How to Survive the Postfeminist Impasse

Dados Bibliográficos

ID12975285
AutoresCatherine Mcdermott (0000-0002-0271-9540, autor correspondente)
Ano2018
Volume11
Fascículo3
Páginas50-66
Data de publicação2018-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoGirlhood Studies (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1938-8209 • E-ISSN: 1938-8322
EditoraBerghahn Books (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3167/ghs.2018.110306
OpenAlexW2904713318
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas2
Referências citadas24

An emerging genre across literature, screen, and digital media is beginning to articulate profound dissatisfaction with postfeminist social norms and scripts. In this article, I explore how American comedian Grace Helbig exploits and reworks classic postfeminist self-improvement genres through her parodying of the YouTube how-to video. Using Helbig’s video as an illustrative case study, my analysis demonstrates that affect theory has the capacity to make a vital contribution to current postfeminist debates. Recent research finds postfeminist analysis lacks the facility to fully comprehend the complexity of contemporary femininities, suggesting that postfeminist media studies as a genre of scholarship has reached a critical impasse. Drawing on Lauren Berlant’s (2008, 2011, 2015) work, I examine how Helbig affectively deflates popular postfeminist fantasies of fun-loving confident girlhood. More widely, I argue that affective approaches offer feminist scholars a dynamic framework to make sense of the continuing impact and legacies of postfeminist media culture

Aesthetics · Art · Fantasy · Feminism · Literature · Media studies · Political science · Scholarship · Scripting language · Social media · Sociology · Computer Science · Gender Studies · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Law · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology