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Week 8 Question

What does the term détournement mean and how is it applicable to cosplay?

Cosplay refers to the words ‘costume’ and ‘play’ which were first used together in Japan through 1980 (Mckay, n.d.). Cosplay is a form of dress-up that is targeted more for adults, and usually includes individuals dressing up as famous characters from movies, T.V shows, books, and even games. Although cosplay was thought to have originated in Japan during the late 19th century, it has been around since the early 15th century during carnivals where people would dress up as anything from famous people of that time, to objects and ideas (Mckay, n.d.). Mountfort, Pierson-Smith and Geczy (2018), explain that dressing up is a part of many cultures and communities and it is a form of communication and socialising. They also explain that in the 21st century, cosplay consists highly of popular fandoms and the engagement of different cultures. 

In an article written by Mountfort, Pierson-Smith and Geczy (2018), there is a word that is associated with intellectuals and artists that are based in Paris but is also used to describe and explain the basis of cosplay. Détournement in French means to ‘hijack’ and was used to deliver political pranks and was later used in the punk movement of 1970. Détournement can be applied to cosplay because the word is known to be related to ‘ludic’ play, which is also how many individuals see cosplay. According to Mountfort et al. (2018), détournement applies to cosplay because it is potentially reforming an idea into something else. Cosplayer’s often visualised their ‘dressing up’ as a serious practice, and from this they took it a step further and instead of just dressing up as the character, they became the character. Cosplayer’s today also reinvent their characters in different settings with different characteristics. An example of this would be gender-bending or typically sexualising a character that would not necessarily be sexy. 

Cosplay is a popular art form that many fans have taken up as a hobby. It refers to détournement because of the way it combines media materials that already exist to create masterpieces that are almost like parodies. One of the great and powerful characteristics of cosplay is the fact that race representation is usually fluid which means as long as people are respectful and less appropriating, they can dress as a character that is the complete opposite race to them (Mountfort et al. 2018). Popular characters are created as particular genders and races but this does not mean that only that minority can dress up as them. Instead of just plainly dressing as a character, many cosplayer’s go beyond this and they become the character through artistic ability and creativity. 

References

Mckay, R. (n.d.). Cosplay 101: Everything You Need To Know About It. Who Australia. https://www.who.com.au/what-is-cosplay

Mountfort, P., Peirson-Smith, A., & Geczy, A. (2018). Planet Cosplay: Costume Play, Identity and Global Fandom. Blackboard. https://blackboard.aut.ac.nz/

Week 4 question

What was the cultural impact of Akira (1988), and why does it occupy a key place in the canon of anime greats?

Anime has become increasingly popular through its introduction in Western societies, however it has been a thriving genre in Japan for decades. Bond (2020) explains that anime in the Western part of the world is believed to be Japanese made animation, but in Japan, anime is referred to as any type of cartoon or animation whether or not it was created in Japan. 

Among many anime films, there is one that stands out above the rest as being the most influential and important animes ever created. Akira is a cyberpunk manga/anime and was originally written as a manga by Katsuhiro Otomo in the year of 1988 (Chu, 218). The story is set in futuristic Tokyo, 31 years after an atomic bomb was dropped by the Japanese government due to failed ESP experiments on children. The story follows a bike gang, with leader Kaneda, trying to save one of his friends and members, Tetsuo, who is captured and experimented on as a secret government project. It is later discovered that Tetsuo has supernatural powers that the government is interested in, however Tetsuo struggles to contain them (Lindwasser, 2019).

Akira is labelled by many as one of the greatest anime films to ever grace the earth. It has also been known to have culturally impacted Western society, and it has successfully influenced not only Western television, but also books, and even music. According to Lindwasser (2019), Akira has made an impact on many famous Western music videos, television series, and movies such as The Matrix, Stranger Things, The Simpsons, and even Kanye West’s ‘Stronger’ music video. Chu (2018), explains that Akira’s deep rooted storyline and impressive painted and hand drawn landscapes has opened a window for a generation of new works. Without the film’s success, there would be a shortage in creativeness and there would not be as many inspired people willing to delve into controversial topics. 

