable only within a (constantly moving) context," but
that this position is something that "can be actively utilized (rather than
transcended)" by individual women, who can use it as "a place from where
meaning is constructed, rather than simply the place where a meaning can be
discovered (the meaning of femaleness)." Women "can use their positional
perspective as a place from which values are inteipreted and constructed
rather than as a locus of an already determined set of values" (434, emphasis
hers).
""Teresa De Lauretis, Alice Doesn't: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema i
(Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1984) 5. ;
" « De Lauretis 5, emphasis hers. |
"«De Lauretis 5-6. j
119
" ’ 'Teresa De Lauretis, Technologies of Gender: Essays in Theory, Film
and Fiction (Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1987) 3-9, emphasis hers.
"«Rushing, "Evolution" 22.
"^Rushing, "E. T." 201. Rushing assumes that the "deep structure" of a
narrative contains a telos as its "alchemic center" or "ground of existence,"
regardless of how it is encoded at the cultural level ("Mythic Evolution" 292).
This leads her to accept certain aspects of this "deep structure" without
question.
“Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious: Narrative as Socially
Symbolic Act (Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1981) 142, 283, 289; also Fredric Jameson,
"Reification and Utopia in Mass Culture," Social Text:
Theory/ Culture /Ideology 1 (1982): 130-148.
«'Juliet Flower MacCannell, "The Critique of Narcissism: In Love With
Culture," Figuring Lacan: Criticism and the Cultural Unconscious (Lincoln,
NB.: U of Nebraska P, 1984) 71-72.
“Elaine Showalter, "Feminist Criticism in the Wilderness," Critical Inquiry
8 (1983): 200.
“ Bill Nichols, Ideology and the Image: Social Representation in the
Cinema and Other Media (Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1981) 1.
«"Marie-Louise von Franz, "The Process of Individuation," Man and His
Symbols, eds. C. G. Jung and M. L. von Franz (N.Y.: Dell/Laurel Edition,
1964) 193.
“C. G. Jung, "Approaching the Unconscious" 56-94; also C. J. Jung, Two
Essays on Analytical Psychology, 2nd Ed., trans. R. F. C. Hull (N.J.:
Princeton UP, 1966) 228; and Jolanda Jacobi, The Wav of Individuation, trans.
R. F. C. Hull (N.Y.: American Library, 1965).
“ Demaris S. Wehr, "Religious and Social Dimensions of Jung's Concept
of the Archetype: A Feminist Perspective," Feminist Archetypal Theory:
Interdisciplinary Re-Visions of Jungian Thought, eds. Estella Lauter and Carol
Schreier Rupprecht (Knoxville, TN.: U of Tennessee P, 1985) 23-29. The
essentialist and oppositional representation of women in mythic narratives is
seen by many feminists to reinforce an ideology of gender; see De Lauretis,
Technologies of Gender 2, 3-8, 20.
“Rushing, "Evolution" 22, 3-18; that Rushing does not undertake a
feminist critique of Jungian thought concerning archetypes is both surprising
(given her use of Perera and Wehr), and frustrating.
««Sylvia Brinton Perera, Descent to the Goddess: A Way of Initiation For
Women (Toronto: Inner City Books, 1981).
1 2 0
“Edward C. Whitmont, Return of the Goddess (N.Y.: Crossroad
Publishing Co., 1984) 147-178; other sources for the Grail myth include
Thomas Bullfinch, Mythology. Abridged, ed. Edmund Fuller (N.Y.:
Dell/Laurel Edition, 1959) 356-374; Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God:
Occidental Mythology (N.Y.: Viking, 1964, Penguin, 1976 ) 507-508; and The
Knightly Tales of Sir Gawain. trans. Louis B. Hall (Chicago: Nelson-Hall,
1976). /
« “ Marilyn French, Beyond Power: On Women, Men and Morals (N.Y.:
Summit Books, 1985) 176-182; also Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God:
Occidental Mythology 508; and Barbara Walker, The Woman's Encyclopedia
351-354.
«'Laura Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," Screen 16:3
’ (1975): 14; rpt. in Feminism and Film Theory, ed. Constance Penley (N.Y. and
London: Routledge/BFI, 1988) 46-56.
I «^D e Lauretis, Alice Doesn't 113-134. Annis V. Pratt notes that the
I Jungian view of this type of quest implies that the hero struggles to absorb
j the feminine in order to be reborn as more androgynous. When the hero
I returns to society, he/she is sometimes rejected, especially if female; see
' "Spinning Among Fields: Jung, Frye, Lévi-Strauss and Feminist Archetypal
I Theory," Lauter and Rupprecht 101-103.
I
‘ ««Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, 2nd ed. Bollingen
‘ Series XVII (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP 1968) 120, emphasis added.
i « ^ I do not mean to imply here that male archetypes such as the hero are
not stereotyped as well, or that such archetypes do not influence our
expectations for appropriate masculine behavior. This study, however, is
more concerned with how such archetypes (whether "masculine" or
"feminine") denigrate and oppress women in patriarchal culture.
««Lana F. Rakow, "Feminist Approaches to Popular Culture: Giving
Patriarchy Its Due," (Communication 9:1 (1986): 39.
««For an account of the Innana myth-fragment, see Samuel Noah Kramer,
From the Poetry of Sumer: Creation, Glorification, Adoration (Berkeley: U of
i California P, 1979); for an alternative interpretation of these myths see Sjoo
j and Mor, The Great Cosmic Mother.
I
« ’ 'S. H. Hooke, Middle Eastern Mythology (Middlesex, England: Penguin
I Books, 1963) 28-29, 18-64; also French 97-98.
I ««Sjoo and Mor 249.
' «"Sjôô and Mor 245-246.
’ '“ Rushing, "Evolution" 8-12; Sjôô and Mor 245-246.
121
’ ''Kenneth Burke, Permanence and Change: An Anatomv of Purpose. 3rd
Ed. (Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1984) 78, 279-283; Kenneth Burke, The
Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in Symbolic Action (Baton Rouge, LA.:
Louisiana State UP, 1941) 13, 39, 191-220; Kenneth Burke, A Rhetoric of
Motives (N.Y.: Prentice-Hall, 1950) 141-148, 265-266; and Kenneth Burke, The
Rhetoric of Religion: Studies in Logology (Berkeley, CA: U of California P,
1961) 4-5, 190-206.
^Hooke 20; also Perera 21-22, 51-53.
’ '«Hooke 20, 52; Perera 51, 63; Sjôô and Mor 246. In later myths, this Bull
of Heaven was killed by Gilgamesh, who rejected the advances of Inanna
because all of her consorts died.
’ '^Perera 64-65; also Hooke 21.
’ '«Hooke 21; Perera 59-61.
’ '«Perera 64; Hooke 21.
“Hooke 28.
“Hooke 21-22; Perera 35-36, 67-84, 88-94; Sjôô and Mor 168.
’ '"Perera 29-30; see also French, who notes that the transformation of the
Furies (Erinyes) into the Eumenides provides an implicit, if not explicit,
support of the patriarchy (50). Also, in my interpretation of the Inanna myth
as a potential kill-rite, I do not intend to argue that the myth actually
functioned this way in ancient Summer. Instead, I am providing an
I alternative interpretation than the one provided by Perera, to show how the
' myth could be as much reaffirmatory as transformative.
« “ For example see Wilber 260; also Whitmont. Feminist skepticism
remains as to whether or not such an integration would benefit women; for
example Rosemary Radford Reuther argues that some men "leap too quickly"
to the idea that they must "recover the 'feminine' side of themselves."
Reuther argues that such concepts lead men to believe that they understand
i the "true nature" of women, then get upset when women refuse "to cultivate
; this male definition of the 'feminine' in order to nuture the 'feminine side' of
men. . . . The male ego is still the center of the universe, which 'feminism' is
. now seduced into enhancing in a new way"; see Sexism and God-Talk:
, Toward a Feminist Theology (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1983) 190.
«'Jane E. Caputi, "laws as Patriarchal Myth," lournal of Popular Film 6
(1978): 305-326.
I «^Chellis Glendinning, "Star Wars and the Old Religion," Chrysallis: A
I Magazine of Women's Culture 6 (1978): 17-21.
I
1 2 2
1
j “Barbara Creed, "From Here to Modernity: Feminism and
I Postmodernism," Screen [1989]: 62-65; also Barbara Creed, "Horrors and The
. Monstous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection," Screen 27 (1986): 44-70; and
I Lynda K. Buntzen, "Monstrous Mothers: Medusa, Grendel and Now Alien,"
Film Ouarterlv XL:3 (1987): 11-17.
®^W ehr 23-29. In Tung and Feminism: Liberating Archetypes (Boston,
i MA.: Beacon Press, 1987), Wehr observes that beliefs about "masculine" and
I "feminine" are influenced by patriarchal control, which means that scholars
' should bring "archetypal images 'down to earth,' grounding them in their
social context (11).
“Eric Gould, Mythical Intentions in Modern Literature (N.J.: Princeton
UP, 1981) 44-45, 85, and 125; also William G. Doty, Mythography: The Study
of Mvths and Rituals (U of Alabama P, 1986) 186-191; and Lauter and
Rupprecht, "Introduction," Feminist Archetypal Theory 13.
“Gould 14, 34.
“ Doty 154.
“Doty 154, bracketed comments added.
“Alcoff 434, emphasis hers.
"“ Richard J. Ellis and Alan Munslow, "Narrative, Myth and the Turner
Thesis," Tournai of American Culture 9:2 (1986) 10-12, 14-15. They argue that
by reshaping "a core American myth" the Thesis was ideological in function.
TTiey further assert that it was highly contradictory, and that a narrative
framework that does not consider the ideological implications of such
contradictions is "ultimately tainted with idealism" ( 15).
"'Henry Nash Smith, Virgin Land: The American West as Symbol and
Myth (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1950), qtd. in Rushing, " 'Star Wars'
Address" 424; see also Rushing, "The Rhetoric of the American Western Myth"
15-17; and Rushing, "Mythic Evolution" 272.
"^Rushing, "'Star Wars' Address" 417-418; also Rushing, "Mythic
Evolution" 272-281.
“Rushing, "Evolution" 17-18; Rushing, "Mythic Evolution" 282-286.
"^Vivian Sobchack, Screening Space 223-305.
95
De Lauretis, Alice Doesn't 118-199; also Mary Daly, Gyn/Ecology: The
Meta ethics of Radical Feminism (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1978).
; “Lana F. Rakow, "Gendered Technology, Gendered Practice," Critical
: Studies in Mass Communication 5:1 (1988): 60-67.
123
“Rakow, "Gendered Technology" 60-62.
“Rakow, "Gendered Technology" 67, emphasis hers.
“Jameson, The Political Unconscious 283-287.
'“ “ Jameson, The Political Unconscious 287; also Fredric Jameson,
Formations of Pleasure (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1983) 14; and
Janice Radway, "Identifying Ideological Seams: Mass Culture, Analytical
Method and Political Practice," Communication 9:1 (1986): 109. I am not
arguing here that ideological goals are the only ones of either space travel or
science-fiction films, but they do play a role in the continued crisis of
patriarchal authority in our culture.
'“ 'William Balthrop, "Culture, Myth, and Ideology as Public Argument:
An Interpretation of the Ascent and Demise of 'Southern Culture',"
Communication Monographs 51 (Dec. 1984): 345, 351.
'“ ^The term "pseudo-synthesis" comes from Rushing, who argues that it
occurs as an escapist and illusory response to the dialectic of individualism
and community, instead of the preferred "dialectical synthesis" response,
whereby the dialectic is transcended completely; see "The American Western
Myth" 31-32; also Rushing and Frentz, "The Rhetoric of 'Rocky': A Social
Value Model of Criticism," Western loumal of Speech Communication 42:2
(1978): 70-71. While Rushing believes some current science-fiction and fantasy
films are examples of such a "transcendent" synthesis, I argue that it is more
likely that such films are actually a type of "pseudo-synthesis."
'“ «Sobchack, Screening Space 223-305; also Vivian Sobchack,
"Child/Alien/Father: Patriarchal Crisis and Generic Exchange," Camera
Obscura 15 (1986): 7-34. Jameson argues that such recombinations and
intertextuality create meta-genres, genres that self-reflexively refer to other
genres, eventually becoming considered as "genres" themselves ("Reification
and Utopia" 136).
'“ ^ Leo Braudy, "Genre and the Resurrection of the Past," Shadows of the
Magic Lamp: Fantasy and Science Fiction in Film, eds. George Slusser and
Eric S. Rabkin (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois UP, 1985) 1-13.
'“ «Jameson, "Reification and Utopia" 137.
'“ «Sobchack, Screening Space 230.
'“ TValter R. Fisher, "A Motive View of Communication," Ouarterlv
lournal of Speech 56 (April, 1970): 132; also Walter R. Fisher, Human
Communication As Narration: Toward A Philosophy of Reason, Value and
Action (Columbia, SC: U of South Carolina P, 1987) 144-145.
J
124
'“Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 145; Fisher defines
"motive" as does Kenneth Burke, as "a name that characterizes the nature of a
symbolic action in a given situation (144). Further, situations can reoccur ("A
Motive View" 132).
109
Rushing, "EJ\" 189.
I
I "“ John Angus Campbell, "A Rhetorical Interpretation of History,"
, Rhetorica 2:3 (1984) 236 (also qtd. in Rushing, "E.T." 189).
I "'Sobchack, Screening Space 228.
! "^Sobchack, "Child/Alien/Father" 8-9, 10.
j “^Sobchack, "Child/Alien/Father" 19-31.
I '"'Sobchack, "Child/Alien/Father" 31.
I "«Jameson, "Reification and Utopia" 134; also Sobchack, Screening Space
223-305. I do not mean to imply that I completely agree with Jameson
regarding the presumed demise of communities, only that such a phenomena
is possible, and may occur among the viewers of science-fiction and fantasy
texts.
"«Fredric Jameson, ""Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late
Capitalism," New Left Review 146 (July-Aug. 1984): 53-92.
"’ 'Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life In An
Age of Diminishing Expectations (N.Y.: Warner Books, 1979) 101, also 28,
38.
"«Michel Foucault, Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other
Writings, 1972-1977, trans. Colin Gordon et al., ed. Colin Gordon (N.Y.:
Pantheon, 1972); also Michel Foucault, This is Not a Pipe, trans. and ed.
James Harkness (Berkeley: U of California P, 1982).
"“ Sobchack, Screening Space 223-305.
'^“ Craig Owens, "The Discourse of Others: Feminism and
Postmodernism," The Anti-Aesthetic: Essavs on Postmodern Culture, ed. Hal
Foster (Port Townsend: Bay Press, 1982) 58. "Postmodernism" is one of
those terms like "patriarchy" which is capable of multiple definitions. In
i general, though, it refers to discourse influenced by changing material
! conditions of the late-20th century, and distinguished from Modernism. It
! refers to both an academic "style" of criticism and an actual "style" of living.
I
j '^'Anne Balsamo, "Un-Wrapping the Postmodern: A Feminist Glance,"
! lournal of Communication Inquiry 11:1 (1987): 66; also Anne Balsamo,
j "Reading Cyborgs Writing Feminism," Communication 10 (1988): 331-344.
125
'“ Dick Hebdige, "Post-modernism and 'The Other Side'," Tournai of
Communication Inquiry 10:2 (1986): 78-98.
i '“ For a discussion of the potentially "empowering" aspects of postmodern
i thought, see Lawrence Grossberg, "Postmodernity and Affect: All Dressed Up
' With No Place to Go," Communication 10 (1988): 271-293; also Balsamo, "Un-
, Wrapping the Postmodern" 69; Creed, "From Here To Modernity" 62-67; and
Sobchack, Screening Space 292-305.
I
'^^Sobchack, Screening Space 244.
126
Chapter 3
A FEMINIST-RHETORICAL APPROACH TO MYTHIC NARRATIVES
This chapter presents an alternative methodology for analyzing mythic
rhetoric in popular culture, one which argues that the "deep structure" of the
I
heroic quest myth is as culture-bound as the "surface structure." Rather than
; focusing on the conflict between individualism and community, as the frontier
1 myth does, this chapter examines the dialectic of masculine and feminine
j
, which operates in mythic narratives, hypothesizing certain resolutions to this
j
j dialectic which have important ramifications for cultural reaffirmation and
I transformation. The chapter is arranged as follows: first, I further explicate
I the dialectic between "masculine myth" and "feminine myth" introduced in
I chapter one, making connections where appropriate to feminist inquiry;
I second, several possible resolutions to this dialectic are discussed as rhetorical
I
I responses to the situation of patriarchal crisis; third, criteria are presented to
assess both the effectiveness and cultural value of these responses from a
i rhetorical-feminist point of view.
I
i The Dialectic of Masculine/Feminine
Fredric Jameson notes how a dialectic involves two independent codes,
or signifying systems, linked together, in conflict or tension with each other.'
Prior rhetorical research has examined dialectical conflicts between competing
I 1 2 7
1 value systems as expressed in discourse, including materialism versus
*
{ moralism, individualism versus community, positivism versus transcendence,
1
I and sacred versus demonic/ Other studies have examined the discourse
^ between opposing groups of women, but to my knowledge no other
i
^ rhetorical study has focused on the mythic dimensions of "masculine" and
I "feminine" as dialectical terms in conflict with each other within a narrative/
t
I As noted in Chapter Two, the work of Janice Hocker Rushing has examined
I the "feminine" from within the perspective of the frontier myth, in which the
j primary dialectical conflict is between individualism and community/ Yet, as
I Karen E. Rosenblum argues, this conflict is a masculine one, a "classic
! antagonism between the needs and rights of the collectivity and those of the
! individual." « The issue of the "feminine" is secondary to the consideration of
1
* masculine identity within such mythic narratives. A feminist approach must
I focus instead on the complex relationships between and within the genders as
represented in this culture.
Such a focus might have several benefits for scholarship. First, although
biologically the sexes may be more alike than different, they are symbolically
represented as oppositional.^ Simone de Beauvoir notes the importance of
such polarities in maintaining unequal relationships between the sexes.
Woman is mythically represented as Other to men.^ Lana Rakow notes how
biology is used "to create two universal categories of people," which function
"to obscure class and other social differences among people." Gender, as a
type of "structuring system," serves to legitimize patriarchal domination
through such dichotomizing.® Cultural differences are essentialized, made to
128
seem transcultural and transhistorical. The categories of "masculine" and
"feminine" are also metaphorically linked to other oppositional terms, such as
nature/culture, rural/urban, m ind/body and emotion/reason. As L. J.
Jordanova notes, such dichotomized terms "mutually define each other." The
symbolic representation and maintenance of such dichotomies may "provide
coherence in the face of threatened social disorganization.P enelope Brown
and L. J. Jordanova further assert that while the relationship between the
terms might be complex, even at times contradictory to lived experience, their
symbolic representations are still powerful as metaphors for reality. In
particular, the connection of nature/culture with gender "has operated in
Western tradition at many different levels . . . . reinforcing and redefining
the identification of female with nature and male with culture.'"®
Sherry B. Ortner notes that women have three positions within the
nature/culture dichotomy. They can serve in a middle role between nature
and culture, they can mediate between the terms, or they can be "in an
ambiguous position, with polarized and contradictory meanings, where
women may on occasion be aligned with culture," as well as with nature."
According to Annis Pratt, the traditional approach to such dichotomies in
myths has been to posit "a universal pattern of conflict," which myths
mediate "by combining opposites," though the balance is only temporary, and
I
i "the set of opposites recur eternally." Such thinking, Pratt argues, perpetuates
j dualisms and an a priori assumption "that the normal relationships between
I human beings [men] and nature [women] is a dominant-submissive pattern.""
129
As the conflict is represented in the traditional heroic quest myth, the
hero confronts and either defeats or "tames" nature (or the "feminine"). Such
images reflect the "masculine/ feminine" dialectic, reinforcing "naturalized"
connections between the symbols and actual relationships between men and
women. Through myth, the prevailing gender-ideology is supported; yet, it is
also possible that this ideology might be undermined, especially in the
changes that occur in various archetypes such as the Hero and the Goddess.
As culturally-created interpretations, archetypes are rhetorically powerful,
more so if we value the image and believe it to be both "universal" and
"true."" When the "masculinity" of the hero is altered, or the various mythic
conflicts transformed, then the rhetorical message might be altered as well,
providing a weak, though possibly less disruptive, argument for social
' change.
; Dialectical conflicts presuppose dialectical resolutions; in any struggle
I
i between opposing terms there are a limited number of outcomes, ranging
, from a continuation of the dialectic to a synthesis of the opposing terms."
: By explicating and assessing how the dialectic between "masculine" and
^ "feminine" is resolved in popular narratives, scholars can better understand
the ideological and utopian functions of mythic rhetoric. Such resolutions can
i
I be studied as rhetorical responses aiming to reaffirm, transform, or subvert
, gender distinctions (and, by extension, gender-ideology) in our culture.
Ideological discourse acts as a type of "social cement"— at best reaffirming
cultural values, at worst mystifying and oppressing through the production of
"false consciousness." Utopian discourse points to the ideal visions of an
130
ideological system, whether of the dominant culture or a marginal group.
The promise of utopian rewards can lead to ideological adherence or to
ideological transformation." Kenneth Burke notes how myth and ideology
can be linked together through such ideal visions, which transcend politics,
yet which have "political attitudes" mixed into them."
Before determining the various resolutions operating within a mythic
text, the critic must understand the ways in which the masculine/feminine
dialectic is encoded in that text. To do so, the characteristics of both poles of
the dialectic must be explicated. Yet it must be reemphasized that these
j characteristics, which I have drawn together from a wide variety of
j anthropological, historical, religious, and literary sources, represent an
! androcentric point of view, especially in the association of femininity with
I
1 everything that is opposite and inferior to masculinity. Feminist scholarship
■ illustrates that what we consider to be "masculine" and "feminine" symbols
and myths were originally associated with the Great Goddess worship of
archaic, prehistorical times." How the masculine world reappropriated such
imagery, using it to denigrate both Goddess worship and actual women, is
debated by many feminists, and beyond the scope of this study. What is
important is that there does seem to be an earlier tradition in which the
mythic narratives placed a higher value on women-centered concerns such as
birth and childrearing. Furthermore, while it seems clear that no actual
matriarchy existed (i.e. women ruling over men), there is some evidence that
social relationships between men and women were more egalitarian, more
linked in partnership rather than domination." It is this earlier tradition that
131
interests many feminists, for if the mythic narratives were transformed once
in the service of patriarchal domination, then the possibility remains that they
might be reclaimed or transformed into something different.
What are the symbolic themes and motifs most associated with
masculinity in Western culture? Quite simply, they are any that are equated
with masculine virtue and heroics, which celebrate the triumph of reason over
nature, order over chaos, domination over partnership. While cultural
expressions of this triumph are varied, the presumably "universal" (or "deep")
forms are best represented by what Joseph Fonterose labels "the combat
myth," and the heroic quest, described as the monomyth by Joseph Campbell
and the romance by Northrop Frye." Fonterose notes that "the combat myth"
existed in two forms, as the struggle between an "older god" and "new god,"
and as the struggle between a dragon and a sky-god. Yet undergirding both
was the struggle between Eros (life, love) and Thanatos (death).“ Eros had
been associated with the earlier Goddess, though with the rise of male
domination, the giving of life was transposed to the male creator gods, while
the love of women (their free sexuality and concern for relationship) was
condemned.’ " As a dragon or monster, the Goddess was also associated with
evil and death, justifying the use of violence to vanquish the enemy (woman,
or the "feminine"). Fonterose asserts that this "combat myth" is "a tale of
conflict between order and disorder, chaos and cosmos.Yet Kenneth Burke
maintains that the polar terms are linguistic devices used to sanction "a given
order of priestly governance."“ For many feminists, the association of the
132
feminine with chaos and evil does more than sanctify the priesthood; it serves
to reinforce and sanctify male dominance as a whole.
Thomas Schatz, in discussing the Western as a mediated genre, focuses
on the combat aspect of masculine myth, noting that violence is externalized
as a conflict "within a setting of contested space.T h is conflict is usually
resolved by eliminating an enemy perceived as an evil threat to the stability
of the social order. The hero, always male, usually a loner, might also gain
"the treasure hard to attain," which he bestows upon the community.
Although exalted as a "redeemer figure" (e.g. Shane), the hero "does not
assimilate the values and lifestyle of the community, but instead maintains his
individuality." He may be rejected by the community, returning to the
wilderness.^ Sarah Russell Hankins notes that such heroes are usually
ascetic, austere, and virtuous, both human and "god-like" (thus transcendent),
compassionate to society in the abstract, but averse to relationship, especially
with women (though they might interact with other men)."
These conflicts of good and evil, of life and death, of order and chaos
are also found in the masculinized heroic quest narrative. The hero may be
young, innocent, and of uncertain origin, or he may be a strong,
individualistic outsider. He is called to action by an older man, but is often
reluctant to undertake the quest. Yet eventually he does go on his dangerous
journey which "tests" his manhood in a variety of ways, whether he steals a
magic object, fights a dragon, rescues a princess, or has a "showdown" with a
villain. For Campbell, this quest is "universal" or monomythic, in which "a
hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of
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supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive
victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the
power to bestow boons on his fellow man." [see Figure 1] This journey
occurs in stages— Separation, Initiation, and Return— which correspond to rite-
of-passage rituals." Campbell believes such myths represent an expansion of
consciousness, both individually and socially, applicable to either sex. Yet it
is dear from Campbell's own examples that the hero is masculine, as is his
combat-centered, violent quest, in which the prize is often stolen, the dragon
or villain defeated, and the Goddess-figure subdued. In addition, atonement
with the father often precedes the hero's apothesis." The feminine is often
associated with evil, with death, and with the unconscious, which must be
faced and then mastered so that the hero might develop consciousness, clearly
a masculine attribute, even when exhibited in women."
In addition to motives of personal and social growth, Frye notes that
such quest myths provide "an emotional release" that avoids "the ambiguities
of ordinary life," while overcoming psychological anxieties, such as fear of
castration. Such motives require the polarization of the romance narrative.
In the romance, two worlds conflict, the upper, idyllic world and the lower,
demonic world. To maintain the innocence/purity of the idyllic world, the
savior hero, again a chaste, contemplative youth of mysterious origin, goes on
a quest. Frye notes how this hero is associated with spring, dawn, order,
youth, vigor, and fertility
The hero goes on a perilous journey whereby he descends into the
"night-world," a world of adventure, excitement, separation, loneliness, pain.
134
and darkness. He is tested (agon), and helped or hindered in his journey by
other characters such as the wise old man, the fool/jester, and "supernatural"
agents. Eventually he engages in a crucial combat (pathos) with an enemy
who is associated with winter, darkness, chaos, old age, death, sterility, and
the wasteland. The hero defeats the villain and returns to the idyllical world,
"or to some symbol of it like marriage," where he is exalted (anagnorisis). The
price of gaining wisdom or power often involves mutilation of the hero.«'
The "masculine" nature of Frye's conception is clear in his view of the
lower world as "an environment of alienation, a sub-moral and sub-human
w o r ld .F r y e describes how the hero must enter a "dark and labyrinthine
world of caves and shadows which is either the bowels and belly of an earth
monster, or the womb of the earth-mother, or both."“ Pratt remarks that
most women do not consider the womb to be "an alien or dreadful place." '
She notes that not only does the hero "venture down through the dreadful
feminine, he tries to seize some of its power as a boon or elixir for culture."
In this way the romantic hero can transcend nature, which includes women.«^
In discussing the varieties of heroic types in America, Roger D.
Abrahams notes that "the actions we consider heroic reflect a view of life
which is based upon contest values and a social hierarchy built on the model
of a male-centered family." In our culture, then, heroes are men "whose
deeds epitomize the masculine attributes most highly valued within such a
society.Such values are often noble (e.g. courage and justice), yet can also
be regrettable, especially when the definition of manliness derives from
aggressiveness and the repudiation of anything that might be labeled
135
"feminine. Androcentric narratives not only glorify masculine virtues, but
also physical strength, the "right of the stronger," imperialism, male
domination, and violence. Sexual symbolism is prevalent, connected less to
Eros and more to violence, as illustrated by the use of phallic weapons and
scenes of piercing or penetrating an obstacle (or person). Women are
relegated to the periphery, serving as "love interests," community guardians,
objects for capture and rescue, mediating figures, or evil temptresses."
This "masculine myth" is in conflict with the feminine side of the
dialectic, represented by "women-centered" values such as relationship,
community, and care, combined with the archaic Goddess religion. This
"feminine myth" is double-layered, consisting of the stereotypical,
patriarchally-defined "Eternal Feminine" and the more gynocentric image of
the Goddess. It is important to remember that, for the most part, what has
been considered "feminine" has been defined by men. Thus women have
been considered the opposite or "Other" to men, the "weaker" sex, "naturally"
subordinate to males, both more civilized and more depraved, connected to
nature, the body, the emotions, and the unconscious. Women are represented
as more intuitive and less rational than men, and are considered responsible
for bringing evil into the world." This stereotypical interpretation was built,
however, on earlier images of the Goddess not connected to men. This
Goddess was worshipped throughout the ancient world, as the giver of life
and the bringer of death, the Mother of All, who gave birth to the universe.
As Esther Harding notes, she was "one-in-herself," though represented
through the trinity of M aiden/M other/Crone." Her sexual fecundity.
136
celebrated through rituals honoring her "transformative mysteries" (e.g.
menstruation, pregnancy, birth, and lactation), guaranteed the survival of her
earthly children."
As noted in Chapter One, this archaic Goddess originally acted
independently of men, becoming linked with a son-consort only with the rise
of masculine power. Even then the hieros gamos (or sacred marriage with
the Goddess) was required to legitimize kingly power. Through this symbolic
union the human year-king presumably became the divine incarnation of the
Goddess's consort (e.g. Dumuzi, Tammuz, Osiris). At year's end this king
(later his substitute) was sacrificed as part of the rituals celebrating seasonal
changes. In these myths, the son-consort is restored to life through the aegis
of the Goddess, who searches for him in the underworld.^®
Later, the masculine side of this cosmic pair became more powerful.
With the establishment of patriarchy, the Goddess image was split into the
"good mother" (with a corresponding change in the idea of the "virgin"
daughter as sexually independent to sexually celibate), and the "bad mother,"
who was at best a lustful temptress, at worst an evil monster. Various
symbols previously connected to the Goddess, such as the Tree of
Knowledge/Life, the bear and lion, and the sun, became associated with
masculinity; while others, such as the serpent, the spider, and the raven, were
associated with both femininity and evil.^' As Carol P. Christ and Judith
Plaskow note, a dualism was created in which men were seen as positive and
women negative, which legitimized the paternal "right to rule."^ This
dualism cast the masculine and feminine into various polarities, as outlined
137
in Figure 4. The archetypal symbols connected to this dualism have been
reified as "natural"; yet they are socially constructed, and reinforce the
patriarchal system. As Christ argues, such archetypal images "have both
psychological and political effects, because they create the inner conditions
(deep-seated attitudes and feelings) that lead people to feel comfortable with
or to accept social and political arrangements that correspond to the symbol
system."^
In making women subordinate to men, patriarchy reified women's
biological reproductive capacities while also reducing her to mere vessel for
the "superior" seed of men, now seen as the real parent.^ These oppositions
were reinforced not only through the usurpation of myth, but also through
coercion. Still, throughout history, the "feminine" struggles to reassert itself,
as in the cult of the Virgin Mary (as Mother of God) or the phenomenon of
courtly love.^« As noted earlier, such "feminine" imagery often served the
purposes of male growth rather than benefiting the lives of women.
Although it promoted more humanistic behaviors, too often this "feminine"
imagery was co-opted by the patriarchal world to reaffirm masculine power
(i.e. in the church sanctioned over-idealization of Mary), or was violently
suppressed (i.e. the destruction of heretical groups like the Cathari, or in
w itch-burnings)F urtherm ore, as Riane Eisler observes, interest in "the
feminine" appeared during times of social confusion, acting as a challenge to
what she calls the domina tor model of patriarchal power.-
47
FIGURE 4
MASCULINE VERSUS FEMININE
138
Masculine Feminine
active, aggressive passive
individualistic communal, relational
dualistic monistic (unity of all)
transcendent godhead immanent godhead
competitive, warlike cooperative, peaceful
strong and rational weak and emotional
object-orientation subject-orientation
dispassionate (just) passionate
independent dependent
unempathetic, cruel empathetic, kind
mind, consciousness body, unconsciousness
civilized order/culture disorder/nature
heaven/sky earth/hell
light, sun, day dark, moon, night
linear time cyclical time
technological natural (biological)
city/frontier rural/village
superior/good inferior/bad
yin yang
This potential to challenge masculine rule has led many religiously-
oriented feminists to argue for a return to* the archaic Goddess. A restoration
of "the feminine" is necessary, they argue, not just as an "affirmation of
female power," but as a corrective to the ill effects of patriarchy.^® Other
feminists, however, remain skeptical that such an image can function in a
non-ideological or nonessentialistic fashion.''® Further, as Marta Weigle argues,
while women (as Woman) has been abundant in mythology, a truly woman
generated mythology is harder to discover.^® This is due, in part, to the
reality that women's stories have not been valued. The oral traditions of
what has been called "women's culture" are only now being studied. There is
139
some evidence that, at least for Western women, there are some connecting
threads that bond women together, such as the need for affiliation and the
ethic of care (or "love/duty").^^ Much of this work is rudimentary, and may
not apply cross-culturally.
I With these reservations in mind, I believe the feminist scholar can
I examine "the feminine," not just to expose masculine mystifications, but also
: to provide ways to alternatively interpret mythic texts. In addition, the
I rhetorical scholar can focus on the effectiveness and social worth of rhetorical
I
; responses to the challenge posed by "the feminine," whether as a stereotyped
I Other, or as the reemergence of the Great Goddess. Increasingly, the
dominant androcentric myths of the hero are called into question,
exacerbating the sense of "patriarchal crisis," in which the old coercive and
I
I suppressive tactics no longer function to reaffirm patriarchal control for many
I people. Certainly such tactics are still attempted, as the rise of religious
I
1
fundamentalism coupled with a worldwide escalation of violence against
women illustrates. As Eisler argues, such tactics are part of a totalitarian,
androcractic response designed to perpetuate masculine domination.^ Yet it
is also clear that many reject such extremism. Human evolution is at a
I critical juncture. Feminist scholars like Eisler and Lerner believe that, as a
I
I historical system, patriarchy has "nearly run its course." Lerner notes that "it
!
j no longer serves the needs of men or women and in its inextricable linkage
I to militarism, hierarchy, and racism, it threatens the very existence of life on
I earth.
F
I
140
Such a crisis requires more subtle rhetorical responses to reaffirm
and/or transform patriarchal control. Vivian Sobchack argues that the
ideological motive of such responses, as they occur in popular culture, is "to
contain, work out, and in some fashion resolve narratively the contemporary
weakening of patriarchal authority, and the glaring contradictions which exist
between the mythology of family relations and their actual social practices."^
The possible utopian motive is to alter such control toward what Eisler calls
the partnership model of affiliative power, to help the human species evolve
into more humanistic modes of behavior.^ These possible responses, as
various resolutions to the "masculine/feminine" dialectic, are discussed more
j fully in the next section.
Rhetorical Responses to Dialectical Tensions
As noted earlier, in any struggle of opposing terms, various resolutions
occur. Karen Rasmussen and Sharon D. Downey have noted six different
general patterns of dialectical resolution: dialectical emphasis, in which one
side or element is favored over another; dialectical transformation, in which
one perspective is inverted (or transformed); dialectical reaffirmation, in which
both sides are clarified and strengthened though the conflict continues;
dialectical "pseudo-synthesis," in which the tension is too quickly integrated,
or "glossed over"; dialectical synthesis, in which the opposing terms are
integrated into a new relationship; and dialectical "disorientation" in which
the "conflict between two antithetical but complementary life worlds" results
141
in an uneasy acceptance of both, with neither affirmed, emphasizing the
ambiguity of life/^ Of these six, the first three seem more pertinent to the
historical resolution of the "masculine/feminine" dialectic, with the latter three
more contemporary possibilities.
Various symbolic strategies reveal the type(s) of resolutions which occur
in the "masculine/feminine" conflict. The first is the use of symbolic kill rites
which "vanquish" the feminine side, implying that it is something monstrous
that the hero must overcome. Such strategies attempt to defend the
I hierarchal "organizing principle" of the culture from perceived internal and
external threats by purifying patriarchal control. As Kenneth Burke notes,
social conflict creates disobedience which leads to social guilt which must be
punished or expiated. Through the sacrifice of a scapegoat (victimage) or self
j (mortification), the social order is purified and redeemed.Another, more
I feminist, approach to the kill rite is put forth by Laura Mulvey. Mulvey
' argues that men fear castration and can only escape from their anxieties
I
j about it (which are generated by the image of the woman) in two ways.
First is through a "preoccupation with the reenactment of the original trauma
(investigating the woman, demystifying her mystery), counter-balanced by the
devaluation, punishment or slaying of the guilty object" (i.e. woman). By
"killing off" the woman (or "the feminine") the male assuages his fears.
Second, writes Mulvey, there can be a "complete disavowal of castration by
I the substitution of a fetish object or turning the represented figure itself into
I
I a fetish so that it becomes reassuring rather than dangerous (hence
I overvaluation)."^®
142
Both devaluation (vanquishing) and overvaluing ("putting on a pedestal")
serve to mystify us about gender-identity and social control. De Lauretis
notes that "the accepted view of woman as the possessor of an ahistorical,
eternal feminine essence, a closeness to nature" not only acts to keep women
in "their" place, but also ensures patriarchal power.®® While devaluation
resolves the conflict between opposing terms through dialectical emphasis,
overvaluation leads to a type of dialectical reaffirmation, in which the
opposing terms remain in tension, both presumably valued, though the
feminine remains subordinate to the masculine, as well as essentialized.
j Through this dialectical reaffirmation, women, "the real historical beings who
t
i cannot as yet be defined" through discourse, become connected to the concept
! of woman, a "fictional construct" which signifies female as opposite, or Other,
I to m ales.® ®
; Thus patriarchal society seeks to maintain sexual difference, in which the
I
relationship between woman and women is treated as natural and direct
rather than arbitrary. This cultural connection of biological sex with gender
oppositions is linked to social inequality, creating a type of "ideology of
gender" whereby men and women are seen in mutually exclusive terms (with
a corresponding denial that "masculinity" and "femininity" are historically and
culturally constructed).®^ Michele Barrett notes that an elevation of "the
I feminine" acts as a compensatory strategy to secure women's support for the
I
dominant hegemony.®^
The use of superior-inferior discourse also indicates a resolution through
dialectical emphasis. Hugh Daziel Duncan argues that superiors and inferiors
143
enact their positions through verbal and non-verbal symbolic action.
Superiors initiate, scold, deride, order, command, instruct, threaten,
! reprimand, deny, punish, give praise, evoke higher authority, take from
! others, reward, stand above others, wear status insignia, wield power objects,
j
i rescue others and other aggressive and/or violent actions. Inferiors listen,
I obey commands, serve others, plead, beg, petition, give supplication, receive
J rewards and punishments, wait, bow, praise superiors, give thanks, apologize,
I answer questions, testify, show fear, stand below others, are victimized and
I rescued, and other passive, self-denying behaviors. These two positions work
I together to reinforce social hierarchy.®®
I
I The social order might also be reinforced or reaffirmed through
! strategies of recuperation, which might occur through a trivialization or
I
I marginalization of "the feminine," through polarizing tactics (especially those
I
I that pit women against each other), and/or through masculine acquisition of
! certain valued feminine traits or behaviors (e.g. men "giving birth"). Or
I reaffirmations might occur through what Jeff D. Bass calls "rhetorical
dissociations" which resolve the "masculine/feminine" dialectic through
I emphasis or transformation, since such "rhetorical dissociations" involve a
j purification of the discourse. Bass uses Chaim Perelman's idea that
' dissociation separates or disunifies elements previously connected together in
I a system, rhetorically employed "to remove an incompatibility arising out of
I the confrontation of one proposition with another, whether one is dealing
j with norms, facts, or truths."®^ For Bass, the technique used to purify British
! Imperialism in King Solomon's Mines was "the creation of an appearance-
144
reality dichotomy that enables a rhetor to assert that one proposition
describes a state of affairs that corresponds more closely to reality than that
described by conflicting proposition(s)." The result, if done successfully, is "a
cognitive change in the audience's perception of the object of the discourse."
In King Solomon's Mines economic exploitation is represented "as the
'appearance' of imperialism while its 'reality' becomes the act of establishing
justice and its reward the resulting transformation of identities."®® In
patriarchal discourse, such rhetorical dissociations might be employed to shift
the unwelcome connection of patriarchal power with any number of negative
phenomena, from violence/war to dehumanized technology. Such negatives
I
I become the "appearance" of patriarchy, which "in reality" might be more
; humanized or less violent.
i
1 Any integration of "the masculine" with "the feminine" indicates a
j dialectical synthesis or pseudo-synthesis. As argued in Chapter One, the
' image of androgyny is employed to make such a resolution. It is a complex
symbol, functioning to provide ambiguous messages, reflecting the confusions
and tensions surrounding gender and patriarchal control in modern tim es.® ®
I Androgyny, the linking together of male/female, and masculine/feminine,
I
I might be symbolically represented in a number of ways. One might be the
; incorporation of traits associated with the opposite sex, such as "sensitive" yet
I
j aggressive men, and violent, yet nurturing women. A second tactic might
j involve alterations in appearance, so that men appear more "feminine" or
I neuter, while women appear more "masculine" or neuter. Another possibility
j might be the "possession" of one sex by the other (such as Lily Tomlin with
145
Steve Martin in ^ ^ Me). A fourth possibility might be the yoking together
of two characters (male and female) into an image of ideal love— the Platonic
Î notion of the split soul come together. In this sense the two characters might
I
represent the Hero/Goddess as consorts. Other possibilities include
' bisexualism or transvestism, as well as integration of polar terms associated
I
! with masculinity or femininity.
I
Ideologically, the use of androgyny as a tactic serves to reaffirm both
patriarchal control and gender-difference by valuing the masculine over the
feminine (in traits, behaviors, appearance and/or values). Or it might
I
! produce another type of "rhetorical dissociation" by making the male hero
i
j seem more "feminine" (thus less threatening), or the female hero seem more
i "masculine" (thus more equal). This ideological potential suggests that the
* use of androgyny in mythic discourse represents more of a pseudo-synthesis
j than a synthesis. Yet the utopian, transformative possibility remains,
j illustrated by Eisler's concept of gylany. a social system of linking or
■ affiliation which contrasts to androcracv (patriarchy), a social system of
j hierarchical ranking that leads to male domination. Eisler coins the term
I "gylany" by using Greek roots: gy comes from evne, or "woman," while ^
comes from andros, or "man." The middle 1 not only links the two together,
but suggests both resolving problems and setting free. In gylany, partnership
is stressed over control, with power derived from helping rather than
coercion. Eisler combines anthropological data on the Great Goddess with
systems theory in making her case that in order to evolve humans must
146
return to a gylandric system.®^ Eisler presents a feminist utopian vision that
can be useful in helping researchers assess transformative discourse.
The final type of response to dialectic tensions is a subversive one,
which disorientates the audience, but which might not lead to outright
rejection of either side. Instead, the ambiguities of both positions are
exposed, creating doubt, but also tolerance.®® In popular culture, strategies
! that focus on decentering space, on effect over affect, on self-reflexive genre
I
* combinations or other postmodern phenomena might be used to negate the
I possibility of resolution. Instead, the "uneasy acceptance" of the weaknesses
I of both opposing terms could lead to an overall acceptance of the
; "multiplicity of differences" that exist among humans.®®
Mythic narratives employ a variety of strategies to respond to (and
resolve) the dialectical conflict between "masculine" and "feminine." In
* addressing the exigencies of patriarchal crisis, these strategies function in
I ideological and utopian ways, both reaffirming and transforming the
I
dominant conceptions about gender in this culture. The question remains as
to how these strategies are to be evaluated by the feminist-rhetorical critic.
Traditional criteria that make "universal" judgments often miss the ideological
aspects of mythic discourse. Philip Wander argues that rhetorical criticism
must be able to recognize "the existence of powerful vested interests
benefiting from and consistently using policies and technologies that threaten
life on this planet."^® Lana Rakow notes that ideology functions to construct
our historical, social, and personal identities; therefore, the aim of feminist
criticism is to help us understand the operation of ideology in all art forms
147
(both "high" and "low") in order to understand what it means to be an
I "other/"'
j Yet the standard Marxist viewpoint is also limited in its focus on how
mass culture creates a hegemonic "false consciousness" through the use of
; ideological mystifications and social myths that distort truth while repressing
j tensions.^ Not only do such approaches often miss the function of utopian
I
' discourse within popular culture, but they also miss the audience's ability to
i resist or adapt messages from the dominant culture. For example, Henry
i
t Jenkins analyzes the rhetorical phenomenon of audience "poaching" in science-
I
j fiction and fantasy "fanzines," which he argues "is an almost exclusively
I feminine response to mass media texts." Science-fiction and fantasy, as male-
I
I dominated texts, often force the female spectator into "a type of intellectual
I
I
; transvesticism [sic]," whereby the woman identifies with the male characters.
I
Poaching, which creates a counter-text, often through interaction with others,
allows women "to explore their own narrative concerns." As could be
expected, such audience appropriation of texts creates conflict as to who
"owns" texts. George Lucas, especially, saw the existence of unofficial (and
often erotic) fanzines as threatening the "family values" of the Star Wars
series.^®
This feminist reappropriation of mythic narratives points to the limits of
I
I
; the "classic" feminist approach to film, in which "visual pleasure" can only
I occur through the mechanism of the male gaze.^^ Jackie Byars argues that
I such criticism is based in "a theory of psychoanalysis that denies
j
' connectedness and relies on separation, that denies the feminine and
i
I
I
148
naturalizes the masculine," which polarizes and oversimplifies "the relation of
the text and its reader as to consider that looking is inherently masculine."
i She argues that certain characters in a mediated text can encompass both a
I
"masculine" and a "feminine" voice, which can present a challenge to the
I dominant order. Byars argues that some kind of "feminine discourse" "has
I been engaged in a longstanding, active, although not always explicit,
1 opposition to the dominant masculine discourses in popular American film
and television."^ Not only do we need a way to explicate such "feminine
discourse," but also a way to assess its impact.
