Summers 1 Buffy Summers Professor Baker English 1302 15 December 2015 Preaching to Their Respective Choirs: Political and Religious Divides in YA Literature In a 1989 special issue of Children’s Literature Association Quarterly, editors Craig Werner and Frank P. Riga identify a shift regarding how authors of novels for young readers address religious matters. Several narratives are indeed full-blown declarations of their beliefs, but they have also been politicized in more obvious ways. The formula associated with these narratives is relatively simple: a rebellious protagonist who is “smart, sensitive, and perceptive” defies the “flagpole Christian majority,” which results in the protagonist being harassed and bullied. Darwin’s theories of evolution are frequently at the center of the conflict, possibly a reflection of the dramatization of the Scopes monkey trial, Inherit the Wind. Eventually, the protagonist’s actions are proven justified; the Christian majority is clearly wrongheaded and narrow-minded, particularly when it comes to evolution’s place in the school curriculum. The contemporary political and ideological landscape and distance between conservative (including the “religious right”) and liberal thought make the sensibilities and models of which Cadden speaks nearly impossible to define or reconcile. Further, the once “partial answers” offered in the narratives to which Werner and Riga refer have been replaced by certainty. The protagonists offer “full blown declarations of faith” or non-faith, but the declarations are clearly a result of the political environment and meant for a specific audience thus leaving the protagonists preaching to their respective choirs, an unproductive and uncritical endeavor. Summers 1 Buffy Summers Professor Baker ENG 1302 12 June 2015 Identity, Music, and Gestalt Theory in V for Vendetta: Projections of Discontent Traditionally a mask is used to conceal the identity of the person wearing it, yet its very existence draws even more attention to the person under the mask. But what if there is nothing under the mask? What if the masked man is merely a projection of the inner turmoil of the protagonist? Bruce Kawin notes that when dealing with a projection of the protagonist or audience, “the health is achieved by taking the projection back into oneself, in other words by deeply acknowledging the connection between the monster and the official self” (Kawin loc. 7433). In the film V for Vendetta (2006), directed by the Wachowski siblings, the terrorist V functions as a personified projection of Evey Hammond’s disdain for the corrupt dystopian England. The key to his terrorist activity is the use of music, specifically Tchaikovsky's “1812 Overture.” Film can utilize sound, specifically music, to drive the plot and shape characterization. Sound in film can be diagetic (sound that the characters interact with) and non-diagetic (such as the film score). Both can be used in tandem to create an ad ...

1. Summers 1
Buffy Summers
Professor Baker
English 1302
15 December 2015
Preaching to Their Respective Choirs: Political and Religious
Divides in YA Literature
In a 1989 special issue of Children’s Literature Association
Quarterly, editors Craig Werner and Frank P. Riga identify a
shift regarding how authors of novels for young readers address
religious matters. Several narratives are indeed full-blown
declarations of their beliefs, but they have also been politicized
in more obvious ways. The formula associated with these
narratives is relatively simple: a rebellious protagonist who is
“smart, sensitive, and perceptive” defies the “flagpole Christian
majority,” which results in the protagonist being harassed and
bullied. Darwin’s theories of evolution are frequently at the
center of the conflict, possibly a reflection of the dramatization
of the Scopes monkey trial, Inherit the Wind. Eventually, the
protagonist’s actions are proven justified; the Christian majority
is clearly wrongheaded and narrow-minded, particularly when it
comes to evolution’s place in the school curriculum.
The contemporary political and ideological landscape and
distance between conservative (including the “religious right”)
and liberal thought make the sensibilities and models of which
Cadden speaks nearly impossible to define or reconcile.
Further, the once “partial answers” offered in the narratives to
which Werner and Riga refer have been replaced by certainty.
The protagonists offer “full blown declarations of faith” or non-
faith, but the declarations are clearly a result of the political
environment and meant for a specific audience thus leaving the
protagonists preaching to their respective choirs, an
unproductive and uncritical endeavor.

