Firing the Canon is written in conjunction with is namesake exhibition, prepared as a culmination of work leading to the master of fine arts degree. In an attempt to help viewers better understand my body of work, I discuss herein: events contributing to my personal narrative, major themes and their origins and pertinent sources of artistic and non-artistic inspiration.

The aim of this study is to address how “skevt” [skewed] girlhood is constructed in relation to age, time, and sexuality in three literary works of the Swedish author Sara Stridsberg: the novel Darling River (2010), the play Konsten att falla (2017) and the short story Tre systrar (2021). In the study, I pose the following questions: How is the skewed girlhood portrayed in relation to constructions of time and age? How does the construction of skewed femininity interact with the construction of sexual practice and sexual desires?     I use the term “skev” – a Scandinavian variation and hybrid of queer – to address how the girlhood is subverted in the texts, as well as to analyze how this not only occurs in relation to heteronormativity, but also within it. To explore this, I work with “skeva” [skewed] readings of the texts. My analysis is based on “skev” [skew] theory and queer temporality, through which I illustrate how the characters of the three literary works are challenging normative assumptions of girlhood and femininity, by performing gender and age as well as sexuality in non-normative ways. I discuss the girl’s bedroom as a form of heterotopia, in which both time and ageing are constructed in a skewed way. Furthermore, I locate a “skev” [skewed] temporality in the texts, connected to an absence of futurity.

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Queer theorists and sociologists have argued that the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movement further marginalizes some queer individuals in the pursuit of legitimacy from the dominant heterosexist culture. This study uses qualitative content analysis to examine the Web sites of four social movement organizations that claim to work for the LGBT community (Human Rights Campaign, Lambda Legal Defense Fund, National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force). In this thesis, I argue that these organizations participate in scripting the normative homo ideal while distancing themselves from problematic identities that challenge normative, natural frameworks for understanding identity. In doing so, they further marginalize bisexuals, transgender individuals, and other queers whose identities challenge the idea that core identities are authentic and immutable-denying the existence of some queer realities, reinforcing normative ideas about sex, gender, and sexuality, and reproducing the system of inequality that privileges heterosexuality.

Media shapes and supports certain ideas about how we view ourselves and others. The narratives that we consume train us to desire a particular formula of what critic Lauren Berlant calls "the good life": growing up, becoming a man or a woman, getting married, having children, and retiring. People who fail to fit into these narratives are often punished and excluded from society. However, queer theorist Jack Halberstam asks us to reconsider failure as a means of resistance. The texts that I examine fail to conform to narrative expectations or to fit formulae that are easily consumable or defined. They present queer characters and relationships that exceed social norms and generic conventions. These characters and relationships encourage us to reconsider the models of desire given to us, and to embrace a more nebulous state of anxiety found in liminal space. In Chapter 1, I discuss Argentine-Spanish-French film XXY (2007), which follows the story of Alex, an intersex teen who refuses to fit within the binary of male or female. In Chapter 2, I argue that Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) lays the groundwork for the visual representation of anxiety and desire in the Japanese manga Aku no Hana (Flowers of Evil ), which explores non-monogamous relationships structured around sadistic voyeurism. In the conclusion I turn briefly to children's cartoons Steven Universe and Adventure Time, in which failure has been reimagined as queer utopia. By focusing on media that resist heteronormative conventions we can start to reimagine models for more empathetic and compassionate communities.

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This Capstone Research Project aims to address the certain aspects of Roman Catholic moral teaching. Throughout this project I argue that when it comes to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual and Queer (LGBTQ+) Catholics, the moral teaching is essentially corrupt. This paper begins by providing an overview of current Catholic teaching relevant to LGBTQ+ persons. In the second section I focus on the lived experience on the Latinx LGBTQ+ community in the United States to demonstrate several flaws in Catholic moral tradition. I place a special emphasis on the Latinx LGBTQ+ community in Florida as I base my argument on the tragic attack against LGBTQ+ people at Pulse Nightclub and I rely on the insights of a social scientific study conducted among LGBTQ+ youth in Florida. In the third and final section of my research project, I engage with the theological anthropologies of M. Shawn Copeland and Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz to create a framework from which a theological corrective action may emerge to remedy the harm done by the deeply corrupt and erroneous Catholic moral teaching.

Denna uppsats syftar till att analysera hur rollfiguren Will Byers porträtteras som queer i Matt och Ross Duffers Stranger Things, samt att undersöka skaparnas intention med rollfiguren och hur seriens fans har mottagit Will och diskuterat rollfiguren på Twitter. Uppsatsen utgår ifrån queerteoretiska perspektiv och analyserar Will utifrån en queer läsning. Fansens reaktioner baseras på mottagandeteori, där Stuart Halls kodning- och avkodningsmodell används. Utifrån en queer läsning visar resultatet att Will har kodats som queer genomgående i serien. Analysen visar också att skaparnas kodning av Will har varit medveten, men även avsiktligt subtil. Resultatet visar även att fansens mottagande främst har handlat om att belysa deras queera läsning av Will, men att Twitter i detta fall även har använts som ett verktyg att direkt kunna kritisera seriens hantering av rollfiguren.