Ambiguities of Gender Performance in Lou Reed’s Lyrics
Teräsranta, Jaakko (2023-09-21)
Ambiguities of Gender Performance in Lou Reed’s Lyrics
(21.09.2023)
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
suljettu
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on:
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20231006139170
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe20231006139170
Tiivistelmä
In this thesis, I discuss the way Lou Reed uses trickster characters in his song lyrics to highlight ambiguities in gender performances. I analyze Reed’s lyrics through Judith Butler’s theoretical framework as they present it in Bodies That Matter (2011). I also offer a definition of the trickster character as presented by William Doty and William Hynes in Mapping the Characteristics of Mythic Tricksters: A Heuristic Guide (1991). I combine this view with Helena Bassil-Morozow’s (2012) analysis of trickster narratives having a three-phased structure.
In this thesis, I examine the various ways Reed portrays their conception of gender as being ultimately defined by performance as opposed to a pre-discursive materiality. Most of my analysis is based on two specific songs written by Reed: “Femme Fatale” (1966) and “Lady Godiva’s Operation” (1968). I argue that Reed’s trickster characters are constantly in disagreement with themselves in terms of gender and effectively move freely within the constraints of the gender binary, never truly being granted a departure or freedom to move away from the rigid binary despite attempts at subversion. I find that in Reed’s view true subversion of the gender norm happens not in the subject’s performance but in the reading of the subject’s performance.
In this thesis, I examine the various ways Reed portrays their conception of gender as being ultimately defined by performance as opposed to a pre-discursive materiality. Most of my analysis is based on two specific songs written by Reed: “Femme Fatale” (1966) and “Lady Godiva’s Operation” (1968). I argue that Reed’s trickster characters are constantly in disagreement with themselves in terms of gender and effectively move freely within the constraints of the gender binary, never truly being granted a departure or freedom to move away from the rigid binary despite attempts at subversion. I find that in Reed’s view true subversion of the gender norm happens not in the subject’s performance but in the reading of the subject’s performance.