2. Summers 1
Buffy Summers
Professor Baker
ENG 1302
12 June 2015
Identity, Music, and Gestalt Theory in V for Vendetta:
Projections of Discontent
Traditionally a mask is used to conceal the identity of the
person wearing it, yet its very existence draws even more
attention to the person under the mask. But what if there is
nothing under the mask? What if the masked man is merely a
projection of the inner turmoil of the protagonist? Bruce Kawin
notes that when dealing with a projection of the protagonist or
audience, “the health is achieved by taking the projection back
into oneself, in other words by deeply acknowledging the
connection between the monster and the official self” (Kawin
loc. 7433). In the film V for Vendetta (2006), directed by the
Wachowski siblings, the terrorist V functions as a personified
projection of Evey Hammond’s disdain for the corrupt dystopian
England. The key to his terrorist activity is the use of music,
specifically Tchaikovsky's “1812 Overture.”
Film can utilize sound, specifically music, to drive the plot and
shape characterization. Sound in film can be diagetic (sound
that the characters interact with) and non-diagetic (such as the
film score). Both can be used in tandem to create an additional
storytelling element not found in traditional literature. Diagetic
music in V for Vendetta frames Evey Hammond’s change in
characterization, emphasizing her transition from a passive role
to an active role. In every moment after Evey is introduced to
diagetic music, she is deeply affected and driven by it, causing
her characterization to become more aligned with V’s. As a
result, Evey is not only a foil of V, but also a part of him.
Through the use of the film’s diagetic music (framed by two
instances of Tchaikovsky's “1812 Overture”), Evey accepts the

3. “monster” within her, altering both her identity, and the society
around her. Through interaction with music, she learns how to
influence society, whether it be with her own voice, or the
sound of an explosion. As she becomes more experienced with
music, she distances herself from the silence that plagued her in
the beginning of the movie. Evey also acts as the eyes of the
audience as they enter into V’s dystopian world. The audience
experiences and shares the same confusion, reluctance, and
surprise as Evey does, seeing the faults of this alternate future
(and simultaneously the faults of the present) through the eyes
of an innocent.
Working Bibliography
Anderson, Ben. "A Principle of Hope: Recorded Music,
Listening Practices and the Immanence of Utopia." Geografiska
Annaler. Series B, Human Geography 84.3/4 (2002): 211-27.
JSTOR. Web. 11 June 2014.
Bullock, Philip. "Ambiguous Speech and Eloquent Silence: The
Queerness of Tchaikovsky's Songs." 19th-Century Music 32.1
(2008): 94-128.JSTOR. Web. 11 June 2014.
Currie, James. "Music After All." Journal of the American
Musicological Society 62.1 (2009): 145-203. Web. 11 June

4. 2014.
Danziger-Russ, Jacqueline. Girls and Their Comics: Finding a
Female Voice in Comic Book Narrative. New York: Scarecrow
Press, 2012. Print.
Kawin, Bruce F. "Children of the Light." Film Genre Reader IV.
Ed. Barry K. Grant. 4th ed. Austin: U of Texas P, 2012. Kindle
AZW file.
Kukkonen, Karin. "Comics as a Test Case for Transmedial
Narratology." SubStance 40.124 (2011): 34-52. JSTOR. Web. 11
June 2014.
Sawin, Patricia E. "Performance at the Nexus of Gender, Power,
and Desire: Reconsidering Bauman's Verbal Art from the
Perspective of Gendered Subjectivity as Performance." The
Journal of American Folklore 115.455 (2002): 28-61. JSTOR.
Web. 11 June 2014.
Wachowski, Larry, Andy Wachowski, and James McTeigue. V
for Vendetta: From Script to Film. New York: Rizzoli, 2006.
Print.
Summers 1
Buffy Summers
Professor Baker
English 1302
15 December 2015
Annotated Bibliography
Kidd, Kenneth B. "'A' is for Auschwitz: Psychoanalysis, Trauma
Theory, and the 'Children's Literature of Atrocity'." Children's
Literature 33 (2005): 120-49. Project Muse. Web. 6 June 2013.
Kenneth Kidd discusses trauma as it occurs in literature and
analyzes the migration of accounts of trauma (such as the
horrors enacted in the Holocaust) which are present in adult
books to children’s literature. The reason for this migration
comes from the difficulty in expressing these traumatic events
and finding a comfortable way to confront them. While not
exclusively trauma theory, picture books can “make trauma

