Female grotesques

Carnivalesque subversion in the comics of Julie Doucet

Bibliographic Data

ID5810556
AuthorsFrederik Byrn Køhlert (0000-0001-7567-0138, Université de Montréal, corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume3
Issue1
Pages19-38
Publication date2012-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Graphic Novels & Comics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2150-4857 • E-ISSN: 2150-4865
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/21504857.2012.703883
OpenAlexW2022070024
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited10

The comics of Julie Doucet can be productively interpreted in light of Mikhail Bakhtin's exploration of the carnivalesque and its aesthetic expression as grotesque realism. By employing subject matter and a visual style grounded in the grotesque, Doucet's comics challenge normative notions of the female body through a process of resignification based in parody and unruly embodiment. These ideas connect to theories of resistance and subversion as articulated by Judith Butler, among others, as well as to formalist theories of style and the ways comics produce meaning and identification. Close readings of Doucet's stories demonstrate how her comics perform a feminist critique by redeploying masculinist tropes belonging to 'high' culture as grotesque images in the 'low' form of comics. The combination of grotesque subject matter and an untraditional visual style serves to critically unsettle the visual pleasure associated with representations of women in comics. Keywords: Julie DoucetMikhail Bakhtincarnivalesquegrotesquealternative comicsfeminismthe body Notes 1 While Doucet does not consistently identify her main female character as a cartoon version of herself, it is clear from the visual similarity with other stories explicitly naming 'Julie' that she means the reader to make the autobiographical connection. In order to avoid confusion, I will refer to the author as Doucet and the character as Julie. 2 While critics have commented on the subversive potential of Doucet's comics, the connection to the carnivalesque tradition as theorized by Bakhtin has gone unremarked upon. Ann Miller and Murray Pratt (2004 Miller, A. and Pratt, M., 2004. Transgressive bodies in the work of Julie Doucet, Fabrice Neaud and Jean-Christophe Menu: towards a theory of the 'AutobioBD'. Belphégor: Littérature Populaire et Culture Médiatique [online], 4 (1). http://etc.dal.ca/belphegor/ (http://etc.dal.ca/belphegor/) (Accessed: 8 June 2010). [Google Scholar], n.p.) focus their analysis on the celebratory autobiographical embodiment of Doucet's work, arguing that her fixation with representing herself (in male as well as female incarnations) 'creates a world of becoming, transgressing the fixity of gender identity'. Similarly, Marcie Frank's (2000 Frank, M. 2000. "How did I get so anal?': queer self-realization at the margins". In Queer diasporas, Edited by: Patton, C. and ánchez-Eppler, B. S. 245-262. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. [Google Scholar], p. 254) queering effort centres her analysis on Doucet's play with masculine identities in order to question 'the possibilities for what counts as bodily sexual identity'. 3 See, for example, Russo (1986 Russo, M. 1986. "Female grotesques: carnival and theory". In Feminist studies, critical studies, Edited by: de Lauretis, Teresa. 213-229. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. [Google Scholar]) and Rowe (1995 Rowe, K. 1995. The unruly woman: gender and the genres of laughter, Austin, TX: University of Texas Press. [Google Scholar]), both of which take issue with the Bakhtinian model of aligning the female body with 'low' materiality. 4 Dirty Plotte began as a self-published (that is, photocopied) mini-comic (or fanzine) in the late 1980s. After 14 bilingual mini-issues, newly started Montreal publisher Drawn & Quarterly picked up the comic and the series continued in mostly English with another 12 full-size issues and a number of book collections. Doucet stopped drawing comics in the late 1990s, preferring instead to create collages, screen prints, and artist's books. 5 Neither the individual comics nor the book collections of Doucet's work have pagination. 6 See for example Booker (1991 Booker, M.K. 1991. Techniques of subversion in modern literature: transgression, abjection and the carnivalesque, Gainesville, FL: University of Florida Press. [Google Scholar], p. 8). 7 Doucet has discussed her financial support from various federal entities in several interviews, and in the 1994 documentary film Hooked on Comix (directed by David P. Moore) mentions both student support, welfare, and government grants as sources of income

Carnivalesque · Mainstream · Subversion · Comics and Graphic Narratives · Digital Games and Media · Folklore, Mythology, and Literature Studies

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