Page 165 - Decoding Culture

158 D E C O D I N G C U L TURE

Both Modleski and Radway, for example, make use of Chodorow's
(1978) psychoanalytic account of the significance of the
mother-daughter relationship in constituting the female uncon­
scious. Modleski (1982: 73-74, 98-100) uses it to explore aspects
of the appeal of both Gothic novels and soap operas, while Radway
(1987: 12-14, 135-140) invokes Chodorow's views on the female
need for nurturance in explaining the appeal of romantic fiction.
Unlike the use of Lacan in Screen theory, however, Chodorow's
work is not employed by these scholars as a degree zero theory of
identity formation. It features, rather, as one aspect of the theo­
retical apparatus necessary to understand the impact of gender
identity on the provision of textual pleasures. This has not pre­
vented charges of illicit essentialism being laid at the door of those
who seek to isolate a distinct gender identity, but, by and large, the
fact that considerations of identity have been only one element in
a larger account of readership has mitigated the potential effects
of such essentialism.
In part, this has been because the process of 'reading' cultural
texts has been given more attention throughout cultural studies
over the past decade. The need to understand how agents actually
read the (ideological) texts supplied by their culture was becoming
increasingly apparent in both the Screen theory and CCCS tradi­
tions by the early 1980s, an emphasis which was developing quite
independent of any feminist intervention. However, post-CCCS
feminist cultural studies did lend considerable impetus to this
process in seeking to document and understand the reading prac­
tices of women in relation to female cultural forms. Quite early on
McRobbie, as we have already seen, was fully aware of the need to
examine how her research subjects actually responded to the ide­
ological baggage of Jackie, even if she did not herself pursue that
line of research.

Copyrighted Material