Ecccentricity Galore

Beskrivelse

Popular culture insists on maintaining the idea that men and women are different, both when seen from an essential viewpoint and as social constructs. As a consequence, people rush to bookstores to buy titles such as Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus. As a counter response to this, feminists might be tempted to ask, how about Mercury? Feminist scientists would approve, as they would instantly see a connection between Mercury, the planet that has the highest eccentricity in the solar system and women who are more than just ‘stars' who are good to gaze at, especially in their youth. This paper will look at eccentric old women in film and literature, including the works of Ursula le Guin and Joan Didion, and investigate the extent to which old women can be portrayed as interesting and seductive subjects in themselves, without the texts making recourse to immediately available references to memory or trauma as the primary causes for eccentricity. Stereotypically represented, an eccentric woman cannot at the same time also be wise. This paper will take issue with these seeming contradictions and take its point of departure in the film Harold and Maude.