5. more personal than political,” (124) which is something
beneficial to the reader as it personalizes the event (Kidd uses
the example of a 9/11 picture book to illustrate this). Reading
about trauma enables the audience to witness the tragic event as
an act of catharsis, eventually making personal trauma more
manageable to the reader. A majority of this article is spent on
psychoanalysis and psychological theory, especially how it is
similar to critical thinking.
O'Sullivan, Emer. "Rose Blanche, Rosa Weiss, Rosa Blanca: A
Comparative View of a Controversial Picture Book." The Lion
and the Unicorn 29.2 (2005): 152-70. Project Muse. Web. 6
June 2013. Emer O’Sullivan analyzes the differences that occur
in the translation of text amongst several different cultures in
the picture book: Rose Blanche. While the images are
unchanged (for example illustrated German words in non-
German speaking countries) the text of the story is altered, and
can sometimes lose its significance or become distorted from
the original meaning. Sullivan continues to discuss the book’s
reception in Germany, as there is a noticeable change in
narration (it shifts to third person) in order to distance the
reader from the controversial material. There is also additional
language not present in the original publication that is added in
order to make the Nazi soldiers slightly more sympathetic
(“men wearing uniforms waved [to children]” (159)). There is
also an added subplot not featured in the French or American
editions. These changes are not simply limited to one country as
the German translation, rather than the original, also influenced
the Italian and Spanish translations. O’Sullivan argues that this
choice draws attention to the perception of the audience’s
knowledge of the events that are being depicted in the pictures.
She also questions where the audience fits into the narrative,
especially if the topic is as controversial as the Holocaust.
Springhall, John. “‘A Life Story for the People’? Edwin J.
Brett and the London ‘Low-Life’ Penny Dreadfuls of the
1860s.” Victorian Studies 33.2 (Winter 1990): 223-246. MLA
International Bibliography. Web. 12 Jan. 2011. Springhall

6. offers a Marxist reading of the English penny dreadful. He
identifies the problems associated with the term “penny
dreadful,” for it has been misused and overextended, but in
general, they were “cheap serialized fiction” published in the
nineteenth century (224). According to Springhall, while the
audience for these texts was supposedly working-class
adolescents, they more likely functioned as escapism for
middle-class adolescents who saw the texts as a way to
vicariously engage in “criminal yet exciting escapades of
homeless orphans” without having to be homeless orphans
themselves (224).
Thomson-Wohlgemuth, Gaby. "About Official and Unofficial
Addressing in East German Children's Literature." Children's
Literature Association Quarterly 30.1 (2005): 32-52. Project
Muse. Web. 6 June 2013.In this article, Gaby Thomson-
Wohlgemuth identifies the large amount of sociopolitical
commentary that was present during the 1980s in East Germany
children’s literature, specifically picture books. She gives an
account of the transition from the sophistication of books in
East Germany (being primarily written for adults and laced with
socialist principles) in the early 1950s and 1960s to being
suddenly accessible to children. Many East German children’s
literature stories coming out in the 1980s focused on
“individuality, alienation, and the shortcomings of society,”
(47) which were in direct opposition to the communist and
socialist ideology of the region, and much more in line with
West Germany’s politics. This focus, which was predominately
displayed in children’s books, foreshadowed the destruction of
the Berlin Wall and uniting the German people long before it
actually happened. Thomson-Wohlgemuth discuses readership
in terms of who the audience is for picture books. She identifies
three audience groups for picture books: children, adults, and
politicians, highlighting how each group is influential to society
in one way or another. But one group is so important that she
names them as a fourth group: children as future adults and
shapers of the world. The importance of children’s literature is

