This thesis examines three works: Margaret Atwood's The Robber Bride and Alias Grace, and Angela Carter's Nights at the Circus. All three novels feature female characters that contain elements or myth fragments of mermaids and sirens. The thesis asserts that the images of the mermaid and siren have undergone a gradual process of change, from literal mythical figures, to metaphorical images, and then to figures or myth fragments that reference the original mythical figures. The persistence of these female half-human images points to an underlying rationale that is independent of historical and cultural factors. Using feminist psychoanalytic theoretical frameworks, the thesis identifies the existence of the siren/mermaid myth fragments that are used as a means to construct the category of the 'bad' woman. It then identifies the function that these references serve in the narrative and in the broader context of both Victorian and contemporary societies. The thesis postulates the origin of the mermaid and siren myths as stemming from the ambivalent relationship that the male infant forms with the mother as he develops an identity as an individual. Finally, the thesis discusses the manner in which Atwood and Carter build on this foundation to deconstruct the binary oppositions that disadvantage women and to expand the category of female.

(One-hour Magical Realism Dramedy TV Series) An awkward New Jersey man moves to a small tourist trap town on the gulf coast of Florida where the folk are quirky magical, mythical beings and he works as a caregiver for an elderly mermaid.

Doctorat en philosophie et lettres / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This paper addresses the representation of the male equivalent of the mermaid - the merman - in illustrations. The paper relies on a theoretical framework of gender studies, queer theory, masculinity studies and previous studies of the mermaid including psychoanalysis and folkloric studies. The paper focuses on four different representations of the merman: The Pin-up, The Romantic Couple, The Fish Boy and The Elderly Merman. Each type is examined by their portrayal of gender, sexuality, masculinity, the gendered gazes in the picture and the intertextual relation to mermaid mythology, folklore and research. The paper concludes that the illustrations of the merman are shaped by a polarized gender norm. The different representations show a wide range of implicit looks, sexualities and various ways in how they relate to the mermaid myth. Some strategies implemented in the pictures imply that the male body still resists an objectified position. The sexualized merman follows the beauty ideals for the western man in mainstream media since the 1980’s where whiteness, muscles, youth and sensitivity are prioritized. The mermen that do not follow this ideal is pictured as frightening and/or asexual. All mermen have in common that they are feminized and exoticized due to their close connection to nature.

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