In the 1991 adaptation of the William Burroughs novella Naked Lunch, William Lee, an exterminator in the conscious world, explores the subconscious realm called Interzone, where he is forced to confront and accept responsibility for his past transgressions and acknowledge that recently unearthed homosexual urges are not merely a byproduct of drug addiction. The shocking, visceral imagery of Burroughs’s novella communicates the sexual anxiety that Lee, and Burroughs, experienced both within the narrative and in reality. Within this subconscious realm, Lee can explore his sexual frustrations through characters expressive of pleasure (Kiki), rejecting such perversions (Yves Cloquet) and/or relieving responsibility for transgressions of a violent nature (Tom and Joan Frost) or a sexual one (Clark Nova typewriter). By refusing to acknowledge responsibility for the death of his wife or his feelings towards the same sex, his actions are manipulated by individuals representing internalized notions of conservative society (Fadela/Dr. Benway).
Though the film is used as a topic of discussion when it comes to themes of homosexuality, drug addiction, and even misogyny in director David Cronenberg’s filmography and horror cinema, this paper focuses on how the narrative approaches matters of agency, the relevance/irrelevancy of the origin of desire, and “internalized homophobia” (Alderson & Jevne, 2003, p. 132), and expand on how Beard’s (1996) concept of otherness is explored within Interzone. Such details related to agency have been alluded to, but only briefly discussed as these works fail to elaborate on what a sense of agency is in relation to Cronenberg’s narrative. This paper applies a framework of queer theory primarily derived from Eve Sedgwick and Michel Foucault. It also applies an understanding of agency, as put forth by psychologist Anthony J. Marcel, to the narrative that is applicable to matters of sexual activity and gender and sexual performativity.
About the presenterIsaac Carmichael
Through his own interaction with entertainment and journalistic media, Isaac has come to understand the capabilities in such media to act as a window into society and how through these interactions, the audience is able to understand not only others but themselves as well. Identity can be forged and shaped through the interactions people have with media and how the audience is able to see themselves and others.