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Craig Haslop ______
Torchwood’s Supermen: Bisexuality as a Hyper-Masculine Superpower
Craig Haslop
Abstract
The media and academics have celebrated the liberating and frank representations of unlabelled bisexuality in the BBC’s Doctor Who spin off television series, Torchwood. At the time, few TV series in the UK had included a full cast of bisexual characters let alone one that rarely labelled its queer characters with a sexual identity. This paper presents audience research using focus groups exploring Torchwood’s representation of queer masculinity. I analyse responses focusing on the masculinity of the two leading male characters, Captain Jack Harkness and Captain John Hart, in one episode of the series. While not ostensibly superheroes or supervillains in the comic book sense, my research participants positioned them as super-human or god-like. Indeed, the characters exhibited many superhero traits including immortality, super-strength and access to an array of time travelling technology. In the analysis, I use the notion of homonormativity, the pressure upon queer people to conform to norms in established LGBTQ communities that often borrow from heteronormative practices. I highlight that despite the foregrounding of the leading men as queer with fluid sexualities, the narrative, their identities as super-humans suggests a homonormative hyper-masculinity that dominates much of Western gay male culture. In this way, ideologically reiterating homonormative notions of gender where it is acceptable to be queer if we maintain the structures and performances of dominant forms of traditional heteronormative masculinity. Moreover, this positions bisexuality as hyper-masculine potency rather than as part of loving and/or sexual relations. I suggest that we should keep a close textual watch on the development of queer male superheroes on TV to argue for a genuine radicalism in the way they are portrayed that does not retreat only into traditional hyper-masculine tropes.
Keywords: Superheroes, queer, homonormativity, heteronormativity, television, masculinity, bisexuality, audience research, science fiction, fantasy, Torchwood.
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Introduction
Traditionally television fantasy has tended to elide queer characters or position homosexuality as a threat.[1] However, at last, in much the same way as the comic book universe, the numbers of TV series including queer super men are on the increase. Not necessarily the archetypal caped variety of superhero that springs to the front of our minds, but heroes that stand out in the text as in some way ‘super’ through special powers or abilities. This has started to address the concerns of academics and activists around the presence of queer characters on TV and has challenged stereotypes of queer men as camp, foregrounding that they can occupy spaces of ‘traditional’ masculinity once associated to heterosexuality including physical strength/control, bravery and occupational mastery, prerequisites for the standard version of superhero masculinity.[2] Indeed, the questions academics are asking have moved from where are our queer superheroes, to interrogating the extent to which our new queer superheroes are radical, in relation to queer politics.[3]
Academics have suggested that Torchwood, the spin off from the BBC’s revitalised Doctor Who, is one of the most radically queer science fiction and fantasy series in recent years.[4] Indeed, the series never shied away from explicit depictions of queer sex with every cast member depicted as bisexual.[5] However, it went further by representing plural sexual orientations through the portrayal of unlabelled acts of sex. Thus, the series pioneered a taken for granted approach to bisexuality or fluid sexuality on British TV screens. Some academics struck a cautious tone, noting that despite its accolades the series cast bisexuality as ‘alien’.[6] Elsewhere I have also argued the series commodified fluid sexual representation in order to find mainstream success.[7] Medhursthowever refers to the show as a ‘post queer, pansexual perv fest’ while Dhaenenshas suggested the series disrupted wider practices of heteronormativity and homonormativity. Heteronormativity refers to the cultural norms that uphold the dominance of the heterosexual matrix, a structure that relies on fixed notions of sexual and gender identity to maintain its constructedness through universality.[8] Those that do not wish to take part in the institutions that uphold this structure i.e. marriage, reproduction and its norms, are made to feel excluded often forming alternative identities and cultures. Homonormativity often borrows from, or emulates heteronormativity, and is the pressure to live up to and comply with new practices established as part of queer cultures.[9] In this article, I wish to enter the debate about Torchwood from the perspective of its depiction of superhero queer masculinity in relation to homo/heteronormativity. Through analysis of audience research, I question the extent the series challenges hetero/homonormativity and wider gender norms that uphold the heterosexual matrix.
In 2011, I conducted five focus groups in London and Brighton UK comprising of 5-6 people from differing backgrounds.[10] I screened one episode of the seriesbased on the concentration of scenes referring to the sexualities of the characters.[11] If the series was pushing queer boundaries, I wanted to understand how audiences experienced fluid sexuality, and gender, with its inextricable link to the former. To be clear, this is a small audience study and my aim was not to make universal ‘truth’ claims about Torchwood, but rather to gather other interpretations of the series, analyse them, and share them alongside my own. In this essay, I focus on their readings of queer masculinity and the leading men of the episode, Captain Jack Harkness and Captain John Hart.
