The Strong Female Lead: Postfeminist Representation of Women and Femininity in Netflix Shows

Ozkan, Derya; Hardt, Deborah

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-56100-0_10

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Representation is no doubt a crucial first step, but the superficial, token-on-screen female only reinforces rigid gender roles and stereotyped constructions of masculinity and femininity. The socially recognized characteristics of masculinity as strong and able are idealized in the process of female characters’ affirmative performance of stereotypical masculinity; the hegemonic construction of femininity as weakness is not being challenged or changed (Özkan & Hardt, 2020, p. 175).…”

Section: Discussion and Implicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Powerful or Powerless? Women’s Power Levels in Contemporary Chinese Films

Hu,

Cai

2024

Sage Open

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This article aims to achieve an experiential study of cinematic representations of females in Chinese films through quantitative narrative analysis. Applied to a census of 360 Chinese films across various genres produced across 18 years (2001–2018) systematically selected on Mtime, we ask to what extent female characters in Chinese films are empowered? How is their power exercised? And what socio-cultural implications can be detected from the cinematic representations of women in the contemporary Chinese gender discourse? We aim to fill in the gap in Chinese cinema studies in which most scholarships focused on pre-2000 works, adopted qualitative textual and narrative analysis to interpret the representations of women in a particular genre or in typical cases, leaving the quantitative approach, particularly focusing on the post-2000 films, all but absent. We develop a systematic set of typologies, including 4 major power-level categories (power-over, power-to, power-with, and no-power) and 12 deuterogenic ones, which can be applied for future research on Chinese film and media studies. While women’s career success has been articulated with empowerment, independence, subjectivity, and ambition in the neoliberal rhetoric, our research reflects a more intricate relationship between cultural representations of women and power in contemporary Chinese films.

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Section: Discussion and Implicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Powerful or Powerless? Women’s Power Levels in Contemporary Chinese Films

Hu,

Cai

2024

Sage Open

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“…Third, Netflix’s multinational scale of operation and analysis of viewership data at this scale enable the commissioning of distinctive content. Derya Özkan and Deborah Hardt (2020: 168) remark on the correspondence between Netflix’s scale of audience measurement and the ‘riskier content,’ or female-led shows, that they commission, arguing that this is one of Netflix’s unique characteristics that enables such distinctive content. Lotz explains how ‘ Netflix targets subscribers based on tastes and sensibilities that are often not sufficiently popular to be addressed by services aiming for a national ‘mass’ audience ’ (2021: 13, Italics in original).…”

Section: Netflix ‘Direct Commissioning’ and Diprentementioning

confidence: 99%

Queen Sono: Netflix Original as postfeminist South African spy thriller

Bradfield

2023

Critical Studies in Television: The International Journal of Te

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This article explores Netflix’s changing business strategies to diversify its catalogues, examining the practices of ‘direct commissioning’ and genre adaptation. The case study of Queen Sono, the first Netflix African Original, reveals how the spy thriller conventions are leveraged to attract a Western audience even as the series is adapted to the African context. Although Queen is portrayed as a female spy with clear moral impulses, I argue that her agency is constrained by the male-dominated spy thriller conventions and the transnational postfeminist sensibility of the series which Netflix paradoxically needs to utilise to attract both African and transnational subscribers.

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“…52 At the same time, women are also judged for their alcohol use (e.g., Olivia Pope on Scandal, Alicia Florrick on The Good Wife), 53,54 and others have sounded the alarm about the 'dangerous message' portrayals of alcohol in media have for women. [55][56][57] Researchers have also drawn attention to "strap-on shows" 58 that feature female leads who are viewed as strong for their performance of masculinity. Both Olivia Pope and Alicia Florrick fit this post-feminist representation in that their hard drinking and hardworking professional behaviours mimic a traditional masculine role that emphasizes strength over weakness.…”

Section: Women's Acceptable Usementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Both Olivia Pope and Alicia Florrick fit this post-feminist representation in that their hard drinking and hardworking professional behaviours mimic a traditional masculine role that emphasizes strength over weakness. 58 When it came to portrayals of alcohol use during pregnancy specifically, storylines existed across the preconception, pregnancy, and postnatal periods. In line with the framing of alcohol use as a comedic device, many story arcs that explored the risks of alcohol use during pregnancy in a 'positive' light (see Table 2 for examples) emphasized the perceived low risk nature of 'light' drinking during pregnancy, and presented frequent portrayals of alcohol consumption while trying to conceive, and/ or made jokes about alcohol use and/or substance use during pregnancy that were based on misinformation or an outright disagreement with suggested guidelines that it is safest to refrain from alcohol during pregnancy.…”

Section: Women's Acceptable Usementioning

confidence: 99%

“You Don’t Want to Drink? What Are You, Pregnant?!”

Harding

Dionne

Harding

2022

Journal of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

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Background and objectivePregnant women, women of childbearing age, and their partners frequently report obtaining information about alcohol use during pregnancy from the mass media. Relying on mainstream media sources, such as television, can be problematic when the information presented is inaccurate, contributing to inconsistent messaging about the ‘safety’ of alcohol use during pregnancy. In the current study, we aimed to explore the portrayal of alcohol (and substance) use (e.g., tobacco, opioids) during pregnancy in North American, English speaking mainstream prime time and streaming television shows (N = 25). To the authors’ knowledge, no previous study has explored the representations of alcohol (and/or substance use) during pregnancy in this context. Materials and methodsThe following inclusion criteria guided the show selection: (1) top 100 shows on cable/streaming services targeting women aged 18 to 49 years, and (2) shows suggested by targeted social media posts. Using ethno-graphic content analysis (ECA), the content and role of television media narratives in the social construc-tion of alcohol meanings concerning the safety of alcohol use during pregnancy were explored. Results and conclusionIn line with ECA, the results and conclusion are discussed together. The results and discussion are presented under an overarching narrative, the dichotomy of women’s alcohol and substance use, which illustrates the sociocultural construction of alcohol and substance use during pregnancy. Within this overarching narrative, we focus on two sub-narratives: (1) women’s acceptable use and (2) women’s villainous use. Our analysis indicates misrepresentations regarding the safety of alcohol use during conception (e.g., Friends from College) and pregnancy (e.g., How I Met Your Mother, The Mindy Project). In addition, a narrative was identified relating to the difficulty of keeping a pregnancy private when not drinking socially (e.g., Friends, The Office). These narratives reinforced a dichotomy between the types of women who drink during pregnancy, including some for whom it was okay to have ‘just a little bit’ (e.g., How I Met Your Mother, The Big Bang Theory, Black Mirror) in contrast to others who were portrayed as villains who engaged in binge drinking behaviour and/or other comorbid substance use (e.g., Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Chicago Med, Law & Order). These results demonstrate the need to provide a clear, consistent messaging about the risks of alcohol use during pregnancy, as mixed messages from television can contribute to misinformation. The recommendations for messaging, as well as changing our approaches to fetal alcohol spectrum disorder prevention in the light of these findings are discussed.

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The Strong Female Lead: Postfeminist Representation of Women and Femininity in Netflix Shows

Cited by 6 publications

References 16 publications

Powerful or Powerless? Women’s Power Levels in Contemporary Chinese Films

Powerful or Powerless? Women’s Power Levels in Contemporary Chinese Films

Queen Sono: Netflix Original as postfeminist South African spy thriller

“You Don’t Want to Drink? What Are You, Pregnant?!”

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