The film and manga series of Akira occupies a place in the canon of anime greats not only because of the influence it has had across cultures, but also because of the well told story it follows and the intricate artwork that is presented throughout. Akira also managed to create a whole new generation of fans. Because of the massive success that Akira gained, it also helped bring fans closer to other Japanese anime films which helped the popularity of anime grow. Without Akira’s success, many of these other significant anime films would not be as popular as they are now. Akira has earned its spot at the top as one of the most influential anime masterpieces to come out of Japan, and hopefully there are many more in the works.

References

Bond, J. M. (2020). Why Anime is More Popular Now Than Ever.  Daily dot. https://www.dailydot.com/parsec/what-is-anime/

Chu, H. (2018). Why the pioneering Japanese anime ‘Akira’ is still relevant 30 years later. The Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/

Lindwasser, A. (2019). Ways That ‘Akira’ Is Far More Influential Than You Think. Ranker. https://www.ranker.com/list/all-the-things-influenced-by-akira/anna-lindwasser

Week 12 Question

Can reality TV still be thought of as a genre given the high level of hybridity that exists?

Reality TV has been considered to cover a range of popular factual programming, sometimes with comedic, theatrical and fictional elements. The various styles and approaches to reality TV has made it difficult to pin down as a singular genre that encompasses the spectrum of programmes it features (Hill, 2005). In fact, the last several decades has seen an increase in ‘hybridization’ of varying styles in reality tv.

In Wood’s (2004) analysis of the hybridization of reality tv, it is recounted that television used to be largely concerned with the realm of normal, however, the last century has proved that reality tv can be anything but the mundane. The emergence of this was encouraged by the advent of hybridization across stylistic categories in which tv programming was divided. The cultural forms of reality tv has more or less lost their formal rigidity and have become increasingly shaken. A common way of approaching media was through the distinct types and genres, however, reality tv’s hybridization has showed that it can be more flexible and cut across different styles at once. If reality tv has become extremely intertextual, it would be difficult to describe in one unique definition.

Given that, reality tv still is a unique field of its own, and can be counted as a distinct genre, but only with credit and critical analysis to its hybridization. Wood (2004) further explains that if hybridized content goes beyond the confines of one category, then one can analyze the distinctive qualities of these categories. All media aims to produce a worldliness that can be distinguished according to the different ways it accomplishes the sense of the real, and tv can be divided into four main modes. This includes factual programming, which consists of daily news, current affairs, documentaries, practical advice shows, religious broadcasts, and attempts to portray the state of affairs in a historical or natural world itself – over an imaginative one. Fictional programming tries to convey the sense of a world that is imaginatively constructed, including dramas, feature films, comedy, with contents trying to internalize reality, where the people and events depicted are not in the external world. Furthermore, entertainment programming presents people who exist farther than the confines of the content that is being shown, this consists of game shows, musical acts, talk shows, variety programmes, sports, and provide a more theatrical way of performance. Lastly, advertisements are also considered part of the reality tv hybridization, as they market products in 30-60 second segments, however these commercials are less about the product and instead images of desire and pleasure that it associated with the product. The four categories are significant when trying to divide the hybridized networks of reality tv.

Overall, reality tv does mesh many different elements of tv production into one, and the hybridization of it has made many analysts confused on how to define this genre. But regardless of this, reality tv still stands as its own genre as it combines the ultimate sense of portraying some kind of the ‘real’ using different stylistic methods.

References

Hill, A. (2005) The reality genre. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 14 – 40). Oxon: Routledge. 

Wood, B. (2004). A world in retreat: the reconfiguration of hybridity in 20th-century New Zealand television. Media, Culture & Society, 26(1), 45-62.  

Week 7 Question

King (2010) describes Horror as being defined through three basic elements. Explain, using references, what these three elements are. Think of a horror story you’ve read/watched/heard that makes use of all three of these elements and show how King’s definition is at play in that narrative.

