Unruly Women, Queer Objects: Analysing Object Conduct in Todd Haynes’ Carol (2015)

Abstract

My thesis undertakes an analysis of object conduct - the way individuals socially and personally engage with matter - in Todd Haynes’ Carol (2015), a film about a clandestine lesbian relationship in 1950’s America. Through the use of a combination of material cultures theory and queer theory, my thesis performs a close reading of the social and personal interactions that emerge from gloves and cameras in the film. Furthermore, my argument traces how the homosexual and heterosexual relationships between the characters are created, maintained, made durable or tenuous through the objects in the film. Feminist film theory and queer feminist theory provides a secondary framework to consider the temporal nuances of a film made in the present but set in the past. I locate the status of objects as more than just things, but rather multivalent transfer points, and seek to further Scott Herrings inquiry: what happens when everyday objects become deviant? This multi-disciplinary approach allows my thesis to consider the destabilizing effects of non-normative object useage has on normative categories of culture. Ultimately, my thesis shows the disruptive effect a lesbian relationship - made and maintained through gloves and a camera - can have on the patriarchal and heteronormative hegemonies of 1950’s America.