Diss.docx

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Subject: English Literature 5,000 word dissertation My bibliography is not included in the word count Referencing style: Harvard Require a first

Please find my proposal attached with the email and use accordingly as a source of reference for my final piece. Provisional question for my paper (may be altered slightly depending on the direction my paper follows: To what extent does Fifty Shades of Grey evoke historic conventions of fairy tales in terms of gender relation and the mistreatment of women? Preference and criteria for my disso and some advice from my supervisor: - My work is a piece of research focusing on the comparisons of historic and contemporary texts (Charles Perrault Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella and comparing it to the contemporary novel Fifty Shades of Grey) The fairy tales are the original versions of the tales with subliminal demeaning connotations - I want my essay to explore gender socialisation and gender as a social construct, examining the portrayal of female protagonists in each text and the mistreatment of the women. - I would really like to draw in a very interesting approach to these texts to explore domestic violence and the similarity to the BDSM subculture. This should be a significant aspect to my essay. There is a very controversial debate on this matter on the idea that BDSM is consensual and domestic violence is prone to any individual, I would like a strong argumement on this topic and somehow linking it to both texts. Social and historical information would be useful here.

- The objectification of women and the idea of violence and sexual abuse being normalised, sexualised and desired. - I would like to incorporate Freudian theories surrounding patriarchy, power and control to add a psychoanalytical perspective

- Accepting abuse in culture? I will attach a dissertation with some interesting ideas which will be interesting and perhaps relatable to my topic. - The comparison should reveal or conclude the way these earlier parables shared this idea of women as the inferior being and the way that literature has evolved in a way where socially taboo topics such as BDSM is gaining popularity and recognition. However, both parties are to an extent liberated but the I want to explore the rigid gender roles the women in the are confined to. In the earlier parables they are depicted within the domestic sphere and there are ideas of sexual awakening, female servitude. I mentioned in my proposal that I would may use Angela Carters Bloody Chamber to explore how these ideas were more explicitly rewritten so her version might be worth considering. -

Similarly, in 50 SoG, the female is the submissive so again was this intentional? Would the novel gain so much popularity if the roles were reversed in the book? Comment on social expectations of gender and the way E.L James portrays her character, is she a strong independent woman who merely wants to explore the BDSM subculture OR is she portrayed as feeble and easily manipulated by powerful and dominant men?

- E.L James writing as a female author What my supervisor advised me after reading my proposal: - The essay needs to be focused on the text itself rather than making big assertions about historical dynamics - My argument must be focused and specific, there are elements of my proposal where I want to explore too many things at the same time so perhaps look closely on a few ideas and explore them thoroughly - Whilst we might assume that seventeenth century readers would have found the elements of female sexuality in fairy tales threatening, and that contemporary writers and readers would, by contrast, celebrate this and abhor the idea of female servitude, 50 Shades challenges these preconceptions by seeming to return to the earlier model. - You might, of course, also want to question the extent to which BDSM can be seen as a performance rather than a literal enactment of gender inequality, and whether the forms of submission acted out in this role

play could ever be perceived of as subversive to, and thereby liberating for, both parties. That is to say, does E.L. James let herself off the hook at all, by allowing her characters to enact "in play" the very rigid gender roles explored in the earlier parables? I am not for one minute arguing either way, I just wonder if there is something more to consider (even if, ultimately, you decide that the novel is more of a re-enactment than a reinvention of such dynamics). – Whichever argument proves to be stronger and powerful should be the leading argument. - You

might also want to bring in Freud's work on sexuality (in which he dismisses female sexuality as unreadable and unknowable) as a way of critiquing the belittling and fear of female sexuality. Is this an element that is replayed in the text? How do we explain this in a work by a female author? Finally, Michel Foucault's work on The History of Sexuality might also be of interest to you. Ultimately, I would like the dissertation to be: -

Focused and specific Very engaging, interesting with a unique approach Have a strong and punchy argument with a well-rounded conclusion Interesting chapters Include theorists with very interesting theories which can be related to my work - I want my work to be a fairly easy read but of course academic and a first worthy Please use my email [email protected] to ask any questions.

Thank you.