Captain Jack Harkness first appeared in the Doctor Who episode ‘An Empty Child’ as a rogue time agent from the 51st Century ‘Time Agency’ masquerading as an American officer in World War Two. As Barron highlights by the time we meet Jack in Torchwood, he has been elevated to hero status.[12] Now immortal, following the events of the episode Doctor Who episode ‘The Parting of the Ways’flung back in time, he has been living on the planet Earth for centuries, helping to lead a new Government team to investigate alien encounters.[13] In the episode, Captain John Hart, a new ‘super-villain’, arrives on Earth by way of a time and space-travelling device. We discover that Captain John Hart is Jack’s past lover and ex-colleague from the Time Agency and has other more sinister motives beyond just visiting Jack. In the rest of this article, I want to explore audience reactions to these two characters as super beings, their portrayal of queer masculinity and the implications of the interconnection between these two facets of their characters on wider arguments about the series potential for queer liberation and debates about queer superheroes. To do so, I first need to consider how Captain Jack and John fit into the slippery categorisation of the superhero.
Findings: Torchwood’s Supermen
Most of us know what we mean when we use the term ‘Superhero’; we instantly think of the variety of superhero that comes complete with a costume, a secret identity and a mission to protect people. However, as soon as you start to try to define what a superhero is, you stumble into definitional difficulties. Cooganin his analysis of what defines a superhero suggests this is an issue of genre identification.[14] The superhero genre, if we can call it that, shares much of its characteristics, secret identities, superpowers, earth saving missions with other genres particularly the adventure or fantasy genre therefore making it difficult to differentiate. In this way, there is the classic notion of a comic book ‘superhero’, Superman as the quintessential example, and a wider set of super heroes operating across the fantastic genres. In this paper then, I am not trying to argue that Captains Jack and John are the archetypal comic book superhero, but that they come close to it, and therefore are part of a wider genre of superhero like fantasy characters.
Indeed in relation to Torchwood , it was respondents from my audience research that identified traits in the two leading men that set them apart from the rest of the team, and I want to argue positions them as a super hero and villain. Chris said: ‘…it seemed to be related them being super human as well because one is immortal and the other one is able to come and go through time…’[15]Jenny said‘The two lead boys were just like gods of different religions …they were up there and everyone else was down there, there was a huge power gap between them’.[16]
Here Chris from group one notes that their abilities made them seem ‘super human’. Participants in other groups including Jenny above noted the way they were different from the rest of the characters, ‘god like’ through a ‘huge power gap’. Indeed if we analyse the narrative of the episode, Captain’s John and Jack stand out from the rest of the cast. The rest of the Torchwood team are heroes in the sense that they take part in the action to prevent alien incursions on Earth. However, Captain Jack has a special power of immortality and an understanding of time travel beyond the others in the team. Captain John is from the 51st century, also has access and use of time travelling technology and demonstrated super-strength early in the episode.
Through the narrative then, the episode situates the two leading men as superheroes in a number of ways and my participants flagged this difference. As part of my research, I wanted to understand the way my respondents interpreted the character’s queer masculinity. Their responses reveal a complex interplay of meanings in the characters in relation to the way the episode positions queer masculinity alongside their superhero status. I will analyse this by considering audience responses through a number of discourses that emerged from the group in relation to masculinity, sexuality and then the relationship between those two and the ‘super’ status of the leading men.
Plural Masculinities
During the focus group, I endeavoured to keep the possibilities of interpretation open for my participants. Therefore, I started discussions on masculinity in the episode broadly by asking what the group thought generally of the depiction of masculinities. As the group discussion developed, a number of discourses around masculinity emerged and the group talk in each meeting turned to the leading men and, for many, the problematic depiction of masculinity in the episode. However, it is important to note many also praised the series for offering different versions of masculinity. Nick Said:
Other scenes though that I felt did represent different types of masculinity ...the one scene that really stood out for me in the whole of this whole episode was the one in the elevator…with the older man really saying “actually you’re quite pretty and actually I’m much harder than you...”[17]
Indeed, they noted not only different versions of masculinity, but also that the portrayal of queer men in the series worked to reject stereotypes of queer men as camp or as sissies. The respondent below highlights this in relation to a scene in the episode reuniting Captain Jack Harkness with his ex-lover and colleague Captain John Hart. The pair have a stand-off in the style of a gun dual, a pastiche of the Western film genre, and instead start kissing, then fighting and finally drink together. Rosie Said:
I like the scene where Captain Jack and John nearly fight then kiss then fight then kiss again...in a way they’re still like traditional manly men in that sense…I like the way their sexuality isn’t reduced to a stereotype.[18]
Here then Rosie notes that the episode challenged gay male stereotypes by presenting men who have sex with men as potentially both ‘traditional manly men’ that fight but are also as able to show physical love to a man through kissing. This in turn challenged assumptions that ostensible traditional masculine traits are the preserve of heterosexual masculinity, and positions Torchwood’s queer superheroes alongside other masculine heterosexual superheroes. While in the context of gay male representation the groups welcomed this traditional form of masculinity, many found it ‘stereotypical’ in the context of traditional masculinity and ‘super’ beings.
