英语论文哪里有？本文选取了与此前学者自内而外分析郝思嘉个人成长不同的角度，通过从外至内着眼于女主角与周围人物与社会环境的互动，解释了郝思嘉性别形象转变的成因，同时为读者在现代社会正确认识性别角色与身份提供一定的指导。
Chapter 1 Introduction
1.1 Research background and the choice of research object
Feminism is one of the most inclusive and far-ranging movements in global history. The widespread and typically known understanding of feminism nowadays is the belief in social, economic, and political equality of the sexes4. Following the influence of the Enlightenment, women’s suffrage, a goal that dominated international feminism for almost a century and led American women movements during and after American Civil War unveiled the first wave of feminism, accompanied by French Revolution as well as the First Industrial Revolution.
The women’s movement of the 1960s/70s, or the so-called “second wave of feminism”, represented a seemingly abrupt break with the tranquil suburban life pictured in American popular culture5. It was in the second wave of feminism that the inequality of power was found to relate with the inequality of sexes such as Kate Millett’s criticizing patriarchal legal systems in depriving women of control over their own bodies (e.g., abortion)6 and Carol Hanisch’s explaining “the personal is political”7. The phrase “third-wave feminism” was coined in 1992 by Rebecca Walker through her article “Becoming the Third Wave”.8 Activists from the third have benefitted significantly from the legal rights and protection that had been earned by their predecessors from the last wave but also committed to removing conventional feminine labels and questioned the social stereotype projected onto women.
Chapter 3 Scarlett’s Gender Identity Transformation
3.1 The Twelve Oaks Stage: a naïve girl obsessed with love
The Twelve Oaks Stage marks Scarlett’s portrayal as an innocent and infatuated young girl, particularly enamored with Ashley Wilkes: She doubts the outbreak of Civil War and is furious at Ashley’s engagement and marriage with Melanie Hamilton. During this early phase, Scarlett’s gender performance is profoundly influenced by the words of the characters surrounding her, namely a linguistic dimension. Scarlett absorbs the myriad expressions from her family members including Gerald O’Hara, Scarlett’s Pa, Mammy, the O’Hara’s house slave, Rhett Butler, the most influential male figure to Scarlett as well as her other social circle, forming the cornerstone of her gender perception and attempting to find her place in the gender roles on this romantic stage.
On the eve of the American Civil War, Scarlett is in a rage because of Ashley’s engagement with his cousin Melanie Hamilton announced in the barbeque party in the Twelve Oaks; however, she catches the attention of another guest, Rhett Butler. Scarlett marries Melanie’s younger brother Charles to arouse jealousy in Ashley before he leaves to fight.
Chapter 4 Impacts of Film as a Medium on Presenting Scarlett’s Gender Performativity
4.1 The incomplete reality due to the artistic form of film
As the gem of human creation, movies are naturally the reflection of lifestyle, ways of thinking, behavior patterns, etc. in real life, yet this constructed “reality” in the film is inherently limited113, confining our analysis of Scarlett’s gender transformation to specific times and spaces, neglecting the full spectrum of her life and growth. As a result, the portrayal of Scarlett’s gender identity in Gone with the Wind is undeniably shaped by the film’s inherent constraints as a constructed reality.
One notable incompleteness lies in the selective focus on Scarlett’s character during three distinct phases of her life. The movie predominantly captures her experiences within the restrictions of familial dynamics and romantic entanglements. While these aspects offer valuable insights into Scarlett’s gender image, the film tends to homogenize her character within these specific contexts illustrated in certain scenarios, hindering a more comprehensive and nuanced understanding of her gender identity. The movie’s emphasis on Scarlett’s interactions within the domestic sphere and her relationships with several female and a few key male figures provides a lens through which her gender expression is filtered. However, this selective framing might inadvertently oversimplify her character, reducing the complexity of her gender performativity.
4.2 The film as a power tool belonging to the crew
Invented for more than a century, movie has brought light to the development of human civilization, but at the same time, the film itself is also an instrument of power, deployed by directors, scriptwriters, performers, etc., where the portrayal of the main character’s gender image in the movie is inevitably influenced by the perspectives and intentions of practitioners within the cinema industry. As an example, prominent directors in the avant-garde cinema industry like Pedro Almodovar are known to tackle the traditional ideas of essentialism through the use of narratives, effectively blurring distinctions between male and female and challenging this ontological theory。
The camera manages to become a privileged instrument, representing and depicting the director’s intentions. For instance, as the director of Paris is Burning, the movie mentioned earlier regarding drag balls attended and performed by “men” who are either African American or Latino, Jennie Livingston approaches her subject matter as an outsider looking in115 on behalf of her own identification as a white lesbian. The camera, in this context, functions as a transformative tool116, allowing the director to selectively present characters. It can be likened to a surgical instrument altering gender, and directors have the discretion to choose which aspects of characters to reveal.
Chapter 5 Conclusion
As one of the most revolutionized theories in the feminist study, the emergence of gender theory as well as a sex/gender system not only makes women’s societal roles more flexible and dynamic but also offers an alternative perspective for all individuals, including men, to reexamine the construction of personal gender. This framework allows for a nuanced understanding of how societal norms and expectations shape human’s identities and behaviors. Within the realm of social gender theory, Judith Butler’s gender performativity seamlessly integrates social gender with an individual’s inherent social sex, breaking free from the physiological constraints of sex, and comprehensively explains how gender identity is performed through language, theater, and ritual dimensions.
The original intent of Butler’s gender performativity was to serve as a robust theoretical foundation challenging the heterosexual matrix for sexual minority communities. As indicated earlier, the past discussion has extensively explored the application of gender performativity theory in analyzing literary works, primarily focusing on homosexual or non-binary gender roles. However, this study shifts our attention to examine how performativity can be applied to the investigation of the gender identity of a universally recognized heterosexual character. i.e., Scarlett O’Hara, in which the novelty of this study and this research illuminates how Scarlett engages in gender performativity, transcending the confines of a singular woman’s gender to embody traits of both masculinity and femininity. By doing so, it paves the way for a broader application of gender performativity in the analysis of diverse social groups.
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