Dangerous Curves: Action Heroines, Gender, Fetishism, and Popular Culture - Softcover

Brown, Jeffrey A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1617039403 ISBN 13: 9781617039409

Publisher: University Press of Mississippi, 2013

Synopsis

Dangerous Curves: Action Heroines, Gender, Fetishism, and Popular Culture addresses the conflicted meanings associated with the figure of the action heroine as she has evolved in various media forms since the late 1980s. Jeffrey A. Brown discusses this immensely popular character type, the action heroine, as an example of, and challenge to, existing theories about gender as a performance identity. Her assumption of heroic masculine traits combined with her sexualized physical depiction demonstrates the ambiguous nature of traditional gender expectations and indicates a growing awareness of more aggressive and violent roles for women.

The excessive sexual fetishization of action heroines is a central theme throughout. The topic is analyzed as an insight into the transgressive image of the dominatrix, as a reflection of the shift in popular feminism from second-wave politics to third-wave and postfeminist pleasures, and as a form of patriarchal backlash that facilitates a masculine fantasy of controlling strong female characters. Brown interprets the action heroine as a representation of changing gender dynamics that balances the sexual objectification of women with progressive models of female strength. While the primary focus of this study is the action heroine as represented in Hollywood film and television, the book also includes the action heroine's emergence in contemporary popular literature, comic books, cartoons, and video games.

About this title

About the Author

Jeffrey A. Brown is assistant professor of popular culture at Bowling Green State University. He is author of Beyond Bombshells: The New Action Heroine in Popular Culture; Dangerous Curves: Action Heroines, Gender, Fetishism, and Popular Culture; and Black Superheroes, Milestone Comics, and Their Fans, all published by University Press of Mississippi. He has been published in Screen, Cinema Journal, African American Review, Journal of Popular Culture, Discourse, and Journal of Popular Film and Television.

From the Inside Flap

A consideration of the many manifestations of the action heroine in film, television, contemporary popular literature, comic books, cartoons, and video games

Edition details

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1617039403
• ISBN 13: 9781617039409
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 278