Screening women’s trauma

Constructing trauma for television in Westworld and The Handmaid’s Tale

Bibliographic Data

ID12690653
AuthorsAmy Boyle (0000-0003-4977-1490, University of Wollongong, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume23
Issue4
Pages1344-1360
Publication date2022-02-09
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueFeminist Media Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1468-0777 • E-ISSN: 1471-5902
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14680777.2022.2032790
OpenAlexW4210868715
LanguageEN
Citations received7
References cited23

This article examines the recent popularity of women-centric narratives of trauma for television, in order to explore the politics of screening women’s trauma. The first part of the article locates the shift towards women’s “trauma TV” at the intersections of “quality” and “complex” television, “popular trauma culture” and “popular feminism.” Following arguments that female trauma has become a mode of program differentiation in the post-network era, I demonstrate that the uptake of women’s trauma is just as much a function of aesthetic and narrative trends as it is politics. The second part of the article looks to HBO’s Westworld (2016-present) and Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale (2017-present) to examine how women’s trauma is represented for television, as well as the effects and implications of its representation and consumption. Through these series, I explore some of the issues and concerns of packaging women’s trauma as television entertainment

Advertising · Art · Business · Consumption (sociology · Entertainment · Feminism · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Political science · Politics · Popular culture · Popularity · Representation (politics · Social science · Sociology · Contemporary Literature and Criticism · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology

Tools

Open DOI