The Possibility of Impossibility: A Genealogy of Historical Lesbianism on the Silver Screen
Author
Poulsen, Marisa Førgaard
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2025
Submitted on
2025-10-10
Pages
67
Abstract
This thesis examines how historical period films portray lesbianism in the past, what these portrayals reveal about contemporary views of past lesbianism, and how they affect today's queer viewers. It begins with a review of key scholarship on historical lesbianism and its representation. Drawing on a queer genealogical approach inspired by Michel Foucault, I analyze four feature films: The Children's Hour (1961), The Bostonians (1984), Carol (2015), and The Favourite (2018). Here, genealogy is not understood as biological family research, but as a method for tracing how ideas, identities, and norms emerge, change, and gain meaning over time. Through media analysis, I show how each film depicts relationships and desire between women in historical settings, and then compare the films to discuss what a film-based lesbian genealogy can offer. I argue that these films matter to queer audiences (especially lesbians) because they provide a way to reach back to the past and engage with it. Filmic portrayals of historical lesbianism help build a shared history and a collective culture and memory of what lesbianism looked like in different periods. A central function of these films is to make visible that something once regarded as a 'historical impossibility'—lesbianism—can now be imagined, seen, and acknowledged.
Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan historiske periodefilm skildrer lesbiskhed i fortiden, hvad disse skildringer fortæller om nutidens syn på fortidens lesbiskhed, og hvilken betydning de har for nutidige queer seere. Først gennemgås centrale forskningsbidrag om historisk lesbiskhed og dens repræsentation. Med afsæt i en queer genealogisk tilgang, inspireret af Michel Foucault, analyserer jeg fire spillefilm: The Children's Hour (1961), The Bostonians (1984), Carol (2015) og The Favourite (2018). Genealogi forstås her ikke som slægtsforskning i biologisk forstand, men som en metode til at spore, hvordan ideer, identiteter og normer opstår, ændres og får betydning over tid. Gennem medieanalyser viser jeg, hvordan hver film fremstiller forhold og begær mellem kvinder i en historisk ramme, og jeg sammenligner derefter filmene for at diskutere, hvad en filmisk, lesbisk slægtslinje kan give os. Jeg argumenterer for, at sådanne film er vigtige for queer (særligt lesbiske) seere, fordi de giver en måde at række tilbage til fortiden og gå i dialog med den. Skildringer af historisk lesbiskhed i film kan være med til at skabe en fælles historie samt en kollektiv kultur og erindring om, hvordan lesbiskhed så ud i forskellige perioder. En central funktion ved disse film er at gøre synligt, at noget, der tidligere blev betragtet som en 'historisk umulighed', nemlig lesbiskhed, i dag kan tænkes, ses og anerkendes.
[This apstract has been rewritten with the help of AI based on the project's original abstract]
Keywords