7. highlighted in this article as being a major influence in people’s
lives and something that can have very serious implications on a
global plane.
Tuvolt, Stephan. “Life Story of the 1860s.” Victorian Studies
33.2 (Winter 1990): 223-246. MLA International Bibliography.
Web. 12 Jan. 2011. Tuvolt offers a connection between
authorship, generally out-of-luck “provincial middle-class
families” who, because of their social and class status,
embraced their roots and created protagonists who reflected
their own situations and middle-class ideologies (227). He
concludes that ultimately, the texts were little more than
middle-class, bourgeoisie tales wrapped in working class titles
and seemed completely unaware of the lives of working-class
people. In addition to his Marxist analysis, Tuvolt offers the
background of Edwin Brett, who published a good share of low-
life serials, the most popular of which was The Wild Boys of
London; or, The Children of Night.
Summers 1
Buffy Summers
Professor Baker
ENG 515
15 December 2015
Cross-Dressing and Performance in Takarazuka: Challenging
the Patriarchy?
Cross-dressing is not new to the theatre scene; males have
been doing it since the inception of stage performance.
However, women cross-dressing as men is an entirely different
concept. It carries with it a very loaded history filled with
inequality and oppression that males have perpetuated for years.
Women have been denied male dress for a relatively long time
(due to social restrictions and gender distinction). Dress has
been used as a division of gender and a means to socially limit
women’s freedom. Therefore, when a woman dresses as a man,
the subject of gender identity is evoked. By studying cross-

8. dressing on stage, constructs of gender can be broken down and
observed with a critical eye.
The Japanese stage group: Takarazuka is an acting troupe
founded in 1914 which is composed entirely of women who
participate in staged productions of mostly musicals. Scholars
such as Jennifer Robertson (among many others who study
cross-dressing women on stage) excitedly point out that simply
having an all-female acting troupe is a major step in the
Japanese feminist movement as it places constructions of gender
on stage for all to observe. But further study of these drama-
driven plays and musicals reveal the same gender norms are
perpetuated and reinforced regardless of the gender of the actor.
The Japanese Takarazuka adaptation of the German musical
Elisabeth provides a wonderful study in gender. In the
Takarazuka version, the titular character Elisabeth (despite
being the main character in the German version) is demoted to a
secondary character, and some of her solos and lines are
omitted, shortened, and given to the male character: Death.
Death, being a male character exerts far more influence over
Elisabeth in this version simply because of his perceived
gender. He is also favored by the audience (receiving much
more applause and curtain time than any other character). Even
Death’s costuming, while highly embellished with sequins and
flowing capes, is over-militarized compared to his simplistic
costuming in the German production. The embellishments
almost act as an attempt to blind the audience to the actor,
where the focus is entirely on what is worn, and not who is
wearing it.

9. Works Cited
Algoso, Teresa A. "'Thoughts on Hermaphroditism': Miyatake
Gaikotsu and the Convergence of the Sexes in Taishō Japan."
The Journal of Asian Studies 65.3 (2006): 555-73. JSTOR. Web.
24 Mar. 2014.
Case, Sue-Ellen, and Erica S. Abbitt. "Disidentifications,
Diaspora, and Desire: Questions on the Future of the Feminist
Critique of Performance." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture
and Society 29.3 (2004): 925-38. JSTOR. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.
Potter, Edward T. "The Clothes Make the Man: Cross-Dressing,
Gender Performance, and Female Desire in Johann Elias
Schlegel's 'Der Triumph der guten Frauen'." The German
Quarterly 81.3 (2008): 261-82. JSTOR. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Robertson, Jennifer E. Takarazuka: Sexual Politics and Popular
Culture in Modern Japan. Berkely: U of California P, 1998.
Print.
Rupp, Leila J. "Toward a Global History of Same-Sex
Sexuality." Journal of the History of Sexuality 10.2 (2001):
287-302. JSTOR. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.
Welker, James. "Beautiful, Borrowed, and Bent: ‘Boys’ Love’
as Girls’ Love in Shôjo Manga." Signs: Journal of Women in
Culture and Society 31.3 (2006): 841-70. JSTOR. Web. 23 Mar.
2014.