of the narrative. The representation of the “horse-crazy girl” draws from gendered discourses about the role of care by providing female characters with something to unconditionally care for to reinforce the boundaries of appropriate femininity. It positions female characters to discover their value and self-worth, not through action, but through the provision of care. The result is that Bonnie and Sam’s characterisation as “horse-crazy” serves anchor them within discourses “of the domestic and the feminine” (Bratten, 1997, 11). As such, the representation is limiting because exists within clear, idealised and narrow boundaries constructed by socially-appropriate notions of femininity.
This contestation between gendered feminine notions is demonstrated by Sam’s characterisation as being “strong”. Sam’s strength is framed throughout the narrative as a positive, as it is important to the success of their adventures. However, it is also framed negatively because Sam is constantly passed over for Bonnie, who’s smaller, delicate frame imbues her with “magic and grace” (201). Sam’s strength is also framed as a negative because it denies her the ability to feel feminine which requires her to find other means to achieve a sense of feminine identity. In the first book, The Shadow Brumby, Sam states that the reason she loves horses because they make her “feel like princess” (6). Subsequently, Sam’s achievements are framed as secondary, or perhaps even a threat, to her desire to participate in feminine signifiers. Sam’s characterisation underlines the narratives need to reinforce social and cultural ideas that “girls need to be girlish and boys need to be boyish” (Nodelman, 2008, 175). Although Bonnie and Sam do temporarily adopt characteristics associated with masculinity, they, like all the female characters in the series, continue to perform traditional femininity to remain recognisably feminine and to resolve any “tensions and ambiguities” raised by their characterisation (Korinek cited in Singleton, 2004, 122; Earles, 2017, 384). Female characters have freedom to do anything insofar that their desires, behaviours and actions do not conflict with “the limited and limiting discourse of conventional femininity” (Brown, 1998, 9). Subsequently ideals of personal autonomy and agency are contaminated by the construction of a unified and stable identity of ‘girlhood’ positioned on hegemonic values and assumptions about gender. This results in the affirmation of dominant ideological beliefs to support idealised social and cultural gendered norms and boundaries that continue to limit how gender identity is construed. Emotional Nurturers and Stoic Detachment: The Representation of Femininity and Masculinity. The Bonnie and Sam series presents ideological structures of femininity and masculinity which are grounded in taken-for-granted social assumptions. …show more content…
The series is often reliant on “gender is a primary method of categorisation” as well as the basis for wide-spread generalisation (Diekman and Murnen, 2004, 383). Diekman and Murnen (2004) argue that this categorisation is often seen in depictions that reaffirm attitudes that “boys do this, but girls do this” which recurs frequently in the Bonnie and Sam series (383). This representation results in the reinforcement of social perceptions that there are significant gender differences. The traditional gender discourses work “cumulatively to construct a view of … males and females being very different from each other” (Sunderland, 2011, 213) to circumscribe social and cultural ideas of what it means to be female or male. There are two key distinctions in behaviour between female and male characters in the Bonnie and Sam series: emotional, nurturing, stoic, and detached. These representations of gender difference acquire meaning by “reinforcing the values of nurturing and emotional vulnerability…by making them appear natural, inevitable, and desirable as culturally legible signs of 'femininity”” (Cohan and Shire cited in Gilbert, 1992, 191) whilst promoting the value of responsibility and authority as a part of masculine ideals. This adherence to traditional constructions of gender does not always occur within deliberate policies, but rather more subtly such as Bonnie and Sam’s desire to participate in beauty rituals with friends or horses (228) or in the fact, that all the male characters are obsessed with motorised vehicles (70, 112, 130). Moreover, the overarching representations of female characters present in the Bonnie and Sam series “implies an allegiance to traditionally feminine concerns and values” (Nodelman, 2008, 173). These traditional gender discourses privilege dominant constructions of gender that suggest warmth, friendliness, modesty and self-sacrificing are ideal feminine characteristics (Marshall, 2004, 264). Both Bonnie and Sam are often
This contestation between gendered feminine notions is demonstrated by Sam’s characterisation as being “strong”. Sam’s strength is framed throughout the narrative as a positive, as it is important to the success of their adventures. However, it is also framed negatively because Sam is constantly passed over for Bonnie, who’s smaller, delicate frame imbues her with “magic and grace” (201). Sam’s strength is also framed as a negative because it denies her the ability to feel feminine which requires her to find other means to achieve a sense of feminine identity. In the first book, The Shadow Brumby, Sam states that the reason she loves horses because they make her “feel like princess” (6). Subsequently, Sam’s achievements are framed as secondary, or perhaps even a threat, to her desire to participate in feminine signifiers. Sam’s characterisation underlines the narratives need to reinforce social and cultural ideas that “girls need to be girlish and boys need to be boyish” (Nodelman, 2008, 175). Although Bonnie and Sam do temporarily adopt characteristics associated with masculinity, they, like all the female characters in the series, continue to perform traditional femininity to remain recognisably feminine and to resolve any “tensions and ambiguities” raised by their characterisation (Korinek cited in Singleton, 2004, 122; Earles, 2017, 384). Female characters have freedom to do anything insofar that their desires, behaviours and actions do not conflict with “the limited and limiting discourse of conventional femininity” (Brown, 1998, 9). Subsequently ideals of personal autonomy and agency are contaminated by the construction of a unified and stable identity of ‘girlhood’ positioned on hegemonic values and assumptions about gender. This results in the affirmation of dominant ideological beliefs to support idealised social and cultural gendered norms and boundaries that continue to limit how gender identity is construed. Emotional Nurturers and Stoic Detachment: The Representation of Femininity and Masculinity. The Bonnie and Sam series presents ideological structures of femininity and masculinity which are grounded in taken-for-granted social assumptions. …show more content…
The series is often reliant on “gender is a primary method of categorisation” as well as the basis for wide-spread generalisation (Diekman and Murnen, 2004, 383). Diekman and Murnen (2004) argue that this categorisation is often seen in depictions that reaffirm attitudes that “boys do this, but girls do this” which recurs frequently in the Bonnie and Sam series (383). This representation results in the reinforcement of social perceptions that there are significant gender differences. The traditional gender discourses work “cumulatively to construct a view of … males and females being very different from each other” (Sunderland, 2011, 213) to circumscribe social and cultural ideas of what it means to be female or male. There are two key distinctions in behaviour between female and male characters in the Bonnie and Sam series: emotional, nurturing, stoic, and detached. These representations of gender difference acquire meaning by “reinforcing the values of nurturing and emotional vulnerability…by making them appear natural, inevitable, and desirable as culturally legible signs of 'femininity”” (Cohan and Shire cited in Gilbert, 1992, 191) whilst promoting the value of responsibility and authority as a part of masculine ideals. This adherence to traditional constructions of gender does not always occur within deliberate policies, but rather more subtly such as Bonnie and Sam’s desire to participate in beauty rituals with friends or horses (228) or in the fact, that all the male characters are obsessed with motorised vehicles (70, 112, 130). Moreover, the overarching representations of female characters present in the Bonnie and Sam series “implies an allegiance to traditionally feminine concerns and values” (Nodelman, 2008, 173). These traditional gender discourses privilege dominant constructions of gender that suggest warmth, friendliness, modesty and self-sacrificing are ideal feminine characteristics (Marshall, 2004, 264). Both Bonnie and Sam are often