Horror is a diverse genre with many elements that create excitement, uneasiness, terror, and even disgust. According to The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (n.d.), horror first emerged through ‘gothic’ literature in the early 18th century and has been growing in scale ever since. When it comes to horror, Stephen King stands out as one of the most prolific horror authors around. His books have been so successful, that many of them have been adapted into movies that went on to win awards. 

Through the years of horror writing, Stephen King has developed a hierarchy of scares, and uses this as a method when frequently crafting his horror novels. Suderman (2017), wrote an article that discusses one of King’s books titled Danse Macabre. Danse Macabre was written about horror fiction and details observations and stories of horror from King’s perception. One of the stronger parts of the book discusses three main elements that potentially makeup horror and describe it for what it is. The three main categories of horror are categorized in order and start at the least intense before moving to the main event. The first element is labelled as The Gross Out which explains the gorier and more repulsing side to horror. It could be anything from slime monsters to the insides of a person falling all over the floor. The second element is The Horror. The Horror is often associated with more unnatural things such as animals that are two sizes too big, corpses that wake up and start walking around, and disfigured people that hunt humans. The third and final element is Terror. King describes terror as the most intense and favourable elements, to which he strives for through his books (Suderman, 2017). Terror is described as an eerie sensation that you feel when the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, or when you feel something lurking in the dark, you hear it and feel its breath on your skin, but when you turn the lights on there is nothing there. Suderman (2017) says that King will ultimately try to terrorize his readers because terror is the superior element, however, if he cannot terrorize them he explains that he must try to horrify and gross them out. The outcome is not as satisfying, but it gets the job done. 

One horror story that incorporates King’s three elements is his own masterpiece, IT. King obviously knows how to successfully write powerful stories with his own three defined elements, the horror, the terror, and the gross-out. It is the perfect example because the book and even the film incorporates all three of these categories. The book and the film of IT both display scenes of gore when Georgie gets his arm bitten off and when Beverly gets drenched in blood from the sink scene. They also display horror when the scene in the restaurant shows weird creatures coming out of the fortune cookies and when Pennywise transforms from his clown form into his sci-fi alien form at the end. The film and the book also portrays the element of terror through the incredibly creepy sewers that Pennywise inhabits and the way that he tends to show up out of nowhere, terrorizing the loser’s club. King shows his own definition of horror through most of his works and this is what makes him one of the most successful horror authors of the 21st century.

References

Suderman, P. (2017, February 7). Stephen King’s hierarchy of scares remains the best explanation of how horror movies work. Vox. https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/2/7/14492124/stephen-king-rings-horror-movie-scares

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica (n.d.). Horror story. https://www.britannica.com/art/horror-story

Blog Post – Week 12

“Can reality tv still be thought of as a genre given the high level of hybridity that exists?” 

Reality TV is a unique genre due to the open-ended and wide reach of its definition. Kavka (2012) says reality TV has a “generic haziness” due to its format hybridity and the changing nature and quantity of its programs (p. 2). In other words, reality TV is difficult to define because it crosses genres and styles and so an exact definition is hard to pinpoint. Despite this, reality TV is widely understood as a genre, but should be considered a discourse in that it goes beyond a genre’s limited definition. 

Despite its multiple definitions, the nature of reality TV is still understood by consumers of media, who can use the term and be fully confident that people will understand them (Kavka, 2012). However, there is also confusion as to what constitutes reality TV as a genre because of its hybridity (Kavka, 2012). Hybridization is when styles that usually separate fact and fiction are mixed (Wood, 2004), or when parts of other television genres are combined to make reality TV (Kavka, 2012). There are four modes that categorize television – fact, fiction, entertainment and advertising – each of which construct reality in their own way (Wood, 2004). Reality TV can mix all these modes to form a show. For example, the reality TV show competition Ru Paul’s Drag Race mixes fact, fiction, entertainment and advertising into one show. It features real competitors within a constructed and edited storyline, each episode provides entertainment in the form of singing, dancing or acting challenges, and there is an abundance of advertising for products the competitors use during their challenges (Collins, 2017). 

