The Subversion Of Traditional Gender Construcfion

The film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert was noted forhelping to bring Australian cinema to world attention and for its positive portrayal ofLGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) individuals, providing a differentperspective for understanding gender construction for mainstream audience andbecoming the object of this thesis.From the perspective of Judith Butler’s theory of Performativity, this thesisargues that, by showing how gender (identity) can be constructed rather than innateor fixed, the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is thesubversion of traditional gender construction.This thesis consists of three parts. The first part is an introduction, giving a briefreview on the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and studieson Judith Butler’s theory of Performativity. The second part has three chapters, whichfocuses on the analysis of some images in this film. Chapter one aims to prove thesubversion of traditional gender construction displayed from RalphWaite/Bernadette Basinger—the transsexual image in the film; chapter two triesto show the subversion of traditional gender construction displayed from Anthony"Tick" Belrose/Mitzi Del Bra and Adam Whitely/Felicia Jollygoodfellow—thetwo homosexual images in the film; chapter three argues for the subversion oftraditional gender construction displayed from the “normal” gendered images(heterosexual images) in the film. The last part is conclusion: the film of TheAdventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is the subversion of traditionalgender construction by means of showing that gender is constructive andperformative rather than inborn and innate.