Using The Flame and the Flowerand Fifty Shades of Grey, it suggests a new mode of access to the fantasies that are being conveyed by the novels, and a way to conceptualise their erotic function without making judgements about the sexual preferences or ideological positions of actual readers. Being less concerned with the ‘mommies’ and more interested in the ‘porn,’ the focal point of my analysis will be how each text constructs its eroticism around the corporeality of the heroine. I argue that in both The Flame and the Flowerand Fifty Shades of Grey, the heroine’s body is the site on which her identity is written, and where the novels’ fantasies are produced and revealed. Through its representation, the female body expresses the system of value, power, and desire the novels rely on in order for their eroticism to function. [...] I read the depiction of the heroine as an appeal to the text’s intended or implied reader. The role the heroine’s corporeality plays in the sex scenes, how it becomes a physical expression of pleasure and admiration, speaks of the position (of erotic fantasy and identification) the narratives invite the ideal reader to occupy.
The thesis will examine how the erotic function of female corporeality is represented in The Flame and the Flowerand Fifty Shades of Grey(hereby referred to as The Flameand Fifty Shades). I argue that the heroines’ bodies are made erotic through the male gaze of desire, and the way in which their corporeality serves to confirm phallic potency and power. Through its specific materiality,the female body is portrayed as a body meant for sex and a body that produces pleasure. Simultaneously, it is by being susceptible to the hero’s control that the heroine gains her own powers. Her value is determined by the extent to which her body is craved and its physical ability to serve male sexual gratification. My reading of these mechanisms touches on issues of gender, sex, and the power dynamic between heroine and hero, but the aim is not to produce an argument as to whether or not these erotic romances can be considered feminist, by determining if The Flameand Fifty Shadesconform to, or subvert, patriarchal power structures. Instead, my analysis explores how the male/female power structure is reflected in the novels’ depiction of the female body,and how this system is negotiated within the narratives to make the female figure into something erotic. (2)
Using The Flame and the Flower and Fifty Shades of Grey, it suggests a new mode of access to the fantasies that are being conveyed by the novels, and a way to conceptualise their erotic function without making judgements about the sexual preferences or ideological positions of actual readers. Being less concerned with the ‘mommies’ and more interested in the ‘porn,’ the focal point of my analysis will be how each text constructs its eroticism around the corporeality of the heroine. I argue that in both The Flame and the Flower and Fifty Shades of Grey, the heroine’s body is the site on which her identity is written, and where the novels’ fantasies are produced and revealed. Through its representation, the female body expresses the system of value, power, and desire the novels rely on in order for their eroticism to function. [...] I read the depiction of the heroine as an appeal to the text’s intended or implied reader. The role the heroine’s corporeality plays in the sex scenes, how it becomes a physical expression of pleasure and admiration, speaks of the position (of erotic fantasy and identification) the narratives invite the ideal reader to occupy.
The thesis will examine how the erotic function of female corporeality is represented in The Flame and the Flower and Fifty Shades of Grey (hereby referred to as The Flame and Fifty Shades). I argue that the heroines’ bodies are made erotic through the male gaze of desire, and the way in which their corporeality serves to confirm phallic potency and power. Through its specific materiality,the female body is portrayed as a body meant for sex and a body that produces pleasure. Simultaneously, it is by being susceptible to the hero’s control that the heroine gains her own powers. Her value is determined by the extent to which her body is craved and its physical ability to serve male sexual gratification. My reading of these mechanisms touches on issues of gender, sex, and the power dynamic between heroine and hero, but the aim is not to produce an argument as to whether or not these erotic romances can be considered feminist, by determining if The Flame and Fifty Shades conform to, or subvert, patriarchal power structures. Instead, my analysis explores how the male/female power structure is reflected in the novels’ depiction of the female body,and how this system is negotiated within the narratives to make the female figure into something erotic. (2)
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