One approach, of course, might be to interview actual members of an
audience, as Janice Radway did with romance readers. She discovered that
! women readers did resist the restrictiveness of the female role encoded in
I
I romance novels by using them to escape from the demands of homemaking
J and parenting. This escapism was centered around a veiy masculine, yet also
I tender and kind hero, who became a type of mother object (following the
I
theories of Nancy Chodorow). Although undermined by the ideological
■ reaffirmation of women's subordinate position in patriarchy, this incipient
j audience resistance points to the possiblity of future change.^®
Such audience interviewing is impractical, however, in dealing with texts
that not only span a number of years in their production and release, but
I
I which remain popular video rental choices. The science-fiction, fantasy, and
I
j adventure films of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are among the most
I popular ever made; millions of persons have viewed at least some of them
I
worldwide. In dealing with these texts the critic must turn to alternative
L _ _ _
149
methods of assessment, and this is where rhetorical approaches, with their
emphasis on audience, can benefit feminist practice. The rhetorical approach
chosen, however, must be flexible and subjective enough to mesh with
feminist goals; yet not so flexible and subjective that no guidelines exist to
shape inquiry. It must be an approach that helps us understand "how popular
culture functions both for women and for a patriarchal culture," which, as
* Rakow points out, "is important if women are to gain control over their own
I identities and change both social mythologies and social relations."^
i
j From a specifically feminist perspective, critics need to decide if the
I
i messages in a mythic text further repress, denigrate, ignore, or suppress
1
j women, recuperating tensions and challenges back into the status quo, while
I presupposing a constraining "universality" or "essential identity" that limits
I
I women's options. From such a perspective, a truly transformed mythic
■ narrative, if it exists, would not just provide an expression of a "feminine"
j voice, since that is easily co-opted by the patriarchal system (as well as
potentially supporting stereotyped views of gender-identity and difference).
Such a narrative would also provide expression to "women's discourse,"
generated out of the voices and/or needs of real women, while additionally
representing all persons with dignity and equality.
There is a danger in positing such a "point of view," of course. The
belief that there is a uniquely "female experience" can be used against
feminists, reinforcing essentialist stereotypes. Or this "female experience" can
over-idealize women as more virtuous than men, falsely universalizing some
women's behavior to aU women.^® Linda Alcoff's ideas of "positionality" and
150
"negotiation" mitigate against such potential problems. Alcoff argues that it is
possible to say "that gender is not natural, biological, universal, ahistorical, or
essential and yet claim that gender is relevant because we are taking gender
as a position from which to act politically." Thus, the "woman's point of
view" is less representative of an internal set of traits common to all women
as it is indicative of an "external situation within which the person is
situated.'"® Essentialist conceptions of woman make female identity something
that is innate and independent of any external conditions of individual
women's lives. The positional conception, on the other hand, makes a
woman's gender identity "relative to a constantly shifting context, to a
situation that includes a network of elements" including other people,
economic conditions, cultural norms and political ideologies. By identifying
women
by their position within this network of relations,. . . it becomes
possible to ground a feminist argument for women, not on a
claim that their innate capacities are being stunted, but that
their position within the network lacks power and mobility and
requires radical change. The position of women is relative and
not innate, and yet neither is it 'undecidable.'®®
Identity is not solely imposed on women from outside, however.
; Women contribute to the interpretation and construction of this identity. It is
j not merely discovered; instead, "women use their positional perspective as a
place from which values are interpreted and constructed rather than as a
locus of an already determined set of values."®' A narrative which focuses on
alternative moral decision-making, stressing honesty, affiliation, caring,
I responsiblity to others, and a concern for others over self (instead of
j manipulation of others) is consonant with the positionally defined "women's
151
point of view." Such a viewpoint eschews violence and coercion. This study,
following Sally Miller Gearhart's call for a "womanized" practice of rhetoric,
aims to "womanize" the criticism of rhetoric, focusing on explicating a mythic
discourse favorable toward non-coercive change, where difference is accepted
and power is mutually shared, instead of the "conversion/conquest" model of
traditional rhetoric.®^
To make such evaluations of mythic discourse I have blended concepts
from Walter R. Fisher and Kenneth Burke with feminist theory, as discussed
in the next section.
Assessment of Mythic Rhetoric
In defending his conception of the narrative paradigm, Walter R. Fisher
argues that rather than approach discourse formally, he does so rhetorically,
examining discourse "as a mode of social influence." The main function of
the narrative paradigm is to provide
a way of interpreting and assessing human communication that
leads to critique, to a determination of whether or not a given
instance of discourse provides a reliable, trustworthy, and
desirable guide to thought and action in die world. It
predicates that aU normal human discourse is meaningful and is
subject to the tests of narrative rationality.
83
Fisher views narration as a construct for examining all sorts of texts, for all
texts are in effect telling stories. Humans act as "homo narrans"— the
storytelling animal. Stories give order and meaning to human experience,
while inducing others to help with the creation and sustenance of values that
promote community building. The criteria for what makes a "good" or "true"
152
story emanate from the very nature of narration, and are made by the rhetor
and audience as they compare the story to lived experience, as well as past
stories of a similar type. Since the "good reasons" that justify narratives are
not always expressed clearly, critics must pay careful attention to patterns,
images, and ideas that are taken by audiences as "warrantlsl for acceptance or
adherence W the advice fostered," by the work.®^
From this perspective, dramatic or literary texts argue as much as
speeches or debates, though the argument works more through suggestion
and representation rather than through logic. Aesthetic judgments can "give
rise to a reasoned belief and conviction— a clear and forceful rhetorical
phenomenon," in which dramatic elements such as plot, character, and theme
"become the basis for a reasoned justification of a critical interpretation."®®
While such narratives are open to a wide range of interpretation, Fisher
argues that "legitimate" ones are based on experiences and criteria
recognizable to others. Although such standards might seem subjective, this
is not a "fault," but "a recognition of the very nature of human
communication, and of the nature of subjects amenable to rhetorical
expression."®® Further, we need more flexible approaches, for the over-reliance
by critics on traditional standards of logic has helped to create contemporary
problems
by repressing the realization of a holistic sense of self, by
subverting the formulation of a humane concept of rationality
and a sane praxis, by rendering personal and public decision
making and action subservient to 'experts' in knowledge, truth
and reality, and by elevating one class of persons and their
discourse over others.®^
153
In general, critics must determine if there is narrative coherence and
narrative fidelity in any particular story. Critics must determine "the overall
conclusions fostered by the work." Especially in assessing dramatic or literary
narratives, critics must focus on the implicit and explicit values within the
text, asking if such values are appropriate for the intended audience, if they
are consistent with our experiences, and if they constitute an ideal basis for
human conduct. By testing the work against our perceptions, we can
determine if the message "provides a reliable guide to our beliefs, attitudes,
values, and/or actions" that is "worthy of adherence."®®
The openness of the narrative paradigm is compatible with feminist
goals. Although the paradigm has generated extensive criticism, much of this
criticism is limited by its assumptions which mirror those of the "rational
world paradigm."®® An "objective" approach to rationality is critiqued by
many feminists, who see such "objectivity" as part of the androcentric
dualistic thinking that oppresses "non-rational" and marginal groups,
including women.®® As Michael Presnell asserts, approaches to narrative that
focus back on "the goal directed, linear, non-cooperative discourse style
typical of literate discourse in general and men's discourse in particular," miss
the potential application of the paradigm to an analysis of "feminine"
discourse.®'
Yet there are some limitations to the narrative paradigm. Since
narrative "truth" appears to be bound by societal beliefs, it might become
biased, or "ideological." What is "true" might be what supports the status
quo, since narrative fidelity presupposes that a "good" and "true" story
154
"accurately portrays the world we live in," reflecting "our" experiences and
values which might be masculinist. Further, marginal groups at times
employ discourse which might be perceived as incoherent by the dominant
group. It is not clear if the paradigm can assess discourse that is too
contradictory or non-rational. Fisher notes that dramatic and literary
narratives might be weakened by inconsistencies as well as "incidents and
discourse that cohere or cluster to support conflicting themes."®^ Barbara
Warnick raises the concern that a "true" narration filled with contradictions
and conflict would be rejected by the perspective.®® William F. Lewis, while
agreeing that narrative "assumes a type of knowledge that differs from the
knowledge produced within and sanctioned by rational argument" which
requires a different standard for evidence and evaluation, believes the
narrative paradigm might lead a critic to ignore potentially dangerous
consequences embodied in the rhetoric.®^
Both Lewis and Wamick argue that, for Fisher, any narrative is
grounded in the shared knowledge and values of the community, thus it can
be unreflective and self-evidently "true." Both believe a morality constructed
by the public might be flawed by over-consistency, nostalgia, and self
justification. Warnick argues that values generated by the audience and the
situation provide no guarantee that the values chosen will be the "right" ones
(though one might ask, "right" for whom?). For her, Fisher's dependency on
the critic's assessment "seems arbitrary and personal."®® In responding to such
criticism, Fisher argues that the "best" (or "truest") stoiy might not be
accepted when first told, since ideal (or utopian) values are often rejected.
155
especially in times of cultural strife. He argues against making effectiveness
the primary criterion for either a "good" story (one that coheres together) or a
"true" story (one that is reliable and commensurate with experience).®®
While neither Lewis nor Wamick necessarily argue for a return to
traditional models of rationality, they explicitly or implicitly support some
ideal or universal standard for criticism. Such standards could be another
way to hierarchize the discourse of others, to set up distinctions, boundaries,
and social classes which create "subjects" for analysis. Since the narrative
paradigm is somewhat "personal," it allows for particular audiences (such as
women) to evaluate the "good reasons" presented for the adherence of an
idea or value according to their own standards. Feminists might employ the
concepts of narrative probability (coherence) and fidelity to determine how a
narrative expresses a "woman's voice," and how it supports an ethic of
care/affiliation, arguing for relationship over domination. From the feminist
point-of-view, narratives that did not support such a "voice," or ethic, that did
not promote values of importance to women, would not be the most truthful,
desirable stories to be told.
Narrative probability can be determined by examining the text for its
structural (internal), material (comparative), and characterological (ethical)
coherence.®^ The concept can be applied to the feminist analysis of mythic
rhetoric in several ways. First, myths follow conventional, recurring forms
which resonate in the unconscious mind. Since such repetitive patterns can
reinforce the status quo, the critic must examine how the form progresses or
is transformed. One possiblity for the 'masculine" combat-myth is provided
156
by Kenneth Burke, who updates the requirements for such a myth to fit
modern times. Burke argues that the "new" hero myth must transcend
nationalism; make connections between past, present, and future; accept and
integrate past conflicts; center new conflicts on technology and property;
indicate awareness of both conscious and unconscious motives while
providing new ideals and values; specify the "ideal citizen" (or hero) who is
ruler and ruled within one person (and who rises to higher ideals rather than
succumb to temptation); connect the hero to larger social issues of human
concern; express updated relationships; and celebrate heroic triumphs with
realism and a sense of irony.® ®
Another possibility for examining the transformation of forms would be
to compare opposing mythic structures, such as the "masculine" and
"feminine" myths discussed earlier in this chapter. Rushing's comparison of
the different stages of the frontier myth ("old," "hybrid," and "new") provides
an example. For Rushing, the more "evolved" narrative would integrate "the
feminine" into the myth, stressing relationship over conquest.®® Such a
comparison might point to the deficiencies of a particular mythic structure
that reduce its narrative coherence. From the feminist perspective, exposing
inconsistencies and contradictions within and among texts is one way to
challenge existing beliefs of the status quo. Not only can the "feminine" myth
be compared or contrasted to the "masculine" myth, but also the patriarchally-
defined "Eternal Feminine" (as a mythic principle which primarily suits the
needs of the male world) can be compared or contrasted to other stories
157
about women, whether from archaic, prehistorical times, or from
contemporary life.
Additionally, narrative probability can be assessed through the motives
of the characters (including the rhetor). Fisher notes that a character's
reliability and consistency of action form the basis of trust and belief.'® ® For
the feminist critic, the most trustworthy and believable characters would be
those that affirm her experience while evoking a positive emotional response
in her. Such characters would suggest the relationship of the rhetor to the
audience, which would be "competent" in so far that it promoted honesty,
caring, affiliation, and responsibility, while eschewing violence, domination,
and manipulation. The rhetorical message would not be forced upon the
receivers, but offered only as a potential choice; in that sense it would be
"womanized."'®'
Overall, from the feminist perspective, it is better if the narratives that
support patriarchal power and the denigration of women are inconsistent,
contradictory, and incoherent, so as to be less commensurate with lived
experience. The more "untrue" such narratives seem to the audience, the less
convincingly the contradictions or inconsistencies can be recuperated back into
the status quo. However, Sonja Foss points out that women-centered (and/or
women-generated) narratives should not appear disjointed or confused;
instead such discourse must be grounded in a historical context and provided
with a future vision so as to be significant and appropriate to the experience
of women. The rhetoric must also positively portray both women characters
(or actual women) and "the feminine," yet not be esoteric. In order to be true
158
to women's lives "regardless of their stage of development as participants in
their own culture," such narratives must be accessible to the general
audience.'®^ Only then can such discourse have what Fisher calls narrative
fidelity.
Narrative fidelity arises in conjunction with narrative probability, but
whereas "the principle of coherence brings into focus the integrity of a story
as a whole," narrative fidelity assesses whether or not stories "represent
accurate assertions about social reality and thereby constitute good reasons for
belief or action." Since humans value as much as they reason, narrative
fidelity attempts to present a non-hierarchal way to assess both reasons and
values through "the logic of good reasons," which explicates "the 'truth
qualities' of the story" through questions of fact, relevance consequence,
consistency, and transcendent issue.'® ® Fisher argues that
reasons are good when they are perceived as (1) true to and
consistent with what we think we know and what we value, (2)
appropriate to whatever decision is pending, (3) promising in
effects for ourselves and others, and (4) consistent with what
we believe is an ideal basis for conduct.'®^
Standards for testing good reasons can be derived from formal or informal
logic, or from processes outside of logic, for the determination of what is a
good reason is made by both the rhetor and the audience.'®®
Feminist critics might employ the standards of narrative fidelity to
assess messages about gender in mythic rhetoric in at least two ways. One is
to apply the criteria to androcentric beliefs about what is true, for it is
important to understand the values and assumptions of patriarchal culture so
as to expose any mystifications that are harmful to women. Another is to
159
apply the criteria to gynocentric (or as Eisler might say, gylandric) beliefs
about what is true in order to affirm "women's culture" and social equality.
Or the critic can do both, so as to better understand and evaluate complex
rhetorical messages that are both reaffirmatory and transformative, ideological
and utopian. This is my approach, for not only is the narrative structure of
the quest myth bifurcated by the "masculine" and "feminine" dialectic, but
science-fiction and fantasy films frequently contain mixed messages that
provide nostalgic wish-fulfillment while previewing futuristic visions.
In assessing values, the first question a critic can ask is that of fact,
which explores "the imphcit and explicit values embedded in a message" that
serve to define reality. For the feminist, this is not a neutral or apolitical
procedure, since for centuries the dominant values guiding mankind have
been biased, supporting male power and exploitation. Certainly some values
associated with masculinity are more positive than others (e.g. courage,
manliness, independence), but even with those values there is often an
unspoken assumption that the androcentric perspective represents an objective
Truth, and that masculine behavior is the norm for social action, representing
some type of moral/ethical high ground. Within such a perspective, women's
culture is trivialized, dehistoricized, and evaluated according to masculine
values. Carole Spitzack and Kathym Carter note that not only are women
labeled as inferior, they also have no means within the androcentric system to
escape this inferiority, because the system marginalizes them .'® ® Male power,
symbolized through the phallus, is legitimized through the control of women
(and other marginal, different groups). Feminist critics seek to expose this
160
control, to empower women so that they will no longer be oppressed,
exploited, or conquered by patriarchal culture. For these reasons feminists are
more concerned with exposing the ideological ramifications of androcentric
values than with being neutral. Thus any discussion of "the implicit and
explicit values embedded in a message" must contain as well a discussion of
the questions of relevance and consequence.
The question of relevance is concerned with the appropriateness of the
values to the issues raised in the rhetoric, especially to "the nature of the
decision" being advocated. The question of consequence is concerned with
"the effects of adhering to the values— for one's concept of oneself, for one's
behavior, for one's relationships with others and society, and to the process of
rhetorical transaction.'"®^ Fisher notes that this criterion deals with issues of
moral obligation, or what Virgil L. Baker and Ralph T. Eubanks call
"civilizing and brutalizing values.'"®® This categorization brings to mind
Eisler's distinctions between dominator and partnership values.'®® It also
permits an assessment of androcentric values that is not completely
pessimistic, focusing on the possible positive effects of reaffirmatory rhetoric.
Prior rhetorical scholarship indicates that such discourse might work to help
individuals cohere to groups, to meet individual and group crises, to
transcend polarities, to provide structure and a sense of tradition, to provide
a sense of being part of the grand mysteries of a culture (especially by
reinforcing a past utopian vision), and other "coping strategies.""® Joseph
Campbell, in discussing the functions of myths in particular, notes that they
161
serve to explain reality and provide a sense of awe and transcendence to life,
while suggesting ways to work out conflicts.'"
Yet these potentially positive effects are balanced by the potentially
negative ones. Harmful or "brutalizing" effects include those that polarize
groups within culture; that contribute to the denigration, stereotyping,
marginalizing, suppression, and oppression of groups in the culture; that
promote violence, warfare, torture, or coercion; that foster "false
consciousness"; that exacerbate social tensions; that exploit others; that
encourage intolerance and narrowness of vision, especially through
personalized, vitriolic rhetoric; that promote narcissism, apathy, alienation,
and cynicism; that promote hierarchy, control, authoritarianism; that repress
tensions through dangerous mystifications; and that foster questionable
universals and essentialized ideas about persons and groups in the culture."^
The next question to be addressed in assessing narrative fidelity is that
of consistency, whether or not the values in the rhetoric are "confirmed or
validated in one's personal experience, in the lives or statements of others
whom one admires and respects," and in an "ideal" audience."® Here the
feminist critic must give precedence to gynocentric experience, so that textual
values are evaluated according to their consistency with women's lives. Such
an approach sets up a dynamic tension between the feminist critic (as
audience) and the heroic myth narrative, especially in science-fiction and
fantasy. For centuries the heroic quest has aided in the development of
masculine identity, a truth implicitly recognized by its appearance in a genre
that is targeted to males. The woman spectator or reader is always in danger
162
of being co-opted through identification with the masculine point of view, for
the structuring of discourse privileges the male. Mary Daly warns of the
danger of assuming that women are included in men's experience, while
Spitzack and Carter stress the error of accepting such masculine experience as
normative.'" Increasingly there is evidence that men and women experience
the world differently, creating an alternative epistemology and ontology."®
In making this argument, I do not mean to imply that women can never
identify with masculine experience or perception, nor do I mean to suggest
that women can find no consistency (or value) in narratives predominately
designed for a male audience. But I do think it is important for women to
distinguish their identification from that of men, and to value their own
experiences and perspectives. One way that this can be done is through an
application of "feminine" ethics as related to human moral development.
Heroic narratives traditionally focus on such moral growth. In assessing the
connection of such narratives to women's lives, the critic can apply the
criteria described by Carol Gilligan. Gilligan observed that "while
independent assertion in judgment and action is considered the hallmark of
adulthood and constitutes as well the standard of masculine development, it
is rather in their care and concern for others that women have both judged
themselves and been judged.""® Instead of individuation and autonomy, the
central moral issue for women is "the conflict between self and other"— how to
balance one's own needs with the needs of another person. Gilligan argues
that this conflict poses
a dilemma whose resolution requires a reconciliation between
femininity and adulthood. . . . It is precisely this dilemma— the
conflict between compassion and autonomy, between virtue and
163
power— which the feminine voice struggles to resolve in its
effort to reclaim the self and to solve the moral problem in
such a way that no one is hurt."^
Through depiction and resolution of this conflict, a narrative can resonate
with women's experiences, beliefs, and values. The consistency of a narrative
with a gynocentric perspective points to the broader question of transcendent
issue, the assessment of how well the values presented in the narrative
"constitute the ideal basis for human conduct.""® Certainly some feminist
thought is consonant with several humanistic goals, including the concern for
others (and for relationship), the belief that all life is interconnected, the
growing realization that violence is not an effective way to deal with
problems, and other "civilizing" values. Although radical feminists such as
Daly argue for a complete rejection of the masculine world, others see the
necessity for cooperative efforts in meeting the needs of ourselves and
others."® It makes little sense to reject completely a story told by and for
males if it contains positive human values. Feminist critics might find it
useful to distinguish between patriarchy as a political system and masculinity,
a socially constructed gender-identity which constrains men as much as
femininity constrains women. Beliefs about what manhood entails are
changing in response to social tensions, but how much and what such
changes mean for gender-identity and for relationships remains uncertain.'
Many feminists believe that the requirements of masculinity must be
altered for life itself to continue. Erica Jong argues that conditions will
remain static and polarized unless "the privileged male elite" finally
120
164
understands "that its own survival is doomed unless society begins to
change.Jong articulates a "new-paradigm" feminist vision when she writes:
The only way to solve the male/female dilemma is to stop
thinking of the sexes as discrete and opposed entities and start
thinking of them as two parts of a whole organism. If man
and woman begin to cultivate their oneness, their
interdependence as one organism, if they reject the war
paradigm, and see themselves in a new light, perhaps the
planet and the race have a future after all.^“
By exploring gender transformations as well as reaffirmations, feminist critics
can better understand how discourse might promote what Ursula K. LeGuin
calls "a much healthier, sounder, more promising modality of integration and
integrity. By focusing on the expression of such visions within narratives,
we can expand our beliefs about what constitutes "the good life" for all
humans.
165
ENDNOTES
Parts of this chapter were presented to the Central States
Communication Association annual meeting, Detroit, ML, April, 1990.
^Fredric Jameson, Marxism and Form: Twentieth-Century Dialectical
Theories of Literature (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1971) 6.
^Charles Conrad, "The Rhetoric of the Moral Majority: An Analysis of
Romantic Form," Quarterly Journal of Speech 69:2 (1983): 159-170; Walter R.
Fisher, "A Motive View of Communication," Quarterly Journal of Speech 56
(1970): 131-139; Walter R. Fisher, "Reaffirmation and Subversion of the
American Dream," Quarterly Journal of Speech 59 (April, 1973): 160-167;
Thomas S. Frentz and Thomas B. Farrell, "Conversion of America's
Consciousness: The Rhetoric of 'The Exorcist'," Quarterly Journal of Speech
61 (1975): 40-47; Thomas S. Frentz and Janice Hocker Rushing, "The Rhetoric
of 'Rocky': Part Two," Western Journal of Speech Communication 42 (1978):
231-240; Janice Hocker Rushing and Thomas S. Frentz, "The Rhetoric of
'Rocky': A Social-Value Model," Western Journal of Speech Communication
42 (1978): 63-72; Janice Hocker Rushing, "The Rhetoric of the American
Western Myth," Communication Monographs 50 (1983): 14-32; Jan Scheutz,
"The Exorcist: Images of Cood and Evil," Western Journal of Speech
Communication 34:2 (1975): 92-101; and Martha Solomon, "Villainless Quest:
Myth, Metaphor and Dream in 'Chariots of Fire'," Communication Quarterly
31:4 (1983): 274-281.
^The most pertinent work has examined the conflicts between ERA
supporters and opponents. Martha Solomon in particular examines how the
heroic quest is altered by the feminine archetype, in which the "positive
woman" is seen as the "good mother," while the feminist supporter of ERA is
seen as the "bad mother." But Solomon does not focus on either the
essentialism of the "feminine principle," nor any conflict between the
archetypal masculine and feminine; see Martha Solomon, "The 'Positive
Woman's' Journey: A Mythic Analysis of the Rhetoric of STQP ERA,"
Quarterly Journal of Speech 65 (Qctober, 1979): 262-274; and Martha Solomon,
"Stopping ERA: A Phyrric Victory," Communication Quarterly 81:2 (1983):
109-117. Related Work includes (Charles Conrad, "Agon and Rhetorical Form:
The Essence of 'Qld Feminist' Rhetoric," Central States Speech Journal 32:1
(1981): 45-53; Sonja K. Foss, "The Equal lights Amendment Controversy:
Two Worlds in Conflict," Quarterly Journal of Speech 65 (1979): 275-288; and
Noreen Wales Kruse, "The Myth of the Demonic in Anti-ERA Rhetoric,"
Women's Studies in Communication 6 (Fall, 1983): 85-95.
^Janice Hocker Rushing, "Evolution of 'The New Frontier' in Alien and
Aliens: Patriarchal Co-Qptation of the Feminine Archetype," Quarterly Journal
of Speech 75:1 (1989): 1-24; also Janice Hocker Rushing, "Mythic Evolution of
166
'The New Frontier' in Mass Mediated Rhetoric," Critical Studies in Mass
Communication 3:3 (1986): 265-296.
^Karen E. Rosenblum, "The Conflict Between and Within Genders: An
Analysis of Contemporary American Femininity and Masculinity," Sociological
Inquiry 65:1 (1986): 99.
^Nancy M. Henley, "Psychology and Gender," Signs: Tournai of Women
in Culture and Society 11 (1985): 101-119; Carole Spitzack and Kathryn Carter,
"Women in Communication Studies: A Typology for Revision," Quarterly
Journal of Speech 73:4 (1987): 401-423. '
^Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, trans. and ed. H. M. Parshley
(N.Y.: Vintage, 1974).
®Lana F. Rakow, "Rethinking Gender Research in Communication,"
Journal of Communication 36:4 (1986): 20, 22-23.
^L. J. Jordonova, "Natural Facts: A Historical Perspective on Science and
Sexuality," Nature, Culture and Gender, eds. Carol P. MacCormack and
Marilyn Strathern (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1980) 43, 44, also 64-65.
^ “ Penelope Brown and L. J. Jordanova, "Qppressive Dichotomies: The
N ature/Culture Debate," The Changing Experience of Women, ed. Elizabeth
Whitelegg et al. (Qxford: Basil Blackwell, 1982) 394.
"Sherry B. Qrtner," Is Female To Male as Nature is to Culture?"
Women, Culture and Society, eds. Michelle Zimbalist Rosaldo and Louise
Lamphere (Stanford, CA: Stanford UP, 1974) 86-87. Qrtner notes that
"[fleminine symbolism, far more than masculine symbolism, manifests . . . [a]
propensity toward polarized ambiguity— sometimes utterly exalted, sometimes
utterly debased, rarely within the normal range of human possibilities" (86).
" Annis V. Pratt, "Spinning Among Fields: Jung, Frye, Lévi-Strauss and
Feminist Archetypal Theory," Feminist Archetypal Theory: Interdisciplinary
Re-Visions of Tungian Thought, eds. Estella Lauter and Carol Schreier
Rupprecht (Knoxvill, TN: U of Tennessee P, 1985) 120-122. Pratt believes
that feminists "must transcend what men have projected from within their
own psyches as ultimate feminine archetypes," reevaluating beliefs that
exclude women from culture (130).
"James HiUman, "An Inquiry Into Image," Spring: An Annual of
Archetypal Psychology and Tungian Thought (1 9 7 7 ): 83-84, cited in Lauter and
Rupprecht 10. Lauter and Rupprecht note that Hillman conceives of
archetypes as a valuing process: "We call something archetypal when we
believe that it is basic, necessary, universal; the trouble comes when we begin
to believe what we have valued is the essence of what is real" (10).
167
"Karen Rasmussen and Sharon D. Downey, "Dialectical Disorientation in
Agnes of God," Western Journal of Speech Communication 53 (Winter, 1989):
68-69.
"Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious: Narrative as SociaUv
Symbolic Act (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell UP, 1981) 141, 235-236, 281-299; also
Kenneth Burke, "Ideology and Myth," Accent: A Quarterly of New Literature
7:4 (1947): 195-205, where Burke reacts to Karl Mannheim's conceptions of
ideology and utopia, arguing that ambiguities between them not only stabilize
the status quo, but also prod us to action by future visions (198).
"Kenneth Burke 198.
^^For examples see Riane Eisler, The Chalice and The Blade: Qur
History, Qur Future (San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1987); Marilyn
French, Beyond Power: Qn Women, Men and Morals (N.Y.: Summit Books,
1985); Marija Gimbutas, The Gods and Goddesses of Qld Europe, 7000 to
3500 B.C.: Myths, Legends and Cult Images (Berkeley, CA: U of California
P, 1974); Gerda Lerner, The Creation of Patriarchy (Qxford: Qxford UP,
1986); Evelyn Reed, Woman's Evolution: From Matriarchal Clan to
Patriarchal Family (N.Y.: Pathfinder Press, 1975); Monica Sjôo and Barbara
Mor, The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth (San
Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1987); Charlene Spretnak, ed.. The Politics
of Women's Spirituality: Essays on the Rise of Spiritual Power Within the
Feminist Movement (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor/Doubleday, 1982); and
Merlin Stone, When God Was A Woman (N.Y.: HBJ/Harvest Books, 1978).
"The terms "partnership" and "domination" come from Eisler, The
Chalice and The Blade; see also Gimbutas, The Gods and Goddesses of Qld
Europe; Lerner, The Creation of Patriarchy; and Stone, When God Was A
Woman.
"Joseph Fonterose, JVthon: A Study in Delphic Mvth and Its Qrigins
(Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1959); also Joseph Campbell, The Hero
With A Thousand Faces, 2nd ed. Bollingen Series XVJJ (Princeton, N.J.:
Princeton UP, 1968); Northrop Frye, The Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays
(Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1957); Northrop Frye, The Secular Scripture:
A Study of the Structure of Romance (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1976);
and Qtto Rank, The Mvth of the Birth of the Hero: A Psychological
Interpretation of Mythology, trans. F. Robbins and S. E. Jelliffe (N.Y.: Robert
Bruner, 1957, orig. pub. 1914).
^ “ Fonterose 3.
^^Barbara G. Walker, The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred
Qbjects (San Francisco, CA.: Harper and Row, 1988); also Barbara G. Walker,
The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco, CA: Harper
and Row, 1983).
168
“Fonterose 465-466.
“Kenneth Burke, "Myth, Poetry and Philosophy," Language as Symbolic
Action: Essays on Life, Literature and Method (Berkeley, CA: U of
California P, 1966) 386, 390.
"Thomas Schatz, Hollywood Genres: Formulas, Filmmaking and The
Studio System (N.Y.: Random House, 1981) 34.
“ Schatz 34. Schatz's views are similar to those of Robert Jewett and
John Shelton Lawrence, who glean an "American Monomyth" from Joseph
Campbell's work. According to Jewett and Lawrence, "whereas the classical
monomyth was based on rites of initiation, the American monomyth derives
from tales of redemption." Within such a mythic structure, there is a
paradisal community
threatened by evil; normal institutions fail to contend with this
threat; a self-less superhero emerges to renounce temptations
and carry out the redemptive task; aided by fate, his decisive
victory restores the community to its paradisal condition; the
superhero recedes into obscurity." See The American Monomvth
(Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor/Doubleday, 1977) xx.
“ Sarah Russell Hankins, "Archetypal Alloy: Reagan's Rhetorical Image,"
Central States Speech Journal 33 (1983): 33-43.
27,
Campbell 30, emphasis his.
“Campbell 246. In Masks of God: Occidental Mythology (N.Y: Viking,
1964, Penguin, 1976), Campbell argues that where the Goddess was revered,
women were better treated in the society (21-22). In recent years, Campbell
has also argued that heroes could be female, though "[t]he male usually has
the more conspicuous role, just because of the conditions of life." His
examples, however, involve women's role in birth, and not as agents on a
quest; see Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers, The Power of Mvth. ed. Betty
Sue J4owers (N.Y.: Doubleday, 1988) 125-126.
“Erich Neumann argues that consciousness, even in women, "has a
masculine character"; see The Origins and History of Consciousness, trans. R.
F. C. Hull, Bollingen Series XLJl (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1954) 42.
Barbara Charlesworth Gelpi notes that consciousness has been traditionally
associated "with the masculine principle"; see "The Androgyne," Women and
Analysis: Dialogues on Psychoanalytic Views of Femininity, ed. Jean Strouse
(N.Y.: Grossman Publishers, 1974) 232.
^°Frye, Anatomy 186-206.
^^Frye, Anatomy 186-206; also Frye, The Secular Scripture 35-61.
169
32?
^Northrop Frye, The Critical Path: An Essay on the Social Context of
Literary Criticism (Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1971): 131.
“ Frye, The Secular Scripture 119.
"Pratt 111-112.
“Roger D. Abrahams, "Some Varieties of Heroes in America," Journal of
the Folklore Institute 3 (1966): 341.
“Hans Joachim Alpers, "Loincloth, Double Ax and Magic: 'Heroic
Fantasy and Related Genres," trans. Robert Plank, Science Fiction Studies 5
(1978): 19-33; Joanna Russ, "Images of Women in Science Fiction," Vertex 1
Ù974): 53-57; and Susan Wood, "Women and Science Fiction," Algol (Winter,
1978-79): 9-18.
37
Eisler, The Chalice and The Blade; Lemer, The Creation of Patriarchy.
“M. Esther Harding, Women's Mysteries: Ancient and Modern (N.Y.:
Harper and Row, 1971) 98, 103-104, 124-125.
“Lerner, The Creation of Patriarchy 148-150; also Erich Neumann, The
Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype, trans. R. Mannheim, 2nd ed.
Bollingen Series XLVJJ (N.J.: Princeton UP, 1963); and Campbell, The Power
of Myth 165-183.
^°Sjoo and Mor 218; Walker, The Woman's Dictionary 182-184; Walker,
The Woman's Encyclopedia 501-508.
^^Lerner 149-160; also Walker, The Woman's Dictionary and The
Woman's Encyclopedia.
^Carol P. Ctirist and Judith Plaskow, "Introduction," Womanspirit Rising:
A Feminist Reader in Religion, eds. C. P. Christ and Judith Plaskow (San
Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1987) 1-17.
“ Carol P. Christ, "Why Women Need the Goddess: Phenomenological,
Psychological and Political Reflections," Christ and Plaskow 274.
^Eisler 78-81; Lerner 205-207.
^Eisler 137-155; Lemer 143.
^^Mary Daly, Gyn/Ecology: The Metaethics of Radical Feminism
(Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1978); also Eisler 140-142; and French 123-187.
'"Eisler 137-155.
'®For example, see Christ and Plaskow, Womanspirit Rising 16-17.
170
"For example, see Sally R. Binford, "Myths and Matriarchies," Spretnak
541-549; also Teresa De Lauretis, Technologies of Gender: Essays in Theory,
Film and Fiction (Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1987).
®°Marta Weigle, Spiders and Spinsters: Women and Mythology
(Albuquerque, N.M.: U of New Mexico P, 1982) yii.
^^Carol Gilligan, In A Different Voice: Psychological Theory and
Women's Deyelopment (Cambridge, MA: Haryard UP, 1982); also Lerner 242.
“ Eisler 153-154, 166-168, 172-203; also French 441, 469-472; and Daly 130-
133, 357-359.
“ Lerner 228-229; also Eisler 185-203; and French, 489-546.
"Viyian Sobchack, "Child/Alien/Father: Patriarchal Crisis and Generic
Exchange," Camera Obscura 15 [1986]: 10.
“Eisler 185-203; this is similar to the utopian telos of Rushing and
Frentz, as discussed in Chapter Two. Howeyer, Eisler does not ground her
concepts in "ultimate" principles, as do Rushing and Frentz.
“Rasmussen and Downey 68-69.
“Kenneth Burke, A Rhetoric of Motiyes (Berkeley, CA: U of California
P, 1950) 252-267; Kenneth Burke, The Philosophy of Literary Form: Studies in
Symbolic Action, 3rd Ed. (Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1973) 191-220;
and Kenneth Burke, The Rhetoric of Religion: Studies in Logology (Boston,
MA: Beacon Press, 1961) 183-206.
“ Laura Mulyey, "Visual Pleasure and Narratiye Cinema," Screen 16:3
(1975): 13-14, rpt. Feminism and Film Theory, ed. Constance Penley (N.Y.
and London: Routledge/BFI, 1988) 46-56.
“ Teresa De Lauretis, Alice Doesn't: Feminism, SEmiotics, Cinema
(Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1984) 4.
^°De Lauretis, Alice Doesn't 5-6, emphasis hers.
^^De Lauretis, Technologies of Gender 3-9.
“Michele Barrett, Women's Oppression Today: Problems in Marxist
Feminist Analysis (London: Villiers, 1980) 108-111; also 99, 112-113.
“Hugh Dalziel Duncan, Communication and The Social Order (N.Y.:
Oxford UP, 1962); also Hugh Dalziel Duncan, Symbols in Society (N.Y.:
Oxford UP, 1968).
171
"Jeff D. Bass, "The Romance as Rhetorical Dissociation: The Purification
of Imperialism in King Solomon's Mines," Quarterly Journal of Speech 67:3
(1981): 262; also Chaim Perelman and L. Olbrechts-Tyteca, The New Rhetoric:
A Treatise On Argumentation, trans. John Wilkinson and Purcell Weayer
(Notre Dame: U of Notre Dame P, 1969) 190, 412-413.
“Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca 412, 415-419; Bass 262.
“As a social-psychological concept, androgyny refers to behayioral and
personality traits that combine stereotyped masculine and feminine qualities.
For the social scientist, the term is not meant to refer to essential differences,
but as a label for persons exhibiting traits and behayiors associated with both
sexes; see Herbert W. Marsh and Margaret Meyers, "Masculinity, Femininity
and Androgyny: A Methodological and Theoretical Critique," Sex Roles 14:7-8
(1986): 397-429. This study, howeyer, defines androgyny as a rhetorical
strategy occurring in mass-mediated mythic narratiyes, which is open to a
yariety of interpretations, thus possibly serying as a site of ideological
struggle oyer the "naturalness" of gender definitions.
“Eisler 105.
“Rasmussen and Downey 68-69; they point out that in dialectical
disorientations, synthesis is not possible. Incongruity is heightened because
both perspectiyes need each other, but cannot become transformed. Such
disorientation works rhetorically by placing "uncertainty in a manageable
frame," so it becomes understandable (74-81).
“Rasmussen and Downey 81; see also Viyian Sobchack, Screening Space:
The American Science Fiction Film, 2nd ed., orig. pub. as The Limits of
Infinity: The American Science Fiction Film, 1950-1975 (N.Y.: Ungar, 1987; 1st
ed. 1980) 223-305.
" “ Philip Wander, "The Ideological Turn in Modem Criticism," Central
States Speech Journal 34 (Spring, 1983): 18.
"^Lana F. Rakow, "Feminist Approaches To Popular Culture: Giving
Patriarchy It's Due," Communication 9:1 (1986): 19-41.
""For reyiews of Marxist theory see Samuel L. Becker, "Marxist
Approaches to Media Studies: The British Experience," Critical Studies in
Mass Communication 1:1 (1984): 66-80; Lawrence Grossberg, "Marxist
Dialectics and Rhetorical Criticism," Quarterly Journal of Speech 65:3 (1979):
235-249; and Lawrence Grossberg, "Strategies of Marxist Cultural
Interpretation," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 1:4 (1984): 392-421.
"^Henry Jenkins, III, "Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten: Fan Writing as
Textual Poaching," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 5:2 (1988): 90.
172
"Christine Gledhill, "Recent Developments in Feminist Film Criticism,"
Quarterly Review of Film Studies (Fall, 1978).
"^Jackie Byars, "Gazes/Voices/Powers," Speech Communication, Chicago,
IL, Nov. 1986: 33, 44.
"Janice A. Radway, Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy and
Popular Literature (Chapel Hill, N.C.: U of North Carolina P, 1984).
""Rakow, "Feminist Approaches" 23.
"® Jean Grimshaw, Philosophy and Feminist Thinking (Minneapolis, MN:
U of Minnesota P, 1986) 17.
"^Linda Alcoff, "Cultural Feminism Versus Post-Structuralism: The
Identity Crisis in Feminist Theory," Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and
Society 13:3 (1988): 433.
« “ Alcoff 433-434.
«'Alcoff 434.
«"Sally Miller Gearhart, "The Womanization of Rhetoric," Women's
Studies International Quarterly 2 (1979): 195-201.
«^Walter R. Fisher, Human Communication as Narration: Toward a
Philosophy of Reason, Value, and Action (Columbia, S.C.: U of South
Carolina P, 1987) 90; also Walter R. Fisher, "Narration as a Human
Communication Paradigm: The Case For Public Moral Argument,"
Communication Monographs 51 (March, 1984): 1-22; Walter R. Fisher, "The
Narrative Paradigm: An Elaboration," Communication Monographs 52
(December, 1985): 347-367; and Walter R. Fisher, "The Narrative Paradigm: In
the Beginning," Journal of Communication (Autumn, 1985): 74-89.
«'Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 57, emphasis his.
«^Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 162.
«^Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 175-178.
«"Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 19.
««Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 175, emphasis his; also
158-179.
«^Examples of this criticism include the following: Celeste Michelle
Condit, "Crafting Virtue: The Rhetorical Construction of Public Morality,"
Quarterly Journal of Speech 73:1 (1987): 79-97; Gerald Hauser, Rev. of Human
Communication as Narration, Quarterly Tournai of Speech 74:3 (1988): 347-349;
William F. Lewis, "Telling America's Story: Narrative Form and The Reagan
173
Presidency," Quarterly Tournai of Speech 73:3 (1987): 288-302; John Louis
Lucaites and Celeste Michelle Condit, "Reconstructing Narrative Theory: A
Functional Perspective," Journal of Communication 35:4 (1985): 90-108; Michael
Calvin McGee and John S. Nelson, "Narrative Reason in Public Argument,"
Journal of Communication 35:4 (1985): 139-155; Robert C. Rowland,
"Narratiye: Mode of Discourse or Paradigm?" Communication Monographs
54:3 (1987): 264-275; and Barbara Warnick, "The Narrative Paradigm: Another
Story," Quarterly Journal of Speech 73:2 (1987): 172-182.
^ “ For example, see Nina Gregg, "Reflections on the Feminist Critique of
Qbjectivity," Journal of Communication Inquiry 11:1 (1987): 8-18.
^'Michael Presnell, "Narrative Gender Differences: Qrality and Literacy,"
Doing Research on Women's Communication: Perspectives on Theory and
Method, eds. Kathryn Carter and Carole Spitzack (Norwood, N.J.: Ablex
1989) 131.
^"Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 177;
""Warnick 180-182.
"'Lewis 292, 296-297.
""Warnick 181; Fisher believes critics like Lewis and Wamick have
completely missed the point, arguing that no system of assessment can
guarantee "right" judgments. He claims that "there is a difference between
adjusting ideas to people and people to ideas, and designing discourse to
render people objects rather than rational persons" (Human Communication as
Narration 118).
"«Walter R. Fisher, "Response to Exploring the Narrative Paradigm,"
Speech Communication Association Boston, MA, Nov. 1987. In Human
Communication as Narration, Fisher further asserts that a "good" story
functions to justify past decisions and/or determine future goals; while some
justifications may "mystify" audiences, this does not necessarily mean such
stories are "bad." Such a view is simplistic. Fisher also notes that idealistic
stories gain adherence because they "'ring true' to life as we would like to
live it" (187, emphasis his).
97-
Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 47.
"«Burke, "Ideology and Myth" 204-205; also Burke, "Myth, Poetry, and
Philosophy," Language as Symbolic Action 380-409.
""Rushing, "Evolution" 10-21.
'“ “ Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 47.
174
'“ 'Catherine A. Dobris, "The Year of Big Sister: Toward a Rhetorical
Theory Accounting For Gender," Carter and Spitzack 137-160; Sally Miller
Gearhart, "The Womanization of Rhetoric," Women's Studies International
Quarterly, 2 (1979): 195-201; see also Spitzack and Carter 411-412.
'“ ^Sonja K. Foss, "Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party: Empowering of
Women's Voice in Visual Art," Women Communicating: Studies of Women's
Talk, eds. Barbara Bate and Anita Taylor (Norwood, N.J.: Ablex, 1988) 26.
'“ "Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 88, 105.
'“ 'Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 194.
'“ "Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 105-123.
'“ «Spitzack and Carter 405-414.
'“ Tisher, Human Communication as Narration 109.
'“ «Virgil L. Baker and Ralph T. Eubanks, Speech in Personal and Public
Affairs (N.Y.: David Mckay, 1955) 89-108, qtd. in Fisher, Human
Communication as Narration 109.
'“ "Eisler 195-203.
"“ For example see V. William Balthrop, "Culture, Myth and Ideology as
Public Argument: An Interpretation of the Ascent and Demise of 'Southern
Culture'," Communication Monographs 51 (Dec. 1984): 339-352; Conrad, "The
Rhetoric of the Moral Majority"; Fisher, "Reaffirmation and Subversion";
Walter R. Fisher, "Romantic Democracy, Ronald Reagan and Presidential
Heroes," Western Journal of Speech Communication 46 (1982): 297-310;
Rushing, "Evolution"; Janice Hocker Rushing, "Ronald Reagan's 'Star Wars'
Address: Mythic Containment of Technical Reasoning," Quarterly Journal of
Speech 72:4 (1986): 415-433; Solomon, "The 'Positive Woman's' Journey"; and
Solomon, "Stopping ERA."
"'Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God; Primitive Mythology, rev. ed
(N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1969) 462; also Joseph Campbell, Myths to Live By
(N.Y.: Bantam Books, 1972); and Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers, The
Power of Myth.
"^For example see Balthrop; also Burke, The Philosophy of Literary Form
191-220; Burke, The Rhetoric of Motives 178-180; Rushing, "Evolution"; and
Solomon, "Stopping ERA."
""Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 109.
"'M ary Daly 362-389; also Spitzack and Carter.
175
1 1 5 1
"For examples, see Mary Field Belenky et al.. Women's Wavs of
Knowing: The Development of Self, Voice and Mind (N.Y.: Basic Books,
1986); Elinor Lenz and Barbara Myerhoff, The Feminization of America: How
Women's Values Are Changing Our Public and Private Lives (Los Angeles,
CA: J. P. Tarcher, Inc., 1985); and Marilyn Pearsall, Ed., Women and Values:
Readings in Recent Feminist Philosophy (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Publishing Co., 1986).
"«Carol Gilligan, "In a Different Voice: Women's Conceptions of Self
and of Morality," Pearsall 317.
"'Gilligan 317.
"«Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 109.
""Daly, Gyn/Ecology; Daly's earlier thinking was not so extreme,
recognizing a need for human integration as well as the necessity to
transcend gender stereotypes. At that time Daly argued that terms like
"androgyny" or "gynandiy," while limited and somewhat dependent upon
stereotypes, could be liberating as transitional words; see Maiy Daly, "The
Qualitative Leap Beyond Patriarchal Religion," Quest 1:4 (1975): 20-40. See
also Eisler 195-203; French 542-546; Lenz and Myerhoff 226-249.
