RHETORICAL LIFELINES: QUEER AND FEMINIST SURVIVAL IN RIYOKO IKEDA’S THE ROSE OF VERSAILLES

Abstract

This dissertation explores the rhetorical lifelines of queer and feminist survival in the adapted animation of Riyoko Ikeda’s The Rose of Versailles. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this study examines the rhetorics of place/space and embodiment in the animation. Drawing from feminist and queer scholarship in the humanities, such as rhetorical studies and technical and professional communication, and social sciences, in particularly, geography and anthropology, I examine the spatial, visual, discursive, and bodily rhetorics in The Rose of Versailles that reflect some of the concerns of 1970s Japanese women’s movements, concerns that also echo among many contemporary Western and Eastern queer and feminist movements. The project explores the rhetoric of intellectual places, such as Parisian salons, and personal places, such as homes, to suggest that the rhetorical practices found in such places, even if such places are designated as inclusive and inviting, limit the rhetorical capacity of certain individuals, particularly feminist and queer individuals. Additionally, this study considers how The Rose of Versailles offers up alternative lifelines of feminist and queer survival through the bodily rhetorics of Lady Oscar and Rosalie, a supporting character who is in love with Lady Oscar. Finding empowerment in the queer disorientation of failing to fit heteronormative logics and in the queer disorientation of “sticky” objects that illuminate the slippery tendencies of embodiment, the rhetorics of Lady Oscar and Rosalie bring forth queer worlds of queer and feminist survival for queer and feminist viewers to inhabit when their lives and worlds feel unlivable. Comparing the intersections of my experiences with those of current-day students, I illustrate the contemporary relevance of texts like The Rose of Versailles to both queer and feminist rhetorical scholarship and to our work with queer students, many of whom, over 40 years after the publication of The Rose of Versailles, still need feminist and queer rhetorical lifelines to survive.