Within these four modes of television there are also what Wood (2004) describes as “characteristic hinges” which are the four modes crossing over each other (p. 49). The characteristic hinges are reenactment, diversion, absorption and infomercial (Wood, 2004). Reenactments are “dramas and films ‘based upon’ people and events” where fictional techniques are used to construct its content and reflects an historical world (Wood, 2004, p. 49). Diversion is when people are performing as themselves, such as ‘making of’ programs about film or television, or home video compilations where unusual events are depicted in everyday situations (Wood, 2004). Absorption is when extreme situations are depicted through reconstructions and verité footage and combine factual reference with fictional techniques to heighten the drama (Wood, 2004). Examples of absorption include reality TV shows on law enforcement and/or medical and emergency services (Wood, 2004). Lastly, infomercials are advertising commercials that last the same length as programs and use demonstrations and testimonials to sell a product or service (Wood, 2004). These characteristic hinges all involve the blending and intersecting of fact, fiction, entertainment and advertising and are all used in reality TV (Wood, 2004). This cross-pollination of modes and hinges shows how difficult it is to limit reality TV to a genre. 

According to Kavka (2012), ‘genre’ is when texts are grouped together based on their shared characteristics. Reality TV is too differential to fit within this limited definition, as many programs which fall underneath the umbrella term ‘reality TV’ have completely different characteristics (Kavka, 2012). Because reality TV mixes generic forms, it fails to fit the basic criteria of a genre while simultaneously is the definitive genre of an essentially adaptive medium (Kavka, 2012). In other words, reality TV is so multifaceted it doesn’t fit the definition of a genre, while at the same time is the perfect example of what a genre looks like within an ever-changing media landscape. In fact, television genres are ultimately cultural constructions in that they are defined by society and emerge through interpretation and evaluation (Kavka, 2012). We should therefore look beyond reality TV simply being a genre with a shared set of attributes, as it is constantly adapting its format, borrowing material, and moving on to something else (Kavka, 2012). 

Blitvich and Lorenzo-Dus (2013) argue that reality TV should be looked at as a discourse rather than a genre in order to be properly understood. A discourse is a system of communication that is shared by specific communities, and features characteristics such as shared language or jargon, the knowledge of how to become a member of that discourse, a specific ideology, and interpersonal relationships among members (Scollon & Scollon, 2001, as cited in Blitvich & Lorenzo-Duz, 2013). Reality TV fits within this definition. For example, if looking at the participants of a reality TV show, they become members and are socialized into the discourse through exposure to reality TV shows, and the selection/audition process before they are filmed (Blitvich & Lorenzo-Duz, 2013). Reality TV also has a broad ideology that is egalitarian and democratic as audiences can often participate in decisions made in the show, e.g. voting for their favorite competitor in Idol (Blitvich & Lorenzo-Duz, 2013). Interpersonal relationships are also apparent as audiences get an ‘intimate’ look into the lives of participants and so form a relationship with them (Blitvich & Lorenzo-Duz, 2013). 

In conclusion, due to its multifaceted definitions and the high level of hybridity that exists within it, reality TV should not be considered a genre, but rather a discourse. This helps to define its broad characteristics and style that are ever-changing in its media landscape. 

References 

Blitvich, P. G. C., & Lorenzo-Dus, N. (2013). Reality television: a discourse-analytical perspective. In N. Lorenzo-Dus & P.G.C. Blitvich (Eds.), Real talk: Reality television and discourse analysis in action (pp. 9-24). Palgrave Macmillan UK. 

Collins, C. G. (2017). Drag race to the bottom?: Updated notes on the aesthetic and political economy of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Transgender Studies Quarterly, 4(1), 128–134. https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-3711589 

Kavka, M. (2012). Reality TV. Edinburgh University Press. 

Wood, B. (2004). A world in retreat: The reconfiguration of hybridity in 20th-Century New Zealand television. Media Culture Society, 26(45), 45-62. https://doi.org/10.1177/0163443704039709 

Week 12 Questions

Can reality tv still be thought of as a genre given the high level of hybridity that exists?

“Television’s cultural forms have lost their former rigidity and are increasingly confounded. What was once kept apart is now mixed together”(Wood,2004). Among them, reality TV continues to change and evolve, converging different genres, and this hybridity creates questions about whether reality TV can be considered as a genre itself.