"“ For explorations of some of these changes in how masculinity is
defined, see Tim Carrigan, Bob Connell and John Lee, "Toward a New
Sociology of Masculinity," Theory and Society 14:5 (1985): 551-603; Mark
Gerzon, A Choice of Heroes: The Changing Face of American Manhood
(Boston: Houghton-Mifflin Co., 1982); Herb Goldberg, The New Male: From
Self-Destruction to Self-Care (N.Y.: William Morrow and Co., Inc., 1979); and
Joseph H. Pleck and J. Sawyer, Eds., Men and Masculinity (Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1974).
"'Erica Jong, "Changing My Mind About Andrea Dworkin," MS., June,
1988: 64, emphasis hers.
'"Jong 64.
""Ursula K. LeGuin, "Is Gender Necessary?" The Language of The
Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction, ed. Susan Wood (N.Y.:
Perigee, 1979) 169.
176
Chapter 4
PUTTING HER IN HER PLACE: INDIANA JONES AND THE
MYTHIC REPRESSION OF THE "FEMININE"
The thing to keep in mind about this film is that it is only a
movie. Raiders is not a statement of its times.
Steven Spielberg'
In 1981 the team of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg released Raiders
of the Lost Ark, a fihn that was a "cliffhanger classic" in the tradition of the
Hollywood Saturday matinee adventure serial.' It grossed the highest box
office receipts of the summer, garnered nine Oscar nominations, and
eventually became the fifth most popular movie of all time." Three years
later its "prequel," Indiana Tones and the Temple of Doom, was created by
the same men. Rex Reed called it a "lollapolooza .... a sequel that is even
better than the original."' Indiana Tones set a new box office record on its
first day of release, including "the biggest single day's gross in motion picture
history."" Clearly, Lucas and Speilberg had tapped into the audience psyche
of the time in a big way, helping top the crest of the wave of science-fiction,
fantasy, and adventure films that had begun with the release of the first Star
Wars movie in 1977.
Critical response to Raiders was more positive than the response to
Indiana Tones, with most reviewers praising the former for its nostalgic mood.
David Ansen claimed that it was "the movie Hollywood was born to make
and was bom making. " « Indiana Tones, in contrast, was heavily criticized for
177
its increased (and more graphic) violence, its more obvious racism and
sexism, and its "gun-boat diplomacy" approach to problems in the Third
W orld/ Still, Gary Crowdus in Cinéaste argued that by being "schizo
enough," a person could still find the film's "glorified comic book mentality"
enjoyable, despite one's political leanings/
In these two films Lucas and Spielberg have produced a rhetoric with
more than entertainment implications, reconstituting a traditional Hollywood
genre to promote a sentimental view of a past free from certain kinds of
turmoil, with clear-cut enemies and moral issues. Many critics find this
yearning for the past disturbing. Andrew Sarris writes that both men "may
be creating fairy tales that serve not so much as rites of passage as pleas for
a permanent childhood."" Patricia Zimmerman notes that all the publicity
surrounding Raiders, coupled with media stories about how it was made,
falsely creates a sense of audience participation in the film process, masking
the true ideological message of the film.'“ Frank Tomasula sees films like
Raiders as social acts" both concealing and revealing their production of social
meaning and ideological rhetoric at the same time."" And, as noted in an
earlier chapter, Fredric Jameson argues that films like Raiders are nostalgic
"reinventions" of classic movie serials from the past. With their "alien
villains, true American heroes, heroines in distress," such films satisfy deep
audience desires for "bygone days.""
My own research focuses on the female characters in Raiders (Marion
Ravenwood) and Indiana Jones (Willie Scott), examining the messages about
gender and male-female relationships contained within the two films. My
178
initial interest in examining these texts came with the general perception
among reviewers that Marion was "spunky" and "two-fisted," an equal to
Indiana, whereas Willie was "portrayed as a brainless, whining, incompetent
gold-digger," or stereotyped "dumb blonde.'"" Yet, an examination of
the mythic discourse in the two films, as encoded through the
"masculine/feminine" dialectic, suggests otherwise. Willie Scott does not
"contrast sharply" with the character of Marion Ravenwood— indeed, in many
ways their stories (and eventual fates) are quite similar. I have described the
most pertinent connections in Figure 5. Furthermore, the clash between the
masculine and feminine mythos becomes excaberated in Indiana Tones and is
less easily resolved than in Raiders.
This chapter is arranged as follows. First, I examine the mythic
dialectic as it occurs in the monomythic narrative structure of Raiders, noting
how the film resolves the tensions created by the conflicts between Indiana
and an initially masculinized Marion, the shadow figure of Belloq, the alien
Nazis, and the United States government. Then the dialectic is examined in
the nearly identical monomythic narrative structure of Indiana Tones, once
again noting the resolution of tensions between Indiana and the overly-
feminized Willie, the Chinese orphan Short Round, and the Thuggee devotees
of the cult of Kali. The chapter concludes with an assessment of how the
mythic rhetoric in both films reaffirms, transforms, and/or subverts prevailing
concepts about gender in patriarchal culture. Further assessment and the
implications of the analysis are developed in Chapter Six.
179
FIGURE 5
SIMILARITIES BETWEEN MARION RAVENWOOD
AND WILLIE SCOTT
1. Initial Independence and Career
A. Marion owns a saloon in Nepal
B. Willie is a singer in Shanghai
2. Threatened by Phallic Power/Symbolic Rape
A. Toht threatens Marion with poker
B. Indy holds Willie hostage with fork
3. Indiana's Ouest Destroys Her Career
A. Marion's bar and money burn up
B. Willie forced to accompany Indy
4. Possesses Something Indiana Wants
A. Marion owns the Staff of Ra headpiece
B. Willie has antidote for poison
5. Is "Spunky," Able to Defend Self and Others
A. Marion swears, drinks, shoots men, hits Indy, hits other men
B. Willie shrugs off snake, slaps Indy, hits Thugs, saves Shorty,
obtains mine car, steps on Mola Ram's hand
6. Rescues Indiana
A. Marion saves him at saloon and at Tanis
B. Willie saves him from room with spikes
7. Punished for "Uppity" Behavior
A. Marion disobeys Indy at Cairo Bazaar and is captured; tries to
seduce Belloq, but fails and is thrown into Well of Souls; tries to
hit Dietrich, but taken by Belloq
B. Willie complains in the jungle so is tossed in the mud, then
frightened; spurns village food, so gets grotesque meal;
complains about bugs, winds up hung over a lava pit
8. Frustrated When Tries to Initiate Sex
A. Indy falls asleep on Marion on pirate ship
B. Indy finds the hidden room at Pankot Palace
9. Clothing Changes
A. Marion first wears pants, winds up in skirt
B. Willie first wears dress, winds up in pants
10. Tamed At End Through Relationship
A. Marion "knows what she has got"— leaves on arm of Indy
B. Willie grabbed by Indy's whip and returned to "family fold"
180
Raiders of the Lost Ark
In 1977, George Lucas, fresh from the success of Star Wars, approached
Steven Spielberg on the beach in Hawaii with an idea for an adventure serial
with a dashing archeologist hero, set in a time "without advanced technology,
where the cleverness of the individual against the enemy was what
mattered."" A script was developed by Lawrence Kasdan, and in 1980
Spielberg made the movie both he and Lucas wanted to see, the film
"equivalent to a ride at Disneyland, . . . .with gruff dialogue, plenty of action
and cheap sets.'"" It was shot at five different locations worldwide in
seventy-three days at a cost of 22 million dollars. Upon its release in the
summer of 1981, it became a huge box-office success, earning more than 300
million dollars worldwide in its first two years."
Both Lane Roth and Thomas Snyder argue that the plot structure of
Raiders follows the monomythic rite of passage format of separation,
initiation, and return. For Roth, Raiders involves a "journey to the
underworld," various tests in "the jungle and the desert," archetypal images
associated with "universal religious meanings" which still work for modern
audiences even if "desacralized," and a search for a valuable treasure that
involves confronting and defeating an enemy who is the shadow of the
hero." Snyder interprets the film as "an initiation myth" involving "a series
of tests" that Indiana must endure and pass "in order to begin a mature
romantic relationship with Marion Ravenwood.""
While both Roth and Snyder make interesting points, their studies focus
primarily on the psychological message of the film, presuming a
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predominately masculine audience who can identify with the journey of
Indiana Jones. Roth examines various archetypal images as reflective of
Indy's shadow and quest (for "treasures," including knowledge). The role of
either Marion or "the feminine" is not considered, except for an equation of
the Ark with Pandora's box." Snyder limits his discussion of Marion to her
role as anima, which Indy must accept into himself in order "to relinquish his
inflated ego."'“ The possible sociological or ideological messages of the film
are left unexplored.
Raiders is based on a number of previous films, many of which
included "spunky" heroines, whose primary function was "to be placed in
peril."" In part, the character of Marion is a throwback to these serial
heroines, but she also represents the modem liberated woman, feisty and
independent. Yet the final message of the film implies that the price of
female self-assertion is to be victimized, so it is better for women to seek the
protection of men. Marion becomes less "masculine" and more "feminine"
throughout the course of the film. As Tomasulo notes, "the narrative thrust
of the story shifts to getting her out of pants and into a dress." He argues
that "by setting the film in the bygone days of 1936, the broken 'unity' of
1981 can be eluded in favor of a nostalgia for . . . a prewar America
unfettered by considerations of contemporary feminism."" Zimmerman
further claims that Spielberg attempts to conquer nature by exploiting and
tormenting not only the character of Marion, but also Karen Allen, the actress
who plays her.
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The film hides this ideological content, masking the transformation of
Marion and the containment, conquest, and defeat of the threatening
Other— projected onto the Nazis, but also onto the sophisticated (and partially
"feminized") Belloq, the Well of Souls, and the Ark of the Covenant. To
substantiate these claims, I have analyzed not only the role/functions of
Marion, but also the "Other" as embodiments of the "masculine/feminine"
dialectic in Raiders, which function in diverse (and at times paradoxical and
inconsistent) ways."
The primary conflict between "masculine" and "feminine" in Raiders is
expressed in the relationship between Indiana Jones and Marion Ravenwood.
Indiana has been asked by the United States government to locate the hidden
Old Testament Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis can find it. To do so
he must obtain the headpiece to the Staff of Ra, in the possession of his old
mentor, Abner Ravenwood, who was last seen in Nepal with his daughter,
Marion. Our first impression of Marion is of someone competent and
resourceful. Dressed in a quasi-masculine way (khaki shirt and pants, scarf
like tie, her hair pulled back), she wins a drinking contest against the local
Nepalese, then, when Indiana appears, she slugs him. She initially appears as
his equal, but his dominance of her is foreshadowed when his shadow looms
on the wall in front of her before he actually appears. This scene establishes
the tension between Marion and Indiana, where she will attempt to dominate
him and order him about, while he will ignore her and follow his own
agenda.
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His dominance is illustrated by the conversation and behavior that
follows once she hits him. She berates him for their earlier failed love affair,
but he brushes off her anger with a curt, "You knew what you were doing."
She orders him to leave her bar, but he asks instead for Abner and the
"worthless" headpiece. When informed that Abner is dead, he offers her
$3,000, plus $2,000 more after they return to the United States. When she
moves to hit him again, he grabs her hand and thrusts the money in it. She
taunts him, saying "come back tomorrow," and he apparently acquiesces, but
is actually only humoring her. As he leaves he looks back through the lattice
doorway, his right eye framed by the light, suggesting that he sees more
clearly than she, that he possesses more "right" insight. Subsequent events
underscore this interpretation.
Until now, Marion has been acting confidently, indeed almost
aggressively, and seems in control of events. She knows where the headpiece
is because she is wearing it as a medallion around her neck. She removes it
and stares at it and the money before draping the medallion around a
figurine on a table, then putting the cash in a wooden box. Marion appears
as a shrewd businesswoman, yet now she will confront "the real world of
real men" when the Nazi stormtrooper Toht enters her bar and asks about
the headpiece. She attempts similar tactics with him, blowing smoke in his
face, and stalling him. But Toht is a symbolic rapist, who plays with a hot
poker while again asking (demanding) about the headpiece. She replies
arrogantly:
Listen, Herr Mac, I don't know what kind of people you're
used to dealing with, but nobody tells me what to do in my
place.
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After this line, Marion is grabbed by Toht's henchman, and then threatened
with the poker. Both her commands ("take your lousy hands off me!") and
her pleas ("1 can be reasonable") are ignored. Instead Toht replies menacingly
"That time is past," and holds the hot poker before her face, bringing it closer
until it appears as if this lit phallus wül be thrust into her head between her
eyes. Toht's devilish "otherness" is highlighted by the red glow from the fire
which illuminates his face. In a close up shot where he is grinning evilly at
Marion, his right eye is blocked by the poker, so that only his left eye
appears; indeed, this is a sinister foe.
Marion is rescued by Indiana, the male savior, who uses his whip to
catch the poker, throwing it against some curtains, setting the place on fire.
He then fights the Nazis and their Mongolian guards, with some help from
Marion, who bashes one man over the head, then shoots another man who
was going to shoot Indiana. Although her livelihood (and the money) is
destroyed, Marion has the presence of mind to retrieve the medallion and use
it as a bargaining tool to help her recover her money. Marion's leverage,
which exists because she possesses the key to discovering the Ark, is,
however, lost by the time the pair reach Cairo. Indy now carries the
medallion, while Marion is visually aligned with the only other woman in
Raiders, Sallah's submissive wife, Fayah (whose actions revolve around
service and mothering her nine children). Kept out of the serious discussion
between Indy and Sallah concerning the Ark, Marion is provided with her
own make-believe child (the traitorous monkey) to distract her.
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As the film progresses, the filmmakers continue to present a mixed
message regarding Marion's ability to control her environment. Despite her
initiative and "spunkiness," she increasingly loses power. When she and
Indiana are attacked at the bazaar, she initially fights, but Indy quickly grabs
her, tosses her onto a cart and shoves it off. She leaves it, only to run into a
knife-wielding assailant. When she hits him over the head with a frying pan,
she is portrayed as cute and funny rather than seriously dangerous. Shortly
after, she is discovered hiding in a basket, and kidnapped. As she is carried
through the streets of Cairo, all she can do is cry for help from Indiana. He
attempts to rescue her, but she is apparently killed. Indiana tries to assuage
his grief and remorse through drinking, but is interrupted by his rival, Belloq.
In Jungian terms, this confrontation with Belloq represents a meeting
with the Shadow, explicitly brought out in the dialogue:
Belloq: You and I are very much alike. Archeology is our
religion, yet we have both fallen from the pure
faith. Our methods have not differed as much as
you pretend. I am a shadowy reflection of you.
And it would take only a nudge to make you like
me, to push you out of the light.
Indy: Now you're getting nasty.
Belloq: You know it's true. How nice.
Belloq, who searches for the Ark in order to "talk to God," is a more
complicated enemy than the stereotypically evü Nazis. He represents not
only Indiana's shadow self, but also the threat of the "foreigner," the alien.
Belloq appears more sophisticated and cultured than Indy, almost likeable.
Dressed all in white, he discusses the Ark as if engaged in an academic
conversation over tea. Indy, sweaty and grubby-looking, threatens to kill
him, his rugged masculinity standing in stark contrast to Belloq's civility.
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which appears effeminate in comparison. This subtle "feminization" of the
Shadow makes an initial connection between evil and "the feminine" in
Raiders.
On the surface, Indiana's motivation for seeking the Ark, as a priceless
"find with incredible historical significance," is, indeed, not much different
from Belloq's. Yet the filmmakers go to great lengths to establish Belloq's
excessive pride and desire, while legitimizing the somewhat shady Indiana as
the savior-protector of the Ark, a mysterious and ineffable artifact. In doing
so, the film severs the connection between the hero and the Shadow, so as to
justify not only Indiana's role as savior, but also Belloq's later punishment.
Indiana is clearly established as Belloq's superior in the subsequent
scenes. First, Indiana and Sallah go to the Imam (or holy man) to decipher
the markings on the headpiece. Once more a close shot frames Indy's right
eye as he looks through the lattice doorway at the Imam's house— again we
see he possesses the "right" vision. Almost immediately after, the owner of
the monkey, his right eye covered with an eye patch (highlighting his
evilness), poisons the dates left in a bowl nearby. Indiana is about to
discover the truth, that Belloq has overreached himself. After reading a
warning about disturbing the Ark, the Imam notes that the height of the staff
for the headpiece is about "6 kadam high," which Sallah translates as about
seventy-two inches. Then he turns over the medallion and says, "And take
back one kadam to honor the Hebrew God whose Ark it is." As a
mysterious wind sweeps through the house, Indiana and Sallah realize that
Belloq, who has a copy of only one side of the medallion, has made his staff
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longer than it is supposed to be; therefore, the Nazis are "digging in the
wrong place!" Sallah begins to sing "I am the monarch of the sea," then
saves Indiana from eating a poisoned date. Sallah's somewhat unusual song
choice (a tune associated with British rule) underscores his conversion to the
"right" imperialistic cause.
The message, however, is not just that Belloq has made his staff too
long. If Indiana followed the Imam's instructions, his own staff would be
approximately sixty inches, or five feet tall-even lower once inserted into the
hole in the floor of the map room. Yet Indiana's staff is clearly longer than
that, even longer than six feet, extending well above his head. Indy, dressed
in Arabic robes, lowers himself into the map room and locates the precise
hole in the floor for his staff. He fits the headpiece on it, then inserts the
staff into the hole as the music swells— the sexual imagery of the scene is
unmistakable. By some cinematic slight-of-hand Belloq is "outmanned" by
Indy's larger symbolic penis. Indy stands with the entrance to the map room
framing his head. As the sunlight fills the entrance, it surrounds his head
with a halo. The light shoots down into the map room, past the frescoes and
miniature buildings, eventually hitting the crystal in the center of the
headpiece and shooting a beam of light to a spot on the floor. Indiana's face
is bathed in light; he appears transformed, blessed by God. For Snyder, this
scene presents a spiritual transcendence through a "sacred encounter with the
Mystic Light of the Sun which leads [Indy] to the location of the Well of
Souls. . . ."'® Rhetorically, this transcendence purifies Indiana, providing him
with increased masculine power.
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While at the Tanis digs, Indiana enters a tent to hide from the Nazis
and discovers Marion tied to the center pole. At first she is frightened, but
he reveals who he is, rips off her gag and kisses her. She is relieved, sure
that he will free her. Once more, however, her wishes are ignored. She
makes three direct orders to "cut me loose, get me out of here," but Indy
leaves her bound and re-gagged, because "if I take you out of here now,
they'll start combing the place for us." He then admonishes her to "sit still
and keep quiet, or this whole thing is going to be shot." Although he
promises to return for her, it is obvious she is no longer essential to the
recovery of the Ark; indeed, she has become a potential liability. Rather than
focus his attentions on the actual woman, Indiana chooses the Ark, just as he
will later in the film. In mythic terms, he rejects the Goddess figure for what
appears to be the symbol of masculine war-power (earlier the Ark had been
described as something which could waste whole cities). Tomasula argues
that
the transfer of affections from mother to father is a central
point in all 'rites of passage' cycles, from infantile dependence
on the mother's breast to grown-up responsibility epitomized
by the father's phallus."
However, the Ark is more than a symbol of masculinity. It also
represents the "Eternal Feminine," or the Goddess, especially as God's wisdom
(Sophia, or the Shekhinah). James J. Preston notes that
we can be certain the early Israelites worshiped the Canaanite
goddess Asherah; even Solomon praised the pillars
representing this deity, and his son Rehoboam erected an
image of her in the temple at Jerusalem. Probably the female
deities of the early monarchic period did not disappear but
were changed into different forms, despite repeated efforts to
reestablish a strong monotheism in Judaism in the biblical
period."
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One such disguise was as cherubim, which were on the lid of the Ark of the
Covenant. Barbara Walker observes that the Ark was similar to other Near-
East shrines which held sexual, yet sacred, fetish objects. She argues that
instead of (or in addition to) "the stone tablets of the law," the Ark contained
male and female idols. Although it was powerful, eventually it was
abandoned, possibly because "the Ark's symbolism was uncomfortably female,
or partly so."^* The secret of the Ark, like that of the Holy Grail, lies in the
repressed Goddess hidden within its recesses, possibly locked in sexual union
with the war-god who is now dominant over her.
That this secret must remain hidden is underscored throughout Raiders.
Indiana receives several warnings that the Ark should not be disturbed. His
first comes when he tries to steal the golden idol from the Temple of the
Chachopoyan Warriors, only to have it stolen by Belloq, which foreshadows
Belloq's (temporary) triumph over Indiana with the Ark, yet which also
foreshadows the various dangers attached to such a triumph. The second
warning comes from Marcus Brody who stresses that the Ark is "not
something to be taken lightly." Indiana scoffs at this warning, as he does the
next warning from Sallah, who says "it is something that man is not meant to
disturb. Death has always surrounded it. It is not of this earth." Even the
headpiece contains a warning. Yet Indiana continues to ignore these
admonishments until the climax of the film.
Belloq appears more aware of the potential power of both the Ark and
Marion, attempting to possess both. He comes before Marion while she is
tied up in the tent. He unties her, offers food, then produces a long white
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evening gown, deeply cut in back, and a pair of white high heels. He
exhorts her to wear them, and she defiantly agrees, apparently hoping to
manipulate him with her "feminine wiles." Yet she cannot outdrink the
Frenchman like she coul(i the Nepalese peasants, for the wine is his "family
label." She attempts a drunken escape, brandishing a kitchen knife, but the
Nazis arrive. Captain Dietrich grabs her hand, forcing her to drop the knife.
She runs behind her new protector, Belloq, but he cannot prevent her from
being punished (by being tossed into the Well of Souls). This scene reminds
women of the price to be paid for attempting to use their sexuality to gain
back control of their lives by circumventing the commands of the dominant
male (i.e. the Law of the Father).
Meanwhile, the mythic clash between "masculine" and "feminine"
escalates as Indiana continues his search for the Ark. His men begin digging
for the Well of Souls as the sun sets. Storm clouds further darken the sky,
thunder rolls and lightning illuminates the sky behind Indy's head, casting an
eerie blue light. The men pry open the entrance while Indy discards his
Arabic disguise, then he and Sallah peer into the depths of the Well of Souls.
Despite the frightening image that greets them, and the angry rumblings
above them (a warning from Yahweh, perhaps), the two men descend into
the underworld. That they have entered the realm of the Goddess is clear
from the thousands of snakes that cover the floor of the Well of Souls, an
ancient symbol of the female power of life/creation/regeneration (because
they shed their skins). Furthermore, when Indiana first drops to the floor of
the Well of Souls, he comes face to face with a cobra. Shot from behind, the
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cobra's hood covers all of Indy's face but his eyes, its markings echoing those
of the headpiece (a circle with an eye in the center). Walker points out that
in Egyptian mythology the cobra was the symbol not only of the Goddess as
Creator, but also of "the 'third eye' of insight," or wisdom. This "Cobra
Goddess" eventually became combined with the Egyptian Goddess Maat, "as
the All-Seeing Eye," later symbolized as the eye within a triangle,
representing "the god enclosed . . . awaiting rebirth," entombed but watchful
Indy's revulsion of the snakes indicates, perhaps, a deeper revulsion of
the dark "feminine" recesses of the unconscious. Snyder, after discussing the
snakes as symbols of the soul, argues that Indy's fear of them represents a
fear of castration, which Freud links to "the fear of losing one's eyes." For
Snyder, Indiana must overcome this fear "in order to relate to Marion as a
human being and not simply as a devouring woman who only wants to
destroy his masculinity." He claims this goal is accomplished when Indy
closes his eyes at the end of the film.^° I argue later that this eye-closing
represents instead Indiana's submission to the will of Yahweh; Indiana
conquers the snakes more pragmatically by using fire, a symbol of the
masculine principle, to control them. His mastery is predicated upon what
Taylor calls "cinematic magic," for snakes, as cold-blooded creatures, gravitate
toward fire rather than being repelled by it.^^ Instead of altering the script,
Spielberg choses to maintain the illusion, mystifying the audience as to the
power of masculinity to overcome the Other through violence.
Accompanied by mysterious music, Indiana and Sallah move to the altar
at the rear of the Well of Souls and uncrate the Ark. The two men are
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momentarily awed by its golden beauty, reflected in the firelight. Then they
slip two poles through its carrying rings and transport it back to the
entrance, though the audience does not see them directly carrying the Ark.
Instead, the camera pans down to a shot of Indy's feet as he backs through
the snakes, then pans up to a large shadow on the wall of the two men with
the Ark between them. For Roth, such shadows in Raiders "signify the
instinctual 'dark side' of the hero."^^ However, as Walker points out,
traditionally the shadow has been associated with the soul, especially the part
descending into the underworld after death.“ By visually suggesting that
only the souls of the protagonists touch the sacred vessel, the film further
legitimizes Indy's violation of the Ark. Belloq's actions, similar to Indiana's,
seem in contrast to be more proud and desecrating, since he directly touches
the Ark, a clear invitation to death. In 1 Samuel 6:19, God kills seventy men
from Beth Shemesh, "because they had looked into the [A]rk of the Lord." In
2 Samuel 6:6-7, God strikes down Uzzah for irreverently touching the Ark to
steady himself when his oxen stumble.^ Can Belloq's punishment be less
severe?
Indiana does not escape complete punishment, for he is entombed in the
Well of Souls by the Nazis after they steal the Ark. Marion, futilely
demanding to be let go, is also tossed into the Well of Souls. By this time
she has been transformed from a pragmatic partner and jilted lover to a prize
similar to the Ark, desired by both Belloq and Indiana. Earlier Belloq had
voyeuristically watched Marion undress in a mirror; now he protests that "the
girl was mine." The unimaginative Nazis remind him that she is useless to
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their "mission for the Führer." Marion's changed status is further illustrated
by Indiana's jealousy when he notices the white dress and high heels she is
wearing. Marion has become an increasingly pure object, wearing white for
most of the rest of the film, the symbolic representation of the Virgin Bride
aspect of the Goddess, which the hero must "marry" (possess) in order to
take the place of the Father (represented by the absent Abner Ravenwood and
the Bad Father/Shadow figure of Belloq). Marion has become a fetishized
substitute for the Ark, yet another valuable artifact that Belloq attempts to
steal from Indiana, and one which Indy must protect.
In the mythic dialectic of Raiders, the "masculine" conquers the
"feminine," first seen in Indiana's triumph over the Goddess of death.
Indiana engineers an escape from the claustrophobic underworld of the Well
of Souls by bringing down one of the four jackal-headed statues holding up
the roof, crashing it through a wall of painted images which oozes snakes.
In Egyptian mythology, the jackal-headed god was Anubis, god of the dead
and consort to Nepthys, the underground aspect of the Goddess Isis.^
Marion temporarily becomes lost in a room full of mummies which appear to
surround her. She runs screaming through the catacombs only to be
confronted by a snake slithering out of the mouth of a grinning skull. This
gruesome image represents the soul's escape from death, for immediately
after Marion sees it, Indiana finds her and points to the way out of the
"realm of the dead"— a crevice filled with light.
Indiana then rushes to sabotage the plane that will remove the Ark,
only to get involved in a fist fight with a large German soldier. The plane's
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pilot sees this fight and aims his gun at Indy, but is knocked out by Marion
swinging one of the wheel blocks. Unfortunately, this rescue proves
incompetent. The pilot falls forward which starts the plane; without its wheel
block it only moves in circles. Marion tries to release the pilot only to
become trapped in the cockpit. For lack of anything better to do she starts
shooting with the plane's guns, creating a fire (which alerts Belloq so that he
orders the Ark removed from the site in a truck), and a gasoHne leak.
Indiana must shoot away the cockpit latch in order to rescue Marion before
the plane explodes. He then sends her back to Cairo with Sallah, pursuing
the Nazis on a white stallion. Roth points out that while he resembles a
traditional hero, "galloping alone in pursuit of a Nazi motor convoy, in
closeup shots his unshaven face and dark hat recall the unheroic paranoid
portrayed by Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of The Sierra Madre (1948)."^^
Indiana is obsessed with recovering the Ark, regardless of the risk to himself
or to others.
After a hair-raising chase. Indy regains the Ark, hiding it away in the
hold of a pirate ship. The Bantu Wind. He and Marion are left alone in the
pirate captain's cabin to renew their relationship. Although it seemed that he
might lose her to Belloq, this scene clearly establishes that she has returned to
Indy. She enters the cabin dressed in a sexy white nightgown, a red blanket
draped around her shoulders (red and white are colors associated with the
Goddess). Indy admires her and she looks at herself in a cheval mirror as
Indy examines his wounds on the other side. She pulls the mirror around,
inadvertently hitting Indy on the chin. He cries out, but she mistakes it for
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conversation. Both characters have become objects of the look. Marion is
seen by Indiana (and the spectators) as something desirable; Indiana is seen
more critically by himself and by Marion, who says "you're not the man I
knew ten years ago." He replies, "It's not the years, honey, it's the mileage."
His joke reminds the audience that he has gained his bruises heroically, as a
man.
Throughout Raiders, the theme of looking has been connected to the
idea of the "right" vision versus the almost "evil eye" of the villains. In this
scene, looking as insight is linked to both voyeurism and narcissism. In
folklore, a mirror is considered to be a soul-catcher, yet also provides a
glimpse of the truth. The separated and narcissistic looking of both Marion
and Indiana is cut short when she turns the mirror over, but the voyeuristic
aspect remains. Indiana risks becoming possessed by the Goddess-figure,
rather than the reverse. The film handles this threat by having him stoically
resist Marion's ministering attentions, then falling asleep on her in mid-kiss.
Her actions to initiate sex prove frustrating; yet, in the morning she awakens
undressed, and watches Indy load his pistol before tucking it in his pants.
Then she reaches for the white nightgown with a smile. Despite his
"mileage," Indiana has been man enough to satisfy her, to "win" her, to
subdue her.
That she now "belongs" to Indiana is clear from her reactions when
forcibly brought on deck by the Germans. Marion first tries to hit Dietrich,
but is stopped by Katanga, the pirate captain, who roughly pulls her to his
side. Katanga tries to protect her by implying that he would like to keep her
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to sell, but this ploy does not work. Instead Belloq, covering her bare
shoulders with his white jacket, lays claim:
The girl goes with me. It will be part of my compensation.
I'm sure your Führer would approve. If she fails to please me,
you may do with her as you wish. I will waste no more time
with her.
This rapist rhetoric works to distance the audience from Belloq. In addition,
Marion now obviously rejects him. After the German submarine docks, she
is pushed out by a German soldier wearing a bandage on his head and his
arm in a sling (implying that she has, indeed, "failed to please"). She and
Belloq glare at one another. Yet Belloq is not quite willing to let her go,
forcing her to accompany the German troops to the canyon where they will
open the Ark.
Indiana, who has managed to hide from the Nazis, follows along
disguised as a German soldier. He appears suddenly on a hill, pointing a
bazooka at the Ark, threatening to blow it up unless Marion is released.
Smiling in relief, she attempts to run off, but is quickly captured. Dietrich
looks at Belloq, but he shakes his head, unwilling to surrender either prize.
Belloq calls Indiana's bluff, motioning the soldiers back with his gun:
Okay Jones, you win. Blow it up. Yes, blow it up. Blow it
back to God. All your life has been spent in pursuit of
archeological relics. Inside the Ark are treasures beyond your
wildest aspirations. You want to see it open as well as I.
. Indiana, we are simply passing through history. (He touches
the Ark) This is history. Do as you will.
Indy lowers his bazooka, unable to destroy the Ark. Of course, he is quickly
surrounded by the Germans.
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Snyder argues that this scene illustrates how Indiana gives up "his
inflated ego" by choosing Marion over the Ark/^ Yet it is clear that he does
not so choose; like Belloq he wants both. His bluff regarding the Ark is
primarily a test of wills between him and Belloq, which he loses. Both
Marion and the Ark represent the latest items in a long series of artifacts
stolen by Belloq, and of the two the Ark is the more valuable. Indiana
cannot destroy it, allowing himself to be captured instead. He has apparently
failed to save either object from despoliation by the alien enemy. Now he,
too, must be saved by the power of Yahweh.
Marion and Indiana are tied to a tall, phallic lamppost. Indiana, who
had earlier scoffed at the Ark's supposed power, now orders Marion not to
look, indicating not only his awareness of what is about to happen, but also
his acceptance of the Ark as something dangerous. By being dutiful, both
live through the wrath of God, graphically depicted in the film. The
devastation begins when Belloq opens the Ark, only to find sand. Toht,
standing beside him, begins to laugh, but this laugh is cut short by a blue
light that emerges from the Ark, disrupting the electrical equipment brought
to the canyon by the Nazis. This light becomes transformed into ghosts that
swirl around the soldiers. One ghost appears before Belloq, Toht, and
Dietrich as a beautiful woman. As the music swells, the three stand
transfixed, perhaps in awe.
Why a woman? The earlier description of the Ark's power illustrated it
with a picture of the Ark killing God's enemies by shooting out some type of
laser beam, the ultimate war-weapon. However, in this scene the archetypal
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images of the island, the canyon, and the woman as angel of death suggest
the Goddess, the bringer of both life and death. The Kabbalistic belief that
the Ark contains the Shekhinah is visually represented in Raiders by this
image of the beautiful woman which mutates into a hideous skull. Yahweh
apparently unleashes the power of the dark "feminine" (or Terrible Mother) to
kill everyone on the island except for Indiana and Marion.
The three primary villains suffer the most gruesome deaths: Dietrich
withers away into dust, Toht literally melts, and Belloq burns up. Yet, just
before he dies, Belloq appears transformed by an inner light, or the
knowledge of some transcendent truth which purifies him. A great pillar of
flame shoots up to the sky, sweeping clean the canyon, swirling past Indiana
and Marion, but leaving them unharmed. The Ark lid tumbles back to earth,
clamping shut on the Ark, hiding its mysteries once more. Holding hands,
Indiana and Marion survey the now deserted and quiet canyon. The long
shot of them and the lamppost gives way to a shot of another phallic symbol,
the Washington Monument. This visual juxtaposition connects the power of
Yahweh (a sacred patriarch) with the United States government (a secular
patriarch), legitimizing the latter as favored by the divine.
The masculinity of this government is highlighted when Marion is once
again left out of the decision-making process regarding the Ark. Indeed, in
the first rough cut of Raiders, she was left out of the last scene altogether.
Marcia Lucas, editing the film, argued that Marion's presence was necessary
to provide an appropriate emotional resolution. Dale Pollock notes that
"Spielberg reshot the scene in downtown San Francisco, having Marion wait
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for Indiana on the steps of the government building. Marcia, once again, had
come to the rescue."^® Yet it never seems to have occurred to the filmmakers
that Marion should have some say in the disposition of the Ark. As a result,
Marion's power is further weakened; she has become the replacement prize,
reconciled back into her "proper" relational role as support for Indiana. Her
feminization is complete, down to the hat and gloves she wears. As Indiana
grouses about what the officials are doing about the Ark, she placates and
soothes him, linking her arm through his, leading him away from the
temptations of the Ark's secrets. She "knows what she has got," a superior
male protector.
Indiana Tones and The Temple of Doom
Although Raiders mostly hides its conservative rhetoric, by 1984 the
social and political values of the Far Right had gained in popularity. This
conservative renaissance was due to a number of factors, not the least the
popularity of President Reagan, perhaps the epitome of an American romantic
hero. What Tomasulo saw as the ideological concerns of Raiders— "the crises
of capitalism, religion, patriarchy, governmental authority, and militarism"^^
— are clearly visible in Indiana lones, providing what Crowdus calls "easy
pickings."^”
Like Raiders, Indiana Tones is based on films from the past, most
notably Gunga Din (1939).^^ Additionally, Indiana Tones also represents a
monomythic quest to find a treasure hidden in the underworld, undertaken to
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save that treasure from evil, then restore it to its presumed rightful owners.
Once again the filmmakers use a nostalgic setting and homages to prior films
to justify the film's conservative content, especially what many reviewers see
as its racism and sexism. Harlan Jacobson argues that
the building blocks of Indiana Tones are unexamined
throwback notions of men, women, family, and outsiders
which derail the roller-coaster ride that this film was intended
as Jones must not only battle the local regency, he must
make Capshaw into a Woman. And one that can keep up
with a man's Man.^
J. Hoberman writes that Indiana Tones is "smugly mechanistic" as well as
"inordinately racist and sexist." Lucas and Spielberg have not only remade
"the 40 year old pulp serials they adore," but have reproduced "40 year old
assumptions as well."^ Echoing this theme, the L. A. Weeklv reviewer
asserted that the film "is the most racist Hollywood picture of recent
decades," which may be unconscious, but real nonetheless. This racism
takes us back to the era when dark-skinned people with
ancient religions were depicted as savage, blood-curdling
'natives,' wanting nothing more than the sacrifice of big
breasted blond women.^
Lawrence Christon agrees that the film's "view of women is anachronistic,"
but argues that this is "part of the '40s and '50s serial featurettes from which
this feature film is derived." This nostalgia permits the audience to be
"momentarily lifted out of the thicket of contemporary sexist issues.'"^ For
Christon, Willie Scott
is largely conceived from a male kid's point of view. She
isn't a woman, she's a girl. She complains a lot. She's out of
synch with boy's roughhouse. What does a broken nail or
tiny hole in your dress mean when more important matters,
such as your imminent demise at the hands of another, are
pending?^®
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Roger Angell sees the character as the "clown on the team," a "shrill,
complaining nuisance" who is "useless in emergencies," but overall a great
"broad in distress . . . .the situations gain from her noisy wholesomeness.'"^^
Such comments point to the "masculine/feminine" dialectic in Indiana
Tones without understanding its significance. The relationship between
Indiana and Willie is primarily a test of wills between ultra-femininity and
rugged masculinity. This clash dominates their interaction throughout the
film. If Raiders can be seen on one level as a message about what happens
to overly-masculine women, Indiana Tones can be seen as presenting a similar
message regarding the overly-feminine woman. Just as woman's assertiveness
threatens men with castration, so does her seductiveness and civility. The
character of Willie points up woman as Other, as someone belonging to a
different milieu, who refuses to conform to what is "standard operating
procedures" for adventures. Her concerns are devalued by the male
protagonists, her values perceived as silly and ultimately superficial.
Because of her apparent silliness, Willie is made the butt of numerous
juvenile jokes, and forced to suffer quite traumatic events, which eventually
transform her, making her more "masculine" (or androgynous), subduing her
threatening feminine sexuality. As with Raiders, Indiana Tones hides this
transformation, and attempts to do the same with its mystifications about the
cult of Kali, far less successfully. In overcoming the "feminine," the masculine
world exposes its ideological rhetoric. To substantiate these claims, I have
analyzed not only the role/functions of Willie, but also how ideas of the
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"Other" as alien and dangerous are incorporated into the film at various
levels, functioning again in inconsistent ways/®
Indiana Tones begins in Shanghai in 1935. American singer Willie Scott
first appears during the title credits, coming out of the dragon's mouth at
Club Obi-Wan (in-joke references are a hallmark of Spielberg films), dressed
in a red and gold sequined gown with gloves, singing Cole Porter's
"Anything Goes" in Chinese, surrounded by a Busby Berkleyesque chorus
line. This witty beginning immediately lets the audience know that this film
is going to be a thrill-a-minute adventure, but it also indicates two other
things: Willie's connection to the Goddess (symbolized by the dragon and
the color of her clothes), and her basic competence in her chosen profession.
While Shanghai may not be the most desirable locale, Willie has achieved
enough success to have "a little house and a garden," and rich friends who
drive to parties in limousines. She also possesses a sense of herself as a
"lady," coming over to stand elegantly behind her boss, Lao Che, her gloved
hand on his shoulder, as he negotiates with Indiana Jones for the remains of
his emperor ancestor, Nurhachi. When Willie is introduced to Indiana, she
quips "I always thought archeologists were dried up little men always looking
for their mommies." "Mummies," he says in correction, establishing the
conflictual nature of their relationship.
Lao Che offers Indiana some gold coins, but the archeologist insists on
"the diamond," which causes the negotiations to deteriorate. Willie does not
notice, so is taken by surprise when Indiana suddenly grabs her, pressing a
long, pronged fork against her side. In Raiders it is the evil Nazi Toht who
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threatens the heroine with symbolic rape, but in Indiana Tones the hero
performs this disturbing act, not once, but twice, the first time solely to gain
a material reward. Willie is perturbed because he has "put two holes in my
dress from Paris." This complaint gamers a "shut up!" from Lao Che, and a
shove of her chair from Indiana. Obviously dismissed, Willie begins to check
her makeup in a small mirror, and so is once more surprised when Indiana
attempts to hold the fork on her again, this time to gain the antidote to some
poison Lao Che's eldest son has given him. His ploy does not work, for Lao
Che, laughing, tells him to "keep the girl. I find another." In effect, Willie
has been turned over to another man without any say in the matter.
When Lao Che's eldest son is killed by a meat skewer, a melee breaks
out, which intensifies when Lao Che's second son begins shooting at the
crowd with a machine gun. Both the blue vial of antidote and the diamond
wind up on the floor, lost when an ice bucket is tipped over and balloons
drop down from the ceiling. During the ensuing chaos, Indiana searches for
the antidote while Willie, quite practically, searches for the diamond. Yet, as
Hoberman notes, "her desire for fortune implies no glory," unlike Indiana's
equally strong monetary motivations.^®
Willie picks up the vial of antidote instead, placing it in her bra. Like
Marion, she has acquired a potential bargaining tool, but again, this potential
is not developed. The filmmakers opt instead to have Indiana violate her
once more. First, he forces her through a stained glass window; then, after
they fall four flights through various awnings to a car waiting below. Indy
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reaches down the front of her dress, without asking and over her protests, to
obtain the antidote.
As ten-year old Short Round drives through the streets of Shanghai with
tires screeching, Willie continues to protest. Indiana ignores her, shooting his
gun out the back window of their Duesnberg at Lao Che's pursuing
gangsters. He then hands the hot pistol to Willie, who tosses it from hand to
hand before dropping it. Moments later, when Indiana asks (demands)
"where's my gun?" she replies "I burned my fingers and I cracked a nail,"
glaring at him. For Christon, this moment helps to establish her character as
someone who never really "appreciate[sj the gravity and peril of her
situation."®” She's on the run for her life and she worries about a broken
nail— isn't that just like a woman?
However, Willie's behavior can be considered appropriate since she
makes her living as an entertainer, a profession where looks are considered
important. Looks are also important for the establishment and maintenance
of correct femininity. Susan Brownmiller notes that such femininity requires
that a woman sound "overly emotional and insecure." Additionally,
vocal expressions of passionate interest in clothes are
objectively no less significant or understandable than
emotional outcries over a football game, but how can a man
relate to the woe, the utter tragedy, of "I just ruined a nail!"?
Unless a person has invested daily time, patience and work
toward the creation of a perfect set, a broken nail is peculiar
cause for wailing. Feminine speech is charged with sudden
upsets and crises ("I've got a run in my stocking!"; I'm getting
a pimple!"; "I gained two pounds!") that are inexplicable to
those not engaged in the struggle or feminine perfection.®^
Willie's complaints can also be viewed as the coping strategies available to
the "feminine" woman during times of stress. As such, they are certainly no
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worse (and conceivably better) than Indiana's violence, especially since he has
just ruined her career and endangered her life.
Willie continually struggles to gain the upper hand in her relationship
with Indiana, as illustrated by their dialogue after they board a cargo plane,
and Indy has changed back into his "typical" uniform (rumpled shirt and
pants, beat-up hat and leather jacket, coiled whip at his belt). She glances at
him and sarcastically remarks, "So what are you supposed to be, a lion
tamer?" He replies, "Since I was nice enough to let you tag along, why don't
you give your mouth a rest, okay, doll?" By redefining reality (he coerced
her), using a condescending tone and a diminutive term, he attempts to
establish relational (sexual) control, but she responds, "What do you mean,
tag along? Ever since you entered my club you haven't been able to keep
your eyes off me!" His only answer is to mutter "Oh, yea," pulling his hat
over his eyes. The issue is temporarily shelved, with neither really gaining
the upper hand.
Indiana, Willie, and Short Round apparently escape, but the plane
belongs to Lao Che, so as soon as they are asleep, the pilots dump the fuel
and bail out. Willie is the first to notice their predicament, thus is the first to
call the alarm, only to receive a rebuke from Short Round for calling Indiana
"mister." The boy imitates the man, continuing to insult, ignore, and
reprimand her as long as Indiana does. Unable to fly the plane. Indy inflates
a large yellow raft and jumps out with Short Round and Willie. After a hair-
raising drop and equally hair-raising slide down a mountain, the raft lands in
the rapids of a river. Soaked, the trio eventually reach calmer waters, and
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are found by the Shaman of a local village. They have reached India, and
they enter the village to rest before continuing their journey.
During these village scenes, Willie is established as an inferior who
follows Indiana's orders, albeit grudgingly, with complaints. For example,
when she balks at eating the meager repast served by the Indian villagers,
partly out of distaste and partly out of guilt (over taking what little food
these starving people have), Indiana stresses that she is embarrassing him as
much as insulting them, in a tone that suggests he is talking to a spoiled
child. She reluctantly eats, with obvious disgust, confirming our impression
of her childishness.
Up to this point in the film the dialectic of "masculine/feminine" has
been expressed through the relationship between Indiana and Willie. Now,
however, a mythic element is introduced as the Shaman tells the story of the
village's recent disasters, and of an evil emanating from Pankot Palace, which
has brought disaster on their village. A new Maharajah has stolen their
sacred sivalinea stone, and kidnapped all the children; even worse, their
farmland is now barren. The Shaman insists that Shiva has brought Indiana
to their village to help them, arguing that "Shiva made you fall from sky so
can get sivalinga and bring back."
In Hindu mythology, Shiva (also known as Siva) is the male consort of
the goddess Kali, originally subordinated to her. Numerous statues show
Kali standing on the prone, dead figure of Shiva, eating his entrails. As Kali-
Ma (the black goddess), she brings death and destruction, though she has a
creative, generative aspect as well, illustrated by the use of a stone phallus.
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called a lingam, which is inserted in a stone vessel known as a yoni (or
vagina). Walker notes that the lineam-voni of India represents "the male and
female genitals in conjunction," or the divine union of both masculine and
feminine principles.®^ It serves as a reminder "that sexual love is the source
of all human life, that all existence depends on the union of male and female
principles, and that the Goddess and God were perpetually joined in order to
keep the universe in motion."®® Indiana Tones, however, mystifies the
audience by suggesting that the generative power of the universe lies solely
in the male (the sivalinga, or Shiva's penis) separated from the female (Kali's
voni, depicted in the film as a skull). The sexual union of the cosmic pair,
necessary for cosmic procreation (i.e. the fertility of the land) is made to seem
evil, "the power of the dark light." That Shiva has usurped the power of the
Goddess is also illustrated by the three lines which mark the stone, which
represent "the three levels of the universe." Three is a number originally
associated with the Triple Goddess, especially Hnked in Hindu mythology to
the Shakti, or feminine soul, "the active power of a deity." Walker notes that
without this cosmic energy, a god "was helpless to act."^
Shiva's dominance is further developed by the presumed legend of the
Sankara Stones. Indiana is reluctant to help the Shaman until an escaped,
malnourished child returns to the village bearing a cloth fragment and
mouthing the word "Sankara." Indiana realizes that the missing village stone
is one of the legendary Sankara stones. As depicted on this cloth fragment,
and later on the wall drawing on the secret passageway at Pankot Palace, a
priest named Sankara climbs Mt. Kailasa (traditional home of Shiva). Shiva
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gives him five sacred stones with magical properties (and diamonds within)
and tells him to go forward and combat evil. The wall painting adds the
inscription to "follow in the footsteps of Shiva; do not betray his truth."
Shiva's "truth" is that he is not subordinate to Kali; to "follow in his
footsteps" means that Indiana must rescue the god from subjugation to Kali-
Ma. The legend corresponds to Saivistic beliefs about Shiva as the supreme
god of both destruction and creation, who no longer lies at the feet of Kali,
but who lives on the mountaintop "surrounded by his beautiful wive, Parvati,
and their two sons, the six-faced Skanda and the elephant-headed Ganesa."®®
Indiana finally accepts Shiva's will because of his hopes for "fortune and
glory." He arranges to go to Pankot Palace instead of Delhi over Willie's
objections. She is made to look ridiculous, unable to mount an elephant
properly, demanding a phone to call her agent in the middle of nowhere.
They leave the village with Indiana in front on a large elephant. Short Round
next on a baby elephant, with Willie bringing up the rear on a medium-sized
elephant. Jacobson argues that these elephants visually represent the
traditional family and "American way of life, circa Eisenhower."®®
Stuck with accompanying Indiana, Willie attempts to civilize her
environment by pouring expensive perfume on her elephant's back. It
responds by filling its trunk with water, then spraying her into a mud
puddle, to the amusement of both Indiana and Short Round. Willie cries in
frustration and anger, stressing how happy she had been in Shanghai, and
how much she hates the outdoors. As she hangs her wet clothes on limbs to
dry, Indiana plays poker with Short Round. Then Willie accidentally grabs a
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bat, and begins screaming. She continues to scream as she runs around the
compound and encounters other animals. Her terror is understandable, since
Indiana had earlier pointed out that the bats were vampire bats.®’ ' Yet her
screams garner no response from Indiana, except for a brief grumbling about
the noise she is making. When she calms downs, he devalues her fear of the
surrounding animal life by sneering "That's why it's called the jungle,
sweetheart." , Short Round adds his own insult to injury by demanding, "Hey
lady, you call him Dr. Jones."
Although Willie seems easily frightened, in one respect she is
unconsciously Indiana's superior. When Indy tells her to sleep closer to him,
"for safety's sake," she replies, "I'd feel safer sleeping with a snake." A few
moments later, when a real snake crawls on her, she assumes it is the trunk
of her amorous elephant, and blithely tosses it away, while Indiana jumps
back in obvious fear. Both her comments and casual actions foreshadow her
potential as a sexual (castrating) threat, linking Willie to the negative Goddess
(seen in the association of snakes with both castration fears and "the
feminine").®®
The next day they arrive beneath Pankot Palace, and their guides run
off with their elephants after being spooked by two hideous statues of Kali
which guard the way. One statue wears a necklace of human fingers.
Walker notes that Kali, in her death aspect, is often depicted in a ghoulish
way in Indian a rt.® ® Monica Sj66 and Barbara Mor argue that patriarchal
consciousness split off the benevolent aspect of the goddess onto the passive
Parvati, leaving only a negative image of Kali, pictured as "wearing a
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necklace of hacked-off human hands, her tongue rolled grotesquely out to lap
up human blood from the ground."®” Like the bats, these statues forewarn
the audience that the evil in Pankot Palace is especially terrible.
When Indiana, Willie, and Short Round arrive at the palace, they are
greeted by the Prime Minister, Chattar Lai, and given rooms. Then the three
join several other guests for dinner. Once again Willie can be glamorous,
appearing in a white and gold sari covered in jewels. Indiana begins to find
her alluring, now that she is dressed "like a princess." She is happier because
the believes the Maharajah is "swimming in loot." Yet her financial
aspirations are ridiculed by the filmmakers when the prince she wants to
impress turns out to be a somewhat effeminate thirteen-year old boy. Moishe
Postone and Elizabeth Traube argue that Indiana Tones connects the
Maharajah to "sensual depravity." In contrast. Western civilization is
presented as "masculine," through Indiana's actions which "reject perverse
sensual pleasure and seek gratification in the moral exercise of power. " ® ^
During the repulsive dinner that follows (consisting of snakes, eels,
beetles, and other disgusting items), Indiana discusses the rumored revival of
the Thuggee cult of Kali with Chattar Lai, the boy-Maharajah, and the British
Captain Blumburtt. All three dismiss the rumors as superstitious folklore.
Willie and Short Round, left to fend for themselves, begin to establish a
preliminary bond with each other, reminiscent of siblings who collude
together to avoid eating "strange" food. Yet there is also an hint of protective
mothering in Willie's request for something different (which turns out to be
eyeball soup).
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Later, Indiana brings Willie a bowl of fruit. His sexual motives become
clear as he takes a bite from the apple (Adam tempting Eve?). After trading
remarks about "mating customs" and various "primitive sexual practices"
(Indiana is "an authority" with "years of fieldwork"), they kiss, which builds
expectations for a traditional love scene, where the hero sweeps the heroine
off her feet in passion. Yet the expected scene does not occur, because both
parties are trying to gain control of the situation. Willie tells Indiana, "you'll
never have better," and he responds by telling her that "as a scientist I hate
to prejudice my experiment." Willie is highly insulted by this "objective"
approach;
Willie: What! Why you conceited ape! I'm not that easy!
Indy: I'm not that easy, either. Trouble with you, Willie,
is you're too used to getting your own way. (he
chucks her under the chin, then heads for his room
across the hall)
Willie: You're just too proud to admit that you're crazy
about me. Dr. Jones.
Indy: Willie, if you want me, you know where to find
me.
Willie: Five minutes. You'll be back here in five minutes.
Indy: Sweetheart, I'll be asleep in five minutes.
Willie: Five minutes. You know it and I know it.
She shuts her door, confident that she has won. She looks at herself in
a mirror, watches the clock, then arranges herself seductively on the bed.
Indiana, in his room, also examines his appearance in a mirror, then paces
the floor, watching the clock. Finally it dawns on her that "he's not coming."
He, too, is amazed to realize that "she's not coming" and "I'm not going."
But then a Thug emerges from a wall painting and attempts to strangle
Indiana. During their struggle, Willie comes out in the hall and yells at his
door, "I could have been your greatest adventure!" When he appears in her
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room shortly after, having killed the Thug (which she knows nothing'about),
she is sure he has changed his mind. She sprawls on the bed, saying "Oh
Indy, be gentle with me." But instead of joining her, he searches her room
for more Thugs and a secret passageway.
She is understandably confused by his behavior, which he does not
explain. As he runs around looking under the bed and behind the curtains,
she keeps calling "I'm here!" But he ignores her. Finally he discovers a
statue of a nude woman on a wall column. He runs his hands along its
thighs, then places them on the bare breasts and pushes, causing Willie to
thrust her own breasts toward him. His bizarre act was purposeful, however
— the breasts are the trigger device which opens the secret passage into the
Temple of Doom (a touch of adolescent male humor). Although the scene is
humorous, it also illustrates a certain truth about male-female relationships.
When faced with a sexually demanding woman, some men prefer the "statue"
(i.e. a passive fetishized object or image, as idealized by Playboy). Postone
and Traube argue that Indiana Tones exhibits "a deep ambivalence" toward
women. On the one hand, it represents women as something desirable "who,
however, must be forcibly subjugated." On the other hand, the female, as
"embodied in Kali . . . manifests herself as a deadly threat."®^
This threat is of castration. According to Laura Mulvey, "the male
unconscious" can escape its castration anxiety in two ways, through either
preoccupation with the reenactment of the original trauma
(investigating the woman, demystifying her mystery), counter
balanced by the devaluation, punishment, or saving of the
guilty object [here meaning woman] . . . or else complete
disavowal of castration by the substitution of a fetish object or
turning the represented figure itself into a fetish so that it
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becomes reassuring rather than dangerous (hence
overvaluation) . ^
Both of these potential responses to castration anxiety occur in Indiana Tones.
The second option— "substitution of a fetish object"— first occurs with the nude
statue, but later Willie is also fetishized. Prior to this, however, the "dark
side" of the seductive woman (in monomythic terms, the temptress) must be
"demystified" and punished, or, as Burke might say, scapegoated.
Up to this point, Willie has been mistreated by the male protagonists in
part because she is obstinate ("bitchy") and different in her values and
outlook on life. The various traumas she has undergone have been played
for laughs. Now, however, the whole tone of the film changes, as the
"masculine" confronts the "feminine" quite vividly. Jack KroU declares that it
is at this part in the film that "things go askew." The Thuggee temple aspect
is taken from Gunga Din, but instead of lifting the audience "out of [its] seat
with exhilaration," it causes "animal embarrassment."®^ Angell writes that
"there's something slightly off in the tone and timing of the cult-of Kali
sequence."®® Postone and Traube note that the temple sequence is the place
where the film "abandons its breakneck, cunningly crafted pacing and loses
its sense of humor."®®
These comments point to the largely unconscious awareness that
something unusual is occurring in Indiana Tones. The depiction of the cult is
a mystification by the filmmakers of the actual Thuggee worship of Kali. The
New Encvclopaedia Britannica notes that the Thugs were "a well-organized
confederacy of professional assassins who traveled in gangs throughout India
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for more than 300 years." They strangled unsuspecting wayfarers with a
handkerchief or noose until the 1830's, when they were eradicated by the
British.^^ The Encyclopedia Americana points out that "Thuggee was a
hereditary occupation," entered by initiation, with the noose and the pickax
its sacred objects. They murdered through strangulation, presumably at the
command of Kali to destroy demons, though sometimes other methods were
used, "such as poisoning, drowning and burying alive.Walker notes that
their victims were always men (never women), especially Brahmans, whom
were considered to be "heretics who deserved extermination."^^
This is not the Thuggee cult that emerges in Indiana Tones. Instead the
filmmakers combine a number of mythic motifs and symbols to produce an
initiation-rite involving a descent into the underworld and a confrontation
with the "Terrible Goddess" at her most hideous. Originally, the regenerative
power of Kali's blood was used to consecrate Shiva. Walker notes that in
pre-patriarchal India, "menstrual blood was the essential ingredient" in various
rites, while the "blood of sacrifices" was used "to bath Shiva's holy phallus"
prior to a sacred orgy.’ '® These rites are altered by the film so that the
followers of Kali fall into a nightmarish, zombie-like state when they drink
"her" blood. To grapple with castration anxiety, the filmmakers transform the
original rites of Kali into something horrible, especially for men (turning them
into slaves, instead of blessing them); yet this transformation also works to
devalue women, maintaining the split between "good" and "bad" Goddess
images.
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That Indiana Tones represents an initiatory myth is clear from the
moment Indiana and Short Round start down the secret passageway into the
temple. Not only do they discover two corpses, but they also become
covered with bugs (an echo of the start of Raiders). Then they become
trapped in a room with descending spikes, a type of vagina dentata. They
call to Willie to come save them. She does so, though repelled by the
corpses and bugs in the passageway. After Willie rescues them, with
Indiana's guidance, the three enter the mouth of a cave which is filled with
red light and smoke. Eventually they wind up in a narrow passageway
overlooking the temple, which is dominated by a giant statue of Kali, just as
Joseph Campbell described her, with her
teeth projecting terribly, of an aspect furiously contorted,
tawny and black, with dishelved hair, appalling eyes, and a
garland of skulls around her neck, bathed in blood, clad in
rags and the bark of trees.^^
Indiana remarks "Nobody's seen this for one-hundred years." In truth,
nobody's seen it until this film, given the many non-Hindu elements of the
ritual that follows.
For example, Mola Ram, the high priest, enters the temple wearing a
horned headdress. Traditionally, animal horns represent male sexual vitality,
with the image of the Homed God occurring in many ancient religions as a
consort to the Goddess. The horned headdress is especially associated with
the Celtic Cemunnos, a nature deity.’ ^ As hundreds of worshippers chant
and sway. Ram performs a violent sacrifice, one that upset many reviewers.
He rips the still beating heart out of his victim, and holds it high as the
victim is dropped into a lava pit. Mythically, the human heart-beat
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symbolizes the cosmic dance at the center of the universe/^ This mode of
sacrifice, however, is more Aztec than Hindu. Sir James Frazier, in The
Golden Bough, described several such rituals whereby human representatives
(male and female) of various grain deities were killed by having their hearts
cut out, their heads stuck up on pikes, and their blood made into an
intoxicating drink. At some festivals, the victims were tossed into a furnace,
then removed before dead "in order to allow the priest to cut the hearts out
of their scorched, blistered and still writhing bodies in the usual way."^^
Underneath the Kali-statue is a skull with a coiled stone cobra on top.
Mola Ram places his three Sankara Stones, their diamonds gleaming within,
into the skull's eyes and nose, so that once more Shiva is at the feet of Kali.
Indiana orders Short Round and Willie to stay put, then uses his whip to
swing over the lava pit to the altar. He takes the stones, placing them in his
bag. He starts to return to the others, but hears yelling and moaning from
the other side of the altar. He goes to investigate, and sees the missing
children working a mine and being beaten by large Thuggee guards. He
attempts a rescue, but is captured.
Meanwhile, Shorty and Willie are also captured. Indiana and Short
Round are placed into a cage with other prisoners who tell them of "the
black sleep of Kali-Ma." Then Indiana and Short Round are brought before
Mola Ram in a candle-lit room filled with skulls. Mola Ram rationalizes his
exploitation of the children because he must obtain the last two Sankara
Stones to gain revenge upon the British. He claims that
the British in India will be slaughtered; then the Hebrew God
will fall and then the Christian one will be cast down and
forgotten. Soon Kali-Ma will rule the world!
217
Indiana is then tortured by the voodoo of the Maharajah, who sticks pins into
a "krtya" doll (which come from West Africa)/® He is also lashed with his
own whip, then forced to drink "the blood of Kali." Short Round is placed in
the mine with the other children, but later escapes, while Indiana has a
nightmare that turns him into a laughing zombie-devotee.
What Mulvey calls the devaluation of "the guilty object" continues in the
next scene with the near sacrifice of Willie. Indiana appears in the temple
flanked by Mola Ram and Chattar Lai. He intones:
Kali Ma protects us; we are her children; We pledge our
devotion to her; We give an offering of flesh and blood.
Protesting, Willie is dragged in, dressed once again in the white and gold
sari. As a seductive, yet demanding, woman, Willie is analogous to Kali, and
therefore can "stand in her place" as a scapegoat. Burke notes that the
symbolic kill-rite of victimage requires a "perfect" sacrificial victim which can
cleanse the hierarchy of "inherited" guilt.^^ In this case, the guilt of the
patriarchy is the repression of the feminine, with its resultant castration-
anxieties. But the male projects this guilt onto the threatening woman,
turning her into the necessary sacrificial victim. It is through her symbolic
death that the social order is purified and redeemed.
Willie's plight is also reminiscent of Innana's descent into the
underworld; although she has not come before the dark goddess willingly,
Willie wears jewels, and is, in a sense "pegged to the wall" when shackled
into an iron frame by the drugged Indiana. He has betrayed her, but by a
neat trick of the plot, he is not responsible for this betrayal, Kali-Ma is,
especially her negative femininity (i.e. sexual independence). Perhaps the
218
reason that Mola Ram does not tear out her heart, as he starts to do, is
because of her association with Kali as sexual seductress, a sexuality earlier
linked with the female breast (e.g. the statue and Willie's response).
Although the iron frame is dropped into the pit, Willie is not destroyed or
killed, but instead hangs over the lava. Her ordeal is prolonged and
torturous. Even after Indiana has been awakened by Short Round's torch,
her rescue is delayed. Three times she is almost dropped into the lava. The
heat purifies her, and she is finally saved. She owes her salvation to
masculinity (the phallic torch and the male bonding which brings Indiana to
his senses). Much like the male consort of the Goddess, she is "reborn" as a
purified woman, who is then fetishized. She is also allowed to be stronger,
more "masculine." Her first action when released from the iron frame is to
slap Indiana. Later, she slugs a Thug with a strong right cross, saves Short
Round when he falls through the rope bridge, and steps on Mola Ram's hand
as he attempts to climb out of the gorge.
Willie is not the only one saved by the male principle. Indiana is freed
from subjection to Kali-Ma by being burned by fire. With help from Shorty
and Willie, Indy frees the children, and grabs the bag with the Sankara
Stones. Then, as a giant guard fights with Indiana, the feminized boy-
Maharajah fights with Short Round, who has become a smaller Indiana. The
film visually represents this by showing Indiana in the foreground beating up
a Thuggee guard as Short Round punches the Maharajah in exactly the same
way in the background. Short Round represents the "divine child" who will
eventually supplant the father (Indy), and who undergoes his own initiation
219
into manhood by mimicking the hero. The Maharajah is his "Shadow," much
like Belloq was Indiana's Shadow in Raiders. Eventually, Short Round
manages to burn the Maharajah with a torch, and the other boy awakens,
dazed. Short Round explains, "It was the black sleep of Kali." The
Maharajah redeems himself by telling Short Round which tunnel to take, then
going to summon Blumburtt, thereby abandoning his alien (feminine) culture
for British (American) order.
Meanwhile, Willie hits a guard with a rock and obtains a mine car. She
climbs in with Short Round, while Indy uses his whip to swing over and join
them. They embark on a roller-coaster ride through the mine tunnels. Thugs
in pursuit. Indy is able to stop the runaway mine car just before it crashes
into the end of the tunnel, but Mola Ram has flooded the tunnels by
overturning a cistern filled with water and the three barely escape being
drowned, or swept into a crocodile-infested river. Willie and Short Round
almost manage to get across a rickety rope bridge spanning the gorge, but
get caught by Mola Ram. Indiana, bringing up the rear, is outflanked by
Thugs. As they approach him with drawn swords, Indiana holds out the bag
of Sankara Stones and threatens to drop them into the river unless Mola Ram
releases his captives. Mola Ram says "Go ahead. They'll be recovered. You
won't."
Indiana then uses a sword to cut the rope bridge, which slams into the
cliff side. Willie and Short Round climb up the bridge as if it was a ladder,
while Indiana fights Mola Ram. On the other side. Thugs shoot arrows at
the three until Blumburtt arrives with his British soldiers. Mola Ram tries to
220
rip out Indiana's heart, but Indiana hits him. The high priest then grabs the
bag with the stones in it, claiming that they are his. Indiana says "You
betrayed Shiva," then recites an incantation in Hindi that causes the stones to
burst into flame and burn Mola Ram's hand. The fire awakens him so that
he catches a glimpse of the glory of patriarchal heaven before falling off the
bridge into the river, where the crocodiles make short work of him. Two
stones fall into the river with him, but Indiana is able to grab the third; his
ability to handle the stone without being burned certifies his role as male
savior.
With the restoration of masculine power and order, the barren
wasteland blooms. Indiana, Willie, and Short Round return to the village,
each one reconciled to the others, a "perfect" family. Since only one of the
Sankara Stones remains, Indiana gives it to the Shaman. Willie is impressed
with his actions, since keeping the stone could have meant his "fortune and
glory." He replies,"Well, its a long way to Delhi. Anything could happen."
The issue of relational control returns as she walks away, protesting, "Oh no.
No thanks. No more adventures for me. Dr. Jones!" She says she is going
home to Missouri, but before she can find a guide to take her to Delhi,
Indiana catches her with his whip, pulling her back. As Hoberman argues,
she discovers love "while wrapped in the embrace of Indiana's equally
fetishized whip."’ ^ Short Round's little elephant showers them with water,
further bestowing blessings upon her submission to the dominant male.
221
Preliminary Assessments
What kind of rhetorical response do these two films present to deal
with the exigence of patriarchal crisis? A case certainly can be made for an
ideological reaffirmation of patriarchal power. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, the
strength Marion possesses at the start of the film is vitiated by the end. She
trades her control, power, and independence for a romantic relationship
which encourages her victimization. Naively, she thought she could protect
herself, but when real men threaten her (in contrast to foreign natives), she
must find other real men to protect her. Despite her own wishes and
actions, she is helpless; she cannot influence her fate, and is ultimately saved
by a male god. Marion's role reaffirms the need of women to submit to the
stronger power of men, to rely on them for protection, thus ensuring the
continuance of patriarchal control. This ideological message is partially
hidden in a "pseudo-equality" between the characters in the film; it fosters the
illusion of change, while actually persuading audiences to perpetuate female
acquiescence to male dominance. The "masculine" woman needs to be
"tamed," to be made more feminine, in order to make the boyishness of the
hero seem "more masculine by contrast."^* Marion functions as a mediator, as
well as a fetishized replacement for the Ark.
Willie, in Indiana Tones and the Temple of Doom, serves similar
functions; but, in this film, the threat comes from the heroine's seductive
femininity, projected onto the image of Kali. Female independence and
sexual power are displayed as hideously ugly and depraved, yet still
impressive. The film exposes how vulnerable men are to female power, and
222
how much this vulnerability scares them. The hero must "cure" the overly-
feminine woman as much as the overly-masculine one, substituting a male-
defined "femininity" (androgyny). Thus, the masculine side of the dialectic is
reaffirmed, while the feminine side is repressed, once more "put back in her
place."
Yet this repression/suppression is not fully successful in either film. A
contradictory message about heroism is presented which undermines the
reaffirmation of patriarchy. Although Raiders seems to update the traditional
initiation myth, the narrative is ultimately anti-heroic. The task of the hero-
initiate is to supplant the father through possession of the mother and the
passage through trials. The hero thus masters the power of two worlds— the
underworld (death) and the social world (through the gift of the boon and
the power to rule).^^ However, in Raiders the hero only masters one world.
Although Indiana has successfully gained possession of the Goddess figure,
and triumphed over her underworld (e.g. the primitive world, here translated
as the Arabic world), he does not have the power to rule the social world.
In the end he must also be rescued by Yahweh, instead of initiating the
rescue himself; he must, like Marion, submit to the power of the patriarchy,
represented as the United States government. His ineffectuality in preventing
the Ark from being hidden away demonstrates the power of patriarchal
hierarchy to keep certain uncomfortable "truths" from exposure.
What is the "truth" of the Ark that must remain hidden? Raiders
suggests that it is the power of the "feminine," a power co-opted by the male
world. Greg Bear wonders why Spielberg chose a female demon as "the
L
223
instrument of God's wrath," given the warlike nature of the Ark of the
Covenant. Bear observes that the Ark, in Kabbalistic belief, was "the sign of
God's presence— the Shekhinah, but not God Himself."*® Raphael Patai also
notes the important role of the "feminine" in Kabbalistic thought, which
viewed the Shekhinah as a divine mediator between God and the Hebrew
people.*^ For many feminists, such as Walker, this "feminine" companion to
Yahweh is actually the repressed Goddess, once the prime deity, but now
subservient to the male god. Her role is similar to the Virgin Mary except
that the Shekhinah is both benevolent and destructive.*^
In Raiders, this "terrible feminine" is awesome and frightening, but fully
within the control of the patriarchy. Yet her presence suggests other, more
transformative possibilities, other directions for the filmmakers. Suppose
Indiana had not returned the Ark, but had opened it with Marion and
learned the truth of Yahweh's power? These different directions are not
realized, and the Ark is once more hidden, its "femininity" safely crated up
and stored in a government warehouse, while the fetishized and tamed
heroine steers the hero away from its seductive, yet potentially treacherous,
secrets.
What was suggested in Raiders is made explicit in Indiana Tones, where
the "terrible feminine" breaks free of masculine control, threatening the entire
patriarchal hegemony. Because the villains are all pagan foreigners who
reject the presumed blessings of imperialism, Indiana is given more power.
He fulfills Hankins' generic criteria for heroes, as an outsider figure, almost
"god-like" in his knowledge; although greedy, he is compassionate toward
224
captured children, and poor starving peasants who need his help,
demonstrating a basic "goodness."** Despite his double persona (as professor
and dashing adventurer), and his sophistication early in the film, he is
actually austere and ascetic, preferring the company of males (the men, and
the boy Short Round) over women. Yet in Indiana Tones he comes much
closer to being seduced by the "feminine" (as embodied by both Willie and
Kali) than in Raiders. Again, alternative scenarios come to mind, where
Indiana submits to Willie, or comes to understand the real truth about Kali
after drinking her blood (that she is both benevolent and destructive, just like
the Shekhinah). His enlightenment would then lead him to work against the
Thugs (as depicted in the film) as perverters of Kali's truth, instead of
Shiva's. His love of Willie and Kali could be the mechanism that purifies
him and sets him free, rather than the masculinized torch-fire.
These possibilities are not developed. The ascetic hero is not seduced
by the woman or the alien cultists. Indiana Tones suggests that Western
patriarchal civilization is necessary to save not only "primitive" people, but all
of humankind, from the awful unleashed power of the "feminine," an evil
monster with murderous intent and a deep depravity. The subliminal
message is that the sexual power of the lingam-voni is best contained within
the confines of the traditional family, presided over by a dominant male.
Thus, both films work to assuage the sense of patriarchal crisis in
modern life, relieving masculine fears of castration and the overall loss of
power by reaffirming the legitimacy of male control. Yet, from a feminist
point of view, neither film possesses narrative fidelity. The message to
225
woman is negative: rebellious women will be punished, while properly
submissive women will be saved, then rewarded through a relationship
with the hero. Many women, however, do not find personal or social
satisfaction in a message that puts the men "on top." For such women, the
reaffirmation of masculine power through a repression of feminine power is
not a rhetorically appropriate way to resolve the tensions of the
"masculine/feminine" dialectic. Further, in the final analysis, such nostalgic
rhetoric cannot provide either men or women with the type of heroic models
necessary to grapple with the really pressing problems that threaten both
human and planetary existence.
226
ENDNOTES
Parts of this chapter were presented to the University Film Association,
Denton, TX, August, 1983; and to the Speech Communication Association,
Chicago, IL, November, 1986.
^Steven Spielberg, qtd. in the Press Kit, Raiders of the Lost Ark
(Paramount Pictures, 1982) 12.
^David Ansen, "Cliffhanger Classic," Newsweek 15 June 1981: 58; also
Sue Reilly, "By Raiding Hollywood Lore and His Childhood Fantasies, Steven
Spielberg Rediscovers an Ark That's Pure Gold," People Magazine 20 June
1981; Peter Sullivan, "Raiders of the Movie Serials," Starlog Aug. 1981.
*Peter Nicholls The World of Fantastic Films: An Illustrated Survey
(N.Y.: Dodd, Mead, and Co., 1984).
^Rex Reed, "'Indiana Jones' Even Better Than 'Raiders'," Entertainment
Todav 8 June 1984: n.pag.
®Alex Ben Block, "'Indiana Jones': His Return Beats That of 'Jedi'," Los
Angeles Herald Examiner 24 May 1984; also Michael Buckly, rev. of Indiana
Tones and the Temple of Doom, dir. Steven Spielberg, Films in Review 35
(Aug./Sept. 1984): 426.
* Ans en 58; some did question its violence; see Aljean Harmetz,
"'Raiders': Too Terrifying To Be PG?" New York Times 16 June 1981: Sec.
Ill, 7.
’ 'For selected reviews of Indiana Tones and the Temple of Doom,
dir. Steven Spielberg, see Lloyd Billingsley, "Cinema: Three Summer Movies;
Two Lesser Lights Outshine Speilberg's Temple of Doom," Christianity Todav,
10 Aug. 1984: 36; Sheila Bensen, "Indy's 'Temple of Doom' Desecrated By Too
Much Worship of Special Effects," Los Angeles Times, 23 May 1984: Part IV,
1+; John Coleman, "Films: As It Happens," New Statesman, 15 June 1984: 29-
30; Harlan Jacobson, "Two For the Rude," Film Comment 20 (July/Aug. 1984):
49-51; and Tom O'Brien, "Screen: Parsifal at the Bat, Indiana Jones in the
Jungle," Commonweal, 15 June 1984: 373-375. For selected commentary on the
violence of Indiana Tones, see Sheila Bensen, "Steven Spielberg's Techno-Glut,"
Los Angeles Times, 27 May 1984; Aljean Harmetz, "Rating of 'Indiana Jones'
Questioned," New York Times, 21 May 1984: C12; Larry Kart, "Film Violence
Blurs the Contours of Reality," Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 June 1984: 3AA.
*Gary Crowdus, rev. of Indiana Tones and the Temple of Doom, dir.
Steven Spielberg, Cinéaste 13:4 (1984): 60.
227
^Andrew Sarris, "Spielberg's Sand Castles," rev. of E.T.: The
Extraterrestrial, dir. Steven Spielberg, The Village Voice, 15 June 1982: 59.
^®Patricia Zimmerman, "Soldiers of Fortune: Lucas, Spielberg, Indiana
Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark," Wide Angle 6:2 (1984): n.pag.
“Frank P. Tomasula, "Mr. Jones Goes to Washington: Myth and
Religion in Raiders of the Lost Ark," Ouarterlv Review of Film Studies 7:4
(1983): 331.
“Fredric Jameson, "Postmodernism and Consumer Society," The Anti-
Aesthetic: Essays on Post-Modern Culture, ed. Hal Foster (Port Townsend:
Bay Press, 1983) 116. Others, of course, disagree with such interpretations,
believing that such films provide meaning for today and hope for tomorrow.
For example, see Thomas Lee Snyder, "Sacred Encounters: The Myth of the
Hero in the Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy Films of George Lucas and
Steven Spielberg," diss. Northwestern U 1984 (Ann Arbor: UMI, 1986).
DA8423307.
“Moishe Postone and Elizabeth Traube, "Indiana lones and The Temple
of Doom: The Return of the Repressed," lump Cut 30 [1985]: 13.
“Derek Taylor, The Making of Raiders of the Lost Ark, ed. Ann Holler
(N.Y.: Ballantine Books, 1981) 13; also Janet Maslin, "How Old Movie Serials
Inspired Lucas and Spielberg," rev. of Raiders of the Lost Ark, dir. Steven
Spielberg, New York Times, 7 June 1981, sec. II: 19; and Dale Pollock,
Skvwalking: The Life and Films of George Lucas (N.Y.: Ballantine Books,
1983) 203-204.
^®Pollock 244-246; Taylor 12-14.
“Pollack 248-252.
^ ’ 'Lane Roth, "Raiders of the Lost Archetypes: The Quest and The
Shadow," Studies in the Humanities 10 (1983): 13-21; see also Mircea Eliade,
The Sacred and The Profane: The Nature of Religion, trans. Willard R. Trask
(N.Y.: Harvest-Harcourt, 1959).
“Snyder 191.
“Roth 16.
'®Snyder 203-208.
^^Alan G. Barbour, A Thousand and One Delights (N.Y.: MacMillan,
1971); Raymond W. Stedman, The Serials: Suspense and Drama Bv
Installment, 2nd ed. (Norman, OK: U of Oklahoma Press, 1977); Tony
Thomas, The Great Adventure Films (Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel Press, 1976);
Ken Weiss and Ed Goodgold, To Be Continued . . . (N.Y.: Crown Publishers,
228
1972); and David Zinman, Saturday Afternoon At The Biiou (N.Y.: Arlington
House, 1973).
“Tomasulo 333-334.
^*Zimmerman claims that Karen Allen, left amid 6,000 live snakes in a
skimpy dress and only one shoe, didn't scream loud enough to please
Spielberg, so he stimulated her by dropping snakes on her head ("Soldiers" n.
pag.). Taylor also observes that the crew hurled snakes down into the set
from thirty feet up. However, he also notes that Ford and Allen had stand-
ins, with one of them animal handler Steve Edge "in drag" (Making of 32-33).
“ Data for my analysis was primarily obtained from repeated viewings of
Raiders of the Lost Ark, Paramount, 1981; George Lucas and Howard
Kazanjian, exec, prod.; Frank Marshall, prod.; Steven Spielberg, dir. Starring
Harrison Ford (Indy), Karen Allen (Marion), Paul Freeman (Belloq), Ronald
Lacey (Toht), John Rhys-Davies (Sallah), and Denholm Elliott (Brody).
Supplemental information was obtained from several sources, including
Lawrence Kasdan, Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Illustrated Screenplay (N.Y.:
Ballantine Books, 1981). All dialogue was checked against the film, instead of
the published screenplay, as the latter is not wholly accurate.
^®Snyder 219.
“Tomasulo 336.
^^James J. Preston, "Goddess Worship: An Overview," The Encvclopedia
of Religion, Vol. 6, ed. Mircea Eliade (N.Y.: MacMillan Publishing Company,
1987) 39.
“Barbara G. Walker, The Woman's Dictionarv of Svmbols and Sacred
Objects (San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1988) 84-85.
“Walker 109.
*®Snyder 215, 216.
*^Taylor 31.
“ Roth 19.
“ Walker 353.
“ 1 Sam. 6:19 and 2 Sam. 6:6-7 (NIV).
“ Barbara G. Walker, The Woman's Encvclopedia of Mvths and Secrets
(San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1983) 42-43.
36
Roth 18.
229
“Snyder 208.
“Pollack 250.
“ Tomasulo 332.
^®Crowdus 60.
^^Roger Angell, "The Current Cinema: A Breeze, A Bawd, A Bounty,"
rev. of Indiana Tones, dir. Steven Spielberg, The New Yorker, 11 June 1984:
100-106; also Jack Kroll, "Indy Strikes Again," rev. of Indiana Tones, dir.
Steven Spielberg, Newsweek, 4 June 1984: 78-79. In particular, the temple
sequence shows similarities, especially the use of a fanatical, shaven-headed
high priest.
^^Jacobsen 51.
^J. Hoberman, "White Boys: Lucas, Spielberg, and the Temple of
Dumb," The Village Voice 5 June 1984: 1+.
^Rev. of Indiana Tones and The Temple of Doom, dir. Steven Spielberg,
L.A. Weeklv, 25-31 May 1984: 40.
^®Lawrence Christon, "The Funny Violence of 'Doom'," Los Angeles
Times, 15 July 1984: Calendar Sec.
^^Christon, n. pags.
“Angell 103.
Analysis was made through repeated viewings of Indiana Tones and
The Temple of Doom, Paramount Pictures, 1984; George Lucas and Frank
Marshall, exec, prods.; Robert Watts, prod.; Steven Spielberg, dir. Starring
Harrison Ford (Indiana), Kate Capshaw (Willie), Ke Huy Quan (Short Round),
Amrish Puri (Mola Ram), Roshan Seth (Chattar Lai), and Philip Stone
(Blumburtt). Supplemental information came from James Kahn, Indiana Tones
and The Temple of Doom (N.Y.: Ballantine Books, 1984), a novelization of the
screenplay by Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz. All dialogue was checked
against the film, as the novelization is inaccurate.
“Hoberman 1.
“Christon, n. pag.
®^Susan Brownmiller, Femininity (N.Y.: Fawcett Columine, 1984) 117.
®^Walker The Woman's Dictionary 318; Walker, The Woman's
Encyclopedia 488-494, 929-930, 935-936.
230
“ Walker, The Woman's Dictionarv 318.
*^Walker, The Woman's Encvclopedia 929.
“David N. Lorenzen, "Saivism: An Overview," The Encvclopedia of
Religion. Vol. 13, ed. Mircea Eliade (N.Y.: MacMillan Publishing Co., 1987) 7.
Lorenzen also notes that other name for Shiva was Sankara (p.8). Walker
also points out that one of Shiva's names was Sankara, or "Beneficent One."
She asserts that "tantric yogis insisted that their supreme Shiva was the only
god, and all other gods were only inferior imitations of him." Yet, originally,
Shiva was a sexual consort to Kali. Brahmans were opposed to Saivism (Shiva
worship) because they considered it to be "worship of the lingam" (or penis).
Shiva, however, as Lord of the Dance (copied from Kali), could not act alone
without "his feminine energy" (The Woman's Encvclopedia 935-936).
®*Jacobson 51.
*lValker observes that bats are often associated with demons; vampire
bats, however, are only found in Central and South America (The Woman's
Dictionarv 251).
®*Walker, The Woman's Dictionarv 109; also Snyder 215-216.
® ®W alker, The Woman's Dictionarv 251.
^®Monica Sjoo and Barbara Mor, The Great Cosmic Mother:
Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth (San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row,
1987) 182.
^Tostone and Traube 13.
^ ’ ^Postone and Traube 13.
“Laura Mulvey, "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema," Screen, 16:3
(1975): 13-14, rpt. in Feminism and Film Theorv. ed. Constance Penley (N.Y.
and London: Routledge/BFI, 1988) 46-56; bracketed comments are mine,
parenthetical remarks are Mulvey's.
% o l l 78, 79.
“Angell 105.
“Postone and Traube 12.
“"Thug," The New Encvclopaedia Britannica, 1988 ed.
“Ralph Slotten, "Thug," The Encvclopedia Americana, International
Edition. 1987 ed.
231
^Walker, The Women's Encyclopedia 996-997.
^®Walker, The Woman's Encvclopedia 642.
^^Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Oriental Mvthologv (N.Y.:
Viking, 1962, Penguin, 1976) 187, quoting the Mahabharata. Elsewhere, Kali
Ma is described as "a woman with a very dark complexion, with long loose
hair and four arms." One arm holds a sword, one holds a severed head, the
others are empty. "Her ear rings are two corpses and she wears a necklace
of human skulls." She also wears "a girdle made up of two rows of human
hands." Additionally, "her tongue hangs out, her eyes are red, . . . her face
and bosom are polluted with blood"; see "Indiana Mythology," New Larousse
Encvclopedia of Mvthologv, trans. Richard Aldington and Delano Ames, rev.
ed. (London: Hamlyn 1968) 335-336.
’ ^Walker, The Woman's Dictionarv 199.
^Walker, The Woman's Dictionarv 317.
^'^S ir James George Frazier, The Golden Bough: A Studv in Magic and
Religion. 3rd ed. (London: MacMillan 1925) 301.
’ '^Frazier notes that such images, called Shigidi, are used by the Yorubu
of West Africa; see The New Golden Bough, Abridged and ed. Theodor H.
Glaser (N.Y.: M entor/New American Library, 1959) 172.
’ '^Kenneth Burke, Permanence and Change: An Anatomv of Purpose,
3rd ed. (Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1984) 283-284.
’ hoberm an 2.
’ '^Brownmiller 16.
’ '^Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, 2nd ed. Bollingen
Series XVII (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1968) 109-121.
“Greg Bear, "'Raiders': A Cinch Success Formula," Los Angeles Times, 5
July 1981.
*^Raphael Patai, The Hebrew Goddess (N.Y.: Ktav Publishing House,
1967).
“Walker, The Woman's Dictionarv 219; also Preston, "Goddess Worship"
39.
“Sarah Russell Hankins, "Archetypal Alloy: Reagan's Rhetorical Image,"
Central States Speech Tournai 33 (1983): 33-43.
232
Chapter 5
ANDROGYNY AS RHETORICAL RESPONSE IN STAR WARS
There's a whole generation growing up without any kind of fairy tales.
And kids need fairy tales— its an important thing for society to have for
kids.
George Lucas^
After George Lucas had finished editing American Graffiti in 1972, he
began to work on an idea that he had for a science fiction adventure film
that would provide a moral story to modern audiences. He was determined
not to repeat the mistakes of THX: 1138, his first full-length feature film,
which was thought by many to be too pessimistic in its message of a future
society completely oppressed by technology. Instead, Lucas wanted "to give
audiences hope, to make them believe things are going to get better."^
Lucas's goal was "to make a space fantasy that was more in the genre
of Edgar Rice Burroughs" than it was of 2001: A Space Odvssev. By
creating "a contemporary version of the myth and the fairytale," Lucas hoped
to provide a wholesome fantasy life for children, which he believed they were
lacking.* In doing so he created a film that combined "the flotsam and
jetsom" of his youth (i.e. elements of pulp science-fiction from movies,
television, and comic books) with timeless themes from classical stories.'^ The
result was the first Star Wars film (now retitled Star Wars IV: A New Hope),
released in 1977. A difficult movie to produce, due to frequent technical
problems, it was barely completed by its opening day. Although both Lucas
and Fox Studios doubted that the film would even be a moderate success, it
233
became a giant hit, breaking records and surpassing Taws as the top box
office success of all time, a spot it retained until the release of E.T.: The
Extraterrestrial in 1982.®
A New Hope was considered to be a classic story of romance,
adventure, and fun. Time magazine called it "the best movie of the year," a
virtual "subliminal history of the movies, wrapped up in a riveting tale of
suspense and adventure, ornamented with some of the most ingenious special
effects ever contrived for film."* Despite its simple plot, it was extolled as a
"new classic" and large numbers of people stood in long lines throughout the
hot summer to see it, many more than once.’ ' Made at a cost of $10 million,
with 545 special effects, it eventually earned a phenomenal amount of money,
and garnered four academy awards for its technical expertise.*
Three years later, its sequel. Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back was
released, directed by Irvin Kershner, with Lucas as Executive Producer.
Morgan Gendel called it "the most awaited film of the young decade," with
thousands of fans camping out overnight before it opened in major cities like
Los Angeles and New York.^ Made at a cost of $25 million with 763 special
effects, it also became a huge box office success, eventually winding up in
fourth place on the list of top movie earners.^® A darker, moodier film than
its predecessor. Empire upset some fans. But Kershner insisted that it should
be viewed as the middle section of a symphony, "slower and more lyrical.""
By May, 1983, even more fans were camping out, awaiting the release of
the final film in the trilogy. Star Wars VI: Return of the ledi, directed by
Richard Marquand from Britain, with Lucas again serving as Executive
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Producer. It cost three times the first film ($32 million) and had nearly twice
as many special effects (942 effects compared to 545). Its opening day box
office set a record gross of $6 million, and soon bootleg video cassette tapes
appeared. ledi was the box office leader of the summer, eventually becoming
the third highest box office success in the history of filmmaking, right behind
A New Hope and just before Empire." Taken together, these three films rank
among the most popular movies ever made, introducing a generation of
children (and their parents) to a fairy tale world set "a long time ago in a
galaxy far, far away."
The type of fairy tale, or myth, represented by the series has been
debated by critics. A New Hope was criticized as being neo-fascist, racist,
sexist, and revisionist." Others saw it as wonderful escapism, "an
intergalactic joyride" with a simple moral message." Still others extolled its
mythic themes of initiation and the resolution of the Oedipal complex." The
second film. Empire, was criticized as being bleak and sentimental, replete
with pop mysticism and Freudian psychology." Others, however, saw its
darkness as necessary to "deepen the myth" by introducing tragic elements."
And some praised it as a more exciting film, though a "certain wonder is
gone."" The third film, ledi, garnered negative reviews for its excessive
violence, crass materialism, and apparent reaffirmation of the political right."
Others believed it to be overly repetitive, with the effects too familiar to
audiences used to seeing similar ones in commercials and rock videos.“ Yet
others argued ledi was a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, inventive and
complex.^^
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Such contradictory criticism points to the various ways that audiences
interpret the Star Wars films. Critical differences and outright confusion are
most apparent for the last film, Tedi, which presents increased Oedipal and
incestuous themes in competition with the increased (many thought excessive)
special effects. Andrew Gordon maintained that "for all its surface
sexlessness, the Star Wars trilogy deals with explosive, primal material . . .
suffused with violence and castration anxiety," which is exposed, but only
partially resolved.^ Further, as Art Director Joe Johnston observed about ledi,
the crew was "never sure whether the movie was a vehicle for the effects or
for the story.
In this chapter, I argue that the dialectic of "masculine/feminine" is
presented throughout the Star Wars series, often in covert (perhaps
unconscious) ways, undergirding the apparent struggle of good versus evil
presented in the films. The clash of "masculine myth" versus "feminine myth"
is primarily represented in the first two films, then synthesized in the third,
where the filmmakers present a purified, androgynous image of masculinity.
This masculine image is connected to the positive elements of "the feminine"
while being dissociated from the negative elements of patriarchy, i.e. rigid
thinking, dehumanized bureaucracy, and entropie technology. These negative
elements ("bad" masculinity) are then associated with the negative attributes
of "the feminine" (the Terrible Goddess/Mother). More than just a nostalgic
recapturing of the past, or simple mythic tale. Star Wars offers a utopian
model of transformed masculine identity, which then ideologically
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relegitimizes the paternal signifier. This message is undermined, however, by
the increasingly cluttered and disorienting mise-en-scene of the trilogy.
These arguments are developed as follows: First, I examine the
"masculine /feminine" dialectic as it occurs in the characters and monomythic
structures of the three films. Then I focus on how the conflict is resolved
through the rhetorical strategies of androgyny and dissociation. The chapter
concludes with an assessment of how the mythic rhetoric in the trilogy
reaffirms, transforms, and/or subverts prevailing concepts of gender in
patriarchal culture. Further assessments and implications of the analysis are
developed in Chapter Six.
Star Wars IV: A New Hope
The basic story in Star Wars IV: A New Hope follows monomythic and
romantic form. Andrew Gordon argues that A New Hope's appeal is due to
its clever pastiche of American culture within a monomythic framework. He
claims that it is "a masterpiece of synthesis," both "innovative and
conservative, backward-glancing and n o sta lg ic.A careful analysis of A
New Hope shows that many traditional elements of "masculinity" are present
in the film, including the use of phallic (and father-associated) weaponry, the
centrality of combat, and the emphasis on dualism, seen in the representation
of opposing values: good versus evil, light versus dark, order versus
disorder, life versus death. These values provide motives for action, with the
symbolic conflict between the pairs leading to a temporary "vanquishing" of
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the negative value, legitimizing the established order by relieving the tensions
engendered by the conflict."
Throughout A New Hope order and hierarchy are stressed, with the
rebels promoting a return "to a more civilized age," a time when the Jedi
Knights were the "guardians of peace and order," before the Empire
threatened that established order. Robert Collins notes that because Luke's
father was such a Jedi Knight, Luke is "certified by a dynastic heritage,"
which is traditionally paternal, for the "saga hero is virtually motherless."
Gordon observes that the monomythic hero is often "the orphaned son of
royalty" (what Freud and Rank refer to as the family romance)." As this
"saga hero," Luke is called to go on a perilous quest and is joined by a Wise
Old Man, various sidekicks, and jesters (the "droids," who are humanized by
their diminutive nicknames, and who function as the comedy team of the
film). After various "tests" the hero has a "showdown" with the enemy,
which he wins. He is exalted and integrated into the rebel community.
Yet the monomythic form also contains elements of the "feminine," seen
in A New Hope through the initiatory descent into a mythic underworld, as
well as the idea of the Force and the character of Leia. These elements of the
"feminine" are presented in stereotypical, traditional ways, with the
patharchally defined split between "good" and "bad" Goddess-figures
reinforced by the film. Yet the androgynous representation of Leia and the
ambiguities surrounding the Force suggest that the "feminine" is not totally
seen as an "Other" which must be subdued. The ideological reaffirmation of
patriarchal authority is counterposed to an utopian transformation of gender.
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To substantiate these claims, I have analyzed not only the role/functions of
Leia, Luke, and Han, but also the symbolic representations of the "Other"
which function in diverse (and sometimes inconsistent) ways."
A New Hope begins with a small ship being pursued by a giant
triangular-shaped Imperial Star Destroyer which fills the frame, overtaking the
smaller ship and swallowing it. This action immediately links the Empire
with the archaic Goddess. Barbara Walker notes that while "squares and
crosses usually represented the male principle, so the three-way design of the
triangle and its many relatives usually represented the female principle.""
The Imperial ship can also be seen as a type of "dragon" or "swallowing
monster" which can "engulf whole ships" a symbol associated with the
Terrible Goddess.*® Yet instead of a natural animal or fearsome beast, this
monster is mechanical, the product of an advanced technology.
The first glimpse of Princess Leia shows her placing some stolen secret
plans into the droid Artoo; she looks pure, regal, and mysterious in her high-
collared, long white dress, its hood pulled up over her head. Soon she is
discovered by stormtroopers. She shoots one of them with her blaster,
obviously not "the usual fainting damsel in distress."*^ However, the others
stun her; she is captured and brought before Darth Vader (whose name
suggests Dark Father, Death Father, and Dark Invader), a sinister-looking,
very tall, muscular man dressed from head to toe in black armor, with a
black metallic mask, black cape, black boots, and black gloves. He breathes
through some type of mechanical apparatus which gives his voice a deep
menacing quality. Vader's evil has been established from the moment he
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entered Leia's ship through smoke, accompanied by dark music. He
strangled the ship's captain with one hand, tossing him against the wall like
a rag doll. Still, Leia stands before him defiantly and imperiously, telling
him that "the Imperial Senate won't stand still for this." He interrupts to
demand from her the secret plans, but she feigns ignorance, merely asserting
that she is "a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to
Aldaraan." He counters, "You are part of the Rebel Alliance and a traitor."
He then sends her away.
Lucas conceived of the character of Leia Organa as more than just a
fairy princess. He saw her as someone "raised as a soldier, trained in the
martial and political arts by the finest minds in the Alderaan system." Earlier
script drafts focused more on her, suggesting that she possessed the mental
powers of a witch. Lucas briefly considered casting an Eurasian actress to
play the part before deciding on Carrie Fisher. He went to considerable
length to hide Fisher's womanly figure underneath the long, white gown,
binding her breasts with gaffer's tape so that they would not bounce.^^
Despite her eroticized name (suggesting both sensual pleasure and earthly
plentitude), Leia is initially presented as an asexual "space tomboy," a sisterly
nuisance to the masculine heroes, who is "tough minded" as well as "haughty,
bossy, indomitable.
As with Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Leia is shown as spunky,
competent, and resourceful to reaffirm traditional gehder-ideals (like Marion,
she becomes less "masculine" and more "feminine" as the series progresses).
Except for the maternal Aunt Bern (seen cooking and smoothing over
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conflict), Leia is the only female in A New Hope. Since it is basically a
"boy's fantasy," Leia primarily functions as an idealized anima image rather
than an actual woman (though some saw her image as promoting more
equality between the sexes or as providing a positive role model for girls).^
As Dan Rubey observes, within A New Hope's "world of romantic combat,"
the relationships are structured around "male-oriented viewpoints. Women
exist primarily to provide motivations for male activity."^
Gordon refers to Leia as "Goddess, Whore, Lover, Mother, Sister and
Castrating Bitch all at once: tempting but tabo o.W ith in the first Star Wars
film, however, her character seems more the pure, ascetic Virgin Goddess,
untouchable and remote, more connected to the masculine world of laws and
abstract principles than to the feminine world of emotion and "the ethic of
care." As such, she is similar to Pallas Athena, related to and associated with
men, "a goddess of wisdom, warfare, and justice."^^ It is her sternness and
devotion to duty that promoted certain reviewers to assert that she is too
"masculinized," too "cold," and too contradictory. For example, while David
Overby thought the idea "of the Princess of Peril as a lady of determination
and action" was correct, Lucas went too far, creating a "tiresomely
unattractive" character, "the sort of loudmouthed smart-ass one longs to see
blasted to oblivion by the nearest ray gun."^* Martin Miller and Robert Sprich
argued that the portrayal of Leia "as a modern, phallic, competitive woman is
overdone." Although her ambiguity allows men to project onto the character
their fantasies about "the sensuous and the maternal aspects of the archetypal
woman," her lack "of some warmth and compassion" leads women to reject
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the characterMiller and Sprich make the error of assuming that women
viewers only identified with the character of Leia; the more likely reason that
many women viewers did not enjoy A New Hope is the masculinized
"thrust" of the narrative. As Jim Holte argues, the film is infused with an
American, semi-Puritan ideology, in which "men should be the primary actors
in the cosmic drama," with women reduced to helpmates and mediators.^”
The conflict between "masculine" and "feminine" also occurs in the
differences between the two robots, Artoo-Detoo and See Threepio. Artoo is
short and squat, a blue and white blend of a garbage can and industrial
vacuum cleaner, who communicates with a variety of beeps and whistles.
Throughout the film Artoo is associated with phallic imagery and more
direct, assertive action (eventually becoming linked with Luke). Threepio is
tall, golden, and human-like, a fussy translator who evokes comparisons with
an English butler or effeminate male. Threepio's hysteria ("We're doomed!" is
his favorite expression) and finicky nature caricaturizes homosexuality,
providing a resolution to underlying anxieties created by the male bonding
between Han and Luke. Miller and Sprich note that "since the droids are
substituted for human characters, sufficient psychic distance is maintained, so
that both children and adults can find them appealing, connect with them,
and even find relief in their presence.'"^^
The displacement of various anxieties and tensions through the droids is
possible because they are like humans. They resemble people in their actions,
suggesting sameness and equality, but actually promoting difference. Michel
Foucault argues that relationships of resemblance are hierarchical, requiring
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that one side be subordinated to the other (which is the original model for
the resemblance). He explains that "resemblance presupposes a primary
reference that prescribes and classes.'"^ In the Star Wars trilogy both the
droids and various aliens are modeled after males (reinforced by the fact such
droids and aliens are always called "he"). Their resemblance to masculine
humanity not only subordinates them, but also reduces their "otherness." In
the case of the giant Wookiee, Chewbacca, his violence is made to seem
comic, and undercut by his cowardice in the garbage-masher scene. Leia
denigrates him by asking "Will somebody get this walking carpet out of my
way?" He recalls childhood memories of the lovable teddy-bear, or the
cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz. While such behavior is endearing, it
subordinates Chewbacca. It seems telling that neither the droids nor the
Wookiee receive medals at the end of the film, despite their own heroic
actions in helping to destroy the Death Star (the common soldier. Wedge, is
also unrewarded).
The representation of the droids and aliens supports a traditional
patriarchal system, in which an enlightened, primarily masculine and
Caucasian elite rules over the general population. The romantic/monomythic
form of the film endorses both a certain "social hierarchy" and conservative
ideology. Dan Rubey argues that while romantic form seems revolutionary
(in its desire to overthrow the existent hierarchy), it ultimately acts to defuse
its own revolutionary impulses, rendering them "harmless to the social
structure as it exists." The rebels are aristocratic restorers of an old older.
Rubey asserts that the "opposition between an individual or a small, coherent
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group and a large, impersonal, authoritarian force is a common motif in
American films," and in A New Hope such oppositions work to reaffinn "the
nostalgic, individualistic, romance ethos of the fantasy structure." Luke's
story is "a rite of passage into a nostalgic world of patriarchal power which
no longer reflects either our contemporary society or childhood experience, a
world in which power . . .is passed from father to son."'^
The disjunction between the romantic ideal and the actual experience of
modern males exacerbates the sense of patriarchal crisis. As Mark Gerzon
notes, "the old archetypes [of masculinity] no longer work," and new ones are
required to meet current exigencies.^ A New Hope's nostalgia, therefore, is
not merely reaffirmatory and ideological. In addition, it promotes an utopian
vision of the masculine hero which actually argues against individualism (an
argument made clearer in the later films), as seen in the mythic initiation of
Luke.
Luke's journey to manhood begins when his Uncle Owen, a stem
farmer, buys the droids. Luke is presented as a whiny boy who dreams of
adventure, yet is obedient to his uncle's wishes. His name, however,
indicates his heroic status and future role as "a teenage savior."^^ "Luke"
implies a steadfast western settler, but also evokes the Latin lue, meaning
"light." "Skywalker" implies his cosmic destiny as the "sky-god" who will both
literally and figuratively "walk the skies." His identity as "a prince in
disguise" is suggested when Threepio calls him "Sir Luke."
Luke receives his first "call to action" while cleaning Artoo, when he
stumbles across the holographic image of Princess Leia, repeating over and
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over "Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope." At dinner he tries
to discuss the implications of this message with his uncle, only to be told
that he is to "take the droids to Anchorhead and get their memories erased."
Owen then squashes Luke's hopes to go to the "Academy" in the upcoming
year, so Luke leaves the table, and watches the setting of the double suns of
Tatooine, an evocative image of youthful yearning. Aunt Beru tells Owen
that he can't keep Luke there forever, for he's "just not a farmer— he has too
much of his father in him." Owen replies, "That's what I'm afraid of" (a
comment that took on new connotations after Empire was released). Luke's
position in the family is similiar to that of Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of
Oz, stuck on a farm in a flat, barren environment, and ordered about by a
surrogate parent (though in this case the aunt and uncle roles are reversed).
The audience identifies with Luke's desire for adolescent rebellion.
Yet Luke does not really rebel. Unlike Dorothy, he does not run away
from home, but winds up leaving to search for the missing Artoo to prevent
being punished by his uncle. What Vladamir Propp referred to as the
dispatch of the hero from home has occurred accidentally, absolving Luke
from potential guilt and regret for his c h oicesJ. P. Telotte observes that
Luke is "a young man swept up into life's mainstream and hardly a match
for that which he is being called upon to oppose.O thers point out that
Luke's apparent decision to stay on his uncle's farm rather than join Kenobi
is negated by the subsequent murders of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru by
Imperial Stormtroopers.'*® Luke is able to follow the "true" father (represented
by Kenobi and his actual father, presumed dead) while leaving the "false"
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father (represented by Owen in A New Hope). Yet he is not ready to "take
the father's place"; instead, his one individualistic, albeit impulsive, action— to
go "have a look" at the "Sandpeople" instead of prudently running away— is
punished when his phallic rifle is sliced in two by the wily and triumphant
Tusken Raider, effectively reducing his "cockiness."
Further undermining individualistic action is the idea of the Force.
Kenobi, a wizard akin to Merlin as well as a type of Samurai swordmaster,
trains Luke in the use of the Force after presenting the youth with the phallic
weapon of his father. Reviewers had a mixed reaction to the Force, viewing
it in various contradictory ways, as mind control or as mindlessness, as inner
intuition or as exterior God, as a dualistic "power of the will" or as a
syncretic power of the Earth.^® Lucas insisted that he based the concept on
the shamanistic, mystical idea of the "life force" presented in Carlos
Casteneda's novel. Tales of Power.™ The verbal imagery surrounding the
term indicates its hybrid nature, a blend of ideas from Western and Oriental
philosophy. Miller and Sprich observe that while the concept is easily
misunderstood, the Force is not simplistic. The hero does not gain its power
through practice but through initiation.®^ Joseph Campbell notes that when
an initiate "becomes free of all fear," he reaches apotheosis, the reconciliation
of opposites, especially male and female. In meeting with the Goddess, the
hero gains atonement with the father, symbolized by the androgynous god,
and the ideas of Yin and Yang.®^ The Force is clearly such an androgynous
"god," which "surrounds us ("feminine" imagery) and penetrates us
("masculine" imagery) and binds the galaxy together." Its name suggests both
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a driving dominator power, a "power of the will," and a source, or generative
(sexual) power, a power of the Earth (originally controlled by the archaic
Goddess). Luke's training in (and eventual mastery of) the Force "feminizes"
him, making him less individualistic and more communal.
Luke's initiatory process continues when he accompanies Kenobi to Mos
Eisley spaceport, where they obtain passage to Alderaan on a junky-looking
but fast ship. The Millenium Falcon, piloted by pirate Han Solo with his
Wookiee companion, Chewbacca. The Falcon comes out of "hyperspace" into
the debris of Alderaan (which has been destroyed), and is caught by a tractor
beam from the Empire's "ultimate weapon," the Death Star, a planet-sized
space station. Luke's first trip into the mythic underworld occurs when the
Falcon is "swallowed up" by this space station. Campbell notes that if the
hero cannot conquer or conciliate "the power of the [first] threshold," then he
enters "the belly of the whale." Within this underworld womb, "the hero
moves in a dream landscape of curiously fluid, ambiguous forms, where he
must survive a succession of trials."™
The Death Star, however, is not a living womb of rebirth, but a cold
monument to patriarchal technology, a tomb of death. Unlike the cave
entrances that guarded ancient entryways into the unknown, this temple of
dominator power is mechanical. Although it is "moon-like" (suggesting the
realm of the Goddess), it is man-made; instead of being ruled by the Terrible
Goddess, it is ruled by a "Terrible Father" with his own "Minotaur" roaming
the labyrinthine hallways, the half-man/half-machine Vader. The underworld
of the Death Star employs images associated with mythic initiation and the
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"feminine," but inverts them, presenting a technological "hell" which is also
"the ultimate power in the universe," the supreme accomplishment of
technical rationality.
What is the purpose of such an inversion? Ken Wilbur argues that
consciousness always struggles against demons that were the heroes of prior
stages of consciousness. When the masculine "solar ego" tried to overcome
tribal consciousness, it fought against the image of the Great Mother
transformed into dragons, demons, and witches.®^ Riane Eisler maintains that
such a recasting served to legitimize patriarchal control.™ Now such
patriarchal control is "in crisis," with technology threatening to destroy the
planet. Yet continued use of technology is necessary for economic and social
progress. Although some believed A New Hope to be anti-technology, it is
actually very pro-technology, providing a purification of "good" technology,
and a vilification of "bad" technology. This "bad" technology is dissociated
from patriarchal power and projected onto archetypal symbols of evil as
"Other" and female. For, as Erich Neumann observes, the underworld
(unconscious) is "symbolically feminine," a type of "vessel that sucks in and
destroys, and builds up, transforms and bears."™
The connection of negative phallic power with the negative Goddess is
made explicit in the garbage masher scene. Luke and his companions,
escaping from a botched attempt to rescue Leia, slide down a chute into the
garbage masher, becoming trapped in the bowels of the Death Star. When
Luke is suddenly dragged under some oily water by a large tentacled
creature, he is threatened with strangulation, then near drowning. Both can
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be viewed as symbolic castration attempts. Gordon observes that initiation
rites "serve as a passage to manhood by symbolically tempting and defying
castration," with the male warrior (hero) learning to overcome his fears of
death.®^ This fear of death is linked to the Terrible Goddess, not only
through the monster (which is phallicized through its protruding eye on a
stalk, and its large tentacle), but also through the closing walls. Campbell
notes that such walls are a common dream peril, combining "the ideas of
mother womb, imprisonment, cell and grave."® ® Yet, as Annis Pratt maintains,
most women do not consider the womb to be "an alien or dreadful place."® ®
As noted by Teresa De Lauretis, the linking of the feminine womb with the
deadly grave is one way that masculine psychology grapples with its
individual and collective fears of the feminine.™
Hie Terrible Goddess imagery of the garbage masher is extended past
the natural monster to the "supernatural" technology that remains unseen, yet
which starts the inexorable movement of the walls. It is not defeated by the
hero's direct action, but by the benign technology of the droids, who
represent a technology "that serves" in contrast to a technology "that
enslaves."®^ This "good" technology is linked to phallic power through
Artoo's actions: the robot "plugs in" to the central computer in a highly
suggestive way. A close up shot focuses on a stiff long rod which shoots up
from the middle of Artoo, then thrusts straight out before being inserted into
a round hole. This mechanical act of intercourse enables Artoo to stop the
walls and open the door, which had been "hermetically sealed." To access
the masculine "code" (knowledge, which equals power) requires the
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technological ability to "get it up" (the door's numbers, 3263827, add up to
the sum of thirty-one; when three is added to one, the result is four, a
masculine power number). The potency of this technological salvation is
reinforced by the rows of red lights over the door, which suggest a cross
above Luke's head.“
Individualism is also an issue in the relationships between Luke, Han,
and Leia, as demonstrated by the clash between the romantic, civilized order
represented by Leia, and the amoral, individualistic anarchy represented by
Han. Leia's devotion to duty supports the "rule of law" and republican
ideals, while Han's devotion to personal loyalty supports the quasi-tribalistic,
melodramatic world of the outcast/gangster.™ Luke is pulled between both,
partially synthesizing the two when he joins the Rebel Alliance, a community
both tribal (clan-like) and institutional (based on laws).
The conflict between Han and Leia further reflects the conflict between
civilizing "femininity" and brutish "masculinity." Both are confused by, but
admiring of, each other. Han rejects "female advice," calls Leia "your
Worshipfulness," and grouses "no reward is worth this" after she orders him
about. Yet he also remarks "she certainly has spirit," wondering if "the
Princess and a guy like me" could have a relationship (to which a jealous
Luke replies "No!"). Leia disparages the Falcon and condemns Han's
monetary motivations, but she also remarks to Luke that Han "certainly has
courage" and must "follow his own path." Their conflict reflects what Judith
Fetterly calls a certain type of masculine American dream whereby women
symbolize "the theme of growing up" from which men try to escape
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(epitomized by the story of Rip Van Winkle). Within such a narrative,
women are portrayed unsympathetically, as trying to tame and control men
through family and government.®^ In this way Leia is like Dame Van Winkle,
with the negative qualities of the male role given to her so that she becomes
a shrewish authority-figure whom Han seeks to evade in a cocky, masculine
way. Yet Leia's "bitchiness" is also linked to a noble cause, and as the series
progresses she becomes more nurturing, while Han's rugged individualism is
tamed.
The utopian vision of a "good masculinity" continues in the final combat
scenes in A New Hope. First, Kenobi meets and fights with Vader.
Throughout the film, Kenobi has been represented as noble, wise, serene, and
powerful, linked to Christian ideals of justice, compassion, and sacrifice.
When Alderaan is destroyed, he grabs his chest, overcome with empathetic
pain. Earlier, he had wielded his lightsaber with Samurai grace to save Luke
from a nasty alien in the Mos Eisley cantina, cutting off the alien's arm
(another type of castration). He goes to turn off the Death Star's tractor
beam by himself, forcing Luke to stay behind. As he leaves, he tells Luke
that "the Force will be with you, always," a statement reminiscent of the
resurrected Jesus's words to his disciples, "And surely I am with you
always."®® Kenobi's connection with Jesus continues during his battle with
Vader. At one point he tells Vader, "If you strike me down, I shall become
more powerful than you can possibly imagine." Later, with an enigmatic
smile, Kenobi allows Vader to kill him. He immediately disappears, his
empty robe analogous to the shroud in the empty tomb. His sacrificial death
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not only saves Luke and his companions, but also teaches Luke how to rely
on himself. Then, like the wizard Merlin, Kenobi reappears (as a
disembodied voice) when the hero is in dire need.® ®
Vader, in contrast, is represented as cruel, ambitious, and evil, a Satanic
figure who has defied conventional beliefs, rejecting the master's teachings.
Rubey calls him "the man in black seduced by the pursuit of dark knowledge
and experience," who places himself outside of society.®^ Vader kills others
without compunction, and tortures Leia with a "mind probe," a large metal
ball with a huge protruding hypodermic needle. The camera pans in on this
needle as it moves toward the cowering Leia, emphasizing its phallic nature
in this act of symbolic rape. Vader and the Empire represent the evil of
dehumanized bureaucracy, overly reliant on "bad" (destructive) technology.
But while Vader is kept alive by such technology, he is less attached to it
than are the technocrats that command the Death Star. Vader warns them
that "the ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the
Force."
The Imperial commanders, who scoff at Vader for his "sad devotion" to
an "extinct" religion, represent a soulless tyranny in which everyone is treated
like a machine. In particular, most of the Imperial "stormtroopers" are
nameless and faceless, hidden behind their black and white armor, evoking
images of skeletons and Nazis. They die unheroically, unseen and
unmoumed. The rebels, however, are portrayed sympathetically, given
names, shown to be heroic and to die bravely. The differences between the
two sides is encapsulated by their command centers. Governor Tarkin,
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commander of the Death Star, stands arrogantly before a giant hanging
square which displays a computer-generated image of Yavin, awaiting his
"moment of triumph" when he can fire upon the rebel base. In contrast, the
rebel generals, with Leia and Threepio, stand around a circular bowl
displaying an image of the aerial battle, which they anxiously monitor. The
former suggests an imperialistic, dominator mode of power; the latter
suggests an equalitarian, partnership mode of power.® ®
Yet the Rebel Alliance does not promote a truly democratic social order.
Instead, it promotes an aristocratic republic which aims to reestablish a more
humane, but still hierarchical, government, through the justifiable use of
violence and technological power. Rubey argues that the both the Empire
and the Rebel Alliance employ "a high energy technology of weapons, power,
noise, speed, and violence." The special effects create "an illusion of power
and control" that feeds on audience feelings of frustration and desires for
escapism. For Rubey, the film's "combination of traditional models of
individual combat with the technology of electronic warfare" romanticizes
war, establishing "a new set of heroic images appropriate to a technological
age," thereby solving "the problems of eroded values and depersonalized
experiences created by technology."®® The heroism is dependent upon male-
bonding, created by shared combat which serves as another rite-of-passage.
The "maleness" of this combat is reinforced by the fact that the watching
white male generals issue orders to the rebel pilots, but Leia does not; she is
reduced to a caring spectator.
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While the civiUzing "feminine" is subdued, the devouring "feminine" is
completely conquered. In the final tense moments of the battle, Tarkin is told
about the danger, but imperiously refuses to leave. The rebels have made
two attack runs on the Death Star trench, but both have failed. Now Luke
flies into the narrow trench just as the moon of Yavin comes into firing range
of the Death Star. Luke maneuvers down the trench, followed by Vader. He
hears Kenobi's voice telling him to use the Force, so he shuts off his targeting
computer. Just as Vader's weapons hit Artoo, and the Death Star begins its
"primary ignition," the Falcon descends from the sky, a star behind it with its
rays encircling the ship (a heaven blessed rescue). With a triumphant
cowboy yell, Han manages to knock Vader's ship out of the trench, sending
it spinning into space. Han tells Luke, "You're all clear, kid. Now let's blow
this thing and go home." Luke, looking dazed, shoots, then gasps for air as
the torpedoes shoot into the round exhaust-port hole, and the Death Star
explodes. The sexual imagery of this "aggressive phallic act" reinforces the
masculine potency of both Luke and the Rebel Alliance.^®
This potency is highlighted by the final Throne Room scene. Luke,
Han, and Chewie enter a large room and walk past rows of uniformed rebel
troops to a front dias. On this dias stand the generals, with Leia before
them, wearing a low-cut white gown, her hair piled high upon her head.
Like the medals she places around the necks of Luke and Han, she is a
symbolic prize, waiting to be won by the man with more sexual prowress,
indicated by her flirtation with both potential suitors, as well as the selective
rewards. Although Wedge flew down the trench with Luke, he was forced
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to leave when Vader disabled his ship. This ordinary rebel is not as potent
as the aristocratic Luke (his new status symbolized by his new clothes), or
the rugged pirate Han. Conversely, the Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca is too
much of an alien "Other," an animalistic threat, to be considered as a
competitor for Leia's affection. The romantic structure of the film suggests
that the one she chooses will lead the rebels, thus constraining the sexuality
of the heroes within the traditional, "civilized" framework of the paternal
family.
In a world increasingly run by multinational corporations, with
technology both pervasive and intrusive, the nostalgic rhetoric of A New
Hope works to purify and reaffirm the American values of freedom and
individuality. Instead of attacking either patriarchal power or the use of
technology, the film splits the images of masculinity and technology into the
"good" and the "bad." The evil side is linked to the negative feminine,
becoming the "appearance" or "illusion" of patriarchy. This dissociation
purges the patriarchal system, making it seem the authentic choice, despite
the fact it employs its own exploitive technology, its own violence, its own
hierarchy. Taken by itself, A New Hope reinforces the dominant status quo
by celebrating the victory of the "masculine" good over the "feminine"
(feminized) bad. In the next film, however, the dialectical struggle is
re-engaged.
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Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
Soon after the successful release of A New Hope, plans were made for
the production of the second film in the trilogy. The Empire Strikes Back.
Filmed in Norway and England, it was released in May, 1980 and quickly
became a box-office leader for the summer. Lucas had turned over the
directoral reigns to Irvin Kershner, a veteran director who was intrigued
"with the philosophical implications of the Force." Kershner had studied
anthropology and Eastern religions, and was influenced by the ideas of
psychologist Bruno Bettleheim. Thus he aimed to make a film which reached
"the subconscious fantasy life of children." Additionally, he provided a love
story to broaden its appeal to women.^^ Despite more mixed reviews than its
predecessor. Empire was widely seen as "a hugely accomplished and exciting
sequel."^ Yet, most reviewers also believed that the special effects were less
novel and the cliffhanger ending shortchanged the audience.^®
The narrative and plot structure of Empire is more complex that of A
New Hope, divided into several stories that occur simultaneously. Further, as
Gordon observed, it is "genuinely disturbing," beginning with its heroes in
retreat and the Empire winning.^^ Anne Lancashire points out that Empire
deals "soberingly with human limitations which are also above all
emotional."^® In doing so, it repeats some images and themes, while reversing
or inverting others. For example, instead of a hot, desert planet, the film
begins on a cold, icy planet; instead of the Wise Old Man figure, there is a
silly little elf (until revealed as the Jedi Master); instead of Western (rational,
masculine) modes of thought favoring direct, aggressive action there is
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Eastern (intuitive, feminine) modes of thought favoring indirect, passive
reaction; instead of a clear-cut external enemy, Luke must battle the enemy
within. Such oppositions force the audience to view the two films
antithetically, transforming the conflict from a struggle between good and evil
to a struggle over the nature of heroism itself.
To convey its message. Empire makes use of many themes and
archetypes associated with "feminine" myth, inverting some, while portraying
others ambiguously. The masculine-feminine dialectic is represented not only
in the film text, but between the two films. When juxtaposed. Empire
requires a reinterpretation of A New Hope, undermining some of the
ideological reaffirmation in the earlier film. As the "feminine" becomes more
exposed, tensions are exacerbated, leaving many feeling slightly uncomfortable
about the film, perhaps explaining why it is the least popular of the trilogy.
I have developed these points by examining the alterations of the hero's
quest in Empire, which is shifted from the rescue of a princess and salvation
of a city motifs to the search for identity through shamanistic rites-of-passage.
In particular, the analysis focuses on Luke and Han as co-heroes, who
become more clearly "son/consort" figures of the Goddess archetype. In
addition, the analysis explicates how this archetypal Goddess is symbolized in
her three aspects: daughter-maiden (Leia), mother-protector (Leia again, Yoda
and the benevolent Force), and crone-destroyer (Yoda as embodiment of
wisdom, but also the negative Force and all the snares, traps, monsters, and
mazes in the film ).^®
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From its opening shot. Empire repeats and reverses A New Hope.
Again a huge, triangular Imperial Star Destroyer dominates the screen;
however, it moves toward the audience rather than away. Instead of
overtaking something and "swallowing" it, this ship "spits" out something— the
probe droid, which lands on Hoth. Hoth's snow and ice contrast directly
with both the desert of Tatooine (seen at the start of A New Hope) and the
jungle of Yavin's moon (seen at the end of A New Hope), the former location
of the rebel base. The droid emerges from a snowbank like a mechanical
jellyfish, suggesting once more that technology has produced the new
"monsters of the deep."
The purity and "virginity" of the daughter aspect of the Goddess is seen
in Leia, who once again wears white, with her hair tightly braided around
her head (suggesting that her devotion to duty has increased). She coldly
rebuffs Han when he says he is leaving; then, after he becomes upset, she
tries to get him to stay for rational reasons, because he's "a natural leader."
Her focus is on his commitment to the rebellion, while he challenges her to
reveal more personal feelings, suggesting she is afraid he would leave
without kissing her goodbye. She haughtily replies, "I'd just as soon kiss a
Wookiee." He answers, "That can be arranged. You could use a good kiss!"
The lights in the background mirror their conflict— red behind him, blue
behind her, suggesting not only the clash between passion and duty, but
between hot and cold. Han's statement implies that not only could a kiss
"warm" her up, it could also cure her of her fervent devotion to the rebel
cause.
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Empire also repeats the mythic initiation of Luke, but at a deeper, more
punishing level. Some, like Denis Wood, believed that Luke had already
become a hero in A New Hope, thus the repeated initiation was
unnecessary.^ But Lancashire argues that while the first film explores the
transition from childhood to adolescence, the second explores the "emotionally
unsettling experience of adolescence," preparing for the transition into
adulthood.^® The repeated initiations can also be seen as necessary for the
hero to achieve the special status of shaman through rituals of death, burial,
and rebirth.^® To move from mere social hero to patriarchal savior, Luke
must undergo more severe testing (as does Han, his surrogate brother). Each
rite-of-passage episode in Empire serves as a foreshadowing of the final, most
harrowing one.
Luke's first such rite-of-passage occurs when he is attacked by the
Wampa, a creature with two large horns circling its head, and giant teeth and
claws, resembling the "abominable snowman" (or, in this case "snowwoman,"
since monsters are associated with the negative Goddess). This attack
parallels the attack by the Sandpeople in A New Hope. Once again Luke is
knocked unconscious by a member of the indigenous population and
symbolically castrated (by temporarily losing his lightsaber). But whereas the
Sandpeople carry Luke by the shoulders and dump him on the ground, the
Wampa drags Luke by the foot and hangs him upside down, foreshadowing
how much his identity will turn "topsy-turvy" in this film .® "
In A New Hope, Luke had to be rescued by Kenobi, but now he can
rescue himself, becoming visually linked to his former teacher when he cuts
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off the W ampa's arm, as Kenobi cut off the alien's arm in Mos Eisely. Luke
has matured from his experiences in the first film, facing a natural monster in
a natural environment, and defeating it. But he has not yet gained his full
measure of phallic power, for unlike Kenobi, he flees in panic, and must be
rescued by Han, who appears in the mist left behind by Kenobi's spirit
(suggesting that Han is also connected to the wizard). Although Alex
Eisenstein objected to Han's "prosaic use" of the lightsaber to slice open the
dead Tauntaun,®^ this action clearly establishes Han as a brother-figure to
Luke, a co-hero who saves Luke through "guts." While the natural "womb"
preserves Luke, he is only fully rejuvenated in the technological "womb" of
the "bacta tank" (a large cylinder filled with blue liquid into which Luke is
immersed).
The battle between the rebels and the invading Imperial forces also
involves a repetition and reversal of A New Hope. The rebel attack against
the Death Star ended that film, with the rebels winning. This new struggle, a
defense rather than an attack, comes near the start of Empire, with the rebels
losing. Once more, individual rebels fight bravely against a superior foe,
suffering heavy casualties. Unable to stop the giant, dinosaur-like "Walkers"
in a conventional way, the rebels show ingenuity in lassoing one of them.
Then Luke singlehandly defeats another Imperial machine, his actions evoking
the image of a prehistoric hunter killing a massive mastodon. Still, in the
context of this battle, it is a small gesture which occurs virtually without
notice, since the other rebels are busy evacuating the planet. Soon Luke joins
them, speeding away from Hoth in his X-Wing spacecraft, telling Artoo
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"we're not going to regroup with the others." He has accepted the spectral
Kenobi's charge to seek out the Jedi Master, Yoda, setting his course for
Dagobah.
At this point Empire splits into different narrative lines. Some argued
that consequently the film became more disjointed and incoherent.®^
Lancashire, however, asserted that both plot lines parallel each other in
design and themes, with Luke traveling to the life-filled swamps of Dagobah
while Han and Leia wind up in the gullet of a giant space slug. The visual
connections of these scenes suggest "that Han and Leia are beginning a
learning process similar to Luke's and also having to do with the power of
human emotions and the human potential for both good and ev il.® ® Similarly,
I argue that both heroes leave a frigid, desolate wasteland and travel to
primal environments associated with both nature and the "feminine," where
they undergo small initiations that preview their later, more significant rites-
of-passage.
Luke's journey into the mythic underworld begins when he arrives at
Dagobah, shooting through fog and branches to land in a watery swamp
surrounded by large trees, with bat-like creatures swooping through the air.
These elements suggest that Luke has entered the primeval realm of the
Goddess, a place of rebirth, or "cosmic womb." Luke climbs out, but Artoo
falls into the water and Luke calls for him as Han called for Luke when he
was dragged under water in A New Hope. Artoo's periscope breaks the
surface of the water, his electronic eye contrasting to the organic eye-stalk of
the garbage masher monster. Artoo is drawn under the surface of the water.
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but is quickly spit out, the technological "man" rejected by the natural world.
Throughout this sequence Luke is shown that technology hinders his spiritual
rebirth, whether it is his processed food (which Yoda rejects) or his lightsaber.
Luke's quest is not to become a mere hero, as he has already achieved
that status in A New Hope, as illustrated by the changes in his perceived
height. In the first film Leia says he is too short to be a stormtrooper, but in
this film Yoda asks him how he "got so big" (tall). Luke has indeed "grown,"
but he still must undergo a symbolic death to be reborn as a male savior, the
last Jedi Knight. Yoda, who first appears to Luke in disguise, acting silly
(like a trickster) is the shaman who helps Luke achieve his passage.
Shamanism has its roots in the archaic worship of the "feminine
principle," with the shaman linked to the archetype of the androgyne. Mircea
Eliade noted that shamans could be "regarded as the intermediaries between
the two cosmological planes— earth and sky," combining within themselves
"the feminine element (earth) and the masculine element (sky)." This "ritual
androgyny" mimics "the divine biunity."®^ Neumann argued that the male
seer "is in high degree 'feminine'," often dressing as a woman, since the belief
was that women understood the Spirit both within and without, and were the
source of magic, associated with both the cauldron and the cave.® ® Barbara
Meyerhoff observes that the shaman could sometimes be a woman, while
Walker links shamanistic wisdom to the crone-destroyer aspect of the
Goddess archetype, with the cauldron the symbol of her everlasting on-going
creativity, indicative of how life emerges from death.® ®
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Yoda reflects all these qualities. He is not the "great (male) warrior"
Luke was expecting, but is small, passive, gentle, and nurturing, as well as
stern and powerful. His behavior is odd, and somewhat "socially inept."®^
He lives in a small dragon-shaped hut in the Dagobah swamp and feeds
Luke "good food" from his bubbling cauldron. This Jedi Master "mothers" the
motherless Luke, teaching him to be less impatient and angry. Yet Yoda,
who eschews violence, also has powers which are almost "god-like,"
miraculously raising Luke's ship from the pool (a type of raising Luke from
the dead insofar as the ship is an analogue of Luke). Yoda's age and
wisdom connect him to the crone aspect of the Goddess, who could be a
spiritual guide as well as a bringer of death.® ®
In addition, in Empire the Force is explicitly tied to Nature. Yoda
expands on Kenobi's description of the Force, telling Luke that
Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and
binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter.
You must feel the Force around you. Here— between you, me,
the tree, the rock, everywhere. Yes, even between this land
and the ship.
These ideas are similar to those espoused by Carlos Castaneda in A Separate
Reality, where the shaman Don Juan asserts that "things don't change. You
change your way of looking, that's all." The warrior-initiate becomes
detached, loses his fears, learning to be humble, understanding that he is a
"luminous being" who acts with the energy of the natural w orld.® ® Leonard
M. Scigaj notes that Lucas and Kershner adapted "many elements of the
Yaqui shaman's culture to Jedi culture." The warrior-initiate learns to
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cultivate "detachment and patience" so as to accomplish "extraordinary
physical and mental feats."®"
Luke is shown running through the Dagobah jungle with Yoda on his
back. As he does somersaults and swings from vines, Yoda tells him to
beware the "dark side" of the Force which arises from the negative emotions
of anger, fear and aggression. When Luke asks if the dark side is stronger,
Yoda replies "[n]o, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive." Luke can only know
the good side when he is "calm, at peace, passive." He adds that the Jedi
only uses the Force "for knowledge and defense, never attack." They arrive
then at a large tree with its base partially in water, with its twisted, giant
roots forming a cave entrance underneath. Yoda tells him that it is a place
strong "with the dark side of the Force." Although evil, Luke must enter it.
When he asks what is inside, Yoda answers "only what you take with you."
As Luke straps on his lightsaber, Yoda tells him he will not need his
weapons. Luke disagrees, pushing aside vines and climbing down past roots
into the darkness, as a lizard scurries past. A snake is seen wrapped around
the root tendrils, clearly marking the cave as another mythic underworld.
That Luke has crossed a new threshold is further underscored by the
extreme dream-like quality of this episode. The film texture turns grainy and
diffused as Luke progresses into the cave, suddenly seeing the image of
Vader coming toward him in slow motion (the only time such a technique is
used in the series). Luke ignites his saber first, engaging in a brief battle
with the apparition before cutting off its head. Scigaj argues that this severed
head represents a "lack of understanding of the self as generator of ^
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experience," illustrating how much Luke has failed to control his fears. When
it "shockingly transforms itself into his own image," Luke is confronted with
the knowledge that "the fears he sees outside himself are really self-created"^^
Inside the cave Luke faces his own "dark side," his own "Shadow" in Jungian
terms.
Concurrent with this sequence is one involving Han and Leia as they
try to evade the Imperial fleet. Han weaves the Falcon through numerous
enemy ships in a crazy roller-coaster ride, with one sharp dive causing a
collision between two Star Destroyers. Seen from underneath, the two ships
briefly cross, altering the imagery from triple triangles ("feminine" symbolism)
to a square ("masculine" symbolism) and a triangle, perhaps unconsciously
reinforcing the androgynous turn of the series, Han subsequently attempts to
go into hyperdrive, but nothing happens-the Falcon is "impotent." Han and
Chewie try to work on repairing "the hyperdrive motivator" as Leia pilots the
ship, but a new threat appears in the form of large asteroids. Han decides to
fly into the asteroid field, eventually maneuvering through a canyon into a
big crater. He spots what seems to be a cave and flies up and over, shooting
down into a dark tunnel which becomes a literal "belly of the whale," another
underworld realm.
Within this underworld, Han, as co-hero, "meets with the Goddess" in
the form of Leia, whom he woos, as red lights glow in the background.
During this scene Han admits to being both a "scoundrel" and a "nice man"
before he kisses Leia. Han's duality permits him to express some of the
desires forbidden to Luke, who has become more ascetic. Yet these desires
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are presented as potentially dangerous, since they occur in a soggy, fog-
ridden environment, populated by large flying creatures with tentacles. The
possibility of sex has been translated into the threat of the terrible, devouring
Goddess, with the Falcon barely escaping the snapping teeth of a giant space
slug (a type of vagina dentata).
The Falcon flies away from these "jaws of death" like a tiny insect, its
size much smaller than when it entered the "cave." Not only does this
disjunction create viewer disorientation, it also suggests the vulnerability of
the heroes to the negative "feminine." This negative "feminine" is then
visually linked to the negative "masculine" when, after a short "magic flight,"
the Falcon clings to the back of one of the Star Destroyers, once more
diminished in size. By associating the "terrible father" and his destructive
technology with the powerful danger of nature, the filmmakers make the
Empire seem more fearsome and potent.
Yet they also suggest that this potency is illusory. Noting the "ubiquity
of garbage" in the Star Wars series, David Wyatt observes that "bad men
simply dump their garbage, and their machines always work. They live in a
wholly technological world .... Theirs is an illusion that power can be fully
embodied in efficient objects. In contrast, the "junky," less efficient Falcon,
which can hide amid "the rest of the garbage," is ultimately seen as more
trustworthy, further dissociating the image of benign technology from the
evil, polluting technology of the ruling patriarchal bureaucracy.
More ambiguities occur in the subsequent Bespin sequences. Han's
decision to rely upon another "card-player, gambler, [and] scoundrel" has
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disastrous results. First, Threepio is literally "blown to bits," a magnification
of his severed arm in A New Hope. This dismemberment reflects fears of
death and castration, partially allayed because the droid "is a machine with
replaceable parts," and can be repaired.^^ Unless "melted down" (Threepio's
biggest fear), the droid is nearly indestructible, almost immortal. As an ideal
"man," a product of advanced technology, Threepio's actions and appearance
mystify the connections between humans and technology, representing an
implied promise of eternal life through machines. Yet there is also an
implied threat that such technology will overwhelm us, so the film works to
keep the droid subservient and cowardly, the butt of numerous jokes. This is
illustrated by Threepio's rescue, where Chewbacca tosses Threepio's severed
head around like a football, in a comic game of "keep away" with the
Ugnaughts tending the Cloud City furnace.
Chewbacca returns to where Han and Leia are waiting with a box filled
with Threepio's parts, and Leia asks if the Wookiee can repair the droid.
Leia's concern for Threepio, and for Han's future plans, suggest that she is
becoming more personally involved, less "cold" and virginal, less the dutiful
daughter and more the nurturing mother, as well as seductress (although she
does not trust Han's "old friend," Lando, she flirts with him, carefully
watching Han's reaction). Her appearance reinforces this impression. She is
more "feminine," wearing makeup, letting her braids fall in coils around her
face, wearing softer, more colorful clothes (up until this scene Leia has only
worn white). She has indeed been transformed by Han's kiss, become more
"loosened up."
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The flamboyant Lando then conducts Han, Leia, and Chewbacca to what
could be a civilized repast (given the attractive table setting) if Darth Vader
were not the host. The evil Lord of the Sith, with bounty hunter Boba Fett
beside him, stands before a large, round window, perhaps a visual pun on
the idea of the "great round" of the Goddess. This scene inverts the
traditional associations of food and eating with mothering, nourishment, and
social kinship. Walker notes that food also is "a medium of salvation" in
many of the Goddess worshipping sects of the ancient near-East.^ When
Yoda offers food to Luke, he offers sustenance for Luke's body and his spirit.
When Lando and Vader offer food, however, it is a trap, the antithesis of
sharing, emphasized by Vader's ironic statement that "we would be honored
if you joined us."
The sequence now turns darker. Lando, the "responsible businessman,"
has allowed the profit-motive ("the price you pay for being a success") to
corrupt him, causing him to make a deal with Vader to ensure the security of
his dubious mining operation. Cloud City had appeared to offer the rewards
and pleasures of a consumer culture in its sunny, airy vistas and well-dressed
populace. But the attractive facade is false, with its plastic artificiality hiding
some very nasty surprises. Underneath its glittering surface is a foreboding
underworld, a technological hell akin to the Death Star, ruled by its own
"terrible father."
Vader's evil is highlighted when he tortures Han on the "scan grid,"
perverting a device designed to analyze metal with an electric current.^^
Vader tells Fett that "Captain Solo will not be permanently damaged" before
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altering his arrangement with Lando. The weakened Han is taken to a cell
where Chewie has been repairing Threepio. After the Wookie was tormented
with flashing lights and shrill noises, he had picked up the droid's head,
"barking a few philosophical remarks"^^ as he examined it, a natural Hamlet
with a technological Yoric. Ironically, this "ape-man" has the expertise to
reconstruct the highly sophisticated Threepio. But he stops his repair work to
minister to Han; soon after, Leia is also pushed into the cell, once more
wearing her white jumpsuit. She cradles Han in her arms.
Their torture has seemed to serve no purpose until Lando enters the cell
and tells them of Vader's plan to ensnare Luke. Han angrily hits Lando, his
"Shadow," rejecting the expedient, individualistic world he represents. The
guards knock Han to the ground, then Lando swirls his cape (visually
connecting him to Vader) and departs. During this scene the ceiling light-
bars cast shadows over Lando's face and right eye, indicating how he has
become blinded to the truth.
Han, Leia, and Chewie, with the partially completed Threepio strapped
to his back, are then taken to the carbon-freezing chamber by Fett and six
stormtroopers. The scene is apocalyptic, as Ugnaughts prepare a circular pit
filled with yellowish steam, while Vader stands beneath red lights, watching.
Once more he has perverted a relatively benign technology toward an evil
purpose. As Lancashire notes, this scene, "with its close-ups of suffering
faces, serious and wildly romantic music, and the slow descent of Han into
the carbon-freezing pit, is emotional and genuinely moving," if also
ambiguous.^^ Han's actions have led to a severe punishment, turning him
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into a sacrificial victim for the sins of the independent masculine world. His
role as symbolic scapegoat is reinforced by his frozen position with hands
uplifted in a supplicant position, a jarring visual image since he was lowered
into the pit with his arms tied to his sides.^® Further, funeral music plays as
the coffin-like slab of carbonite is escorted through Cloud City to Fett's
spaceship.
Meanwhile, back on Dagobah, Luke has had disturbing mental visions
of his friends' suffering. At first he tries to follow Yoda's counsel and stay
with his training, but finally he chooses to go to Bespin, placing personal
friendship over the rebel cause. Both Yoda and Kenobi's spirit try to get him
to stay, reminding him that while he "feels the Force" he can not really
control it. Kenobi stresses that it is probably a trap, and that Luke may
succumb to temptation. He urges Luke to have patience, even if it means the
sacrifice of his friends. But Luke continues to make preparations to leave, so
both Kenobi and Yoda tell him to rely on what he has learned. After he
departs, Yoda chides Kenobi, who replies "that boy is our last hope." Yoda
cryptically responds, "No, there is another."
