The Lolita Complex: - Scholarly Commons Home

Just as she takes on the identity of the Lolita, the Gothloli equally
reclaims that persona as much as she claims it. She hijacks the male fantasy,
takes possession of and over it, reverses and controls it. Lolita is no longer
either Nabokov’s sinful and corruptible child or, depending on one’s
interpretation of the novel, powerless victim. The new Lolita sees herself as
absolved, converted, purified and empowered.
This power is identified in examples of shôjo Gothic fiction. A re-
imaging of Lolita is embodied in three of the texts previously discussed in
this thesis, namely Petite Cossette, Rozen Maiden and Princess Resurrection. Each
of these narratives revolve around powerful, dominant, controlling,
aggressive, violent, even chainsaw-wielding Gothloli heroines, who take on
vengeful roles in which they confront, challenge and fight against society’s,
and mostly male, evils. Writes Susan Napier:
Certain texts of popular culture [particularly shôjo manga and anime] not only
implicitly resist the ideology of the patriarchal Japanese super-state but actually
work to problematize it, if not to actively subvert it. 222
For example, Cossette symbolically challenges the Lolita Complex
through her actions. She is the ghost of an adolescent girl from the
eighteenth century who has haunted an antique glass, waiting for the right
person to find and release her so that she may take revenge for her murder
by an older lover, Marcello. Marcello, an artist, had painted Cossette’s
portrait over and over again and, obsessed with her image, had killed her to
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