“In fact, reality is not the preserve of one sort of programming. Rather, all media content produces worldliness and so can be typed according to the variety of ways in which it accomplishes this sense of the real”(Wood,2004). So the main elements of television — fact, fiction, entertainment, and advertising — create reality in a variety of ways. Hill (2005), emphasizes that documentary television has led to commercial success by combining certain types of reality formats, and that the cultural specificity of reality programming and the development of certain formats within different broadcasting environments. This appears as a hybrid of reality TV.

Currently, reality TV is evolving into a variety of styles and blurring the boundaries between fact and fiction by including various genres such as entertainment, documentary and drama through steady hybridization. Wood(2004), explains that “Hybridity is typically equated with a radical undermining of the distinction between fact and fiction.” This may drop the details of reality programs. “The loss of detail at programme level is made up for by a more general purview which highlights the complexity of hybridizing trends. Although a widely acknowledged characteristic of hybridity, this complexity has often frustrated attempts at analysis”(Wood, 2004). This can cause confusion about the genre for viewers who are exposed to reality TV.

Reality TV is changing endlessly and is also linked to other genres such as game shows and soap operas beyond documentaries, drama and entertainment. It is true that reality TV is linked to hybridity, resulting in a variety of sub-genres. But Wood(2004), explains that “Given the increased frequency of hybridized expression such attempts at generic identification are understandable, but they have not proved successful.” So It is difficult to separate reality TV itself into one genre and it can be fruitless to try to organize it into one concept. 

References

Hill, A. (2005). Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. London; Routledge.

Wood, B. (2004). A world in retreat: the reconfiguration of hybridity in 20th-century New Zealand television. Media, Culture & Society, 26(1), 45-62.

Week 12

Rija Faisal

Can reality tv still be thought of as a genre given the high level of hybridity that exists?

Over time, the genre of reality TV has evolved to include a number of different genres and concepts through hybridization.  There are many different types of reality TV programmes around these days ( competitions, celebrity lifestyle, game shows, to name a few),  and these programmes all take on different styles and various sorts of formats. Because there is such a vast variety of the types of reality TV shows, tracing the history of the genre of reality TV and pinpointing it to a single point of origin is quite difficult. And because such a high level of hybridity exists within the realm of reality TV, the question arises of whether or not we can even consider reality TV to be its own genre, given that so many genres blend together to create this one, single genre that we know as reality TV.  

It can indeed be difficult to say exactly what the genre of reality has evolved into. Though it started out as a genre of its own kind, it has developed into a discourse of debate. Nowadays, reality TV has adopted many different sorts of formats, revealing the rapid frequency with which it changes. This frequency with which reality TV changes, is, according to Hill (2005), “an example of how television cannibalizes itself in order to survive”. He states that this is how television “draws upon existing genres to create successful hybrid programmes”. Then, this, in turn, is what leads to an entirely new genre being created.

While the genre of reality TV comprises of an abundance of different types of formats, these, on the whole, can be viewed as being chain-linked to each other. It does not really matter what sort of a reality TV programme one is watching ( be it a dating show, a dance competition show, etc), the commonality between all these is that they are meant for providing entertainment to the mass audience.  

Hill (2005) further states that trying to create an ideal notion of what the genre of reality TV truly is and which other sub-genres fit under its banner is “a fruitless effort”. We cannot force the reality TV genre to fit under one specific, special category. Reality TV is a genre in its own right, and while it it true that it has certainly changed and evolved over the years, and that individual types of reality TV pogrammes have sprung up from its branches, that does not take away the title of reality TV as its own popular genre.

References

Wood, B. (2004) A World in Retreat The Reconfiguration o Hybridity in 20th Century New Zealand Television Media Culture and Society DOI: 10.1177/0163443704039709

Hill, A,. (2005) Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television, London, Routledge

W12

W12

Can reality tv still be thought of as a genre given the high level of hybridity that exists?