While some believe that Luke's decision represents his only authentic
moral choice in Empire, others point to the ambiguity of its outcome,
stressing that Luke's journey to Bespin depicts a "fall into temptation.
Gerald Forshey argues that the film suggests that "ambition is suspect and
power for its own sake is corrupting. Yet when Luke interrupts his Jedi
apprenticeship in an attempt to protect Han and Leia, his ambition to save
them and to overcome Vader's power is in itself ambiguous and potentially
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c o rr u p tin g .I n A New Hope, Kenobi told Luke to trust his feelings, but
now Luke is told to control his feelings. Lancashire points out how his
"apparently 'noble' impulses" not only jeopardize his friends and "the ultimate
success of the Rebel cause," but also lead to his own "considerable injury.
Empire suggests that both our positive and negative emotions may mislead
us.
As he traverses the maze-like hallways of Cloud City, Luke becomes cut
off from his friends and Artoo. A platform raises him into the carbon-freezing
chamber, reversing the traditional motif of a descent into the underworld. In
this lurid, technological hell, machines await to turn him into an object, while
the half-machine Vader stands silhouetted in the blue and red lights. As in
the tree-cave, Luke attacks first, engaging in a fierce battle with Vader. At
one point he manages to knock his enemy down a flight of stairs, then
stands at the top, bathed in red, suggesting that he has succumbed to
aggression and anger. Now, on the brink of falling into evil, Luke descends
after Vader (rather than escaping). He passes through a round metal tunnel,
a type of technological womb entrance, entering a control room above the
reactor core of Cloud City. As the grated door closes behind him, he hears
Vader's breathing, and turns to face him, reigniting his sword and thrusting
it upward in an aggressive, phallic manner.
Vader, however, does not attack, but instead uses advanced telekinesis
to assault Luke with pipes and various pieces of equipment. Luke tries to
deflect them, but fails. Vader's power is clearly superior and more
intimidating than it was in A New Hope. Finally, after Luke's body has been
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severely battered, a piece of equipment breaks the round, paned window
overlooking the core. Luke is sucked out into a chasm, hurtling through the
center of the window upside down. Divided by its panes into circles,
triangles and quadrants, this window represents a mandala. Mandatas are
round or oval diagrams symmetrically arranged in geometric patterns, which
serve as guides to meditation. Incorporating both "feminine" and
"masculine" imagery, mandatas also symbolize "integration, harmony, and
transformation.Both mandatas and windows act as gateways into the
unconscious mind, representing both the universe and the individual psyche.
By passing through the center, the hero-initiate experiences "the cosmic
process of disintegration and reintegration."^” ® When Luke is pulled through
this window, his old identity is shattered, turned upside down.
Luke's rite of passage continues after he manages to grab hold of a
ledge and pull himself up onto a bridge extension. He undergoes a type of
"bad dream" where, as Eisenstein observes, the bogeyman "jumps out of the
woodwork at every turn" to traumatize him.^” ^ Eventually Vader defeats Luke
by slicing off his right hand, which falls into the abyss, still clutching the
phallic lightsaber. After this symbolic castration, Luke backs out over the
void, to the literal "end of the line," while Vader tempts him with joint rule
over the galaxy, like the devil tempting Christ in the wilderness. Because
Vader reveals himself to be Luke's actual father, the scene takes on Oedipal
overtones, both arousing and relieving castration anxiety. Throughout the
film, Vader has been associated with symbolic castration, seen in his quasi
comic strangulation of his officers. Gordon maintains that Vader is "clearly
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Satanic .... He strides through the action like a source of demonic energy,
as unstoppable as the Id."^®
Yet Vader is more than just a "bogeyman" or "terrible father." Earlier in
the film the audience briefly views Vader without his helmet, as he sits in his
"meditation cubicle," like an evil pearl in a black metallic clamshell. For
Wyatt, this scene crystallizes the "visual and aural ironies" surrounding the
character. For example, the actor who portrays Vader
is a white man . . . playing a 'black' man and dubbed with a
black man's voice. This designed darkness is scarcely as
sinister, however, as the glimpse we get of the white seamed
avocado pit that is Vader's head. This whiteness at the core
of all this darkness insinuates . . . that we are in a world
which beckons us with a chilling inversion Of our moral
categories.,^” ^
This inversion of black and white extends to ideas of good and evil, and
"masculine/ feminine." Vader symbolizes the "dark side" of Luke, yet he is
also a consort to the "Terrible Goddess," represented by the Emperor, who
appears in a large holographic image. A New Hope implied that the unseen
Emperor was a Nazi-like strong man like Governor Tarkin, more interested in
military conquest than spiritual seduction. Yet Empire reveals the Emperor to
be a dark Jedi master, what one reviewer called a "corrupt Obi-Wan
Kenobi."^” ^ I believe the Emperor symbolizes a type of "bad mother," the
crone as destroyer, in contrast to Yoda.^” ®
The son/consort of the Goddess archetypally undergoes a sacrificial
death, burial, and rebirth. One variation of the myth focuses on the theme of
the "father-killing son and son-killing father," exemplified by the story of
Oedipus. Yet another variation focuses on the "brother-killing" theme.
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exemplified by the story of Osiris, the brother-husband of the Egyptian
Goddess, Isis. Orisis's twin and "dark aspect," Set, imprisons Orisis in a
coffin which he dispatches down the Nile. After Isis locates the body. Set
dismembers and castrates it, scattering the pieces. Once again, Isis searches
for Osiris, eventually restoring him to life as his son, Horus, avenges him .^°®
Both themes are combined in Empire. Vader, the father and "dark aspect" of
Luke, imprisons Han (Luke's surrogate brother) in a "coffin" which he
dispatches into space. Then he mutilates (castrates) his son, Luke. In a
mythic twist, Vader offers to save Luke by transforming him into another
Lord of Death. Luke's dilemma is that he must choose between his father
and the unknown void. Wyatt argues that "no matter how true [Luke] is to
himself in letting go, he betrays something primal in refusing Vader's
hand.""”
Yet Luke does reject Vader, choosing to fall into the abyss. He is
drawn into the vulva-like opening of the exhaust vent, which is rimmed with
red lights, then tumbles through another round metal tunnel before being
ejected from Cloud City. He is symbolically "crucified," swinging upside
down on a cross-like weather-vane, amid other vanes stark in the ominous
yellow-pink sky, an inverted Golgotha (since these "crosses" point downward).
He calls for his "good father" Kenobi, but gets no response, so he calls for the
"good mother" figure of Leia, who has escaped in the Falcon with Lando and
Chewie. Although she failed to rescue Han, she successfully engineers Luke's
rescue, ordering Chewie to turn back, and Lando to "open the top hatch."
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Lando ascends through the round hatch, bathed in light, no longer in
shadow. He brings Luke into the Falcon, cradling him like a newborn baby
until Leia can bind up his wounds, as protective Goddess. Lando's change of
status, from untrustworthy scoundrel to new hero, is indicated by his
similarity to (and replacement of) Han. When the Falcon refuses to go into
lightspeed, Lando repeats Han's words: "It's not my fault!" Later, as he
prepares to leave with Chewie, Lando wears similiar clothes, a white shirt
and black vest. This transformation and redemption of Han's "Shadow"
anticipates Vader's transformation and redemption in Jedi.
Throughout Empire, the "masculine principle" has suffered, from the
tortures of the co-heroes to the mechanical breakdown of the Falcon. Even
the droids have been punished, with Threepio completely dismembered, and
Artoo briefly electrocuted. Some reviewers found such treatment of the
heroes to be "humiliating," and were also displeased because the film focused
more on murky, claustraphobic inner spaces than on transcendent outer
spaces."^ Yet such punishments serve two purposes. Mythically, the heroes
have faced major ordeals, which initiates them into adulthood. Rhetorically,
the heroes are symbolic scapegoats for the masculine heroic ideal, which is
proven to be "impotent" in the face of the negative "Other" (or "feminine").
Empire exacerbates the tensions between "masculine" and "feminine,"
temporarily "vanquishing" the "masculine" side, creating an antithesis to A
New Hope, which is necessaiy for the dialectic to be resolved through
synthesis in the final film.
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Other tensions, however, remain unresolved in Empire, suggested by its
"formal mastery of the technical and its deep skepticism of technique." Wyatt
argues that the conflict between these two raises unanswered questions,
especially concerning the depiction of space and "the life of the spirit," neither
of which can be satisfactorily visualized through a material artifact. Because
Lucas "must continually straddle the gulf between being a visionary and an
engineer," his film as a product "radically compromises, even while it
powerfully evokes," his vision."^ Such ambiguities continue in Tedi, with the
technique threatening to overwhelm the narrative, calling the entire mythic
structure into question.
Star Wars VI: Return of the Tedi
Because of the overwhelming responses of Star Wars fans to The Empire
Strikes Back, Lucas felt the need to be more secretive during the production
of Return of the Tedi. Plot developments were carefully guarded, with the
actors receiving partial or dummy scripts. Lucas feared that this film, which
cost three times the amount of A New Hope, would not be a success if the
audience knew the ending. On location in Arizona and California, the crew
wore hats proclaiming that they were making a film called Blue Horizon,
"horror beyond imagination." After Tedi opened, this statement summed up
Lucas's feelings about the project."®
Lucas became tired of Tedi because he was so intimately involved with
the entire Star Wars saga. In addition, director Marquand consulted him more
frequently than did Kershner. Lucas was also more involved in writing the
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screenplay, preparing a first draft in 1981, which Lawrence Kasdan then
completed. Apparently Lucas had titled the third episode Return of the Tedi,
but Kasdan preferred Revenge of the Tedi. so both titles were registered. The
final choice was based on the strong fan belief that Jedi Knights do not take
revenge."^
The initial screenings of Tedi were packed with cheering fans and the
fihn was sold out for weeks. Its box office was phenomenal, breaking
records on its very first day of release. Gerald Clarke observed that while
everyone expected the sequel to do well, "no one was prepared for the
human tidal wave" that packed the theaters all summer."® Lucas believed
that Tedi was the best film in the trilogy, though many critics agreed with
Clarke that the film suffered from "an overemphasis on effects and a too
proud display of odd-looking creatures," combined with scenes "extended to
the point of satiety." Yet Clarke also noted that Lucas had managed "to hook
into some very basic images." This made Tedi both entertaining and "old
fashioned.""®
Lucas believes that film is not only a pervasive medium, but also one
that is morally influential, telling audiences "what is right and wrong." With
Tedi. Lucas insisted that
I was trying to say in a very simple way, knowing that the
film was made for a young audience, is that there is a God
and there is both a good side and a bad side. You have a
choice between them, but the world works better if you're on
the good side. It's just that simple."’ '
Tedi pulls the entire trilogy together by synthesizing and repeating elements
of the other two films. Marquand likened it to "the third movement of a
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piece of music. The themes are being developed and ended here.""® For
Lancashire, the repetitive structure of Tedi provides audiences with "an
unchanging Star Wars world in which men [sic] grow and acquire new,
complex perspectives on human existence as they move from innocence
through experience to maturity.""’ The plot structure of Tedi is a complex
mixture of both A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, developing in
three distinct segments: the Jabba sequence, the bridging sequence (on
Dagobah, at Rebel headquarters and on the moon of Endor), and the final
battle sequence (occurring simultaneously in space, on the moon of Endor,
and in the Emperor's "throne room").
In Tedi. the "masculine/feminine" dialectic occurs through the two
primary quests that Luke undertakes, first to save Han (his surrogate brother)
from Jabba's underworld, then second to save Vader (his father) from the
Emperor's underworld. Luke is endowed with positive "feminine" and
"masculine" traits, which enable him to defeat both the melodramatic "macho"
world of the gangster and the dehumanized technological world of the
despot. Once again, the malevolent "appearance" of patriarchal rule is linked
to the negative "feminine" archetype through various mythic inversions.
Further, the androgynization of the male heroes makes them seem to be
"bland," less individualistic and more communal, presenting a purified image
of masculinity, which reaffirms the benevolent "rule of the father," as well as
traditional ideals of the family. These points are further developed through
an analysis of the main characters as they interact with the various
representations of the "Other" (especially Jabba and the Emperor).’
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Tedi begins like the first two Star Wars films, with a triangular Star
Destroyer moving through space. It stops before a new Death Star under
construction, releasing a bird-like Imperial shuttle. This shuttle lands in the
main hanger of the Death Star, which is bigger and shinier than the one in A
New Hope. Masses of faceless stormtroopers line up to greet the arrival of
Darth Vader, underscoring both the dehumanization and the immensity of the
Empire. The scene then shifts to the first mythic quest, the rescue of Han
Solo. Each of the heroes gains entry into Jabba's abode. Artoo and Threepio
appear to arrive first, after passing through a desert wasteland. Threepio
knocks on a massive door and a small panel opens, shooting out a
mechanical "eye," which resembles both the garbage monster's eye-stalk in A
New Hope and Artoo's periscope in Empire. The former image presented a
natural eye in a mechanical "hell," while the latter image presented a
mechanical eye in a natural "hell." Both images are synthesized in Jedi,
which presents a mechanical eye in a combined natural/technological "hell,"
prefiguring the combination of those two concepts later in the film (with
dehumanized technology linked to the negative "feminine")
The Jabba sequence employs several images associated with the
devouring Goddess. First, as the droids pass through the smoke-filled
doorway, a mechanical spider passes behind them, metaphorically cutting off
their exit. Next, they are stopped by the Gamorrean guards, who have boar
like tusks. The majordomo, Fortuna, evokes the Goddess Fortuna (fate),
while his appearance suggests both wizardry and decadence. He leads them
through a triangular doorway framed in blue light. Walker notes that such
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triangular doors often marked the entrance of the Goddess temples in the
ancient world, though they were marked with red (symbolizing blood)."’
Blue is a color associated with the masculine world of spirit and intellect,
though it can also represent stupidity or delusion.’"
The odd mix of creatures in Jabba's court (evoking the cantina scene in
A New Hope) point to its nasty nature, exemplified by such names as
Salacious Crumb and the Rancor beast. Arthur Asa Berger notes that Jabba is
both "morally ugly" and "physically repulsive."’" Andrew Sarris calls him "a
libidinously misshapen monster."’" As in Indiana Tones, sexuality is
associated with depravity, with Jabba's underworld highly eroticized. Jon
Lewis argues that "Jabba's style of eroticism and violence sets up Luke as a
moral force who will clean up that salacious world."’" From the perspective
of this study, the Jabba sequence combines the sexual embrace of the
bountiful Goddess with the fearful (and repellant) devouring Goddess,
exposing the castration-anxiety of patriarchal culture. This anxiety is partially
expressed by the extreme fetishism of the four "women" in Jabba's abode.
The first female, Sy Snootles, is a parodie image of woman as pop star.
She sings with the band, her skinny arms and legs gesturing from a round,
polka-dotted body with dried-up breasts. Protruding from her face is a long
phallic snout, which ends in red-painted lips, ludicrously bowed like a
Hollywood starlet. Her inappropriateness as a fetish object is repeated in the
obese female who dances to the band's music, a pathetic-looking creature
who has facial warts, pendulous breasts, and tangled hair evoking the
Medusa (though without the power). In contrast, the other dancer, Oola, is
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much more sensual, her phallic head-appendages swirling out from her as she
dances with her chain. Her skimpy outfit, leather headgear, and neck cuff all
suggest sexual bondage, and Jabba drools as he watches her, thrusting out his
phallic tongue."® He pulls on her chain, but she resists, almost hysterically,
so he drops her into the Rancor pit. She screams before being eaten by the
monster, while a leering crowd of galactic misfits watches and cheers. The
scene has overtones of a voyeuristic gang rape and murder, with Jabba
getting substitute pleasure by eating a live frog and belching. Being eaten
alive can be considered as "a possible disguise for castration anxiety.'”" Such
anxiety is relieved by the symbolic sacrifice of the threatening (sexual)
woman. Finally, in Jabba's basement is what seems to be the antithesis of
sensuality, a thin, black droid whose cold, metallic voice and body suggest
woman as phallicized prison matron, supervising the torture of droids.
Mythic connections to the archetypal "feminine" continue in the rescue
of Han, whose carbonized body hangs on the wall, light beams framing it
like some type of religious artifact, which contrasts "starkly with the hall in
which it hangs.'”" He evokes a masculinized image of the Goddess Inanna,
but instead of turning into rotting meat, he remains cold, metallic, static.
Further, the two "neutered" helpers who arrive to intercede in his behalf are
forced into servitude. Han's fate also suggests that of Kore/Persephone, who
was abducted by Pluto, the ruler of the dead, and taken to Hades. In pre-
patriarchal myth, "Pluto" was one of the names of Demeter as the Divine
Mother, pouring out "riches" to the world from her breasts. Only later was
the name assigned to a male god."’ In Jedi, Jabba, who resembles both a
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giant limp penis and large swollen breast, is analogous to Pluto as lustful
Goddess and male rapist."” His perverted sexuality connects him to the
negative "feminine" (as all-devouring vagina), while his violence connects him
to the negative "masculine" (as tyrannical phallus).
As noted earlier, the carbonized block also resembles Osiris's coffin,
dumped into the Nile by the evil Set, winding up as a pillar in the palace of
the King of Byblos. Just as Osiris's sister/consort, Isis, finds the coffin, so
does Han's "sister/consort" figure, Leia, find Han's "coffin," as a different type
of pillar in a different kind of palace. It is Leia who "unfreezes" Han's body,
restoring him to life with her touch. But her nurturing mother role is
contradicted by her earlier appearance as a metalicized man, threatening to
destroy the palace with a nuclear device. Her "masculinization" is matched
by Han's sudden "feminization" when released from the carbonite. The
decarbonization process suggests both a birth (e.g. an egg hatching) and a
purification, symbolized by the white light which emerges from the red-hot
glow of the heated block. Han is helpless, temporarily blinded, another
symbolic castration. Although Gordon argues that this blindness is
"punishment for his sexuality,""’ it more accurately represents his status as a
scapegoat for the "sins" of the individualistic masculine world. Han is reborn
as a more caring and communal hero, able to truly "see."
The rescue attempt is foiled by the repulsive Jabba, who chains Leia to
himself. This action eroticizes the previously virginal princess. She reclines
against Jabba's undulating tail, wearing harem-type clothes, her hair falling in
a braid down her back. Sheila Benson observes that Leia is finally portrayed
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as both "a princess and a sexy woman, although slave-girl drag is a pretty
t
funny way to convey that information.""^ Leia, initially presented in this
scene as tough and mannish, is now degraded, punished as the "guilty object"
by being fetishized and symbolically raped (visually represented by the angle
of Jabba's tail, pointing back toward her body).
Luke then arrives, his black clad figure silhouetted against the light of
the entrance. He enters Jabba's throne room after slightly choking two
Gamorrean guards who try to block his path, then using mind control on
Fortuna. Luke's calm authority, combined with his black clothes and use of
the strangulation technique, evoke both Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader.
He has synthesized the two father images, representing the logical extension
of the "spirit" of Kenobi and the logical extension of the "body" of Vader.
Luke has clearly gained savior status, seen in his larger size; earlier he
appeared as a huge holographic image (only the Emperor had a hologram as
large), now his shadow looms on the wall as he enters Jabba's den. He is
also frequently framed in light. Once again he has crossed a threshold into
the realm of the devouring Goddess, but, unlike A New Hope and Empire,
he easily passes by the "gate guardians," striding into the throne room,
unarmed. He stands before Jabba, his hands forming a modified triangular
Yoni sign, indicating how much he has assimilated the benevolent Goddess.
Walker claims that such a sign, which signifies the female genitals, is
associated with feminine power, which the male hero must integrate in order
to gain the right to rule.’® ®
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Luke gives Jabba three chances to bargain, but Jabba refuses, twice
trying to kill Luke, First, he sends Luke down a chute into the Rancor pit,
evoking both the garbage-masher scene from A New Hope and the Wampa
scene in Empire. In the first film Luke was nearly overwhelmed by the
monster of the Terrible Goddess, suffering symbolic castration before being
rescued from outside. In the second film, Luke is able to defeat the monster,
but still nearly dies, and must again be rescued from outside. In ledi,
however, Luke easily and calmly defeats the monster, crushing its head with
a giant door. This upsets Jabba, who strokes Leia "like a pet cat."’® ^
Jabba then tries to feed Luke, Han, and Chewie to the Sarlaac monster,
a scene which explicitly links being eaten alive with castration, since this
toothy, tentacled monster suggests a vagina dentata. Harlan Jacobson referred
to the creature as both a devouring vagina-mouth and an anus, connecting
images of castration anxiety, sexual perversion, and "the unclean kill."’® ®
Luke's aggressive actions, counter to his Jedi training, then become
permissible and justified. His masculine superiority is indicated as he cuts a
swath through Jabba's guards, phallic sword flashing, cutting Boba Fett's rifle
in half, like the Tusken Raider cut his in A New Hope. Further, the new
lightsaber he constructed is bigger than the one his father left to him. Its
green light suggests life, nature, and sexual power, similar to the image of
the flowering rod (staff) that represented the phallic virility of the sacred
year-king, as well as ideas of divine righteousness (e.g. the legend of Joseph's
flowering rod as he courted Mary, the miracles of Moses, the story of
Tannhauser confronting the Pope, and the legend of the lance that
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accompanied the Holy Grail to England). Walker argues that the magical
power of such flowering rods was originally derived from the Goddess,
before eventually becoming co-opted by the patriarchal world. Luke
corresponds to the pure "Desired Knight" of Arthurian tales who restores the
wasteland and saves the world.’® ®
Leia's aggressive actions and powerful anger are also justified by Jabba's
corruptness. Although Tedi stresses that anger leads "to the dark side," in
this sail barge sequence Leia is able to unleash her fury without further
repercussions, killing Jabba through strangulation, previously associated with
both Vader and the Terrible Goddess. Gordon finds this scene, "which is
dwelled on at length through gruesome closeups of the straining Leia and the
choking Jabba," to be disturbing, even repugnant, turning the character "into a
fearsome castrator."’® ’ ' Leia's transformation into a potential sexual threat
occurs within an eroticized context, with Leia similar to Ripley at the end of
Alien, wearing revealing clothing and struggling to defeat a sexually
ambiguous monster. The camera pans in on Leia's cleavage as she pulls the
chain, grunting with exertion. Jabba's tongue extends and his tail beats on
the ground, underscoring his phallacized nature. Like Ripley, Leia appears to
be a strong, independent woman who can take care of herself; yet, also like
Ripley, her aggressiveness is ultimately undercut by her eroticized image.
Later, Leia becomes associated with nurturing, romance, and domesticity,
reducing her sexual threat.
The utter destruction of Jabba's sail barge by a consuming, purifying fire
foreshadows the eventual destruction of the new Death Star and the Emperor
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who rules it. This Emperor is introduced in the next scene, entering a cold,
sterile, technological environment which is the visual opposite of Jabba's
decadent palace. However, this Death Star, like the old Death Star in A New
Hope, is another underworld associated with the devouring Goddess, seen in
the imagery surrounding the Emperor's arrival. First, the Emperor is
accompanied by four Royal Guards wearing full, red armor, which
underscores not only their lack of individuality, but also their connection to
the negative "feminine." These guards line up with rows of black and white
Imperial Stormtroopers. As noted earlier, black and white are also colors
associated with the Goddess. Second, the Emperor himself is an old, stooped
man dressed all in black robes, with a black hood over his face, who uses a
cane to assist his walking. He resembles a crone or witch more than the all-
powerful military leader of a powerful Empire. Walker asserts that the crone
represents "old age or death, winter, doomsday," and other symbols of decay
and destruction. In pre-patriarchal times, such an image was necessary for
regeneration; later the image became associated wickedness and evil."®
If the Emperor can be seen as a type of "Terrible Mother," then Yoda
can be seen as the opposite "Good Mother" (reinforcing the split between
good and bad "femininity"). The connection between them is visually
suggested as the scene shifts to Dagobah, where Yoda is seen walking with
his own cane. Yoda represents the crone as dispenser of wisdom, yet he also
becomes linked to the masculine god-head by the events of this scene. First,
thunder occurs as he dies, evoking the thunder at Jesus's cross. Next, like
Kenobi, Yoda's body disappears, leaving the bedclothes behind, like Jesus's
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shroud. Third, when Kenobi again appears to Luke, his first words are
"Yoda will be with you always." As noted earlier, such words evoke those of
the resurrected Jesus, as well as Kenobi's statement in A New Hope ("The
Force will be with you, always"). The Force, which has been associated with
depersonalized Nature, is now personalized through the reference to Yoda.
In Luke's subsequent discussion with Kenobi, two important facts are
revealed. First, Kenobi takes partial blame for Vader's downfall, because he
tried to teach Luke's father without the help of Yoda. Vader consequently
seems weaker, less responsible for his evil behavior. Additionally, a note of
incest is introduced when Luke discovers that Leia is his twin sister. Sarris
observes that "the revelations of hidden family ties in Return of the Tedi take
on the incestuous amplitude of Shakespeare's late novelistic plays.""’
G. Solomon asserts that "the twists in plot take on a Ring-like quality, with
Luke and Leia revealed to be twins separated at birth (somewhat like
Siegmund and Sieglinde in Die Walkure).'”'* ” Victor Turner argues that
twins hip "presents the paradoxes that what is physically double is structurally
single, and what is mythically one is empirically two." Such contradictions
can be resolved in many ways, such as elevating one twin over the other or
by presenting a fused image which suggests the union of opposites.’^ ’ For
males and females, one type of fused image is the androgyne, which
represents the divine couple. This bisexual divinity might be the Goddess
and her consort, but also could be brother and sister, as joint rulers.’"
Tedi continues to connect the positive imagery of the Goddess with the
positive masculine world of the Rebel Alliance. The rebels meet in a whale
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shaped ship, presenting a hodge-podge of different races, contrasting with the
homogeneity and anonymity of the Imperial troops. Yet, despite Leia and
"the elected leader of the Rebel Alliance," Mon Mothma, these rebels are
males.’" Mon Mothma, who is dressed all in white and silver, her face lit as
she speaks to the assemblage, clearly represents the protective Goddess. Mon
suggests one, and Mothma sounds vaguely like mother, indicating her role as
One Mother to the Alliance. Her white clothes and regal bearing imply that
she has taken over Leia's functions as the pure goddess of liberty and justice.
Leia's connection to the nurturing mother is reinforced by her scenes
with Han and the Ewoks. Gordon argues that Leia domesticates Han
through love, reducing him "from a charming, cocky gunslinger out for
himself to 'General' Solo, a man with heavy responsibilities."’" ’ ^ Han has been
fully "tamed," converted to the rebel cause, a dutiful participant in the
system, underscored by his gift of the Falcon to Lando, which he donates to
the rebel cause despite his fears that he will never see it again. His
newfound social commitment gains Leia's approving smile. Later, on the
moon of Endor, Leia metamorphoses into an "earth mother," first offering
food to an Ewok (a short, furry bear-like creature), then changing into loose-
fitting "natural" clothes, letting her hair fall unbound for the first time.
Leia has been transformed by her romantic feelings for Han and her
earlier trauma as Jabba's "sex slave." Now she is connected to the fecund
Goddess, living up to the potential of her name, reinforced by the lush
forests of the Endor moon. Endor implies an ending, prefiguring a more
pastoral (nostalgic) beginning; the Ewok home is also called the "sanctuary
2 8 8
moon," suggesting a place of spiritual refuge. Sacred forests have long been
associated with the Goddess in her benevolent, fertile aspect, and Leia
represents such a Goddess-figure. Yet her "loosened" sexuality is constrained
within the boundaries of the traditional family unit, since it occurs among the
war-like, sexually stratified, family-oriented Ewoks. Therefore, its expression
is limited to the maternal care that Leia bestows on both Han and Luke.
Leia's association with the "good mother" is made explicit as she talks to
Luke on the walkway of the Ewok village. Leia's concern evokes the only
overt mention of mothers in the trilogy. Through his substitute mother-sister,
Luke seeks to know his real mother; Leia "stands in for" the absent mother.
A genetic link is established as well, implying that the ability to use the Force
is inherited, running "strong" in Luke's aristocratic family. This connection
upset several reviewers, such as Pauline Kael, who found the idea to be "un-
American."’" This scene also establishes Luke's new quest, to save his father,
to rescue him from the thrall of the Emperor, to "turn him back to the good
side." Despite Leia's pleas that he "run away" (indicating how she now
places personal concerns over social duty), Luke decides to surrender to the
Imperial troops.
Although the Emperor had predicted it, Vader seems surprised when
the handcuffed Luke is brought before him on a landing platform near the
shield generator. ITiis platform is harshly lit, contrasting sharply with its
natural surroundings; Imperial Walkers lumber underneath like technological
"beasts of prey." Vader dismisses the soldiers, then walks with Luke, who
tries to convince him to renounce the Emperor and return to his "true self,"
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Anakin Skywalker. Vader responds by examining Luke's new, bigger light-
saber, saying almost wistfully, "your skills are complete. Indeed, you are as
powerful as the Emperor has foreseen." The younger generation begins to
supplant the older one, rejecting its values. The conflict between the two
men is underscored when they stand at opposite sides of the walkway, both
looking out into the forest, their backs to each other. Luke continues his
persuasion, tempting Vader with family ties as Vader had tempted him with
power in Empire. Vader stresses that he "must obey my master," and that it
is "too late" for him to change. This further weakens the character by
making him appear coerced into his evil behavior, reducing his responsibility.
Additionally, after the Imperial troops have returned and escorted Luke away,
Vader crosses over to the railing where his son had stood, gazing out into
the trees. His action foreshadows his later change of perspective, how he
comes to see things as Luke has seen them.
Tedi now begins its three-pronged battle sequences, cutting back and
forth between three arenas— the shield generator on the moon of Endor, the
Emperor's makeshift "throne room" on the Death Star, and the space outside.
Several reviewers found the cross-cutting to be disorienting and confusing,
creating what Vincent Canby called "a profound sense of dislocation," making
it difficult to follow the storylines.^^^ Colin Westerbeck argued that the
disorientation was not just spatial, but also temporal, contrasting a
technological future with a primordial past, creating such severe disjunctions
that one audience "was convinced the reels were out of sequence. As
David Ansen asserted, the quick editing between the three battles worked "to
290
diminish the impact of each."^^* In particular, the narrative coherence of
Luke's final journey into the mythic underworld is weakened.
This journey occurs when Luke is brought by Vader to the Emperor's
throne room, another technological "hell" which employs and inverts imagery
associated with the negative Goddess. The red-clad Royal Guards stand as
"gate guardians" before the elevator entrance, as five red panels light from the
bottom upwards (both the number five and the color red are associated with
the Goddess). The elevator opens to reveal Vader with Luke; once again the
hero ascends into the underworld, reversing the traditional descent. The
ascent is reinforced when the two men climb a set of stairs framed by two
circular pillars which emit a blue light, enhancing the impression of a palace
or temple. The room is dark, eerie, womb-like, yet also cold and mechanical,
surrounded by large round windows with asymmetrical frames. The
Emperor's electronic control chair is situated before such a window, with the
Emperor seated in it, looking out into a black sky studded with stars, his
black cowl pulled over his face, continuing the impression of a wicked witch.
This impression is further supported by the symbolism of the window.
Its round shape and eight points link it to cosmic regeneration as well as to
the Goddess. Yet its assymetrical panes also imply that it is "a disturbed
mandata," a symbol of disorder and imbalance.It additionally resembles a
spider web, which Neumann noted was spun by the "Terrible Mother" to
ensnare "the unwary m ale."^® ° The Emperor is a black widow spider at the
center of the web of Luke's fate. His evil "femininity" is underscored as he
fondles Luke's lightsaber, goading him into fighting his father. Gordon refers
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to the Emperor as a sexual threat, "the father as homosexual seducer"; having
already seduced Vader, the Emperor tries to corrupt his more potent son/^^
Within the framework of the series, Luke's resistance to the Emperor is less a
rejection of violence than it is an attempt to purify masculine power,
protecting it from the devouring "feminine." The horrors and problems of
patriarchal control are projected onto an image of "bad femininity" as defined
by men. This disocciation maintains the dialectic of "masculine/feminine"
even while it appears to synthesize it.
This duality is manifested in the different colors of the lightsaber beams.
Luke's green light contrasts to Vader's red; as complementary colors, red (a
primary color associated with blood, passion, and "the feminine") clashes with
green (a secondary color associated with life, foliage, and male fertility),
reinforcing the clash of light and dark, good and evil, male and female.
Luke battles his father, managing to knock him down the stairs. As the
Emperor urges him to continue, Luke looks at Vader, with his lightsaber
pointed up in a highly phallic manner. But instead of descending to meet
Vader, as he did in Empire, Luke turns off his sword. Vader climbs the
stairs to attack Luke, becoming positioned in front of another round,
asymmetrically paned window, suggesting that he is fully enmeshed in the
Emperor's evil web. Luke jumps to the catwalk to escape the same fate,
continuing to exhort Vader, telling him, "I feel the good in you, the conflict."
Vader once again answers that Luke underestimates "the power of the dark
side," throwing his lit sword toward his son, who dodges it. The sword cuts
292
through the catwalk supports, dumping Luke onto the ground, where he
hides under the platform.
Vader searches for Luke, calling him by name, telling him that the only
way he can save his friends is to "give in to the dark side." Luke's face, shot
so that half is in yellow light, half in blue light, mirrors his internal struggle.
Vader then realizes that Luke has a twin sister, and says "if you will not turn
to the dark side, then perhaps she will." Luke immediately lunges out of
hiding, yelling "NO!" He ignites his saber and attacks Vader furiously,
driving him from underneath the platform, as a Wagnerian male chorus
swells; this is the only time such a chorus is heard in the trilogy, its
"swelling" matching the driving "thrust" of Luke's attack. Luke's fury
suggests an underlying incest motive related to the purity and possession of
the mother image.
Luke continues to press Vader back until his father is driven to his
knees before the elevator. His face contorted by anger, Luke continues to hit
Vader until he slices off Vader's mechanical right hand, which falls into the
central shaft of the Death Star. Vader collapses on the walkway, as Luke
holds his lightsaber against his father's throat, his eyes wild, his face reddish
in the glow of the elevator lights, his head nearly framed by the webbed
window behind him. The Emperor descends the steps, with evident glee and
without his cane, for the battle has enhanced his potency. He tells Luke to
"fulfill your destiny and take your father's place at my side." His offer is
more than just an offer of power; it also implies an unholy matrimony, the
devouring goddess sacrificing her consort, then taking another. Luke, his face
293
crossed by shadows that block his right eye (or right "vision"), looks at his
own black-gloved bionic hand, clenching it in a gesture similar to Vader's,
then unclenching it. He looks down to Vader's arm where bits of wire
extend from the stump, realizing how much he has come to resemble his
father. Like his father, he has risked becoming "more machine than man";
but unlike his father, and contraiy to Yoda's warnings, he is able to stop his
journey down "the dark path," tossing away his lightsaber (a "castration" by
choice).
Instead of killing his enemy, Luke submits passively to the Emperor's
attempt to destroy him with powerful electric beams. These surprising blue
bolts seem to appear from nowhere, for not even Vader has demonstrated
such power before. Indeed, one wonders why the Emperor even needs Vader
if he can command such sorcerous power. Why do the filmmakers make the
Emperor "zap" Luke instead of using the Death Star to blow up the moon of
Endor, which would increase the dramatic tensions of the battle scenes? The
filmmakers' motive is rhetorical, to convince the audience that the Emperor is
the epitome of evil, far worse than Vader. His evil is reinforced by close-up
shots of his hideous, demented face, his right eye shrouded by his cowl, the
left eye sunken and red-rimmed. Making the Emperor such a sinister
monster not only weakens Vader's culpability, it also works more clearly to
dissociate masculine power from its negative aspects, projecting them onto the
wicked "feminine" disguised as a male, which can only be defeated by united
"masculine" effort. Thus, Vader joins with Luke and the Ewoks to help the
rebels.
294
Vader's change of heart occurs as the Emperor tortures Luke with the
blue bolts. First, Vader gets up and moves to the Emperor's side, watching
the electrocution, the webbed window behind him. He seems to be back in
the Emperor's power, but then Luke reaches out to him, writhing in agony,
crying out "Father, please, help me." Campbell observes that in order for the
hero to gain atonement with the ogre-father, he must trust in his father's
mercy.^“ Luke does so, and his trust is rewarded, for Vader suddenly breaks
free of the "web," moving offscreen, leaving the round window behind. He
grabs the Emperor and carries him to the central core chasm. The electricity
arcs around Vader, illuminating him and forming the image of a skull.
Vader tosses the Emperor into the abyss, where he plunges, yelling, toward
the core like a giant black bat. He hits the center and explodes, which sends
waves of energy back up the shaft, sweeping like a wind over Vader, who
still sparks from the electricity. Luke crawls over and pulls his father back
from the edge, holding him, then lowering him to the ground. He kneels
beside him, his left hand on Vader's chest, evoking the image of a mother
cradling a child.
Meanwhile, outside the Death Star, the rebel pilots begin their attack,
with Lando and Wedge flying their ships through a red-rimmed, vulva-like
hole. This penetration of the space station continues through a maze of
tunnels, seeming to extend to infinity, until the pilots reach the center of the
Death Star's infrastructure. The central core is an icy-cold, mechanical cavern
containing the pendular main reactor. Lando shoots at it, then races out of
the infrastructure just ahead of the huge fireball that consumes the Death
295
Star's interior, much like the fire which destroyed Jabba's sail barge. As he
passes through the ring of fire at the shaft entrance, Lando's face registers
orgasmic ecstasy, reinforced by his exuberant yell. The rebel triumph over
the "Terrible Mother(Father)" is underscored when the triangular Star
Destroyer, Exécuter, plunges downward into the Death Star's surface, like a
giant exploding arrow.
Within the Death Star, chaos reigns, as panicked troops run about.
Luke assists a weakened Vader to the main hanger, moving toward a shuttle
craft, but he collapses from his burden before he can climb up the ramp.
Vader refuses to continue, telling Luke to remove his mask, so "1 can look at
you with my own eyes." Luke complies, while the hanger lights form a halo
around his head, underscoring his purity. He lifts the helmet to reveal a
pasty-faced old man, whose head is all banged up and scarred, trying to
smile. While some believed that unmasking Vader was a mistake, Benson
believed it conveyed a positive message that underneath the fearsome villain
was a real person, just as vulnerable as the rest of us.^^ Campbell asserted
that when Luke removes Vader's helmet, the audience sees a man who "has
not developed his own h u m an ity .Y et through Luke's sacrificial actions,
Vader regains his humanity. When Luke insists that he will not leave
without his father, telling him "I've got to save you," Vader replies, "You
already have, Luke. You were right about me. Tell your sister— you were
right." Then he dies, as Luke calls out "Father," his hand on Vader's chest.
Soon afterwards, Luke leaves in an Imperial shuttle, looking
transfigured, flying past falling debris and another ring of fire. He goes to
296
the moon of Endor, where he burns Vader's body on a funeral pyre in a
clearing amid tall trees. Then the triumphant Luke joins with the Ewoks and
other rebels in their revelry. The rustic, aboriginal Ewoks have assisted the
rebels "on the basis of shared values and a common enemy," suggesting that
advanced technology can be defeated by "primitive" cunning and weaponry
(e.g. rocks, lassoes, sling shots, bow and arrows) in a guerilla war setting.
Berger calls the Ewoks "little teddy-bear-like figures who also happen to be
fierce and ingenious warriors."^* Sarris argues that the Ewoks refute the
charge of colonialism levied against Lucas, with their "chic Viet-Cong-
Sandinista pose" that works to destroy the Empire.^®’ ’ They are valorized in
Tedi, implying that a return to a more pastoral way of life is necessary to
overcome the negative outcomes of dehumanized technology.
This message, however, is problematic for two reasons. First, the Ewoks
are highly "merchandisable," with their status as commodities contradicting
their presumed naturalness. Second, the Ewoks are neither democratic nor
technologically "innocent." Power is vested in male chieftans who actually
"worship" technology (in the form of the droid, Threepio), and who prove to
be quite adept in its use, requiring the Empire's war-machines in order to
succeed. Once more, instead of repudiating technology, the trilogy splits it
into "good" and "bad," with the main difference between the two types
limited to which side employs the technology. The film attempts to show
that patriarchal forms of technology do not work in a more ecological age.
Yet, no truly alternative form of technology is presented in the film; the only
answer for the salvation of humanity appears to be the use of the same old
29^
energy-intensive technology, albeit by a more communal, yet still paternal, '
social order.
Tlie final scene reinforces the impression of a benevolent patriarchal
system. Luke strides up the walkway, his phallic lightsaber swinging from
his belt, indicating that he has gained both manhood and apotheosis.
Campbell asserts that such apotheosis is achieved through the reconciliation
of opposites, especially Yang ("the light, active, masculine principle") and Yin
("the dark, passive and feminine" principle).^^ This synthesis of
"masculine/feminine" is underscored by the Ewok chant which sounds like
the Tibetan "yab-yum" (with vab referring to the masculine and vum the
feminine).Luke, as androgynous savior, is embraced by the nurturing
Goddess, Leia (with the red light behind them hinting at their incestuous
feelings). Then he is hugged by his fully integrated "brother," Han. Finally,
he receives a vision of paternal transcendence, the ghostly image of Kenobi,
Yoda, and the redeemed Anakin Skywalker (with all traces of Vader
removed), shimmering in the light. This spiritual triune is mirrored in the
physical triune of Luke, Leia and Han as they stand watching the celebration,
while a "heavenly choir" sings. The sentimental ending reinforces the idea of
family, with both outsider heroes brought back into the community (losing
their special status) and the aggressive female safely "married off." The
image of the "Triple God" relegitimizes and restores the patriarchal social
order.
298
Preliminary Assessments
The Star Wars series presents a more complex rhetorical response to the
exigence of patriarchal crisis than do the "Indiana Jones" films. The first film,
A New Hope, reaffirms masculinity; the second film. Empire, subverts it; then
the third film, Tedi, presents an androgynous synthesis of the
"masculine/feminine" dialectic, which argues for a "new, improved" type of
masculinity. The androgyny of both Luke and Han functions to link male
power to "positive" feminine traits (such as nurturing and "the ethic of care").
By altering the hero, the series shows that transformations of masculinity are
possible, and may be necessary to save the planet. Other binary oppositions
are synthesized as well, presenting potentially valuable arguments— that good
and evil are both within us, that culture can work with nature, and that
violence should only be employed for "good" (justifiable) ends. Such utopian
rhetoric is compatible with feminist goals.
Berger notes that the themes of Star Wars are "congruent with our belief
structure," which not only provides audiences with an escape, but which also
reinforces "many of our sacred [American] values.T hese values include
the idea of the "little guys" triumphing over "a technologically sophisticated
culture," through what appears to be all-American know-how and individual
heroism. Yet, Star Wars, like Raiders of the Lost Ark, ultimately undermines
individuality, suggesting that those who act independently can place
themselves and others in jeopardy. Although the male heroes (Luke and
Han) start out as independent loners, all their independent actions are
punished. Such punishments serve as symbolic "kill-rites" which purify not
299
only the image of the hero, but masculinity as well, requiring "a recognition
of the bonds which unite us all."^^^ By the end of Star Wars, Luke and Han
have become fully committed to each other, as well as being fully integrated
into the larger community. However, this "communal conversion" of the
heroes is not anti-heroic; instead, the hero's quest is transformed from a
simple search for identity to the pursuit of social responsibility and human
connection, a new type of "treasure difficult to obtain."
However, the ideological message of the series counters this utopian
one, reaffirming patriarchal authority and traditional beliefs about gender,
contradicting the presumed synthesis of "masculine" and "feminine," and the
image of the "new" hero. In Star Wars, especially the last film, Tedi,
androgyny and "the feminine" are employed in ways that purify the existing
patriarchal social order, dissociating the benevolent rule of the father (its
"reality") from its malevolent "appearance," the dehumanized and evil
technology of the Empire. In Star Wars the two Death Stars and the
Emperor are associated with "feminine" imagery; indeed, the male Emperor
visually becomes "female" through a type of "gynesis" process.W hy should
Star Wars represent the ultimate villain in the universe as a type of "wicked
witch" instead of a military dictator? In the traditional heroic myth, the hero
must face and defeat a "dragon," which represents the "Terrible Goddess."
For a "new" myth to occur, a new "dragon" must be faced— the negative
"masculine." Star Wars seems to offer just such a "dragon" in its depiction of
dehumanized technology; however, instead of clearly linking this technology
to patriarchal control, the series projects it onto the negative feminine
300
archetype, so that once again the "dragon" to be defeated is Woman. Instead
of embracing the "feminine," or integrating it, or coming to an acceptance of
the devouring Goddess as necessary in human existence. Star Wars reinforces
the split between "bad" and "good" femininity, further denying patriarchal
responsibility for evil.
In addition, this connection of evil and "the feminine" permits the male
hero to once again rescue "good" patriarchal power from the Terrible
Goddess, just as Indiana Jones rescues Shiva from Kali in Indiana Tones. It
seems telling that Luke remains pure and ascetic to the end, not even
responsible for Vader's death, untouched by guilt. Luke's lack of guilt is
necessary so that he can redeem the patriarchal social order, represented by
the fallen Vader. In a twist on the "prodigal son" parable, Luke forgives his
wayward, but now repentant, father, restoring him to the "true" path of
benign patriarchal power. Further, Luke's purity functions as a denial of
death (seen in the fact that none of the "good guys" really dies, but instead
are linked to another "pure" male savior, Jesus).
Finally, although the androgyny of Leia permits her to be both strong
and caring, she is not necessarily indicative of a "new" type of heroine. Leia
increasingly functions as either a fetishized image (as sexual temptress) or
mediating symbol (as "earth mother") between Nature (the Ewoks) and
Culture (the Rebel Alliance). Nor are the incestuous possibilities between
Leia and Luke explored; instead, they are safely defused through her more
traditional romance with Han. Such a defusion avoids rather than resolves
the Oedipal conflict, with its parricidal impulses and castration anxiety.
301
The blend of ideological and utopian discourse in the Star Wars series
indicates that it is a rhetorical hybrid, which often occur during times of
social upheaval/^ Hybrids could be also be seen as a characteristic of
postmodernism. The postmodern elements in Star Wars function
subversively, undermining both the reaffirmatory (ideological) and
transformative (utopian) messages, leading to audience doubt and resistance.