Stereotypical Masculinity
In group 1 despite the overall agreement that in relation to sexuality some stereotypes were challenged, in terms of masculinity a number of respondents noted that the leading supermen were stereotypical. Julie said, ‘I thought the portrayal of masculinity was in some ways quite stereotypical, these beautiful immortal strong men...’[19]
Julie seems to be implying that the leading men embody a traditional form of masculinity. She does so by discursively connecting immortality with strength and then with men – in this way suggesting that Captain Jack’s immortality signifies strength; a characteristic often associated with the traditional idea of manhood and seen through countless TV and cinematic representations of super heroes. In another group one participant goes further than this suggesting that Captain John’s masculinity is extreme. Chris said ‘there was the relationship between the two male leads and one plays this kind of arrogant assholish masculinity all the way through which I couldn’t stand’. [20]
Indeed, Captain John demonstrates an exaggerated version of masculinity numerous times in the text through his ability to throw a man off a roof, wide ranging and continual sexual appetite, and outbursts of dialogue where he objectifies various characters. This extremity of the displays of traditional masculinity, a hyper-masculinity, was another prominent discourse to emerge from the groups about both leading men.
Hyper-Masculinity
The trope of hyper-masculinity emerged unprompted in all my focus groups suggesting that it is a meaning in the text that stood out for most of my participants. Sue said: ‘the non- aliens seem to be cast much more into that role (passive) versus the kind of hyper masculinity’.[21]Shane said:
The two alien time drifters or whatever you call them who were bisexual or shagged anything that moved, were so very masculine guys you couldn’t imagine anyone like that an alien or whatever actually wanting to have a relationship and there was the guy the ex-boyfriend and they started kissing and punching. I really didn’t like that at all I felt like that was I don’t know gross in a really masculine typical way.[22]
Shane said, ‘So macho’.[23] Sue said, ‘Alpha males’.[24] In this exchange, the group spent considerable time discussing the traits of Captain Jack and John. The participants are in general agreement here that Captain Jack and John are endowed with ‘macho’ or ‘hyper-masculine’ traits denoted by the use of terms such as ‘alpha males’ and ‘really masculine’. Indeed it would certainly seem to be the case that Jack and John as hyper-masculine queer men are central to the narrative of the episode. With only two men in the bar scene fighting for dominance, it certainly links men, traits of hyper-masculinity and the overall diegesis (the episode is called ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’) together. The title of the episode is also an innuendo; a kiss followed by a violent bang or a sexual ‘bang’ that conjures notions of harder sex and ‘laddish’ sexual achievements. While on its own hyper-masculinity of course has been a mainstay of TV and cinema super heroes therefore its inclusion in a fantasy series is not that surprising. However, in the case of Torchwood the two leading hyper-masculine super men also happen to be queer. In the last part of the paper then, I want to focus on the way my respondents read the sexualities of Captain’s Jack and John in relation to their superman hyper masculinities.
Hyper-Masculine Bisexuality
When asked what the groups thought about the portrayal of sexuality in relation to the masculinity of the episode, many respondents noted the fluidity of the leading men’s sexuality was liberating, but other aspects of their characterisations as uber-masculine super men carried different meanings in light of their bisexuality. Harry said:
Yeah but also it’s a bit misplaced he is an emotional being but then he is violent I don’t know as you said if it was a representation of a heterosexual he would be horrible – I don’t know whether it’s preconceptions but it’s like he is a little bit bi he’ll be alright really.[25]
Shane said:
...to me I also find some of it a little bit offensive because the humans are all sensitive and they all want a relationship with Jack whereas he is a bisexual and can sleep with anyone suggesting they are all crazy people and don’t give a shit about feelings. They just want to fuck anything but the one who are definitely straight or gay are the ones who are a bit boring and pedestrian’.[26]
And Ben said,‘Or aching for relationships’.[27] My participants make two points here worth analysing further. Firstly, that the representation of hyper-masculinity is made acceptable through bisexuality (the cultural belief that gay or queer men are nice). Harry notes this by highlighting the behaviours exhibited by the leading men in the episode, in terms of violence. Indeed, Captain Jack and Captain John often engage in banter, linking them both back to a traditional heteronormative masculinity seen in the following exchange. Captain Jack Harkness: ‘You were the wife’. Captain John Hart: ‘*You* were the wife’. Captain Jack Harkness: ‘No, you were the wife’. Captain John Hart: ‘Oh, but I was a *good* wife!’[28] While Hart accepts in the end that he was the wife, the exchange connotes a wider cultural assumption that to be the wife (female) is something you should avoid as a man. As the respondents notes if straight men were to suggest that being the ‘wife’ is a secondary position in a relationship we would judge those comments as misogynistic, but it is made acceptable in the conditions of queer men, the implication being they might be queer, but they are still men (reproducing heteronormative notions of masculinity).