The Transmediated Lesbian Vampire: LGBTQ representation in a contemporary adaptation of J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (original) (raw)

The use of transmedia storytelling and the representation of LGBT community in ​ Carmilla

New media has opened space for the emergence of adaptations of literature classics by smaller producers that are not connected to mainstream media. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how this recent development has contributed to the creation of representation space for sexual minorities that are usually ignored or inaccurately portrayed by major productions. I analyse the adaptation of Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s novella, Carmilla, into a web series that questions the negative representation of the LGBT community in media by bringing to attention the queer context of its source text and creating a community of engaging fans throughout different media. Key words: transmedia; intermedial references; adaptation; Carmilla; LGBT media representation

The Foremother of Vampires: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla and its Palimpsestic Shadows

Publicações Viva Voz, 2019

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla, first published in 1871, has been instrumental in the construction of Vampire Fiction’s approach to gender and sexuality, exerting significant influence over vampire stories to this day. The present monograph’s goal is to establish the novella as a Foremother to the subgenre, and to investigate its influence on two specific and representative subsequent works. Through Gerard Genette’s notion of the palimpsest and Linda Hutcheon’s ideas about artistical adaptation as an almost biological enterprise, the analysis will explore the ways Carmilla has originated a tradition of subversiveness later built upon by others. The opening chapter will look to better conceptualize the notion of Foremother in light of the mentioned theoretical scope. The second chapter will turn its eyes to the novella itself, conducting a detailed analysis by focusing on four cardinal elements – centered around gender, youth, love and sexuality – in an effort to better understand its contextualized subversive value. Jumping 126 years into the future, the third will deal with Joss Whedon’s 1997 television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, exploring the ways in which it expands upon Carmilla’s tradition of feminized subversiveness by etching – in a new way – the same four elements over the Foremother’s palimpsestic shadow. Finally, the fourth chapter will tackle the YouTube-based webseries Carmilla (2014), an acknowledged adaptation of the monograph’s central object. By understanding how the webseries furthers the novella’s essence by evolving around it, we can investigate its position as the palimpsestic result of Carmilla’s and Buffy’s combined influences. Ultimately, this monograph hopes to instigate a reflection, as the very notions of subversive gender and sexuality undergo cultural adaptations which might mirror the intermedial adaptations in stories that espouse them.

Gender in the Vampire Narrative (Edited Volume)

Preview and more information available from Sense Publishers (https://www.sensepublishers.com/catalogs/bookseries/teaching-gender/gender-in-the-vampire-narrative/): Gender in the Vampire Narrative addresses issues of masculinity and femininity, unpacking cultural norms of gender. This collection demonstrates the way that representations of gender in the vampire narrative traverse a large scope of expectations and tropes. The text offers classroom ready original essays that outline contemporary debates about sexual objectification and gender norms using the lens of the vampire in order to examine the ways those roles are undone and reinforced through popular culture through a specific emphasis on cultural fears and anxieties about gender roles. The essays explore the presentations of gendered identities in a wide variety of sources including novels, films, graphic novels and more, focusing on wildly popular examples, such as The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, and Twilight, and also lesser known works, for instance, Byzantium and The Blood of the Vampire. The authors work to unravel the ties that bind gender to the body and the sociocultural institutions that shape our views of gendered norms and invite students of all levels to engage in interdisciplinary conversations about both theoretical and embodied constructions of gender. This text makes a fascinating accompanying text for many courses, such as first-year studies, literature, film, women’s and gender studies, sociology, popular culture or media studies, cultural studies, American studies or history. Ultimately this is a text for all fans of popular culture.

QUEER VAMPIRES AND THE IDEOLOGY OF GOTHIC

Journal of Yaşar University, 2013

Literary genres as sites of discursive practice, from a Foucauldian point of view, become part of the power mechanisms that operate within a society. In this sense, they function as the producers and the reproducers of the regimes of truth, and cease to be mere structures or tools used to communicate meaning or, simply, the aesthetic aspect of the text. They, rather, contribute to the production of meaning and become a part of the meaning. However, Foucault is not nihilistic or pessimistic about the power-discourse relationship and suggests that “[d]iscourse transmits and produces power; it reinforces it, but also undermines and exposes it, renders it fragile and makes it possible to thwart” (Foucault, 1998, p. 100). Within this frame of mind, the discursive patterns of power within a textual body are traceable and possible to reveal. Accordingly, the aim of this work is to reveal the discursive power mechanisms within the Gothic genre focusing specifically on the portrayal of the lesbian vampire in several vampire movies as examples of contemporary Gothic.

Gender in the Vampire Narrative

2016

The haunting durability of the vampire in popular culture attests to our enduring fascination with the undead as well as the figure's rich and dynamic complexity. Amanda Hobson and U. Melissa Anyiwo have brought together a diverse and far-ranging collection of essays that chase the vampire through history and across literature, film, television, and stage, exploring this complexity and offering insightful and accessible analyses that will be enjoyed by students in popular culture, gender studies, and speculative fiction. Authors pay homage to the classics-from Bram Stoker to Buffy the Vampire Slayer-but push consideration of the vampire in new directions as well, from graphic novels to the Vegas stage, interrogating the vampire's presence and influence across multiple spheres of cultural production, always with a keen eye on gender and sexuality. This collection is not to be missed by those with an interest in feminist cultural studies-or the undead."

Fairy LGBTales: Mapping Queer Fairy-Tale Retellings from the 1990s to the 2010s

2019

This thesis would not have been possible without the help of many fairy godmothers and godfathers. First of all, I must sincerely thank my main supervisor, Rebecca Scherr, for her flexible supervision style, which allowed me to find my own way, but also for her insightful directions in the most critical moments of the writing process, which have had an enormous impact on the final form of the thesis. Infinite thanks go to Anne Duggan, my cosupervisor, whose lucid guidance has been essential, whose enthusiasm has kept me going when I was feeling discouraged, and who has enormously impacted not only my impressions of my own project, but also of the fairy-tale genre as a whole. I am also greatly indebted to my midway evaluator, Vanessa Joosen, whose intelligent feedback at a crucial juncture challenged me to turn this project into something worth reading (and writing). I am forever grateful to Tina Skouen and Bruce Barnhart, project leaders of Literature, Rights, and Imagined Communities, for allowing me to carry out this study, for believing in me and my vision, and for their unwavering support in the last three years. Thanks to the generous funding from the Faculty of Humanities and the Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, I was allowed to attend numerous conferences and summer schools, and especially to do invaluable research stays at Brown University and Wayne State University. I would like to extend my profound gratitude to Lewis Seifert (Brown University), for his early guidance and thought-provoking conversations, and to the fairy-tale working group at Wayne