universidade federal de santa catarina

134 Pages·2016·2.08 MB·English

UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL DE SANTA CATARINA PÓS-
GRADUAÇÃO EM INGLÊS: ESTUDOS LINGUÍSTICOS E
LITERÁRIOS

Larissa Pena Ribeiro de Carvalho

SUBVERSIVELY, DEAR WATSON:
THE POLITICS OF GENDER REPRESENTATION OF DOCTOR
WATSON FROM VICTORIAN LITERATURE TO
POSTMODERN TELEVISION

Dissertação submetida ao Programa de
Pós-Graduação em Inglês: Estudos
Linguísticos e Literários da
Universidade Federal de Santa
Catarina para a obtenção do Grau de
mestra em Letras
Orientadora: Prof.ª Dr.ª Anelise Reich
Corseuil

Florianópolis
2016
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Ficha de identificação da obra elaborada pelo autor
através do Programa de Geração Automática da Biblioteca Universitária
da UFSC.
Larissa Pena Ribeiro de Carvalho

SUBVERSIVELY, DEAR WATSON:
THE POLITICS OF GENDER REPRESENTATION OF DOCTOR
WATSON FROM VICTORIAN LITERATURE TO
POSTMODERN TELEVISION

Esta Dissertação foi julgada adequada e aprovada em sua forma
final pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Inglês: Estudos Linguísticos
e Literários, da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina para obtenção
do Título de

MESTRA EM LETRAS

Florianópolis, 19 de Agosto de 2016.

________________________
Prof.ª Dr.ª Anelise Reich Corseuil
Coordenadora do Curso
Banca Examinadora:

________________________
Prof.ª Dr.ª Anelise Reich Corseuil
Orientadora e presidente
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

________________________
Prof.ª Dr.ª Alessandra Brandão
Examinadora
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

________________________
Prof. Dr. José Soares Gatti Junior
Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina

________________________
Prof..Dr. Raphael Albuquerque de Boer
Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
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This thesis is dedicated to my Family,
whose resilience was mirrored in this
study.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost I would like to express my gratitude to CAPES
and the Brazilian Government for its financial support, without which
the continuation of my studies would certainly be hindered. The
organization assured me a specialization that consolidated my path to a
better professional and academic future and for that, I am grateful. Many
are the people to whom I owe my gratitude, but perhaps the first to
mention is my dear advisor Anelise Corseuil, who took me under her
wing without even knowing me so well and offered her precious
counseling. I thank her for her classes, which inspired my passion for
the cinema and have given me certainty that this was the field of studies
about which I would like to research and that would bring me
satisfaction and fulfillment. I would like to thank her for her patience
with me, our many email exchanges, meetings, and her understanding
attitude with any of my slips during the process of my development.
Next, I would like to address my family. Firstly, my loving
mother Regina and sister Andressa, who have been fostering my
education since my birth and who always provide me with any support
necessary, be that emotional, financial, or otherwise. Secondly, I would
like to offer my thanks to my companion in crime, Francis, who has
always supported my decisions, leased his love and care, and understood
my long nights of writing fueled only by ―coffee‖. Then, I would like to
remember my grandparents, in special my beloved late grandmother,
who lovingly hosted me in their home and aided me through prep school
with all their love. Next, I would like to thank my godmother, Rosana,
who, in also being a professor, understands the value of education and
has always presented me with her advice, love, and books.
Moreover, I would like to offer my warm thanks to all of my
friends, who stood by me and encouraged me to continue either by
counseling me and fostering me forward or by allowing me to relax and
take a step back in order to take the next step forward. Many are the
friends worth mentioning, but as there is little space, I would like to
offer my special thanks to Rapha, who has since before my selection for
the program ever so generously offered his valued advice and guidance
and, for this, I can never thank him enough. Duda has offered this thesis
her attentive eyes, reading it and providing her insightful advice
throughout the process of my writing, and for this and her continual
encouragement and support, I cannot thank her enough, if not with more
chocolate, wine, and books. I would also like to thank my fellow
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graduate colleagues, who have in several occasions helped me with their
more experienced advice.
To the university linguistics and literature undergraduate program
and its incredible faculty, each of which has had their share over the
years in building the academic self I am today I would like to say thank
you. To the university linguistics and literature graduate program and its
efficient staff who was always readily prompt to help, João, Fernanda,
Helena, and Eduardo, I also offer my thanks. To all the faculty members
with whom I have learned so much and who have inspired me to further
study and become an academic, I would also like to thank. Although
every professor has had an important part in my academic development,
one way or another, I would like to address some special thanks.
First, to Professor Eliana Avila, who has always been a source of
inspiration to me since I was an undergraduate student, with whom I‘ve
learned so much, and yet after each encounter realized how significantly
much more there is to learn. With her I‘ve learned the first notions about
Cultural Studies in classes in which our questioning, doubts, and
impressions were always valid and her patient and loving nature made
us reflect about issues we had never imagined existed.
Next, I would like to offer my special thanks to dear Professor
José Roberto O‘Shea, who has taught me not only about how to
research, but about how to be a researcher. I would like to thank his
valuable classes in which his overflowing knowledge mesmerizes but
also in which, his didactics offer a practical form of trying to access this
knowledge and learn it as best as we can. During his classes, I have
learned most of what I now understand about prose and poetry. During a
few conversations outside classes, I have learned he must be an
incredible friend.
More honorable mentions I would like to make are for Professor
Susana Funck for her celebrated classes, which inspires all with her
blatant passion for literature, Professor Celso Tumolo, with whom I
have learned how to write, and finally, Professor Ina Emmel who was
perhaps one of the first professors to believe in my potential as a
researcher and has fostered the scholar in me ever since I was a first-
year undergraduate student. To all of these incredible people and to
anyone who has ever, directly or indirectly, made this thesis possible, I
am eternally grateful.
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ABSTRACT

This comparative study focuses on the politics of gender representation
through subversion in the characterization of Doctor Watson in its
adaptation from 19th century literature to 21st century television. The
interest of this study lies on the celebrated stories of Mr. Holmes and Dr.
Watson, more specifically, on the latter. Many studies have analyzed
Sherlock Holmes, but few have focused on his less famous companion,
and even less have investigated Watson‘s recent adaptation to television
in which the character is portrayed as a woman. With the objective of
investigating whether this character has a politically subversive role, I
bring the hypotextual character to analysis in order to compare and
contrast it to its hypertextual televisual version. On the literary scope, I
analyze John H. Watson mainly through the novel The Hound of
Baskervilles (1901-1902) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and on the
televisual scope, I examine the only female version of Dr. Watson ever
portrayed, Joan Watson, via three episodes of the series Elementary
(2012-) created by producer Robert Doherty. Since the present time still
requires discussion about women‘s rights, in turning this lead character
and story narrator into a woman, the main question that has instigated
my academic curiosity was whether this gender swap could represent a
political impact in the postmodern era in which it is inserted. In
pursuance of this answer, I utilize, among others, Raymond William
(1973)‘s notion of alternative-hegemony, Ella Shohat and Robert Stam
(2014)‘s considerations about politics of representation, and Mimi
White (1992)‘s discussion of ideology in television. This thesis
demonstrates that while the literary character is very representative of
his Victorian era, the televisual character challenges gender hegemonic
notions of her postmodern era, thus representing an alternative to the
21st century dominant ideological system of gender.

Keywords: Adaptation. Subversion. Characterization. Doctor Watson.
The Hound of Baskervilles. Elementary. Cultural Studies. Media
Studies.
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