Heroines of Film and Television: Portrayals in Popular Culture - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1442231491 ISBN 13: 9781442231498

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2014

Synopsis

As portrayals of heroic women gain ground in film, television, and other media, their depictions are breaking free of females as versions of male heroes or simple stereotypes of acutely weak or overly strong women. Although heroines continue to represent the traditional roles of mothers, goddesses, warriors, whores, witches, and priestesses, these women are no longer just damsels in distress or violent warriors.

In Heroines of Film and Television: Portrayals in Popular Culture,award-winning authors from a variety of disciplines examine the changing roles of heroic women across time. In this volume, editors Norma Jones, Maja Bajac-Carter, and Bob Batchelor have assembled a collection of essays that broaden our understanding of how heroines are portrayed across media, offering readers new ways to understand, perceive, and think about women. Contributors bring fresh readings to popular films and television shows such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kill Bill, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Weeds, Mad Men, and Star Trek.

The representations and interpretations of these heroines are important reflections of popular culture that simultaneously empower and constrain real life women. These essays help readers gain a more complete understanding of female heroes, especially as related to race, gender, power, and culture. A companion volume to Heroines of Comic Books and Literature, this collection will appeal to academics and broader audiences that are interested in women in popular culture.

About this title

About the Author

Norma Jones is a University Fellow, David B. Smith Award recipient and doctoral candidate in the College of Communication and Information at Kent State University. She examines heroic narratives in popular culture as they relate to cultural identities and representations of various groups in society. Jones is an associate editor for The Popular Culture Studies Journal, the official journal of the Midwest Popular Culture Association.

Maja Bajac-Carter is a doctoral student at Kent State University, where her research focuses on gender, identity, and media studies. She is a contributor to We Are What We Sell: How Advertising Shapes American Life . . . and Always Has (2014).

Bob Batchelor is James Pedas Professor of Communication and executive director of the James Pedas Communication Center at Thiel College. He is the author or editor of more than twenty-one books, including Gatsby: The Cultural History of the Great American Novel (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013). He is a member of the editorial advisory board of The Journal of Popular Culture and editor of the Contemporary American Literature series published by Rowman & Littlefield.

From the Back Cover

As portrayals of heroic women gain ground in film, television, and other media, their depictions are braking free of females as versions of male heroes or simple stereotypes of acutely weak or overly strong women. Although heroines continue to represent the traditional roles of mothers, goddesses, warriors, whores, witches, and priestesses, these women are no longer just damsels in distress or violent warriors.

In Heroines of Film and Television: Portrayals in Popular Culture, award-winning authors from a variety of disciplines examine the changing roles of heroic women across time. In this volume, editors Norma Jones, Maja Bajac-Carter, and Bob Batchelor have assembled a collection of essays that broader our understanding of how heroines are portrayed across media, offering readers new ways to understand, perceive, and think about women. Contributors bring fresh readings to popular films and television shows such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Kill Bill, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Weeds, Mad Men, and Star Trek.

The representations and interpretations of these heroines are important reflections of popular culture that simultaneously empower and constrain real women. These essays help readers gain a more complete understanding of female heroes, especially as related to race, gender, power, and culture. A companion volume to Heroines of Comic Books and Literature, this collection will appeal to academics and broader audiences that are interested in women in popular culture.

Edition details

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1442231491
• ISBN 13: 9781442231498
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 266
• Editor: Jones Norma, Bajac-Carter Maja, Batchelor Bob