Orlando and the Maze of Gender

Abstract

Gender as a structuring element of subjectivity is a key theme in Sally Potter’s film adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s Orlando. This film, perhaps more than any of the others under discussion in this book, foregrounds the problematic of gender in its playful narrative. However, it is not just the narrative of the film which is of interest here. The form of Potter’s film and its context of production are also important in understanding how the film grapples with issues of gender and its pleasures and confusions. (Potter’s background as a self-consciously and overtly feminist director shows through in this regard, as does her selection of Tilda Swinton to play the lead in the film, as discussed below.) Orlando presents us with a very useful cinematic text, enabling us to examine the potential of an Irigarayan feminine cinematics, as this chapter will explore.