Description

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There She Goes Again interrogates the representation of ostensibly powerful women in transmedia franchises, examining how presumed feminine traits—love, empathy, altruism, diplomacy—are alternately lauded and repudiated as possibilities for effecting long-lasting social change. By questioning how these franchises reimagine their protagonists over time, the book reflects on the role that gendered exceptionalism plays in social and political action, as well as what forms of knowledge and power are presumed distinctly feminine. The franchises explored in this book illustrate the ambivalent (post)feminist representation of women protagonists as uniquely gifted in ways both gendered and seemingly ungendered, and yet inherently bound to expressions of their femininity. At heart,There She Goes Again asks under what terms and in what contexts women protagonists are imagined, envisioned, embodied, and replicated in media. Especially now, in a period of gradually increasing representation, women protagonists demonstrate the importance of considering how we should define—and whether we need—feminine forms of knowledge and power.

About the Author

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AVIVA DOVE-VIEBAHN is an assistant professor of film and media studies at Arizona State University, as well as a frequent contributor to Ms. magazine and a screenwriter. She is the coeditor of Public Feminisms: From Academy to Community.

Praise For…

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“Relying on close readings that in turn recognize nuances of media texts, Dove-Viebahn accurately and persuasively enumerates the potentialities and pitfalls of gendered understandings. She brings together media analysis with a serious sense of what is at stake, which is, in short, the contemporary state of feminist thought.”
 
— Suzanne Leonard

"For all of us who love our pop-culture wonder women and have wondered about their feminist implications, There She Goes Again asks fearless questions about these characters and offers brilliant insights about their appeal. Aviva Dove-Viebahn explores what female exceptionalism means for super-powered heroines, and as the title suggests, advances timely insights about how we imagine and picture extraordinary women in the postfeminist era."
 
— Linda Mizejewski

"In an analysis both invigorating and theoretically rigorous, Aviva Dove-Viebahn skillfully deconstructs the age-old dichotomy of feminism versus femininity to produce a nuanced reading of popular culture's mediation of gendered empowerment. This is essential reading for readers interested in gender, media and power, and a valuable contribution to ongoing cultural debates.”
— Miriam Kent