Over-excitement, shapeless self and paradoxical happiness in Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015–2019)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19224601 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yuzhuo Wang (0000-0002-9749-8591, Communication University of China), Y Q Wang (0009-0005-9160-5252, University of Leeds, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Pages | 1-17 |
| Publication date | 2026-04-14 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Feminist Media Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1468-0777 • E-ISSN: 1471-5902 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14680777.2026.2659312 |
| OpenAlex | W7154392255 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 42 |
In discussing the crisis of neoliberal female subjectivity, it is essential to interrogate the rhetoric of positivity that structures it. By analysing Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (2015–2019) as a case study, this article proposes a binary framework of “over-excitement/shapelessness” to describe this form of ambivalent subjectivity: outwardly over-excited while (unconsciously) shapeless within, and ready to fit into any socially expected template in the context of neoliberal rationality. Reading Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) as a shapeless neoliberal feminist subject, the article contributes to scholarship on affective dissonance and mental health issues in contemporary women-centric television. Drawing on “uncomfortable television” (termed by Hunter Hargraves), which encourages critical reflection through discomfort, and “the unruly woman” (termed by Kathleen Rowe), who disrupts normative femininity via parody or masquerade, the article analyses both the ambivalence and agency of Rebecca’s problematic subjectivity as manifested through parodying and subverting narrative tropes. Moreover, by examining how the series challenges rom-com genre expectations, the article critiques how neoliberal feminism generates cruel optimism and promises paradoxical happiness, where the pursuit of happiness through neoliberal scripts is questionable, and precarity has become the new normal
Action (physics) · Happiness · Perception · Phenomenon · Gender, Feminism, and Media · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · Media Influence and Health
St Century Media and Female Mental Health
Cruel Optimism
The Burnout Society
The New Female Antihero
Outline of a Theory of Practice
Powers of Freedom
The Rise of Neoliberal Feminism
Living Room Wars
The Promise of Happiness
The Female Complaint
The affective-discursive ‘pruning’ of neoliberal selves
The “Favorite Person” in Borderline Personality Disorder
Genre as Feminist Platform
Through the Gaps of My Fingers
Jewy/screwy leading lady
From “can-do” girls to insecure and angry
Hannah and Her Entitled Sisters
Postfeminist media culture
Theorizing agency in post-girlpower times
It’s just between girls
Performative shamelessness on young women’s social network sites
A Life as Potent and Dangerous as Literature Itself”
Mirrors and masquerades in Fleabag and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Notes on the Perfect
Post‐feminism and popular culture
The Confidence Cult(ure)
Empowered
The affective, cultural and psychic life of postfeminism
I miss when my problems were about nothing
Affective dissonance, neoliberal postfeminism and the foreclosure of solidarity
Affective solidarity
Agents of Chaos
The Amazing Bounce-Backable Woman
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |