Rebecca Stringer Barbie, Feminism and the Politics of Recuperative Détournement
Much of the emerging wealth of feminist criticism addressing Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (Warner Bros 2023) persuasively frames this film as recuperative, reading Barbie as a media text that visibly mobilises feminist ideas, but does so in a way that reshapes those ideas around the values of neoliberal capitalism, discarding intersectional feminist challenges to structural oppressions and producing instead a depoliticised, commodified version of feminism that delivers cinematic pleasures but is “always available to be recuperated by the market” (McNeill 2024). This paper builds upon this feminist criticism of Barbie as recuperative by focusing on the ways in which the film and its associated marketing anticipate this criticism: ‘If you hate Barbie, this film is for you.’ Reading Barbie with reference to Debord’s Society of the Spectacle, I argue that its anticipatory elements mark a form of what McKenzie Wark calls ‘recuperative détournement’, whereby corporate messages appear to detour ‘off-brand’, to enhance their ‘on-brand’ impact. Mindful that the spectacle diverts our attention both toward and away, I argue that by foregrounding the fraught feminism of Barbie, the film’s makers and marketers divert attention from irredeemably ‘off-brand’ terrain: the appalling conditions in Mattel factories, and Mattel’s environmental crimes. As McKenzie Wark observes, “Capital draws the line at the détournement of its own means of production”.
Yuki Watanabe Exploring Queer Identities in Popular Media: The Discourse of Homosexuality in Contemporary Japan
In the 21st century, the term 'queer' has emerged as a significant identity marker, celebrated for its inclusivity and defiance of normative labels. Yet, queer individuals still encounter pervasive stigma, including discrimination, harassment, and violence, highlighting the persistent complexities and contradictions surrounding queer identities. This paper explores these tensions, situating them within specific cultural and historical contexts that shape the understanding of sexual orientations and identities.
When compared to the construction of queer identities in the West, the significance (or absence) of particular terminologies in different cultures plays a critical role in shaping queer identities. In Japan, the concept of nonke (literally meaning ‘no feeling’), frequently used in popular media genres such as Boys’ Love (BL), refers to heterosexual individuals among BL fans and within the broader gay community. Through a discourse analysis of Japanese popular media texts, this paper investigates how nonke functions to both normalize and destabilize gay subjectivity, particularly in contrast to how its English equivalent operates in Western contexts. Using queer theory as a lens, I argue that this term illustrates how sexuality is constructed and communicated as fluid and relational, rather than fixed or essential, highlighting the historically and culturally contingent nature of sexual identities.
Simon Clay Trans Futures, Drug Utopias, and Gender Euphoria
We are in a watershed moment when it comes to gender. The trans and non-binary community has never been so visible and continues to gain unprecedented social and political freedoms. However, ‘gender-critical feminists’ and the political right have been moderately successful (particularly in the US) with their scare campaign on the dangerous ‘gender ideology’ that ‘trans activists’ are inflicting upon society. Gender-based violence and institutional discrimination against trans people continue to soar, and the lack of inclusive healthcare provision has resulted in a dismal level of well-being among members of this community. In this paper, I discuss the community-based gender-affirming care practices trans and non-binary people have created due to the inaccessibility of gender-affirming medical care. I describe the queer ways these individuals use illicit substances in community settings to gain a sense of gender euphoria, community intimacy, and self-acceptance. These gender-affirming drug practices not only allow trans and non-binary people to circumvent the discrimination and gate-keeping within the healthcare system, they also allow for yet-unimagined expressions of gender-sexuality to emerge. It is through the creation and embodiment of alternative gender-sexualities that radical emancipatory trans futures can be realised.
