About the book
This book illuminates the rhetorical work performed by contemporary representations of a specific type of postfeminist hero who has garnered a lot of cultural capital: women who are smart, capable, physically agile and fit, and proficient with weaponry and technology. Employing critical/cultural and feminist approaches, Heather Hundley, Roberta Chevrette, and Hillary Jones engage with a range of theories including intersectionality, critical race theory, postmodernism, and posthumanism to examine a range of contemporary texts, including Kill Bill, Volumes I and II; The Hunger Games films; Wonder Woman; Atomic Blonde; Proud Mary; The Bionic Woman; Deus Ex; Dark Matter; and Caprica. Contributing to a robust existing conversation about postfeminist media as well as tracing how representation has changed in recent years, Hundley, Chevrette, and Jones contend that portrayals of dangerous dames offer limitations and opportunities for audiences. Specifically, should audiences read these characters as evidence of a postfeminist apocalypse, they may heed warnings of the limited interpretations offered. Yet as more women serve as role models and gain public attention, particularly regarding their assets and abilities, they provide important equipment for living for navigating around patriarchal constraints raised by postfeminism, neoliberalism, and humanism.
This eBook can be cited
This edition of the eBook can be cited. To enable this we have marked the start and end of a page. In cases where a word straddles a page break, the marker is placed inside the word at exactly the same position as in the physical book. This means that occasionally a word might be bifurcated by this marker.
To all the dangerous dames: stay dangerous.
CONTENTS
Introduction: Paradoxes of Gendered Power Relations and Representations
Chapter 6. Transcending Boundaries: Posthumanism and Transhumanism in Caprica and Deus Ex
Conclusion: Envisioning Feminist Futures
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In one way, this project began as an office conversation, and yet it extends Bad Girls: Cultural Politics and Media Representations of Transgressive Women. Therefore, we express our gratitude to its authors A. Susan Owen, Sarah R. Stein, and Leah R. Vande Berg. Their voices from the Mothership, articulating their care and concern for the future, have been heard loud and clear. Our aim was to augment their insightful brilliance.
Although these foremothers provided a model, our professors introduced us to a foundation of knowledge. Hailing from different academic programs enabled us to strengthen our argument, critique texts, and learn from each other. Therefore, we are grateful to the layers of educators, including our professors, colleagues, mentors, and students who ask questions, challenge us, and afford opportunities for thinking about our culture in a variety of ways.
We extend our thanks to the Peter Lang Cultural Media Studies series editors Leandra H. Hernández and Amanda R. Martinez. Their interest in how political, cultural, and media landscapes help shape our society coalesced with ours and created a home for our work. Furthermore, we appreciate the professionals at Peter Lang who were always supportive and responsive. They not only materialized our thoughts but marketed and distributed these ideas, allowing others access. We are also grateful to the Office of Research at Middle Tennessee State University for assisting with some production costs.
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First and foremost, Heather Hundley wants all readers to know that the authors participated equally, despite the listing of names on its cover. She feels fortunate to have met and collaborated with Roberta Chevrette and Hillary A. Jones. For this, she forever thanks them and other dangerous dames in the world for questioning and challenging the status quo as well as considering possibilities for an improved future.
Roberta Chevrette offers gratitude to her coauthors, Daniel Brouwer, Amira de la Garza, Aaron Hess, Karen Leong, Vicky MacLean, Sujatha Moni, and Tom Nakayama for inspiring ways of thinking and being. She thanks the dangerous dames whose friendships carry through the years and over state lines and extends a special thank you to Ashleigh McKinzie for porch writing sessions, Gino Giannini for a chapter title idea that helped issue forth this project, JoAnn Chevrette for her support, and Jordan Knight for keeping Nashville life filled with love, joy, and music. She would also like to thank her Women in the Media Fall 2018 students for fueling her scholarship with their insights, passions, and hope for a better world.
Hillary Jones extends appreciation to her coauthors, for rigorous readings and research, lively exchanges, and careful editing. She would like to thank Amber Davisson for introducing her to Roberta and Heather. She is grateful for an engaging conversation with Josh Korpela that led her to play the Deus Ex games. She would like to recognize her colleagues Shane Moreman, Diane Blair, Aimee Rickman, Kathleen Domenig, Carl Burgchardt, and Marnel Niles Goins for their unflagging support. Finally, Hillary thanks Greg Lankenau for sitting through repeated viewings and play sessions, talking through ideas, reading drafts and providing feedback, and exhibiting patience and unwavering encouragement through the birthing of this book.
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INTRODUCTION: PARADOXES OF GENDERED POWER RELATIONS AND REPRESENTATIONS
Power relations are gendered, organizing bodies and relationships in significant ways—sometimes with devastating results. According to a report from the United Nations, one in three women worldwide has experienced intimate partner violence or sexual violence (“The World’s Women,” 2015). An alarming 41 % of transgender youth in the United States have attempted suicide (Haas, Rodgers, & Herman, 2014). Men—especially black men—in the United States are incarcerated at disturbing rates, most frequently for non-violent crimes (Wagner &
