Crossdressers & Tricksters: Representation in Popular Culture

Authors: Vrushali Deole

Country: India

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Abstract: In the sacred Hindu texts, instances of cross dressing tricksters, gender impersonation, and long-term masquerades of the opposite sex foster contrasting interpretations on the spiritual and cultural level. Gender, a social construct, is connected to attire that can be used to explain and characterize creative processes that go far beyond human bodies, such as the interaction of life forces, nature, and politics, all of which are well-represented in popular culture these days.
The concerned paper will address the instances of defying the traditional roles of gender through metanarratives in the traditional Indian myths. The representation of transvestites in the mass culture has significantly opened up the contemporary literary and cultural interpretations. It will attempt to analyse the sacred myths with queer identities through the critical examination of cross-dressers with a comprehensive exploration of the works of the prominent queer theorists whose works have been enormously influential within gender and transgender studies. There is also an attempt made to open up for the contemporary readers the complex antiquity of the queer narratives veiled in the primordial Indian myths consequently paving way to a new possibilities pluralities of gender patterns as portrayed in today’s mass media.

Keywords: Cross-dressing, Queer Theory, Queer Identities, Mass Culture etc.

Paper Id: 233131

Published On: 2017-04-04

Published In: Volume 5, Issue 2, March-April 2017

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