Description
Book SynopsisThis volume examines women on American television in the nineties in an attempt to uncover the cultural obsession with tough, sexy heroines in mythical pasts, the "girl power" present, and utopic futures. Programmes covered include "Babylon 5", "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", and "Xena.
Trade ReviewIn this imaginative volume, Fantasy Girls boldly maps the emergent gender terrains characterizing new fantasy and science fiction TV. Combining close textual with rigorous theoretical analysis, this volume is the new feminist media studies at its best. It will be indispensable for teachers and scholars searching for the most up-to-date treatments of gender and television, including issues of sexuality, race, ethnicity, and the body. Fantasy Girls addresses head-on the tough issues facing feminists and others concerned with television and its impact. -- Andrea Press, associate director of media studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
The essays collected in Fantasy Girls look to some of the most popular and innovative television programming of the late twentieth century to see how issues of gender are represented and imagined in the future. At their most compelling, the essays expose the operations in popular television that sometimes actively mute and at other times only selectively incorporate the force of feminist insights, particularly as these insights are quietly incorporated into the fantasy representations of gender and gender politics within science fiction. At their most critical, they indicate the powerful role of television in keeping us tethered to the categories and assumptions of the past even as we imagine the future. -- Herman Gray, author of Watching Race: Television and the Struggle for 'Blackness'
The essays are consistent in quality and approach, and . . . yield astute if not necessarily novel or groundbreaking readings of the various programs. * CHOICE *
Fascinating and very readable critical anthology. * The Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts *
Regardless of why you are interested in this media phenomenon,Fantasy Girls is a must-read. * Review of Communication *
Covering television shows as diverse as Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, to The X-Files, to Xena, Warrior Princess and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, the essays in this collection offer a thought-provoking exploration of gender roles in today's science fiction and fantasy television programming. Anyone interested in women's changing roles in the popular media should find something of interest in this stimulating anthology. -- Sherrie A. Inness, Professor of English, Miami University
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Acknowledgments Chapter 2 Introduction Part 3 Speculating on the Present Chapter 4 Sabrina the Teenage...?: Girls, Witches, Mortals, and the Limitations of Prime-time Feminism Chapter 5 The Cartesian Noveum of Third Rock from the Sun: Gendering Human Bodies and Alien Minds Chapter 6 Scully Hits the Glass Ceiling: Postmodernism, Postfeminism, Posthumanism, and The X-Files Chapter 7 Lois’ Locks: Trust and Representation in Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Part 8 Dabbling in the Fantastic Chapter 9 What’s Happening on Earth?: Mystery Science Theater 3000 as Reflection of Gender Roles Attitudes toward Women Chapter 10 Feminism, Queer Studies, and the Sexual Politics of Xena: Warrior Princess Chapter 11 To Be a Vampire on Buffy the Vampire Slayer?: Race and (“Other”) Socially Marginalizing Positions on Horror TV Chapter 12 Biology Is Not Destiny; Biology is Fantasy:Cinderella, or to Dream Disney's "Impossible"/Possible Race Relations Dream Part 13 Projecting the Future Chapter 14 Science, Race, and Gender in Star Trek: Voyager Chapter 15 The Construction of Feminine Identity in Babylon 5 Chapter 16 No Ramps in Space: The Inability to Envision Accessibility in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Chapter 17 Contributor's Notes Chapter 18 Index
