Good Girls Conform; A feminist inquiry into the representation of women as monstrous in contemporary fiction
Author
Madsen, Stine Saxkjær Dalgård
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2017
Submitted on
2017-05-31
Pages
79
Abstract
Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan kvinder fremstilles som "monstrøse" i populære film og tv-serier uden for gysergenren. Analysen bygger på Barbara Creeds idé om det monstrøse feminine og supplerer med udvalgte begreber fra Homi K. Bhabhas postkoloniale teori samt Naomi Wolfs skønhedsmyte. Fokus er på fire værker: Queen of the Damned (2002), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Game of Thrones (2011-) og Gone Girl (2012). Specialet viser, at disse kvinder fremstilles som monstrøse netop på grund af deres køn: de gøres til den Anden og forbindes med det abjekte – det, som samfundet udstøder som urent eller frastødende. På tværs af værkerne deler de nogle af disse kendetegn, men de overskrider forskellige sociale, moralske og kropslige grænser, og nogle udfordrer skønhedsmyten. Afslutningsvis diskuteres, om det monstrøse feminine virker som en måde at bringe kvinder til tavshed, men også hvordan sådanne skildringer kan synliggøre, hvordan vi behandler kvinder, der trodser kønsnormer.
This thesis examines how women are portrayed as "monstrous" in popular films and TV outside the horror genre. It draws on Barbara Creed’s idea of the monstrous-feminine and supplements it with selected terms from Homi K. Bhabha’s postcolonial theory and Naomi Wolf’s beauty myth. The analysis focuses on four works: Queen of the Damned (2002), X-Men: The Last Stand (2006), Game of Thrones (2011-), and Gone Girl (2012). The thesis argues that these women are marked as monstrous because of their gender: they are cast as the Other and linked to the abject—what society rejects as impure or disturbing. Across the works, they share some of these traits but differ in how they cross social, moral, and bodily boundaries; some also resist dominant beauty ideals. Finally, the thesis discusses whether framing women as monstrous serves to silence them, while also suggesting that such portrayals can make visible how society treats women who challenge gender norms.
[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]
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