For example, in Tedi, Oedipal themes are more openly displayed, exposing the
symbolic (versus "natural") construction of the archetypes associated with
these themes. In addition, the increased use of special effects, especially in
Tedi, seems designed to interest a satiated audience no longer thrilled by
"going into hyperdrive." Gordon argues that the overabundance of special
effects works to disintegrate the mythic narrative of the series.This surfeit
of special effects, combined with the fast pacing, quick editing and cross
cutting between scenes, undermines the dramatic tensions in the series,
disorienting and confusing audiences.
The three films also continually repeat and revise each other, creating
contradictions on subsequent viewings that did not exist before 1983, such as
how Kenobi got a lightsaber from Vader for his son when Vader apparently
did not know he had a son; or where Leia obtained a leather dress in the
middle of a primitive village of tiny bearlike creatures who wore very few
clothes; or why Luke's aggression is bad, but not Leia's or the rebellion when
it attacks the Death Star.^“ Such questions might cause audiences to view the
films more "objectively," reducing their identification with the heroes.
302
increasing the possibility that they will reject the messages, whether
ideological or utopian. Such a rejection might call into question the whole
idea of androgyny as a resolution to the exigence of patriarchal crisis.
303
ENDNOTES
Parts of this chapter were presented to the University Film Association,
Los Angeles, CA., Aug. 1986; the Rhetoric Society of America, Arlington, TX.,
May, 1986, and to the Central States Communication Association, Detroit, ML,
Apr. 1990
^George Lucas, qtd. in Dale Pollock, Skywalking: The Life and Films of
George Lucas (N.Y.: Ballantine Books, 1983) 151.
^Pollock 153, emphasis his.
^Paul Rosenfield, "Lucas: Filmmaker With The Force," Los Angeles
Times, 5 June 1977: [Calendar Section], 43.
^Jay Cocks, "'Star Wars': The Year's Best Movie," rev. of Star Wars IV:
A New Hope, dir. George Lucas, Time, 30 May 1977: 54. Some of the
influences on Lucas included Flash Gordon serials, westerns, samurai films
(especially those of Kurosawa), World War II movies, Arthurian legends. The
Wizard of Oz, and other science-fiction (Pollack 155-157).
®PoUack 201-207. Although many continue to refer to this first film as
Star Wars, for the purpose of this study, that title will be reserved for the
entire series; therefore, the less familiar short title, A New Hope, will be used
for the film released in 1977.
^Cocks 54.
’ 'Long lines began forming the day A New Hope opened. The manager
of the Avco Cinema in Westwood, Los Angeles, said he had "never seen
anything like it . . . .This isn't a snowball, its an avalanche"; see Lee Grant,
"'Star Wars' Out of this world," Los Angeles Times, 4 June 1977: Part II, 8+).
PoUack noted that one in twenty filmgoers saw the film more than once
during 1977 (205).
«PoUack 201-207.
^lorgan Gendel, "'Star Wars' Score: Luke-1, Darth-1, 7 Episodes To
Go," Valiev News [San Fernando, CA], 23 April 1980: sec. 3, 6; also Marsha I
Johnston, "'Star'-Struck Fans Are Out in Line in Force," Valiev News. 21 May ;
1980, sec. 1, 10. I
'"USA Todav, 26 May 1983: lA. |
"Pollack 236. i
304
'^Alex Ben Block, "'Jedi' Sets New Highs At Box Office," Los Angeles
Herald-Examiner, 1 June 1983: A1+; Deborah Caulfield, "A Record 1st Day
Gross of $6 Million for 'Jedi'," Los Angeles Times, 27 May 1983; Carol
Clurman, "USA Catches Jedi Fever," USA Todav, 26 May 1983: lA; Aljean
Harmetz, "'Jedi' Zaps Records, Earns $6 Million on Opening Day," Los
Angeles Times, 27 May 1983: A1+; Frank Sanello, "'Jedi' Makes a Second
Return: To Bootleg Cassettes." Dailv News 1 June 1983: F6
'«For example, see Carlos Clarens, "SciFi Hits The Big Time," Film
Comment 14:2 (1978): 49-53; Terry Curtis Fox, "Star Drek, The 'Star Wars'
War: II," Film Comment (1977): 23; Clara Maria Henning, "'Star Wars' and
'Close Encounters'," Theologv Todav 35:2 (1978): 202-206; Arthur Lubow, "A
Space Iliad: The 'Star Wars' War: I," Film Comment (1977): 20; David
Overby, "Star Wars: Futuristic Furnishings From the Bargain Basement of
Mystico-Militarism," The Paris Metro, 26 October 1977: 9-10; Dan Rubey,
"'Star Wars': Not So Far Away," Jump Cut 18 [1977]: 9-14.
'T or example, see Gary Arnold, "A Spectacular Intergalatic Joyride," rev.
of Star Wars IV, dir. George Lucas, Washington Post, 25 May 1977: B1+;
Vincent Canby, "Not Since 'Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe' . . rev. of
Star Wars IV, dir. George Lucas, New York Times, 5 June 1977: D1+; Charles
Champlin, "'Star Wars' Hails the Once and Future Space Western," rev. of
Star Wars IV, dir. George Lucas, Los Angeles Times, 22 May 1977; Judith
Crist, "'Feel Good' Film," rev. of Star Wars IV, dir. by George Lucas, Saturdav
Review, 9 July 1977: 40; Jay Cocks; Joseph Glemis, "(treating An Escapist
Masterpiece," rev. of Star Wars IV, dir. George Lucas, Newsdav. 28 May 1977:
Pt. II; Ron Pennington, rev of Star Wars IV, dir. George Lucas, Hollvwood
Reporter, 20 May 1977: 3+; and Peter Schillaci, "Star Wars: Nostalgia in
Hyper-Drive," Media and Methods 14 (Nov. 1977): 8-21, 62-68.
'«For example, see Robert C. Collins, "Star Wars: The Pastiche of Myth
and the Yearning For a Past Future," Journal of Popular Culture (Summer,
1977): 1-10; Andrew Gordon, "Star Wars: A Myth For Our Time,"
Literature/Film Ouarterlv 7 (Fall, 1978): 314-327; Martin Miller and Robert
Sprich, "The Appeal of Star Wars: An Archetypal-Psychoanalytic View,"
American Imago 38:2 (1981): 203-220; Thomas Lee Snyder, "Sacred
Encounters: The Myth of the Hero in the Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy
Films of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg," diss., Northwestern U, 1984
(Ann Arbor, MI: UMI, 1986) DA8423307; Denis Wood, "The Stars in Our
Hearts: A Critical Commentary of George Lucas's 'Star Wars'," Journal of
Popular Film 7:3 (1978) 262-279.
'T or example, see Robert Asahina, "An Unequal Sequel," rev. of Star
Wars V, dir. Irvin Kershner, New Leader. 2 June 1980: 20-21; Vincent Canby,
The Empire Strikes Back' Strikes a Bland Note," rev. of Star Wars V: The
Empire Strikes Back, dir. Richard Marquand, New York Times 15 June 1980:
sec. II, 25+; Alex Eisenstein, "From Star Wars to Empire: Kingdom of
Shadows," Fantastic Films 25 (August, 1981): 61-62; Colin L. Westerbeck, Jr.,
"Star Snores: The Empire Strikes Out," rev. of Star Wars V, dir. Irvin
305
Kershner, Commonweal, 6 June 1980: 336-337; Denis Wood, "The Empire's
New Clothes," Film Quarterly 34:3 (1981): 10-16; Michael Wood, "The True
Story of 'Star Wars': The Myths Strike Back," Los Angeles Times, 17 Aug.
1980.
171
For example, see Gerald E. Forshey, "Heroism's Dark Side," Christian
Century, 30 July-6 Aug. 1980: 769-771; Andrew Gordon, "The Empire Strikes
Back: Monsters From the Id," Science-Fiction Studies 7 (1980): 313-317; Anne
Lancashire, "Complex Design in 'The Empire Strikes Back'," Film Criticism 5:3
(1981): 38-51.
'«For example, see Roger Angell, "Cries and Whimpers," rev. of Star
Wars V, dir. Irvin Kershner, New Yorker, 26 May 1980: 123-124; David
Ansen, "The Force is Back With Us," rev. of Star Wars V. dir. Irvin Kershner,
Newsweek, 19 May 1980: 106-107; Charles Champlin, "In the 'Star Wars' Saga,
'Empire' Strikes Forward," rev. of Star Wars V, dir. Irvin Kershner, Los
Angeles Times, 18 May 1980; Gerald Clarke, "The Empire Strikes Back!" rev.
of Star Wars V, dir. Irvin Kershner, Time, 19 May 1980: 66-73; Tom Rogers,
rev. of Star Wars V, dir. Irvin Kershner, Films in Review 31:7 (1980): 439-480;
rev. of Star Wars V, dir. Irvin Kershner, Variety, 14 May 1980: 14.
For example, see David Ansen, "How The Force Conquers All," rev. of
Star Wars VI, dir. Richard Marquand, Newsweek, 30 May 1983: 95-96; Richard
A. Blake, "Summer of Our Discontent," rev. of Star Wars VI, dir. Richard
Marquand, America, 2 July 1983: 14; Harlan Jacobson, "Thunder on the Right,"
Film Comment 19 (July-August, 1983): 9-11, 74; Jon Lewis, "Return of the Tedi:
A Situationist Perspective," TumpCut 30 [1983]: 13-14; G. Solomon, rev. of
Star Wars VI. dir. Richard Marquand, Films in Review 34:6 (1983): 368-370.
^°For example, see Robert Asahina, "On Screen: Stale Popcorn," rev. of
Star Wars VI, dir. Richard Marquand, New Leader, 30 May 1983: 19-20;
Vincent Canby, "The Force is With Them, But the Magic is Gone," rev. of Star
Wars VI, dir. Richard Marquand, New York Times, 29 May 1983: sec. II, 15+;
Philip French, "The Empire Staggers On," rev. of Star Wars VI, dir. Richard
Marquand, The (London) Observer, 1983: 32; Jim Harwood, rev. of Star Wars
VI, dir. Richard Marquand, Variety, 16 May 1983; Pauline Kael, "Fun
Machines," rev. of Star Wars VI, dir. Richard Marquand, New Yorker. 30 May
1983: 88-89; John Simon, "Never Say Jedi," rev. of Star Wars VI, dir. Richard
Marquand, National Review, 24 June 1983: 763-764; Colin L. Westerbeck, Jr.,
"On the Beach," rev. of Star Wars VI. dir. Richard Marquand, Commonweal,
12 August 1983,: 433-434.
^'For example, see Sheila Benson, "'Star Wars' Continues With An
Inventive 'Jedi'," rev. of Star Wars VI, dir. Richard Marquand, Los Angeles
Times. 25 May 1983: Pt IV, 1+; Gerald Clarke, "Great Galloping Galaxies!" rev.
of Star Wars VI, dir. Richard Marquand, Time, 23 May 1983: 60, 63-65; Daniel
Henninger, "Luke Skywalker: The Return of the Manichean Heresy," Wall
Street Journal, 29 July 1983: sec. 1, 17; John Lewis, "Skywalker Strikes Back,"
rev. of Star Wars VI, dir. Richard Marquand, Dallas Observer, 19 May-1 June
306
1983: 11; Andrew Sarris, "Who Am I To Doubt The Jedi?" rev. of Star Wars
VL dir. Richard Marquand, Village Voice, 31 May 1983: 59.
“Andrew Gordon, "Return of the Tedi: The End of the Myth," Film
Criticism 8:2 (1984): 54.
“ Joe Johnson, qtd in Clarke, "Great Galloping Galaxies!" 65.
^ '‘ Gordon, "A Myth For Our Time" 315.
“Kenneth Burke, "Myth, Poetry, and Philosophy," Language as Symbolic
Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and Method (Berkeley: U of California P,
1966) 388.
“Collins 3.
“Gordon, "A Myth For Our Time" 320.
“ Data for analysis was obtained by repeated viewings of Star Wars IV:
A New Hope, Twentieth-Century Fox, 1977; a Lucasfilm Ltd. Prod.; Gary
Kurtz, prod.; George Lucas, dir. Starring Mark Hamill (Luke), Harrison Ford
(Han), Carrie Fisher (Leia), Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin), Alec Guinness
(Obi-Wan Kenobi), Anthony Daniels (See-Threepio), Kenny Baker (Artoo-
Detoo), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), and David Prowse (Darth Vader).
Supplemental information came from several sources, including the
novelization by George Lucas, Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke
Skywalker (N.Y.: Ballantine/Del Rey, 1976); also Raymond L. Velasco, A
Guide To The Star Wars Universe (N.Y.: Ballantine/Del Rey, 1984). All
dialogue was checked against the film itself, to ensure accuracy.
“Barbara G. Walker, The Woman's Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred
Objects (San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1988) 39, 34.
«Walker 273.
«'Overby 10.
«'Pollock 181.
««Arnold; also Clarens 53; Collins 7; Miller and Sprich 216-218.
«^Robert Greenberger, "Carrie Fisher," Starlog, June, 1983: 34.
««Rubey 12.
««Andrew Gordon, "The Power of the Force: Sex in the Star Wars
Trilogy," Eros in the Mind's Eve: Sexuality and the Fantastic in Art and
Film, ed. Donald Palumbo (N.Y.: Greenwood Press, 1986) 196; also Gordon,
"A Myth For Our Time" 323.
307
“J. E. Zimmerman, "Pallas Athena," Dictionary of Classical Mythology
(N.Y.: Bantam Books, 1971) 36; also Barbara Walker, The Woman's
Dictionary, 198; and Barbara Walker, The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths
and Secrets (San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1983) 74. Other critics who
have noted Leia's devotion to duty include Rubey 12; Snyder 36-37; and
Denis Wood, "Growing Up Among the Stars," Literature/Film Ouarterlv 6:4
(1978): 329.
“Overby 10.
« fille r and Sprich 216-218.
^°Jim Holte, "Pilgrims in Space: Puritan Ideology and the American
Science Fiction Film," Palumbo 187. Miller and Sprich base their conclusions
on an admittedly small sample, focusing on women over twenty-five.
Certainly many women (including this author) enjoyed A New Hope, viewing
it repeatedly, and often reinterpreting the story to fit their own narrative
concerns. As Henry Jenkins observes, some of this feminine "poaching" was
unacceptable to George Lucas; see "Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten: Fan
Writing as Textual Poaching," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 5:2
(1988) 90-91.
41
Miller and Sprich 213-214.
'“Michel Foucault, This is Not a Pipe, trans. and ed. James Harkness
(Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1982) 44.
43
Rubey 11-12.
^Mark Gerzon, A Choice of Heroes: The Changing Face of American
Manhood (Boston, MA: Houghton-Mifflin, 1982) 234.
^Herbert Gans, "'Star Wars': The Teenager As Democracy's Savior,"
Social Policy, Jan.-Feb., 1978: 54-55.
^«Vladamir Propp, The Morphology of the Folktale (Austin, TX: U of
Texas P, 1968).
“J.P. Telotte, "The Dark Side of the Force: Star Wars and the Science
Fiction Tradition," Extrapolation 24:3 (1983): 221-222.
48
Fox 23; also Gordon, "A Myth For Our Time" 21.
^^for example, see Clarens 53; Gans 55; Henning 203; Lubow, " A Space
Iliad" 20; Miller and Sprich 210-211; Overby 10; Rubey 12; and Dick
Sheppard, "The Gospel According to 'Star Wars'," Los Angeles Herald-
Examiner, 18 June 1978: Fl.
50'
Pollock, Skywalking 152-157.
308
«'Miller and Sprich 210-211.
521
'Joseph Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, 2nd ed.
Bollingen Series XVII (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton UP, 1968) 147, 150-171.
««Campbell 90, 97.
«^Ken Wilber, Up From Eden: A Transpersonal View of Human
Evolution (Boulder, CO: Shambala, 1983) 113-131, 182-187.
««Riane Eisler, The Chalice and The Blade: Our History, Our Future
(San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1987) 166-168, 172-184.
««Erich Neumann, The Great Mother: An Analysis of the Archetype,
trans. Ralph Manheim, Bollingen Series XLVII (N.J.: Princeton UP, 1963) 178,
also 149, 162, and 171.
«'Gordon, "Monsters From the Id" 316.
««Campbell 104.
«^Annis V. Pratt, "Spinning Among Fields: Jung, Frye, Lévi-Strauss, and
Feminist Archetypal Theory," Feminist Archetypal Theory: Interdisciplinary
Rev-Visions of lungian Thought, eds. Estella Lauter and Carol Schreier
Rupprecht (Knoxville, TN: U of Tennessee P, 1985) 111.
«Teresa De Lauretis, Alice Doesn't: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema
(Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1984) 118-124.
«'D. Wood, "The Stars in Our Hearts" 271.
«'The eight red lights above Luke's head "double" the potency of the
number four; in addition, the cross represents both the masculine deity and
his sacrifice; see Walker, The Woman's Dictionary 46.
««Snyder claims that Han and Leia clash because "they come from
different mythic worlds," the melodramatic versus the romantic(34-36).
«^Judith Fetterly, The Resisting Reader: A Feminist Approach to
American Fiction (Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 1978) 1-11.
««Matthew 28:20, (NIV).
««For an extended comparison of Kenobi with Merlin, see D. Wood,
"Growing Up Among the Stars."
«'Rubey 12.
309
68--
'The terms dominator and partnership come from Eisler, The Chalice
and The Blade; in addition, squares are associated with "masculinity" while
circles are associated with "femininity."
«Tubey 9, 13.
'"Miller and Sprich 212; also Rubey 12.
"Pollock, Skywalking 236, 243.
“for example, see Angell (26 May 1980); Ansen (19 May 1980); Champlin
(18 May 1980); Clarke (19 May 1980); and Rogers.
'«Clarke; see also Kirk Honeycutt, "Lucas Strikes Back . . . And Leaves
Us Hanging," rev. of Star Wars VI, dir. Richard Marquand, Valiev News, 18
May 1980; Janet Maslin, "Film: Robots Return in 'Empire Strikes'," rev. of Star
Wars VI. dir. Richard Marquand, New York Times, 21 May 1980: C25; Rogers;
and David Sterritt, "'Empire Strikes Back': To Visualize the Incredible," rev.
of Star Wars VI, dir. Richard Marquand, The Christian Science Monitor, 21
May 1980: 19.
'^Gordon, "Monsters From the Id" 313.
'«Anne Lancashire, "The Star Wars Saga: Comedy Vs. Tragedy,"
Dalhousie Review, Spring, 1982: 6.
'«Data for the analysis came from repeated viewings of Star Wars V:
The Empire Strikes Back, Twentieth-Century Fox, 1980; George Lucas, exec,
prod.; Gary Kurtz, prod.; Irvin Kershner, dir. Starring Mark Hamill (Luke),
Harrison Ford (Han), Carrie Fisher (Leia), Billy Dee Williams (Lando),
Anthony Daniels (See Threepio), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), Kenny Baker
(Artoo-Detoo), David Prowse (Darth Vader), Alec Guinness (Obi-Wan Kenobi),
and Frank Oz (Yoda). Supplemental materials came from many sources,
including Diana Attias and Lindsay Smith, eds.. The Empire Strikes Back
Notebook (N.Y.: Ballantine, 1980) [the published screenplay, taken from the
script by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan]; Donald F. Glut, Star Wars:
The Empire Strikes Back (N.Y.: Ballantine/Del Rey, 1980) [the novelization];
and Alan Arnold, Once Upon a Galaxy: The Making of Star Wars, The
Empire Strikes Back (N.Y.: Ballantine/Del Rey, 1980). Dialogue was checked
against the film itself, since the published screenplay is inaccurate.
“ D. Wood, "The Empire's New Clothes" 13-14.
'«Lancashire, "Complex Design" 47.
'^ irc e a Eliade notes that there are three general types of initiations-
"puberty rites" (from childhood to adulthood), secret rituals for organizational
membership, and the rites that invest a shaman with power; see Rites and
Symbols of Initiation: The Mysteries of Birth and Rebirth, trans. Willard R.
Trask (N.J.: Princeton UP 1965) 2; also Mircea Eliade, Shamanism: Archaic
310
Techniques of Ecstasy, trans. Willard R. Trask (N.J.: Princeton UP, 1964);
Joseph Campbell, The Flight of the Wild Gander: Explorations in the
Mythological Dimension (N.Y.: Viking Press, 1969) 157-192; Joseph Campbell
with Bill Moyers, The Power of Mvth. ed. Betty Sue Flowers (N.Y.:
Doubleday, 1988); and Marta Weigle, Spiders and Spinsters: Women and
Mythology (Albuquerque, NM: U of New Mexico P, 1982).
«"This phrase is Gordon's, who observes how Luke is frequently pictured
upside down in Empire ("Monsters From the Id" 314).
«'Eisenstein 64.
«'For example, see Asahina; Westerbeck; and D. Wood, "The Empire's
New Clothes"; also see Canby (15 June 1980).
««Lancashire, "Complex Design" 43.
«^Eliade, Shamanism 352, 258; also Mircea Eliade, Patterns in
Comparative Religion, trans. Rosemary Sheed (Cleveland, OH: World, 1949,
1958) 421.
««Neumann, The Great Mother 296.
««Barbara Meyerhoff, "The Older Woman as Androgyne," Parabola 34
(1978): 75-89; Barbara G. Walker, The Crone: Women of Age, Wisdom, and
Power (San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1985).
«'Thomas S. Frentz and Mary E. Hale report that despite Yoda's
apparent "social ineptness," children fully accepted him without judgment,
unlike other characters such as Leia or Lando; see "Inferential Model Criticism
of 'The Empire Strikes Back'," Ouarterlv Journal of Speech 69 (1983): 286.
««Walker, The Crone 102-103.
«^Carlos Castaneda, A Separate Reality: Further Conversations with Don
Tuan (N.Y.: Pocket Books, 1972) 37; see also Carlos Castaneda, The Teachings
of Don Tuan: A Yaqui Wav of Knowledge (N.Y.: Pocket Books, 1968); and
Carlos Castaneda, Tournev to Ixtlan: The Lessons of Don Tuan (N.Y.: Pocket
Books, 1974).
^"Leonard M. Scigaj, "Bettleheim, Castaneda and Zen: The Powers
Behind the Force in Star Wars," Extrapolation 22:3 (1981): 213-230.
91
Scigaj 228.
^'David Wyatt, "Star Wars and the Productions of Time," The Virginia
Ouarterlv Review 58 (1982): 611-612.
^«Gordon, "Monsters From the Id" 316.
311
^Walker, A Woman's Dictionary 478-479. Monica Sj66 and Barbara Mor
observe that food sharing is matrafocal; see The Great Cosmic Mother:
Rediscovering the Religion of the Earth (San Francisco, CA: Harper and Row,
1987) 408-409.
“Velasco, 165.
“Attias and Smith 104.
“Lancashire, "Complex Design" 44.
“Lancashire also comments on Han's "uplifted hands," claiming that the
image connects Han to Ben Kenobi as a sacrificial victim for Luke ("Complex
Design" 45). I believe Han's sacrifice is a larger one, where he serves not
only as a scapegoat for Luke, but also as a scapegoat for a certain type of
masculinity, which may be outmoded in a more "communal" world.
“For example, see Forshey 769-771; Lancashire, "Comedy Vs. Tragedy" 8;
Lancashire, "Complex Design" 44-45; Wyatt 605-606; and M. Wood.
'""Forshey 770.
'"'Lancashire, "Comedy Vs. Tragedy" 8-10.
'"'Jose and Miriam Arguelles, Mandala (Berkeley, CA: Shambala, 1972)
13, 33, 109-110; Erich Neumann, The Origins and History of Consciousness,
trans. R. F. C. Hull (N.J.: Princeton UP, 1984) 417; Andrew Samuels, Bani
Shorter and Fred Plant, A Critical Dictionary of Tungian Analysis (London
and N.Y.: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1986) 90; Mary-Louise von Franz,
"Symbols of Individuation," Man and His Symbols, eds. C. G. Jung and M. L.
von Franz (N.Y.: Dell, 1964) 157-254; Walker, A Woman's Dictionary 10, 162-
163.
'"«"Mandala," The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1988 éd.; see also Joseph
Campbell, The Power of Mvth 216; E. F. Edinger, Ego and Archetype:
Individuation and the Religious Function of the Psyche (Baltimore, MD:
Penguin, 1973) 175; and Jolanda Jacobi, The Wav of Individuation, trans. R. F.
C. Hull (N.Y.: New American Library, 1965) 58.
'"^Eisenstein 63.
'"«Gordon, "Monsters From the Id" 314.
'"«Wyatt 607.
'"'Eisenstein 64; also Gordon, "Monsters From the Id" 314.
'"«In an interview with Aljean Harmetz, Lucas referred to Obi-Wan
Kenobi and Darth Vader as Luke's "good and bad fathers," with the "good
and bad mothers" yet to comeC'The Saja Beyond 'Star Wars'," New York
312
Times, 18 May 1980): sec. II, 23. I argue that the "good and bad mothers" are
already present in the films in disguised form (as males), which adds to the
ambiguity of the overall series.
'“Campbell, The Power of Mvth 177-178; Sjôô and Mor 168; Walker, The
Woman's Encyclopedia 45.
""Wyatt 606.
"'For example, see Asahina "An Unequal Sequel"; D. Wood, "The
Empire's New Clothes'; and M. Wood.
"'W yatt 614.
"«Pollock, Skywalking 302; also Audi Bock, "Secrecy Shrouds a 'Star
Wars' Sequel," New York Times, 11 July 1982: 15+.
""Michael Stein and Jessie Horsting, "Return of the Jedi," Fantastic Films,
July, 1983: 38.
"«Gerald Clarke, "'I've Got To Get My Life Back Again': After His
Labors, the Mythmaker Plans to Rest and Perhaps Retire," Time, 23 May 1983:
70.
"«Clarke, "Great Galloping Galaxies!" 63-65.
"'Clarke, "I've Got To Get My Life Back Again" 68.
"«Lee Goldberg, "Richard Marquand: Director of 'Jedi'," Starlog, June
1983: 67.
"^Anne Lancashire, "Return of the Tedi: Once More With Feeling," Film
Criticism 8:2 (1984): 63.
''"Data for the analysis was obtained by repeated viewings of Star Wars
VI: Return of the Tedi, Twentieth-Century Fox, 1983; a Lucasfilm, Ltd. Prod.
George Lucas, exec, prod.; Howard Kazanjian, prod.; Richard Marquand, dir.
Starring Mark Hamill (Luke), Harrison Ford (Han), Carrie Fisher (Leia), Billy
Dee Williams (Lando), Anthony Daniels (See Threepio), Peter Mayhew
(Chewbacca), Alec Guinness (Obi-Wan Kenobi), Ian McDiarmid (The
Emperor), David Prowse (Darth Vader), Frank Oz (Yoda), and Sebastian Shaw
(Anakin Skywalker), with James Earl Jones finally credited for providing "the
voice of Darth Vader." Supplemental information came from several sources,
including The Art of the Return of the Tedi (N.Y.: Ballantine Books, 1983)
[the published screenplay, based on the script by Lawrence Kasdan and
George Lucas]; James Kahn, Star Wars: Return of the Tedi (N.Y.:
Ballantine/Del Rey, 1983) [the novelization]; John Philip Peecher, Editor, The
Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (N.Y.: Ballantine/Del Rey, 1983);
plus the Press Kit (Beverly Hills, CA: Twentieth-Century Fox Film Corp.,
313
1983). Dialogue was checked against the film, since the published screenplay
is inaccurate.
“'Walker, The Crone 59; Walker, A Woman's Dictionary 16, 57, 158, 209;
Walker, A Woman's Encyclopedia 218.
'“Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines, trans. Chen-Chi Chang, ed. W. Y.
Evans-Wentz (Oxford: Oxford UP, 1958) 205, 267, 337.
“«Arthur Asa Berger, "Return of the Tedi: The Rewards of Myth,"
Culture and Society, May-June, 1984: n.pag.
“"Sarris 59.
“«Jon Lewis 5.
“«Bondage themes are more explicit in the artwork for Tedi, seen in the
drawings of both Oola and "the fat dancer." In particular, Oola is drawn as a
smiling woman, with the strap of her headgear through her mouth, like a
horse's bit. Such imagery, a staple of male pornography, suggests that
women not only comply with their own degradation, but also enjoy it (The
Art of the Return of the Tedi 20-23).
“'Gordon, "Monsters From the Id" 316.
“«Lancashire, "Once More With Feeling" 59.
“W alker, A Woman's Encyclopedia 218-221; also Sjôô and Mor 166-168.
'«Tor others who compare Jabba to a penis, see Gordon, "Return of the
Tedi: The End of the Myth," Film Criticism 8:2 (1984): 50-51; and Jon Lewis 5.
Jabba's contradictions extend past male/female imagery; for example, he is
both cultured and barbaric.
'«'Gordon, "The End of the Myth" 50.
'«' Benson, "Inventive Jedi" IV:1.
'««Walker, A Woman's Dictionary 332.
'« "The Art of the Return of the Tedi 42.
'««Jacobson 10.
'««Walker, A Woman's Dictionary. 28-29, 90-91; Walker, A Woman's
Encyclopedia 351-355; also "Colors," The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1988
ed. I am grateful to Susan D. Baker for first suggesting to me the connections
between Luke's new lightsaber and the mythic flowering rod.
'«'Gordon, "The End of the Myth" 50.
314
i38Walker, The Crone.
^^^Sarris 59.
^ '‘ “ Solomon 369.
^ '‘ Victor Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure
(Chicago, IL: Aldine, 1969) 45-46.
^ '‘ ^Sjoo and Mor 168; Walker, A Woman's Dictionary 290-291; also
Elemire Zolla, The Androgyne: Reconciliation of Male and Female (N.Y.:
Crossroads, 1981).
^^Like many of the characters in Tedi, Mon Mothma is never referred to
by name in the film itself, though she is listed in the credits. According to
the Star Wars mythos, she is the true leader of the Rebel Alliance (Velasco
125).
^^Gordon, "The End of the Myth" 47.
% e l 89.
Canby, "The Force is With Them," sec. II, 15.
^^Westerbeck, "On the Beach" 434.
^ '‘ “ Arisen, "How the Force Conquers All" 96.
^ '‘ ^Jacobi 58; Walker, A Woman's Dictionary 957-958.
^ ^ “ Neumann, The Origins and History of Consciousness 87; his view
contrasts to that of Walker, who views spiders more positively (A Woman's
Encyclopedia 957-958).
'"'Gordon, "The End of the Myth" 51-52.
'“Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces 130.
'“Benson, "Inventive 'Jedi'" 17.
'"^Campbell, The Power of Mvth 144.
'“Toni Rubin, "High-Tech Anxiety on the Big Screen," LA Catalyst, Sept.,
1983: 4-5.
'""Berger.
'"^Sarris 59.
158,
Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces 152.
315
'“Campbell, The Hero With A Thousand Faces 170-171; Clarke observes
that "Ewokese" was a combination of five actual languages, one of which was
Tibetan ("Great Galloping Galaxies!" 65).
'“Berger.
'"'Snyder 119.
'"^The concept of "gynesis" comes from Alice A. Jardine, Gvnesis:
Configurations of Women and Modernity (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell UP, 1985) 99.
Jardine basically discusses the French movement to write in a "woman's
discourse," a philosophical type of becoming "female." Yet she also notes that
this process in America exists "only at the level of representation" (236),
which Barbara Creed suggests may occur in science-fiction films in a number
of ways which may not be beneficial to women (such as males giving birth,
or the use of hybrid male/female characters); see "From Here To Modernity:
Feminism and Postmodernism," Screen (1988).
'""Gordon, "The End of the Myth" 52, 53.
'"^Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, "Rhetorical
Hybrids: Fusions of Generic Elements," Quarterly Tournai of Speech 68 (May,
1982): 146-157.
'""Gordon, "The End of the Myth" 52.
'""Several reviewers commented upon on these contradictory elements,
for example, Bensen, "Inventive 'Jedi'"; and Gordon, "The End of the Myth".
316
Chapter 6
CONCLUSIONS
Mediated popular culture texts contain within them messages designed
to grapple with "patriarchal crisis," which has arisen in the breakdown of the
traditional American bourgeois family and its concomitant loss of masculine
power.' This study argued that mediated mythic narratives employ a variety
of rhetorical strategies, most especially the concept of androgyny, to respond
to this situation. These strategies are both ideological and utopian,
reaffirming, yet also transforming, dominant images of gender in American
culture. This study further argued that mediated mythic narratives are
complex. Methods or perspectives for criticism that focus only on the
ideological or utopian functions of such narratives are likely to miss how the
two work together in any mythic text, as well as ignoring any potentially
subversive elements which might cause audiences to resist or reject the
mythic rhetoric.
By drawing on both rhetorical and feminist theory, this study developed
a framework for the analysis and evaluation of mythic discourse designed to
explain better how prevailing concepts of gender are constructed, maintained,
transformed, an d /o r subverted in mediated mythic discourse. An underlying
aim was to empower women by challenging oppressive concepts of gender
that continue the denigration and subjugation of women, while assessing
alternative concepts in regards to their potential benefits to both women and
317
men. To achieve these goals required a revision of rhetorical standards (to be
discussed later in the chapter) so that such standards included women in
their assessment about what makes a beneficial and effective narrative. The
framework was then applied to five science-fiction and fantasy films
recognized as mythic, and either directed or produced by George Lucas:
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981); Indiana Tones and the Temple of Doom (1984);
Star Wars IV: A New Hope (1977); Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
(1980); and Star Wars VI: Return of the ledi (1983). These films were
analyzed to explicate and assess how the dialectical tensions between their
competing mythic narratives were resolved rhetorically.
This chapter is organized as follows: First, the study's rationale and
method are summarized, so as to clarify their use; second, the central
findings are discussed, with a further assessment of the ideological, utopian,
and subversive elements discovered through the analysis of the five films;
third, conclusions are drawn about these findings in terms of the analysis of
mediated popular culture from a combined feminist-rhetorical perspective,
with a discussion of the implications of the analysis for rhetorical/feminist
theory and criticism, and film /popular culture theory and criticism. The
chapter ends with recommendations for further research.
Method
The five science-fiction and fantasy films chosen for this study were
analyzed through an explication of the dialectical conflict between "masculine"
and "feminine" mythic narratives, focusing on how the dialectic occurs and is
318
resolved in the monomythic structures of each film, through rhetorical
strategies that reaffirm, transform, and/or subvert our conceptions of gender
and the heroic "ideal." Although the "masculine" and "feminine" myths
employ stereotypically dualistic archetypal imagery, the study rejected
essentialistic constructions of either term, while also rejecting the position that
gender has no significance. I agree with Linda Alcoff that it is possible to
have "a theory of the gendered subject that does not slide into essentialism."^
One's gender identity is "always a construction" that serves as a point of
departure for both politics and identification." Christine Gledhill makes a
similar argument about how ideologies (including the "ideology of gender")
are continually renegotiated in a symbolic "give and take" between the text
and the audience:
Language and cultural forms are sites in which different
subjectivities struggle to impose or challenge, to confirm,
negotiate or displace, definitions and identities. In this
respect, the figure of a woman, the look of the camera, the
gestures and signs of human interaction, are not given over
once and for all to a particular ideology— unconscious or
otherwise. They are cultural signs and therefore sites of
struggle; struggle between male and female voices, between-
class voices, ethnic voices, and so on.^
This perspective of "constructed identities" permitted a deeper analysis of
the claim, believed by many, that both men and women, but especially men,
must integrate the "feminine" into themselves in order to become full humans.
able to solve personal and social problems. Such beliefs cast the sexes into
an a priori oppositional relationship, with gender difference reified into
unquestioned, presumably natural archetypal images. The problems and
conflicts which occur from such an opposition are resolved in several ways.
319
from a continuation of the dialectic, with one side emphasized, to the idea of
merger, or synthesis." Gledhill observes that even if a 'strict dualism is
rejected as inappropriate for the modern world," such ideas "still have
imaginative resonance" for many. She argues that melodrama is employed in
popular culture
to provide archetypal and atavistic symbolic enactments; for
the focus of melodrama is a moral order constructed out of
the conflict of Manichanean polar opposites— a struggle
between good and evil, personified in the conflicts of villain,
heroine and hero. . . .[yet] the pressure towards realism and
contemporaneity means that a popular text must also conform
to ever shifting criteria of relevance and credibility."
This study was designed to explicate new criteria of "relevance and
credibility" by combining feminist thought with the narrative paradigm, the
first study to do so. After an extensive critique of the limitations of other
rhetorical approaches to mythic rhetoric, this study developed an alternative
critical framework for analyzing and assessing such rhetoric, to better
understand "how popular culture functions both for women and for a
patriarchal culture," which Lana Rakow insists is necessary "if women are to
gain control over their own identities and change both social mythologies and
social relations."^
Walter R. Fisher designed the narrative paradigm to provide "a way of
interpreting and assessing human communication that leads to critique, to a
determination of whether or not a given instance of discourse provides a
reliable, trustworthy and desirable guide to thought and action in tl^ world.""
He argues that the paradigm "sees people as storytellers— authors and co
authors who creatively read and evaluate the texts of life and literature." He
320
stresses that audiences are full participants in the making of messages with
the rhetor/ Although some critics believe the paradigm to be too subjective,
the potential exists for it to be adopted to broader concerns, helping us
understand "the narrative dimension of being human.'"” It is especially well
suited to the orality of mediated popular culture because it permits an
assessment of non-traditional, "non-rational" narratives. In particular, circular
and non-linear stories (denigrated as "non-logical" by standard tests of
reasoning) form a "web" of meaning, returning to and elaborating themes
rather than making a formal progression to a climax.”
Mediated discourse does not persuade us through propositional forms,
and cannot ultimately be evaluated by questioning how well it debates its
case. This study utilized the narrative paradigm because it focuses on shared
understanding of experience, with audiences likely to accept those ideas that
have the most rhetorical probability (coherence) and fidelity for that particular
audience. The narrative paradigm provided a method of evaluation not
grounded in universals or absolutes, but in localized shared communities who
determine (individually and collectively) what makes a "good stoiy."” As
argued in Chapter Three, such an approach is well suited to feminist thought,
because it permits an assessment of women's culture and values, or "a
woman's point of view."
More specifically, this study developed feminist criteria for assessing not
only androcentric beliefs about what is true, but also any women-centered
"good reasons" operating within the mythic narratives. The concepts of
narrative coherence and narrative fidelity, especially the questions of fact.
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relevance, consequence, consistency, and transcendent issue, were combined
with gynocentric values (such as partnership and an "ethic of care"), to create
a framework more relevant to women's experience. After developing this
criteria, the study extensively analyzed each of the five films listed earlier. In
particular, the type(s) of resolution(s) presented as rhetorical responses to the
dialectical conflict between "masculine and "feminine" mythic images were
explicated.
This study demonstrated that both "Indiana Jones" films (Raiders and
Indiana Tones) argue for a dialectical emphasis of traditional "masculinity."
The Star Wars trilogy, however, argues for a synthesis of the dialectic,
creating a type of "rhetoric of androgyny." Yet, as I observed in earlier
chapters, such androgyny can mask crucial issues surrounding the dominant
ideology, mystifying audiences, vitiating the energy needed for social change.
Still, the concept of negotiation implies that some audiences may decode such
archetypal imagery in transformative or subversive ways, resisting the
preferred "reading." The following two sections summarize the findings of
this analysis, further assessing the ideological, utopian, and subversive effects
of the mythic rhetoric within the five films, according to the concepts of
narrative coherence and fidelity as they apply both to the dominant
patriarchal culture and to a "woman's point of view."
Reaffirmation and Transformation of Gender: The Appeal of Mvthic Rhetoric
in Popular Film
The five films critiqued in this study are among the most popular of all
time, with new versions of the heroic quest myth joining them (e.g. Indiana
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Tones and the Last Crusade). What makes these narratives so appealing?
Modern audiences, like audiences of the past, turn to myth for entertainment
and to find answers to questions about personal and social tensions. As
Joseph Campbell indicates, the symbols of the heroic quest myth (or
monomyth) "touch and release the deepest centers of motivation, moving
literate and illiterate alike," thus influencing civilization. Because of this
power, mythology "is no toy for children," but something which must relate
to the needs of the day, providing clues to identity and moral action that fit
our modern experiences.'"
Increasingly such experience is depersonalized, commodified, and
fragmented; thus it should be expected that mythic narratives would aim to
present a unifying message both reaffirmatory and transformative, ideological
and utopian. The heroic myth valorizes individual action over dehumanized
bureaucracy, centered in the belief that individuals have power to alter and
control events in their lives, and that through concentrated effort and cunning
such individuals can overcome technologically superior foes. Audiences often
cheer such individuals, whether it is Indiana Jones foiling the Nazis or Luke
Skywalker blowing up the Death Star. Such a message may be especially
important to adolescent audiences who have grown up seeing such individual
opportunities eroded. Both Indiana Jones and Luke Skywalker represent the
"American Dream" of unlimited achievement, regardless of background,
personal wealth, or education. Luke, in particular, is the hometown boy who
"makes good," gaining a high social position and acclaim for his prowress as
a warrior-pilot. These films provide a message of the possiblity of
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independent action, that "anyone can make it big" in America, which
reaffirms the hopes and desires of many viewers. The image of the heroic
individual standing against overwhelming odds has tremendous appeal,
illustrated by the political events in China and Eastern Europe during the last
half of 1989. Such individual action is harder to achieve in today's
increasingly centralized, multinational world.
This reaffirmatory message was even more appealing to audiences of the
late 1970's and early 1980's (when these films were released). At that time
many Americans were dispirited by world events, from the perceived loss in
Vietnam to the hostage crisis in Iran. The hopeful messages of good
conquering evil worked as a type of "social cement," bringing disparate
audiences together to celebrate the renewal of the "American Dream," which,
as Fisher observes, contains within it both the materialistic "rags to riches"
individual success story and "the equalitarian moralistic myth of
brotherhood."'^ Bruce Bawer observed that audiences of the time wanted
"protagonists they can cheer, people who succeed against incredible odds . . .
thus proving the American dream alive, well and absolutely valid."'" Science-
fiction and fantasy films provided such protagonists. As Pete Axtheim noted,
without, our heroes, Americans "lose something of ourselves.'""
The reaffirmative messages of these five films apparently had coherence
and fidelity for most of the people who saw them. The repetitiveness of the
heroic narrative is formally coherent insofar as it follows the "good form" of
the heroic myth as described in prior chapters. Both the "Indiana Jones" films
and the Star Wars trilogy are monomythic. Yet, as Campbell asserts, it is not
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enough for the modern myth merely to repeat the form; it needs to be
updated to deal with the modern, technological w o rld .O n ly then can it be
considered as transformative— as presenting a utopian vision of the heroic
ideal.
What are the requirements of this transformed heroic myth? Kenneth
Burke outlines several criteria. Such a myth must transcend nationalism,
integrate and accept the past, center new conflicts on technology, provide new
ideals and values which are embodied in "ideal citizens" (heroes) who are
connected to both larger social issues and social relationships. Such myths
should celebrate the heroic triumph, but with irony tempered by realism (so
as to not become enmeshed in fascism).'*
I believe the Star Wars trilogy better fits Burke's criteria than the two
"Indiana Jones" films. In the Star Wars universe, there is a heterogenous
Rebel Alliance that seems drawn from numerous races and planets. The
central conflicts revolve around the use of technology, whether employed "to
serve" or "to enslave."'^ The male heroes are not traditional individualists,
though they start out that way. Their independent actions, however, are
punished, and both become more communal, more the embodiments of the
"ideal citizens" by the end of the series. The heroes relate in more
harmonious and equalitarian ways at the finale, both with each other and
with other races. Their initial heroic triumph is celebrated in what seems to
be fascistic spectacle, but subsequent films call this ending into question,
making it seem ironic.^” Further, after their final triumph at the end of Tedi,
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the heroes stand off to the side, no longer asocial, but also not the center of
attention.
In addition, the Star Wars trilogy provides a transformation of the goal
of the heroic quest. Luke seeks his identity, but not to replace his father
through conquest and possession of the mother figure. Instead, Luke seeks to
redeem his father through an act of personal sacrifice. The Star Wars
characters also possess what Fisher calls characterological (or ethical)
coherence by acting in ways consonant with both abstract moral principles
(e.g. the rules governing the Jedi way of life) and relational/personal caring
(e.g. Luke leaving Dagobah to save Han and Leia on Bespin). This
combination of "masculine" and "feminine" virtue further illustrates the
androgynous nature of the heroes.
This utopian transformation of the heroes argues for masculinity and
femininity less mired in stereotypes than the two "Indiana Jones" films, which
reinforce gender stereotypes, presenting a traditional individualistic hero who
is "all male." The rhetoric is not transformative, but reaffirmatory, supporting
the dominant hierarchy. In both Raiders and Indiana lones the hero is seen
as intensifying nationalistic and chauvinistic tendencies. He seeks both
material wealth and a narcissistic glorification of self, as well as the salvation
of patriarchal culture. Unlike Luke and Han, Indiana undergoes no real
character alteration, no rebirth where he learns to integrate the "feminine."
Instead, he continues to subjugate it. Indy often behaves in questionable
ways; he sneaks around, steals objects, is duplicitous, greedy, patronizing,
dominating, and violent. Yet this ideological vision of the masculine hero
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does not decrease the appeal of the films; indeed, it may enhance it for some
who felt that the androgynized heroes of Star Wars had become "wimps."
Thus, for a patriarchal culture and predominately masculine audience, the
"Indiana Jones" films possess some narrative fidelity.
Fisher asserts that narrative fidelity arises in conjunction with narrative
coherence, but whereas "the principle of coherence brings into focus the
integrity of a story as a whole," narrative fidelity assesses whether or not
stories "represent accurate assertions about social reality and thereby
constitute good reasons for belief and action."^' One type of fidelity concerns
the kinds of values and experiences advocated in the text, which can be
judged in terms of their relevance to the situation.^
The "Indiana Jones" films reaffirm traditional (if stereotyped) beliefs
about masculine identity. Jane Flax argues that such an identity is
characterized by separateness, autonomy, dualisms (such as mind versus
body, reason versus passion), "themes of mastery, domination and control. . .
and fears about loss of control," plus fear of women leading to a devaluation
of both women and everything associated with them.^" Jean Grimshaw
observes that the masculine ideal involves "being self-assured, unafraid, in
control, self-sufficient, not dependent." A "masculine" man also values
"success, dominance, leadership, being a good provider."^'' Indiana Jones
demonstrates these qualities and values in abundance; he prefers to act alone,
entering into relationships with women only when he can be in control. He is
a confident, courageous man apparently only afraid of snakes. But his
actions also betray a fear and revulsion of things associated with women.
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especially sexuality. His closest relationships are with men and the boy.
