When Muskets Join Forces with Katanas: Revisiting the Politics of Hybridity and Female Subjectivity in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Resource
NTU Studies in Language and Literature, 36, 101-130
NTU Studies in Language and Literature, 36, 101-130
Journal
NTU Studies in Language and Literature
Journal Issue
36
Pages
101-130
Date Issued
2016-12
Date
2016-12
Author(s)
Liao, Y.C.
Abstract
This paper takes Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a mash-up novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, as a point of departure to discuss a new disciplinary mechanism of contemporary female subjectivity in Western popular culture. Contrary to the liberal humanist model of subjectivity constructed by a clear-cut boundary between Self and Other, this new model of female subjectivity adopts the strategy of hybridization that incorporates the Other into its constitution. At first sight, this strategy seems to be subversive of the liberal humanist conception of subjectivity. However, the attempt to adopt hybridization as a strategy for female empowerment still begs the question as to
the political efficacy in terms of gender and postcolonial politics: to what extent is this paradigm of hybrid femininity empowering women, here defined as Western, white,
middle-class, and heterosexual, at the expense of the monstrous and Asian Others? What kind of mechanism is there for this hybrid femininity to successfully incorporate
these Others? And how, exactly, are these Others selected, incorporated, and represented? Does this inclusion point to a new form of domination and cultural imperialism based on “cultural hybridity” instead of “cultural purity”? This paper aims to explore
the above questions by analyzing Seth Grahame-Smith’s Pride and Prejudice
and Zombies. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part explores the vexed
relationship between Hollywoodization, hybridity, and female subjectivity. The second part follows the theoretical discussion and analyzes the limitation of “hybridity” by looking at the interlocking of body boundary, monsterization, and the Asia factor in the novel.
Subjects
《傲慢與偏見與殭屍》
女性主體
身體疆界
怪物化
亞洲因素
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
female subjectivity
body boundary
monsterization
the Asia factor
SDGs
Type
journal article