The original of the TV show is a complicated history of hybrid programming they associate with reality TV (Hill, 2005). It is not accessible to categories and developing within an account and culturally specific environment (Hill, 2005). Reality TV are overlapping each other through a different kind of genre, and production shows such as documentary television, an entertainment show, journalism increased during the 1980s (Hill, 2005). The hybrid format focuses on telling real stories from people and events that happen to them that they are willing to say in front of the audience that can be entertaining style, foregrounding visuals, characterisation and narrative about all else (Hill, 2005). 

The hybridity has organised in one particular program rather than exploring it in quantitative variations (Wood, 2004). Hybridity analysis needs to possess the difference between categories to defining overstep content (Wood, 2004). Hybridised television is more focus on the mixing together of styles of fiction and non-fiction to change the status of reality (Wood, 2004). 

In NZ reality TV shows such as Rescue 1, a famous New Zealand program (Lorenzo-Dus & Blitvich, 2013). In the first decade of the 21st century, “Reality TV” programme is mainly in Western network’s television schedule and developed into a global media phenomenon. 

Reality gameshows have become an international sell since the day it arrives in 2000 (Hill, 2005). The cost of reality TV has increased in the production such as drama, sitcom and it becomes an optional number of economic during 199s when the networks were looking for a quick fix to financial problem (Hill, 2005). “They were successful in the 1990s and early 2000s because they drew on existing popular genres, such as soap opera or gameshows, to create hybrid programmes” (Hill, 2005, p. 39). The mixed-gender of different genre of reality that creates a hybrid program which helps the economic problem of that period. “Reality TV has its roots in tabloid journalism and popular entertainment, but it owns its greatest debt to documentary television, which has mostly disappeared from the television screen in the wake of has popular factual programming” (Hill, 2005, p.39). I think the documentary had nearly disappeared before the reality TV show actually arrived in the audience. The documentary is a mixed genre reality together with the different genre such as gameshows to make it more fun to the way they tell factual stories rather a traditional documentary. 

“Given that the hybrid mixes what is customarily distinguished, this charge no doubt seems misplaced. However, hybridity is often treated not just as a complex of conventional modes but also as simple in its complexity” (Wood, 2004). Reality shows may be the hybrid mixes, but it is also simplification and it creates its genre. It also shows its colour.  

References:

Hill, A. (2005) The rise of reality TV. In A. Hill, Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. (pp. 15 – 40). Oxon: Routledge.

Lorenzo-Dus, N., & Blitvich, P. G. C. (Eds.). (2013). Real talk: Reality television and discourse analysis in action. Basingstoke: Palgrave macmillan.

Wood, B. (2004). A world in retreat: the reconfiguration of hybridity in 20th-century New Zealand television. Media, Culture & Society, 26(1), 45-62.

Lou, W. (2006). Te Kura Kete Aronui Graduate and postgraduate E-journal – Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. ‘Reality’ in new documentary hybrids. A case of PBS’s frontier house(volume 2). https://www.waikato.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/149252/WeiLuo.pdf

Week 12: Can reality tv still be thought of as a genre given the high level of hybridity that exists?

Can reality tv still be thought of as a genre given the high level of hybridity that exists?

Reality Television is a genre that has evolved to include many different genres and concepts through continued hybridisation. Because there are so many different reality television programmes that all take on different styles and formats that shift continuously it has become difficult to trace the chronological history of reality television to a singular point of origin. This extreme hybridity that exists within reality television has led to the question of whether reality television can even be considered its own genre due to its blending of other genres.

It is difficult to pinpoint what exactly reality television has evolved into but according to Lorenzo-Dus and Blitvich (2013, p. 11) “it started out as a genre, but it has certainly evolved into a discourse.” Reality television has taken on many different formats over the years showing the frequency at which it changes, some examples of reality television formats include talent shows, dating shows, and cooking shows. Hill (2005, pp. 23-24) states that reality television changing so frequently is “an example of how television cannibalises itself in order to survive, drawing upon existing genres to create successful hybrid programmes, which in turn generate a ‘new’ television genre.” The abundance of formats in reality television can be viewed as a genre chain with the common thread between different reality television programmes being to entertain the audience. However, attempting to create a strict notion of what reality television is or what genre it could be considered is a fruitless effort because “the increased frequency of hybridized expression such attempts at generic identification are understandable, but they have not proved successful” (Wood, 2004, p. 48).

I feel that reality television is indeed its own genre, however, it is one that is constantly changing and evolving, merging different genres and blurring the line between reality and fiction. It has certainly changed significantly from the genre it originally was and although the individual quality of reality television programmes may fluctuate greatly, that does not invalidate the entirety of reality television as its own genre.

References

Hill, A. (2005). Reality TV: Audiences and Popular Factual Television. London; Routledge.

Lorenzo-Dus, N., & Blitvich, P. (2013). Real Talk – Reality television and Discourse Analysis in Action. Basingstoke, UK; Palgrave Macmillan.

Wood, B. (2004) A World in Retreat: The Reconfiguration of Hybridity in 20th-Century New Zealand Television. Media, Culture & Society, 26(1), 45-62. doi:10.1177/0163443704039709

W3: Question

  1. Why might the queering of Tintin offer new life to the series?

We’re in a new era of LGBT representation. Moving past the stereotypes that used to be the only way to write queer characters; the overtly feminine gay man, the promiscuous bisexual/pansexual/polysexual, or the classic sexually deviant lesbian. Where Triple A video games can have an LGBT cast as their main characters, and not simply NPCs to fulfill quotas. Where Netflix’s revival of ‘The Baby-Sitter’s Club’ can rewrite one of the sitter’s clients as Bailey, and have an entire segment of Mary-Anne calling out the prejudice of the doctors who purposefully misgendered her. The LGBT community is louder than ever, asking for appropriate representation from writers; where they don’t simply die because the writers don’t know how- or worse, don’t want- to write a satisfying end for them. 

We’re also in an era of remakes, with companies picking up old stories and modernising them. Disney’s newest projects have been remaking all their old animated movies into live-action, Dreamworks picked up ‘Voltron’- a badly dubbed show from the 80s- and attempted to make the story into something cohesive; horror movies have also been doing this for a while longer, from classics like ‘The Thing’ and ‘Evil Dead,’ to less known horrors like ‘Let Me In’ and ‘The Crazies.’

Other remakes have even revived themselves with LGBT rep in them. As the mentioned above ‘Voltron,’ has a gay man and a non-binary character within the main crew, or ‘She-Ra’ with both protagonist and antagonist as lesbian women- which isn’t even mentioning their entire cast of characters. So, remaking Tintin with either Tintin himself as a part of the LGBT community or with a crew of representation, wouldn’t be too far out of a concept.

The creators of Spongebob have- again- confirmed the title character to be asexual (since, y’know, sea sponges do reproduce asexually). A lovable character created in the 90s confirmed to be within the LGBT community. While this was confirmed back in the early 2000s, the news again made a resurgence when Nickelodeon let out a tweet hinting at his sexuality. I bring this up to show that even an iconic character like Spongebob Squarepants was met with positivity and support.

Reviving Tintin which included LGBT rep will certainly bring in a larger audience as well; while Tintin is widely known, a lot of people haven’t actually seen or read any of Tintin’s adventures. If a new series was to be made and made with new characters for this purpose, Tintin lovers would certainly go view it and it would also attract us LGBT folk who are starved for good representation.

References:

Flood, A., & Cain, S. (2017, September 25). Is Tintin a girl? Philosopher says his theory was ‘fake news’. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/sep/25/is-tintin-a-girl-philosopher-says-his-theory-was-fake-news

Gupta, S. (2017, September 23). Tintin is a girl, probably asexual, claims French philosopher. Deccan Chronicle. https://www.deccanchronicle.com/lifestyle/books-and-art/230917/tintin-is-a-girl-probably-asexual-claims-french-philosopher.html

Mountfort, P. (2020). ‘Tintin, gender and desire’. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/21504857.2020.1729829

Opie, D. (2020, June 15). SpongeBob Squarepants’ queer identity is more complicated than you think. Retrieved from https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/a32866498/spongebob-squarepants-asexual-lgbtq-queer-gay/