Date of Award

Fall 11-16-2011

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Ted Friedman

Second Advisor

Jim Roberts

Third Advisor

Kathy Fuller-Seeley

Abstract

This thesis is a queer analysis of two graphic novels by writer Alan Moore: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen series (art by Kevin O’Neill, 1999-Present) and Lost Girls (art by Melinda Gebbie, 1992-3). These two works re-contextualize familiar characters such as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Mina Murray, and Alice to uncover both the liberating desires and the sexist, homophobic, and imperialistic anxieties underlining historically popular fiction. Focusing on three characters utilized in Moore’s work, this thesis argues that the ideological associations with those chosen characters and the reconstructions of queerness in their narratives offer contemporary subjects resistance to limiting cultural tendencies and create an alternative space that call attention to phobic societal constructs. Both Lost Girls and the League series redefine discursively constituted identities and offer the potential to re-write normative codes of sex and sexuality.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.57709/2370550

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