Short Round, who mimics his actions. The masculine "thrust" of the narrative
is reinforced by the latest entry into the series (The Last Crusade) which
presents a quest for a "feminine" object (the Holy Grail) guarded by a pure,
immortal male. The only female turns out to be a villain, and running
throughout the story is Indy's reconciliation with his father. The film ends
with four male heroes riding off into the sunset.
Such reaffirmation of masculine identity has relevance for a certain
segment of the audience. As Ian M. Taplin observes, in spite of modern
conditions, "ideologically we remain enchanted by the epic of the heroic
adventurer." Films such as Raiders and Indiana lones appeal to our
"cherished individualism and the sanctity of the privatized self." The
repeated image of the "asocial individual hero," who reduces social
complexities and international relations "to comic book conceptions of good
and bad," provides audiences with vicarious satisfaction; such a hero acts as
"a palliative for the limitations of a consumption-oriented narcissism.
Although Indiana Jones as hero has appeal for frustrated audiences
seeking simple solutions to life's problems, temporarily easing the sense of
patriarchal crisis, ultimately the message is a negative one. Despite the
"safety valve" benefit of such escapism, the films legitimize the dominant
culture, providing an illusion of choice which keeps us from questioning the
"contradictions posed by a culture that promises the world in prepackaged
images but fails to deliver the real thing. The "wish-fulfillment" of the
"Indiana Jones" films is not commensurate with actual modern experience.
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failing the test of material coherence (it jars with the story of life as actually
lived). Further, adhering to the masculine-image presented by the mythic
narrative would have undesirable consequences. Indy's arrogant actions cause
distress to others (especially the women). His most positive relationship, with
Short Round, remains unexplored (despite his obvious care for children, his
most noble characteristic). Violent action is promoted as a solution to
international conflicts, with other cultures presented as either simple-minded
or evil. The ideal vision of masculinity that is presented is not "evolved" or
transformed, thus failing to meet the criterion of transcendent issue (which
represents an ideal way of life). Dualistic thinking is reinforced, with a
dangerous association of the "Other" (whether woman or foreigner) with evü,
reinforcing an "us versus them" mentality. Such an association further
justifies patriarchal suppression, denigration and negation of "the feminine,"
which may then be directed toward real women.
The Star Wars trilogy, on the other hand, has more narrative fidelity,
especially for the female spectator. It fulfills at least some of the
requirements of a "female ethic," which values relationship over rules,
especially in moral decision-making, where situational and relational demands
require certain responses so as to not rupture the web of relationships. Such
an ethic also is skeptical of abstract, rational, and "objective" thought.^^ Star
Wars combines positive "feminine" values (such as empathy, compassion, and
caring) with positive "masculine" values (such as duty, justice, and courage),
stressing certain moral obligations: the need for community and social duty;
the need for loyalty and caring to family and friends; a concern for equality;
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the necessity of fighting against evil, even to the point of self-sacrifice (which
is preferred to the rupturing of relationship): the need to treat all beings with
respect despite origins or appearances; and the rejection of violence, except
for defense. The merger of "masculine" and "feminine" may offer a message
of gender-transcendence, as well as the possibility of what Riane Eisler calls
gvlanv/ an ideal social system characterized by linking and partnership
instead of hierarchy and domination.^*
These messages are presented ambiguously, with some contradictions
reducing the narrative fidelity of the mythic rhetoric. Ambition and personal
loyalty are shown as possible temptations away from duty, the rebel soldiers
and pilots are aggressively violent and elitist, Luke's treatment of the droids
becomes increasingly callous (e.g. sending them to Jabba as "gifts"), and so
forth. While the message of androgyny has potential appeal for a wider
audience, appearing "to expand the options and likelihood of positive results
for women," it also presents an ambiguous gender-identity which erases
gender difference.^^ Such erasure promotes a pseudo-equality based on
sameness, the false assumption that "we are all alike." This sameness is
biased toward androcentric values, implicit in the term, androevnv, which
places man (andro) before woman (gyn). Such erasure reaffirms masculine
control, by purifying the masculine image and expanding the boundaries of
the hegemonic frame to include a wider variety of appropriate behavior for
the sexes. The patriarchal system is not really challenged; instead, androgyny
becomes a type of "ideological masking" which works "to uphold the status
quo.""” It also disguises a paradoxical reaffirmation of difference, using the
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rhetorical tactics of dissociation and "gynesis" to uphold a dualistic split
between good and bad "femininity" which further purifies the heroic ideal.
More specifically, the trilogy connects the positives of femininity, masculinity,
and technology with the "reality" of patriarchal control. The negatives of
masculinity and technology are cast as the mere "appearance" of patriarchy,
projected onto evil villains who represent the Terrible Goddess— males who
have "become female.""'
In summary, while all five films present an appealing mythic narrative,
all five also fail to present a truly transformed or evolved heroic ideal which
challenges either the prevailing patriarchical social order or constraining
concepts about gender. This failure, however, is not entirely negative, since it
provides opportunities to resist or reinterpret the messages. The next section
examines and assesses the potential effects of such opportunities, which work
against narrative coherence and a narrative "fidelity" (truthfulness) grounded
in patriarchal control.
The Postmodern Subversion of the Heroic Quest Mvth
Alice Jardine observed that "it is clear that the master discourses of the
West are increasingly perceived as no longer adequate for explaining the
world: words and things no longer coincide, and all identities have been
thrown into question.""^ This social-cultural condition of crisis has been
labeled as the condition of postmodernism, which refers to a set of
assumptions not yet clearly defined, but which is posited as a cultural trend
in every sphere of private and public life, including mediated discourse. In
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particular, contemporary science-fiction and fantasy films have become
increasingly "postmodern" in the face of "structural and cultural pressure."""
This pressure has been manifested in science-fiction and fantasy in
several ways, including the collapse pf time, the inflation/deflation of space,
the dispersion of memory and identity, the use of pastiche, the creation of a
"hyper-reality," and "schizophrenic consciousness." Such a postmodern
sensibility could reinforce the dominant status quo through its emphasis on
commodification; yet it more often subverts through its constant repetition
and replay of texts across a shallow screen which undermines notions of
hierarchical linear progress and determinate meaning. Boundaries are
overwhelmed, not by the infinite nature of actual space, but by the reduction
of film space to a simulacra that completely alters our senses of time, space,
and self."^
The postmodern trend in contemporary science-fiction and fantasy films
presents a serious challenge to the unity of its mythic narratives.
Postmodernism attacks those concepts which are universal, teleological, and
utopian. As discussed in Chapter Two, such an attack is compatible with
feminism, which also "overtly challenges the credibility of patriarchal
narratives," and a represented individualistic self."" A postmodern subversion
of gender might occur through a celebration of a non-essentialized
"multiplicity of differences" which diffuses difference, making it seem less
"strange" (or Other)."" Further, the "endless cross-referencing" of such
narratives might function as a cultural critique through "the ransacking and
recycling"' of images and themes."^ Although a certain amount of
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intertextuality has always occurred among different narrative genres, in the
postmodern condition, generic conventions become so mixed that all sense of
an original and a copy become collapsed. The primacy of any text is further
undermined by what Dick Hebdige calls "the accretion of texts and meanings,
the proliferation of sources," which refer self-consciously to each other."® The
films analyzed in this study demonstrate such self-reflexiveness, with
abundant "cross-referencing" and citation of each other, as well as other
sources.
The postmodern "rhetoric of subversion" presents a countertext to the
dominant message of the heroic quest myth. Fisher says that subversion is
"concerned with undermining an image.""® The image put into question by
these five films is that of the individualistic hero, who works to restore a
moral order based upon the traditional dichotomy of "good versus evil." The
success of this hero reaffirms American humanistic ideals as well as
hierarchical power relations. Although this conservative message
predominates, the counter-text subverts it in several ways which rupture the
romanticized ideal world of the heroic quest myth and its presumed
universality.
First, all five films use strategies such as repetition and pastiche (which
Sobchack defines as "a nonhierarchical collection of heterogeneous forms and
styles from a variety of heretofore distinguishable spaces and times") to deny
the primacy of any author, whether producer, director, screenwriter, or
editor.^ Although George Lucas was director or producer for all the films,
and screenwriter for some, he is increasingly (and paradoxically) absent from
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the narratives. This is particularly true for the Star Wars trilogy, where he
implies in interviews that he is as much disengaged as engaged with the text.
Several reviewers remarked that it seemed as if Lucas had lost control of the
text, an idea reinforced by the "crew of thousands" listed in the credits. For
David Ansen, the "deja vu" of the sequels destroys the "innocence" embodied
in the first film (A New Hope). He argues that the trilogy "has become its
own relentless Empire, grinding out Fun with soulless efficiency."^' In
addition, the various "making o f programs concerning these films promoted
a sense of viewer participation, while dedicated fans "poached" the texts to
tell their own stories.^^
Second, the repetition of themes, plot, visuals, and references to other
films occurring in the sequels mitigates against any narrative depth, creating
"recursive spirals" with confused beginnings and endings. In addition,
memory is both mediated and commodified, with various material products
(albums, toys, comic books, novels, linens, clothing, and so forth) contributing
to what Hebdige calls "commodity fetishism."^ Visual depth is subverted as
well, through increased use of special effects and a cluttered mise-en scene.
Sobchack notes that the "deflation of deep space. . . is presented not as a loss
of dimension, but rather as an excess of surface." This flattened, two-
dimensional space, reminiscent of video games, is "hyper-real," a simulated
"representation determined to totalize, stand for, and replace all other space.
Such flattened "hyper-reality" is especially apparent in the various aerial
battles of the Star Wars trilogy, as well as the roller-coaster rides of the
Falcon in flight, creating a quasi-erotic "euphoria" that is technological and
I < 44
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"free-floating."^ That this euphoria is not dependent upon the narrative is
demonstrated through the popularity of video games based on these Star
Wars battles, as well as the "Star Tours" ride at Disneyland, which
presumably recreate the pleasurable effects of the films, without necessarily
reinforcing either their ideological or utopian messages.
Further, subversive disjunctions in time and place occur through fast
pacing, cross-cutting, and decentered action, producing confusion in some
audiences. For example, in Empire, Luke's training on Dagobah appears to
take days, if not weeks or months, while Han and Leia's escape from Vader
and subsequent trip to Bespin appears to take only a few hours; yet both
scenes are juxtaposed so as to occur in "real time" simultaneously. The
depiction of instantaneous "hyperdrive" (or lightspeed) alters the immensity of
space and time. In ledi, the final three battles are shown in a disjointed,
episodic form with a primeval, tribal past juxtaposed to a highly technical
future.
The collapse of time is also seen in the "nostalgia mode" of these five
films, which represents a mediated "past" through pop images, Sobchack
argues that the Star Wars series "stands as most representative (and popular)
of the appropriation of pop imagery to [sic] nostalgically constitute the
pseudo-history of 'long, long ago . . . in a galaxy far, far away.'"'" In addition
the "Indiana Jones" films borrow extensively from old movies and different
genres, which, when combined with the sophisticated special effects,
superimpose the "present" onto the "past" (the settings of the two films). The
confusing of past and present is enhanced by the strategy of making the
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sequel a prequel, occurring earlier, but also later. Thus the audience laughs
in Indiana Tones when Indiana, faced with Thugee swordsmen, goes for his
pistol, as he does in Raiders, but the gun is gone. His disconcerted look is a
type of "wink" to the audience, suggesting that he knows what he should not
yet know (that he shot the Arab swordsman in Raiders, in what seems to be
a spur-of-the-moment act).
While all these elements work to subvert the dominant text, and the
image of the hero, the subversion perhaps most pertinent to the feminist critic
is that of the dialectic, of the breakdown and destablization of binary
categories, seen in part through the shifts of light and dark, center and
periphery, and, in Star Wars, the representation of sexually ambiguous
characters as well as the hybrid image of the cyborg. Anne Balsamo writes
that cyborgs may include "a coupling between a human being and an
electronic or mechanical apparatus," which redefines "the boundary between
the body and machine," exposing both as socially constructed. The cyborg
"illuminates a crucial dimension of postmodern identity: the fragmentation of
subjectivity." Since both "Woman and Cyborg are simultaneously
symbolically and biologically produced and reproduced through social
interactions," cyborgs can work as a site of ruptured gender-identity.^^
Balsamo also argues that "the cyborg is a creature of a post-gender world"
that challenges "essentialist identities."^®
Two cyborg images occur in the Star Wars trilogy— that of Darth Vader
and his son, Luke Skywalker. Vader, injured in a battle with Obi-Wan,
depends on a "mechanical apparatus" to live. Luke gains a bionic hand after
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his own battle with Vader. Luke is then urged by Obi-Wan to kill Vader
precisely because his father is a cyborg ( "more machine than man"). But
Luke's identity has become dissolved into Vader's by his own bionic
metamorphosis. Luke rejects the arbitrary, binary distinction between being
human and being a machine. When combined with his androgynous
behavior, his representation also undermines, at least partially, the arbitrary,
binary distinction between man/masculine and woman/feminine. In the Star
Wars trilogy, Luke's androgynous image valorizes the positive "feminine."
However, the subversive potential of both cyborgs and androgyny may not be
realized. As Sobchack points out, they "may also be seen as a way for
popular culture to respond to the feminist critique of voyeurism with a canny
recuperation."^®
In summary, although the postmodern subversion of the heroic quest
myth (and the dominant ideology it reaffirms) weakens its narrative coherence
and fidelity, such subversion can provide a type of "ideological seam" or
"rupturing" that allows audiences to resist the preferred interpretations of a
narrative, negotiating new ones instead. By drawing attention to the form of
the narrative, postmodernism calls into question both the meaning and
universality of the heroic quest myth. Such postmodernism could offer the
possibility of a new "empowerment" for women in science-fiction and fantasy
films, provided there is a "reconstructive" (or affirmative) element included
with the subversion. However, as Sobchack contends, such outcomes are
more likely to occur in "cult" science-fiction and fantasy than in mainstream.
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primarily modernist narratives like Star Wars and the two "Indiana Jones"
films/”
Implications for Rhetorical Theory and Criticism
Several conclusions and implications can be drawn from this study as it
relates to rhetorical theory and criticism. First, this study adds to rhetorical
criticism metholodgy by developing and further applying the narrative
paradigm, illustrating its usefulness as both a rhetorical and a feminist
perspective for the analysis and assessment of mediated mythic rhetoric.
Second, the study delienated the nature and functions of mediated mythic
narratives that respond to patriarchal crisis, discovering that such narratives
share certain commonalities, including a traditional heroic myth structure; the
use of certain rhetorical strategies such as androgyny to reaffirm, purify, and
transform patriarchal culture; a projection of evil onto "feminine" archetypal
images which are contained and/or destroyed; an ambiguous message about
individualism; and the ironic use of technology to partially critique
technology.
Next, as noted earlier, this study focused on the concept of sender, a
focus often lacking in rhetorical inquiry. Traditional rhetorical criticism and
theory often fails to take into account either gender as a variable or its
implications as a perspective for research. Catherine A. Dobris argues that
the traditional approach is "imbued with a male value orientation" which
creates "a bias against women both as creators (e.g. authors, orators) and as
subjects.This male orientation has set the norms for both the effectiveness
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and cultural worthiness of discourse, often denigrating women's performances,
values, and experiences. Dobris asserts that "male-based criticism may be
unable to fully comprehend and analyze female experience, since male-based
criticism does not take female experience, attitudes, values and beliefs into
account. A feminist perspective benefits rhetorical theoiy and criticism not
only by treating female experience as "valuable and therefore worthy of
serious study," but also by developing more appropriate tools for criticism,
while challenging the assumptions undergirding such criticism.^
This study offered such theory and methodology, positing the symbolic
construction of archetypal gender-ideals as rhetorical strategies; both their
representation as oppositional poles in dialectical struggle and the synthesis of
that struggle in the hybrid androgynous image are designed to address
contemporary problems related to changing expectations about gender and the
weakening of patriarchal social control. This study demonstrated that not
only do rhetors employ such archetypal imagery to meet exigencies caused by
social strain, but audiences participate in the construction and interpretation
of the discourse, which can lead to acceptance, rejection, or doubt. For, as
the study has revealed, in any reaffirmatory (or ideological) message are
potential transformative (utopian) and subversive messages. Such findings
indicate that previous theorizing about such motives or functions should be
reconceptualized, so as to recognize the complexity of modern mythic
narratives. For example, approaches that are primarily based on Marxist (or
materialist) thought might be more explanatory if expanded to include what
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Michael Calvin McGee calls "symbolist" thinking.^ Such theoretical
synthesizing can expand the boundaries of rhetorical criticism.
The study also expands concepts of the functions and effects of rhetorical
hybrids which arise during times of social upheaval, and which can be
considered as characteristic of postmodernism. Kathleen Hall Jamieson and
Karlyn Kohrs Campbell call such hybrids "fusions of generic elements." Any
genre requires certain recurring elements, yet individual preference and social
conditions may lead to hybrid blends. Such hybrids may better meet the
needs of the situation.^ Unlike Janice Hocker Rushing, who sees the hybrid
mythic narrative of the Frontier as less satisfying, this study demonstrated
that such a hybrid can be more satisfying in terms of meeting social and
personal needs. Such hybrids can ease an audience into social or personal
change, or meet desires for nostalgia, or reaffirm a disintegrating hierarchy,
which can be a positive result if such reaffirmation eases social tensions.
In looking at rhetorical hybrids in mediated mythic rhetoric, it is
important to realize that at least two genres may be present. First is the
mythic genre, the recurring form of the heroic quest, which not only involves
the dialectic of individual and community, but also "masculine" and
"feminine." Second is the science-fiction and fantasy genre, which several
scholars argue may be falling apart.“ When science-fiction elements are
combined with melodrama, or westerns, or family romance, then a potential
meta-genre occurs, a generic hybrid that self-reflexively "comments" on itself.
The rhetorical effects of such discourse upon media literate audiences are
largely unknown. This study argued that such recombinations of generic
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form might produce less adherence to the ideological message of the
narrative, by leading audiences to question the form of such messages
(though certainly an opposite effect, that of more adherence, is also possible).
The implications of this "generic collapse" require further research into the
rhetorical successes and failures of such generic hybrids.
Next, this study reinforced the interdisciplinary nature of rhetorical
theory and practice. In particular, it demonstrated the utility of blending
feminist thought with such rhetorical concepts as symbolic kill-rites, dialectical
resolutions, rhetorical dissociations, power, and competence, as well as the
narrative paradigm. The framework created through such blend was
grounded in women's experience, pointing the way to alternative standards
for assessing rhetoric. Dobris asserts that whenever rhetorical theory
acknowledges "the validity of female experience, the entire philosophy of
rhetoric may be altered profoundly."®^
This framework has implications both definitional and axiological.
Rhetoric traditionally has been defined as persuasion, which can be seen to
exclude women because it has been assumed to "an activity where men
publicly seek to change the opinions of other men."®* For Sally Miller
Gearhart, such rhetoric is "an act of violence" because of its "intention to
change another."®^ Although Gearhart's controversial charge is not fully
accepted by all feminist theorists and critics, the argument that rhetoric, as
traditionally conceived, invades or violates another (rhetoric as coercion),
raises disturbing questions. Implied is a radical reconceptualization of
traditional rhetoric, away from instrumental persuasion (as conquest or
341
conversion) and toward mutual sharing, with an emphasis on wholeness,
equality, relationship, acknowledged differences, and an openness to change
on the part of all participants. Gearhart observes that rhetorical discourse
"can be a deliberate creation or co-creation of an atmosphere in which people
or things, if and only if they have the internal basis for change, may change
themselves."*” While ideal, such a reconceptualization would then link
successful rhetoric with the dialogic perspective of communication, with its
stress on unconditional positive regard, empathy, supportiveness, genuineness,
and equality.*^ A link could also be made to Wayne C. Booth's belief that
one's rhetorical purpose should not be "to talk someone else into a
preconceived view; rather, it must be to engage in mutual inquiry or
exploration."*^
Finally, Dobris argues that any "rhetorical theory that accounts for
gender must recognize the real as well as the perceived differences between
the sexes, and must be flexible and sensitive to the constantly shifting
landscape of gender relations."*® This study illustrated such flexibility,
conceiving of archetypal gender images as socially constructed, yet rhetorically
powerful. The analysis explicated "how gender is created and maintained
through rhetorical artifacts and how these artifacts, in turn, constitute filters
for all our experiences."*^ Both the patriarchally-defined "feminine" and "a
woman's way of knowing" function as such filters, applicable to both women
and men. By viewing gender-identity as a positional construct, this study
emphasized the arbitrariness of such identity. These points have additional
implications for feminist scholarship, as discussed in the next section.
342
Implications for Feminist Theory and Criticism
The main contribution of this study to feminist inquiry is to continue to
develop a perspective that avoids the pitfalls of either a complete relativism
or a new essentialism. Andrea Press observes that while many feminists are
unwilling to specify the components of feminist scholarship (for fear of
diluting its interdisciplinary strengths and/or creating a new repressive
structure), feminist theory risks "a stultifying relativism" by not identifying
"some of the unitary qualities of feminist theory that we need if feminism is
to function effectively as a method of disciplinary critique."*® Press and
others see such basic identifying components as follows: "a commitment to
the primacy of gender"; a concern with women's oppression and repression
by the dominant culture; a specific agenda for political change; a
consideration of "women's perceptions, meanings and experiences as
appropriate and important data for analysis"; and a challenge to established
research assumptions and practices.** As Karen A. Foss and Sonja K. Foss
assert, a feminist perspective is not "just about women but for women."*^
In its concern for gender, women's oppression and repression in
mediated popular culture, and its application of "a female ethic," this study
contributed to this unifying process, without proposing an overly narrowed
focus, as does H. Leslie Steeves when she argues for a specifically socialist
approach for feminist criticism.*® This study also avoided the pitfalls of what
Alcoff calls "cultural feminism," which "is founded on a claim of essentialism
that we are far from having the evidence to justify."*” Jean Grimshaw warns
that feminism must avoid creating a "false universalism" that treats all men
343
and women the same while over-idealizing a "woman's point of view" (i.e.
believing women to be more virtuous then men because they are female).
Such feminism rejects male "reality" in favor of a presumed female "reality,"
creating new dichotomies which can be used against women.’ '”
Yet how do feminists avoid such essentialism? By focusing on how
identities are constructed through language, in which gender is seen as a
symbolic organizing construct, created through social interaction, which
influences relationships, behavior, and cognition. It is important for feminists
to be able to "distinguish the patriarchal symbol of 'woman' from those
discourses which speak from and to the historical socio-cultural experience of
' w o m e n . ' A primary assumption of this study was a focus on symbols and
constructed meanings, which is consistent with not only feminist theory, but
also rhetorical and communication theory.
Margaret Gentry asserts that feminism seems "to be at the point of
trying to piece together the individual parts of a quilt." Its pattern is still
emerging, as feminist scholars begin "to piece the separate parts together— to
explore the kinds of stitching to use in connecting the pieces and how to
place the separate pieces into the pattern." Although "constructed by many,"
a quilt has its own strength and beauty, forged through collaborative effort.^^
This study contributed to the overall design of the feminist "quilt" by adding
to the theories about female experience in a negotiated mediated culture.
344
Implications for Film/Cultural Studies
This study broadens film and popular culture criticism in three ways.
First, it extends beyond mere formalism or aesthetic description, assessing
effects and reintroducing the importance of rhetoric as social influence
(instead of mere composition). Second, it offers a challenge to traditional
archetypal criticism in its reconceptualization of archetypes, focusing on a
non-essentialistic approach to the heroic quest myth, as well as connecting
with the gender-issues at the core of such archetypal imagery. Third, this
study extends the linkages between feminism and cultural studies. Many
feminists, such as Lana Rakow, argue that current perspectives in cultural
studies have often excluded women, yet are similar to feminism in their
concern for ideological repression, for subjectivity, and for culture.^® Gledhill
proposes that the concept of "cultural negotiation" could be a way to link
cultural studies with feminism, taking "a central place in rethinking the
relations between media products, ideologies and audiences-perhaps bridging
the gap between textual and social subject."^^ In utilizing such concepts, this
study avoided both formalism and over-determinism (in which a priori
assumptions limit the theoretical conclusions that can be drawn from cultural
criticism).
More particularly, this study extended cultural theory by combining
Fredric Jameson's ideas about ideological and utopian functions of mediated
narratives, and Stuart Hall's concepts of the different ways texts are
345
interpreted, with feminist theory. Gledhill notes that "the ambivalence of
textual negotiation" opens up cultural criticism:
For into dominant typifications and aesthetic structures are
locked both atavistic and utopian desires; archetypal and
futuristic motifs; sensibility and reason; melodrama and
realism. The productivity of popular culture lies in its
capacity to bring these different dimensions in contact and
contest; their negotiations contribute to its pleasures. We need
to attend to such pleasures if we are to appreciate what holds
us back as well as what impels us forward, and if the
cultural struggle is to take place at the centre of cultural
production as well as on the margins.^®
The feminist critic of culture must "pull the symbolic enactments of popular
fictions into frameworks which interpret the psychic, emotional and social
forces at work in women's lives."^* This study proposed such a framework,
which not only examines fictive "symbolic enactments" as socially constructed
by both rhetor and audience, but which also interprets such fictions in
regards to their impact on both women and men. In this way the study
provided improved understanding of the complex, yet powerful, appeal of the
heroic quest narrative in mediated texts, and its impact on gender in this
culture.
Recommendations for Further Research
This study was limited to five science-fiction and fantasy films that
employ an heroic myth narrative (or monomythic quest). It examined the
"masculine/feminine" dialectic assumed to be at the heart of such narratives,
applying a feminist perspective to the assessment of the "rhetoric of gender"
encoded into these texts. The analysis and evaluation, while detailed, raises
346
new issues for future scholarship. Some have already been suggested in the
implications sections, such as additional study on the functions or motives of
reaffirmatory, transformative, and subversive rhetoric, and the differing effects
of rhetorical hybrids. Other possibilities include new inquiry into the concept
of gender-identity as positional, perhaps focusing on the rhetorical use of
gender in other science-fiction and fantasy texts, or in other genres of
discourse, such as melodramas or political speeches. Further research could
continue to make feminist application of the narrative paradigm to assess
both mythic and non-mythic narratives, continuing to extend its usefulness as
a critical method.
Other insights can be gained by applying the dialectic of "masculine-
feminine" to other mythic texts. For example, new research can determine if
there are other resolutions presented besides the ones suggested by this study
(mainly dialectic synthesis/pseudo-synthesis and dialectical emphasis). Other
examples of the heroic quest myth in science-fiction and fantasy films can be
analyzed to determine if they share similar characteristics, or make similar
attempts to address patriarchal crisis. Through such analysis, scholars can
further assess how such narratives meet personal, social (ideological), and
"ultimate" exigencies. In addition, Rushing's claims about the benefits of the
masculine integration of the "feminine" could be explored by analysis of a
film such as Indiana Tones and the Last Crusade, which involves a search for
the "Holy Grail," which Rushing takes to be the paradigmatic legend of the
"transcendent hero."’ ^ Further studies could continue to analyze the
"androgynous turn" in media, to determine if it is indicative of a "true" trans-
347
formation of gender-identity, or merely a confusing attempt to mask crucial
differences. New research can examine how androgynous images are used in
television, music videos and advertising, assessing the rhetorical impact of
both the mythic and postmodern "androgyne."
Scholars can also focus more attention on the constructed representation
of men and "masculinity" in rhetorical discourse, whether mediated or not.
Such research might address the question of what a truly new masculinity,
and a truly new hero, might look like. Jardine's concept of "gynesis" might
be explored in such diverse texts as "Beauty and the Beast" and George
Bush's campaign rhetoric, where he cultivated an image of being a "tough
guy," but also a "family man" concerned with a "kinder, gentler nation."
Other research might focus on the "ethic of care," examining women rhetors
to determine if it is indeed something more basic to women. Also, research
could determine if such women rhetors employ different kinds of strategies,
or convey a different sense of reality (a "women's point of view") to their
receivers, and if so, what the effects of such a message might be.
All these proposals are ways to analyze and assess the representations
and negotiation of gender in rhetorical texts. Through such research, which
would expand both feminist and rhetorical theory, the gender-ideology of our
culture can be exposed and resisted, while alternative constructions of gender
can be judged in regards to their potential value, not just to women, but to
humanity as a whole.
348
ENDNOTES
Vivian Sobchack, "Child/Alien/Father: Patriarchal Crisis and Generic
Exchange," Camera Obscura 15 [1987]: 7-34.
^Linda Alcoff, "Cultural Feminism Versus Post-Structuralism: The
Identity Crisis in Feminist Theory," Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and
Societv 13:3 (1988): 422.
®Alcoff 431, 433.
^Christine Gledhill, "Pleasurable Negotiations," Female Spectators:
Looking at Film and Television, ed. E. Deidre Pribram (N.Y.: Routledge,
Chapman and Hall, 1988) 71-72.
®Karen Rasmussen and Sharon D. Downey, "Dialectical Disorientation in
Agnes of God," Western Tournai of Speech Communication 53 (Winter, 1989):
66-84.
*Gledhill 75-76.
’ 'Lana F. Rakow, "Feminist Approaches to Popular Culture: Giving
Patriarchy It's Due," Communication 9:1 (1986): 23.
“ Walter R. Fisher, Human Communication as Narration: Toward a
Philosophy of Reason, Value and Action (U of South Carolina P, 1987) 73,
emphasis his.
^Walter R. Fisher, "The Narrative Paradigm: In the Beginning," Journal
of Communication (Autumn, 1985): 86.
^ “ Michael Presnell, "Narrative Gender Differences: Orality and Literacy,"
Doing Research on Women's Communication: Perspectives on Theory and
Method, eds. Kathryn Carter and Carole Spitzack (Norwood, NJ: Ablex, 1989)
132.
"Presnell 125-126.
"Fisher, Human Communication as Narration: see also W. Lance Haynes,
"Shifting Media, Shifting Paradigms, and the Growing Utility of Narrative as
Metaphor," Communication Studies 40:2 (1989): 109-126.
"Joseph Campbell, The Masks of God: Primitive Mythology rev. ed.
(N.Y.: Penguin Books, 1969) 12.
349
"Walter R. Fisher, "Reaffirmation and Subversion of the American
Dream," Quarterly Journal of Speech 59:2 (1973): 161.
"Bruce Bawer, "My Turn: Ronald Reagan as Indiana Jones," Newsweek,
27 Aug. 1984: 14.
"Pete Axtheim, "Where Have All the Heroes Gone?" Newsweek, 6 Aug.
1979: 50.
"Joseph Campbell with Bill Moyers, The Power of Mvth, ed. Betty Sue
Flower (N.Y.: Doubleday, 1988) 3-35.
"Kenneth Burke, "Ideology and Myth," Accent: A Quarterly of New
Literature 7:4 (1947): 204-205; also Kenneth Burke, "Myth, Poetry, and
Philosophy," Language as Symbolic Action: Essays on Life, Literature, and
Method (Berkeley, CA: U of California P, 1966) 380-409.
"Denis Wood, "The Stars in Qur Hearts: A Critical Commentary on
George Lucas's Star Wars," Tournai of Popular Film 7:3 (1978): 271.
^ ” Anne Lancashire, "Complex Design in 'The Empire Strikes Back'," Film
Criticism 5:3 (1981): 48.
^Tisher, Human Communication as Narration 105.
“ Fisher, Human Communication as Narration 109.
“Jane Flax, "Political Philosophy and Patriarchal Unconscious: A
Psychoanalytic Perspective on Epistemology and Metaphysics," Discovering
Reality: Feminist Perspectives on Epistemology, Metaphysics. Methodology,
and the Philosophy of Science, eds. S. Harding and M. Hintikka. Synsthese
Library, Vol. 161 (Dordrecht, Holland and Boston, MA: D. Reidel, 1983) 59.
^ '‘ Jean Grimshaw, Philosophy and Feminist Thinking (Minneapolis, MN:
U of Minnesota P, 1986) 61.
“Ian M. Taplin, "Why We Need Heroes To Be Heroic," Tournai of
Popular Culture 22:2 (1988): 133-140.
“ Taplin 141-142.
“Grimshaw 198-226; also Sally Miller Gearhart, "The Womanization of
Rhetoric," Women's Studies International Quarterly 2 (1979): 195-201; and
Carol Gilligan, In A Different Voice: Psychological Theory and Women's
Development (Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1982).
“ Riane Eisler, The Chalice and The Blade: Qur History, Qur Future (San
Francisco, CA: Harper and Row, 1987) 105.
350
291
” Fern Johnson, "Political and Pedagogical Implications of Attitudes
Toward Women's Language," Communication Quarterly 31 (1983): 137.
® ” Sarah Trenholm, Human Communication Theory (Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1986): 7.
® ^Jeff D. Bass, "The Romance as Rhetorical Dissociation: The Purification
of Imperialism in King Solomon's Mines," Quarterly Journal of Speech 67
(Aug. 1981): 259-269; the concept of "gynesis" comes from Alice A. Jardine,
Gynesis: Configurations of Women and Modernity (Ithaca and London:
Cornell UP, 1985).
“Jardine 99.
“ Sobchack, "Child/Alien/Father" 31; also Vivian Sobchack, Screening
Space: The American Science Fiction Film, 2nd ed., orig. pub. as The Limits
of Infinity: The American Science Fiction Film. 1950-1975 (N.Y.: Ungar, 1987,
1st ed. 1980) 223-305.
“ ^Sobchack, Screening Space 223-305; also Fredric Jameson,
"Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism," New Left Review
146 (July-Aug. 1984): 53-92.
“ Anne Balsamo, "Un-Wrapping the Postmodern: A Feminist Glance,"
Journal of Communication Inquiry 11:1 (1987): 67.
®*Michel Foucault, Power/ Knowledge: Selected Interviews and other
Writings, 1972-1977, trans. Colin Gordon et al., ed. Colin Gordon (N.Y.:
Pantheon, 1972); also Alcoff 415-420.
^ ’ ’ Angela McRobbie, "Postmodernism and Popular Culture," Journal of
Communication Inquiry 10:2 (1986): 114.
® ® D ick Hebdige, "Postmodernism and 'The Qther Side'," Journal of
Communication Inquiry 10:2 (1986): 85, emphasis his. This proliferation of
texts occurs without any attempt to create a traditional "meaning," exemplified
by certain rock videos. I am not arguing here that a meaning cannot be
constructed for such texts; rather, there is a potential for alternative
interpretations since the images and references become so confusing and
ambiguous.
® ” Walter R. Fisher, "A Motive View of Communication," Quarterly Journal
of Speech 56 (Apr.1970): 132.
40,
Sobchack, Screening Space 230.
'‘^David Ansen, "How the Force Conquers All," Newsweek, 30 May 1983:
95-96.
351
421
^Heniy Jenkins, III, "Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten: Fan Writing as
Textual Poaching," Critical Studies in Mass Communication 5:2 (1988): 85-107;
also Patricia Zimmerman, "Soldiers of Fortune: Lucas, Spielberg, Indiana
Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark," Wide Angle 6:2 (1984): n. pag.
^Hebdige 87, also 92.
^Sobchack, Screening Space 255-256.
^Sobchack, Screening Space 283.
^*Sobchack, Screening Space 276.
"Anne Balsamo, "Reading Cyborgs Writing Feminism," Communication
10 (1988): 336-338.
"Balsamo, "Un-Wrapping the Postmodern" 68.
^ ” Sobchack, Screening Space 317.
® ” Sobchack, Screening Space 305.
®^Catherine A. Dobris, "In the Year of Big Sister: Toward a Rhetorical
Theory Accounting For Gender," Carter and Spitzack, eds. 149.
®^Dobris 149.
“ Dobris 149; also Karen A. Foss, "Research on Communication and
Gender: Making the Link to Feminist Theory," Women's Studies in
Communication 7 (Fall, 1984); and Sonja K. Foss, Rhetorical Criticism:
Exploration and Practice (Prospect Heights, IL.: Waveland Press, Inc. 1989)
153.
®^Michael Calvin McGee, "The 'Ideograph': A Link Between Rhetoric and
Ideology," Quarterly Tournai of Speech 66:1 (1980): 1-16.
®®Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Karlyn Kohrs Campbell, "Rhetorical
Hybrids: Fusions of Generic Elements," Quarterly Tournai of Speech 68 (May,
1982): 146-157.
® *F or example, see Leo Braudy, "Genre and the Resurrection of the Past,"
Shadows of the Magic Lamp: Fantasy and Science Fiction in Films, eds.
George Slusser and Eric S. Rabkin (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois
University Press, 1985) 1-13; and George E. Slusser, "Fantasy, Science-Fiction,
Mystery, Horror" Slusser and Rabkin, eds. 208-247; also, Jameson,
"Postmodernism"; and Sobchack, Screening Space 303-305.
^ ’ 'Dobris 151.
352
® ® D obris 151.
59C
” Sally Miller Gearhart, "The Womanization of Rhetoric," Women's
Studies International Quarterly 2 (1979): 196.
* ” Gearhart 198-200.
*^Richard Johannsen, "The Emerging Concept of Communication as
Dialogue," Quarterly Tournai of Speech 57 (1971): 372-382.
“Wayne C. Booth, Modem Dogma and the Rhetoric of Assent (Chicago and
London: U of Chicago P, 1974) 137.
“ Dobris 156-157.
* ^ S . Foss 158-159.
“Andrea Press, "The Qngoing Feminist Revolution," Critical Studies in
Mass Communication 6:2 (1989): 199.
“Press 199; also S. Foss 153.
^ ’ 'Karen A. Foss and Sonja K. Foss, "Incorporating the Feminist
Perspective in Communication Scholarship," Carter and Spitzack 68.
“H. Leslie Steeves, "Feminist Theories and Media Studies," Critical
Studies in Mass Communication 4 (1987): 120.
“Alcoff 421.
’ '“ Grimshaw 17-18; also Mary Crawford, "Feminist Epistemologies and
Women's Ways of Knowing," Gender and Thought: Psychological
Perspectives, eds. Mary Crawford and Margaret Gentry (N.Y. and Berlin:
Spring-Verlag, 1989) 139-140.
"'Gledhill 77.
""Margaret Gentry, "Feminist Perspectives on Gender and Thought:
Paradox and Potential," Crawford and Gentry 5-6.
"®Lana F. Rakow, "Rethinking Gender Research in Communication,"
Tournai of Communication 36:4 (1986): 11-26; also Lana F. Rakow, "Feminist
Approaches to Popular Culture: Giving Patriarchy Its Due," Communication,
9:1 (1986); and Lana F. Rakow, "Feminist Studies: The Next Stage," Critical
Studies in Mass Communication. 6:2 (1989) 209-215.
"'Gledhill 67.
353
"®Gledhill 87; also Fredric Jameson, "Reification and Utopia in Mass
Culture," Social Text: Theory / Culture /Ideology 1 (1982): 130-148; and Stuart
Hall, "Encoding/Decoding," Culture, Media, Language, eds. Stuart Hall et al.
(London: Hutchinson, 1980) 134-148.
"*Gledhill 87.
""Janice Hocker Rushing, "Evolution of 'The New Frontier' in Alien and
Aliens: Patriarchal Co-optation of the Feminine Archetype," Quarterly Journal
of Speech 75:1 (1989): 14-16.
354
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Strikes Back, dir. Irvin Kershner. New York Times 21 May 1980:
C25.
Overby, David. "Star Wars: Futuristic Furnishings From the Bargain
Basement of Mystico-Militaiism." The Paris Metro 25 Oct. 1977:
9-10. [Constance McCormick Collection, USC]
Pennington, Ron. Rev. of Star Wars IV: A New Hope, dir. George Lucas.
Hollvwood Reporter 20 May 1977: 3+.
Postone, Moishe and Elizabeth Traube. "Indiana Tones and the Temple of
Doom: The Return of the Repressed." lump Cut 30 [1985]: 13-14.
Raiders of the Lost Ark Press Kit. Paramount Pictures, 1982.
Return of the Tedi Press Kit. Twentieth-Century Fox Film Corporation,
Beverly Hills, CA. 1983.
Reed, Rex. "'Indiana Jones' Even Better Than 'Raiders'." Rev. of
Indiana Tones and the Temple of Doom, dir. Steven Spielberg.
Entertainment Todav 8 June 1984: n. pag.
Rich, B. Ruby. "The Crisis of Naming in Feminist Film Criticism." lump Cut
19 [1978]: 9-12.
385
Rosenfield, Paul. "Lucas: Film-maker With the Force." Los Angeles Times
5 June 1977: Calendar Sec. 1+.
Royko, Mike. "Luke Skywalker is a Wimp." Los Angeles Times 8 June
1983: Sec, II, n. pag. [UCLA Library Collection]
Rubey, Dan. "Star Wars: Not So Far Away." lump Cut 18 [1978]: 9-14.
Rubin, Toni. "High-Tech Anxiety on the Big Screen." L A. Catalyst Sept.
1983: 4-5.
Sanello, Frank. "'Jedi' Makes a Second Return: To Bootleg Cassettes." Daily
News 1 June 1983: F6.
Sarris, Andrew. "Who Am I To Doubt the Jedi?" Rev. of Star Wars VI:
Return of the ledi, dir. Richard Marquand. The Village Voice
31 May 1983: 59.
—. "Spielberg's Sand Castles." Rev. of E.T.: The Extraterrestrial, dir. Steven
Spielberg. The Village Voice 15 June 1982: 59.
Sheppard, Dick. "The Gospel According to 'Star Wars'." Los Angeles Herald-
Examiner 18 June, 1978: FI.
Spielberg, Steven. "Steven Spielberg in His Adventures on Earth." With Susan
Royal. American Premiere 3:5 [1981]: 17-28.
Rev. of Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back, dir. Irvin Keshner.
Variety 14 May 1990: 14.
Rev. of Star Wars IV: A New Hope, directed by George Lucas. Varietv 25
May, 1977. Rpt. in Willis 316-317.
Sterritt, David. "To Visualize the Incredible." Rev. of Star Wars V: The
Empire Strikes Back, dir. Irvin Kershner. The Christian Science
Monitor 21 May 1980: 19.
USA Todav. 26 May 1983: lA
Wood, Michael. "The True Story of 'Star Wars': The Myths Strike Back."
Los Angeles Times 17 Aug. 1980: Part V, 3.
386
III. Unpublished Materials
Byars, Jackie. "Gazes/Voices/Power." SCA Convention. Chicago, IL., Nov.
1986.
Fisher, Walter R. "Response to Exploring the Narrative Paradigm." SCA
Convention. Boston, MA., Nov. 1987.
Frentz, Thomas S. "Mass Media As Rhetorical Narration." Von Zelst Lecture
in Communication. Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois.
17 May, 1984.
Rushing, Janice Hocker. "Cinema as Cultural Consciousness." SCA
Convention, Chicago, IL., Nov. 1986.
— and Thomas S. Frentz. "Critical Methods for Mythic Rhetoric." Workshop.
SCA Convention. New Orleans, LA., 3 Nov. 1988.
Snyder, Thomas Lee. "Sacred Encounters: The Myth of the Hero in the
Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy Films of George Lucas and Steven
Spielberg." Diss. Northwestern U., 1984. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI,
1986. DA8423307.
Wood, Julia T. "What Distinguishes Feminist Scholarship in Communication:
Agreements, Disagreements, and Open Questions Within the
Community." Response. SCA Convention. Boston, MA., Nov.
1987.
387
FILMOGRAPHY
I. Star Wars IV: A New Hope
Released:
Producer:
Director:
Screenplay:
Music:
Cast:
1977, Twentieth Century Fox
Gary Kurtz
George Lucas
George Lucas
John Williams
Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker)
Harrison Ford (Han Solo)
Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa)
Alec Guiness (Obi-Wan Kenobi)
Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin)
Anthony Daniels (C3PO)
Kenny Baker (R2D2)
Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca)
David Prowse (Darth Vader)
II. Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
Released:
Exec. Producer:
Producer:
Director:
Screenplay:
Music:
Cast:
1980, Twentieth Century Fox
George Lucas
Gary Kurtz
Irvin Kershner
Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan
John Williams
Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker)
Harrison Ford (Han Solo)
Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa)
Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian)
Anthony Daniels (C3PO)
David Prowse (Darth Vader)
Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca)
Kenny Baker (R2D2)
Frank Oz (Yoda)
Alec Guiness (Obi-Wan Kenobi)
Clive Revill (Voice of Emperor)
388
III. Star Wars VI: Return of the Tedi
Released:
Exec. Producer:
Producer:
Director:
Screenplay:
Music:
Art Director:
Cast:
1983, Twentieth Century Fox
George Lucas
Howard Kazanjian
Richard Marquand
Lawrence Kasdan, George Lucas
John Williams
Joe Johnston
Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker)
Harrison Ford (Han Solo)
Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa)
Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian)
Anthony Daniels (C3PO)
Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca)
Ian McDiarmid (The Emperor)
Frank Oz (Yoda)
David Prowse (Darth Vader)
James Earl Jones (voice of Darth Vader)
Alec Guiness (Obi-Wan Kenobi)
Kenny Baker (R2D2)
Caroline Blakiston (Mon Mothma)
Denis Lawson (Wedge)
IV. Raiders of the Lost Ark
Released:
Exec. Producers:
Producer:
Director:
Screenplay:
Music:
Cast:
1981, Paramount Pictures
George Lucas, Howard Kazanjian
Frank Marshall
Steven Spielberg
Lawrence Kasdan
John Williams
Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones)
Karen Allen (Marion Ravenwood)
Paul Freeman (Rene Belloq)
Ronald Lacey (Toht)
John Rhys-Davis (Sallah)
Denholm Elliott (Brody)
Wolf Kahler (Dietrich)
389
V- Indiana Tones and the Temple of Doom
Released:
Exec. Producers:
Producer:
Director:
Screenplay:
Music:
Cast:
1984, Paramount Pictures
Frank Marshall, George Lucas
Robert Watts
Steven Spielberg
Gloria Katz, Willard Huyck
John Williams
Harrison Ford (Indiana Jones)
Kate Capshaw (Willie Scott)
Ke Huy Quan (Short Round)
Amrish Puri (Mola Ram)
Roshan Seth (Chattar Lai)
Philip Stone (Captain Blumburtt)
Roy Chiao (Lao Che)
Raj Singh (Maharajah)

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Asset Metadata

Creator Baker, Barbara Louise (author)

Core Title Reaffirmation and transformation of gender in popular film: A feminist approach to mythic rhetoric

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag communication and the arts,OAI-PMH Harvest,Social Sciences

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c37-40575

Unique identifier UC11631807

Identifier DP71313.pdf (filename),usctheses-c37-40575 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier DP71313.pdf

Dmrecord 40575

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Baker, Barbara Louise

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA