Pathway: Gender and Sexuality in Orlando by Melanie Allickson

1x A4 Black card, 10x A4 Double side printed text and image document, Paper, Cannes Prospectus

These two photographs showing actress Tilda Swinton dressed as Orlando in both male and female guises highlights the course of my pathway. I will be exploring the fluidity of gender and sexuality in relation to Potter's film and how it evolved from the original novel.

Original Novel, Inside cover with other titles left, bio page on Woolf right, cover material and book page material

Virginia Woolf's biography touches on her marriage to Leonard Woolf as well as her inclusion in the Bloomsbury Circle. Further research shows that the group was surprisingly progressive in its views on sexuality, with many of its members involved in various affairs with members of their own sex. Woolf herself was involved with Vita Sackville-West, and in fact wrote Orlando as a sort of love letter to Vita, basing the character on her.

A4 colour printout picture on paper of Orlando leaning against oak tree writing

The choice to cast a female actress in the role of Orlando throughout the film and his change from male to female is an important aspect of the gender fluidity inherent in the story. This connects not only to Virginia Woolf's feminist writings but also to the fact that Orlando is based on Virginia's lover, Vita Sackville-West.

1 x colour slide in transparent plastic hanging sheet, Digital, Film Stills - Scene 4 - Queen Elizabeth I (Quentin Crisp) in the film

Actor Quentin Crisp in the role of Queen Elizabeth. Much like casting a female actor to play the initially male character of Orlando, the choice to use a male actor to portray the Queen is a deliberate play on gender roles. There is also a strong sense of intertextuality at play in casting Crisp, as he was England's most famous drag queen.

Video file, Digital, Selected Scene Commentary by Sally Potter

Here Sally Potter explains several aspects of the film, including her use of Tilda Swinton and Quentin Crisp to outline the notion of gender throughout the film.

1 x colour slide in transparent plastic hanging sheet, Digital, Film Stills - Scene 14 - (Tilda Swinton) and Sasha (Charlotte Valandrey) in the film

Here we see male-Orlando with his first love, Sasha.

close up of Orlando's face, she looks and speaks to camera.

Orlando's filmic transformation from male to female, with the famous line: "Same person. No difference at all. Just a different sex."

1 x colour slide in transparent plastic hanging sheet, Digital, Film Stills - Scene 58 - (Tilda Swinton) and Shelmerdine (Billy Zane) in the film

Female-Orlando with her next love, Shelmerdine. The inclusion of a female lover for male-Orlando and a male lover for female-Orlando is important as it shows the fluidity not only of gender but of sexuality. Orlando is a loving and passionate character, regardless of which gender the character or the lovers are.

1 x A4 black photograph album; 34 vellum pages; 24 x colour prints, Mixed, Presentation book containing Sally Potter's notes on the film and colour photographs of Tilda Swinton at Hatfield House

Sally Potter's notes on the theme of gender and sexuality in Orlando begins to provide insight into how the book and eventually the film play with gender.

1 x A4 black photograph album; 34 vellum pages; 24 x colour prints, Mixed, Presentation book containing Sally Potter's notes on the film and colour photographs of Tilda Swinton at Hatfield House

The following page of Potters notes reveal the androgyny of not only Orlando but of Orlando's lovers. Thus the idea of gender and sexuality as a construct takes shape.