Heaving cleavages and fantastic frock coats: Gender fluidity, celebrity and tactile transmediality in contemporary costume cinema

Abstract

As contemporary cinema intersects with both celebrity (Church Gibson 2011) and convergence culture (Jenkins 2006a), it is vital that the academic analysis of screen costuming moves beyond the film text to consider the wider institutional processes and consumption practices connected to fashion and spectators. In examining the role of costume and fashion as a source of meaning and pleasure this article forms part of my wider research project, which includes a forthcoming monograph and adopts both textually centred and interdisciplinary cross-media methodological approaches. This methodological shift is reflected in this article - the examination of Shakespeare in Love (Madden, 1998) adopts a predominantly textually centred approach focusing on the cinematic representation of Viola/Thomas (Gwyneth Paltrow), in which I argue that costume functions as both a spectacular intervention and a visual narrative of gender transformation and sexual fluidity. In then shifting to a cross-media approach, I will discuss both Gwyneth Paltrow and Keira Knightley in relation to issues of fashion, femininity and celebrity culture. As contemporary popular cinema shifts from character centred narratives to the formation of transmedia worlds existing over multiple media platforms, the text-spectator relationship is one grounded in a participatory convergence culture (Jenkins 2006a). In the final section of this article I argue that the meanings and pleasures of cinematic costume are increasingly characterised by what I term 'tactile transmediality'. Through moving my analysis beyond the film text to explore gaming, cosplay and fashion in relation to the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise (Verbinski, 2003; 2006; 2007; Marshall, 2011), I will argue that clothing creates a tactile platform in which the spatial distance between the text and the spectator can be bridged via adornment and touch and thus the processes of identity transformation and performativity can be played out in our everyday lives.

Sartorial Fandom

“…Such "transtexts" can be officially authored by the creative industries, or initiated by fans themselves (Derhy Kurtz 2014; Stein 2017). From the official clothing that Disney sells at its theme parks to licensed Harry Potter clothing lines, fan fashion allows its consumers to explore existing franchises and stories as a form of "tactical transmedia" (Gilligan 2011). In theorizing these "embodied transmedia extensions" (Williams 2020, 181), we also need to acknowledge that these are not neutral processes of mediation, but practices deeply connected to our own identity and lived experiences.…”

New Women’s Biopics: Performance and the Queering of Herstor/ies

“…Colette draws on Knightley's sculpted facial features and large eyes in close-up to suggest pensiveness and introspection, which stress the character's evolving sense of self. At the same time, Knightley's ability to adapt to bodily images of both hyper-femininity and androgyny 58 is capitalised on in a role where the thirty-two-year-old actor (at the time of production) has to play a country teen tomboy, compose a sophisticated socialite, and assertively cross-dress at different moments of the film. Enabled by her transformative encounter with Missy, in the third act the visual point of interest switches from Knightley's face to her slim, androgynous body, as she trains in dancing and pantomime and exercises in the company of Missy as a prelude to sex.…”

Funko Hannibal in Florence: Fan Tourism, Participatory Culture, and Paratextual Play

“…In the moments of re-creation between different transmedia versions of the Lecterverse, the use of the Hannibal doll offered a form of 'tactile transmediality' (Gilligan 2012) which 'bridges the gap between the virtual 'worlds' on-screen and the lived material body' (Gilligan 2012, 25). The ability to touch an object linked to the narrative of Hannibal enables a form of 'haptic fandom' (Williams, forthcoming) which provides links to the storyworld of the fan object.…”