Beyond bombshells : the new action heroine in popular culture / Jeffrey A. Brown.
Brown, Jeffrey A., 1966- author.
2015
PN56.5.W64 B76 2015 (Mapit)
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Title Beyond bombshells : the new action heroine in popular culture / Jeffrey A. Brown.
Author Brown, Jeffrey A., 1966- author.
ISBN 9781496803191 (hardcover)
1496803191 (hardcover)
9781496814661 (paperback)
1496814665 (paperback)
9781496803207 (electronic book)
Published Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, [2015]
Language English
Description 265 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Call Number PN56.5.W64 B76 2015
Dewey Decimal Classification 809/.933522
Summary "Beyond Bombshells analyzes the cultural importance of strong women in a variety of current media forms. Action heroines are now more popular in movies, comic books, television, and literature than they have ever been. Their spectacular presence represents shifting ideas about female agency, power, and sexuality. Beyond Bombshells explores how action heroines reveal and reconfigure perceptions about "how" and "why" women are capable of physically dominating roles in modern fiction, indicating the various strategies used to contain and/or exploit female violence. Focusing on a range of successful and controversial recent heroines in the mass media, including Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games books and movies, Lisabeth Salander from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo novels and films, and Hit-Girl from the Kick-Ass movies and comic books, Brown argues that the role of action heroine reveals evolving beliefs about femininity. While women in action roles are still heavily sexualized and objectified, they also challenge preconceived myths about normal or culturally appropriate gender behavior. The ascribed sexuality of modern heroines remains Brown's consistent theme, particularly how objectification intersects with issues of racial stereotyping, romantic fantasies, images of violent adolescent and preadolescent girls, and neoliberal feminist revolutionary parables. Individual chapters study the gendered dynamics of torture in action films, the role of women in partnerships with male colleagues, young women as well as revolutionary leaders in dystopic societies, adolescent sexuality and romance in action narratives, the historical import of non-white heroines, and how modern African American, Asian, and Latina heroines both challenge and are restricted by longstanding racial stereotypes"-- Provided by publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note Includes bibliographical references (pages 242-254) and index.
Record Appears in On-Campus Resources > Books
All Resources
Torture, rape, action heroines, and The girl with the dragon tattoo
Teams, partners, romance, and action heroines
Ethnicity and new action heroines
Panthers and vixens : black superheroines, sexuality, and stereotypes in contemporary comic books
Supermoms? : maternity and the monstrous-feminine in superhero comics
Sex, romance, and the teenage superheroine
Girl revolutionaries : neoliberalist, postfeminist, and feminist heroines
Pretty little killers
Conclusion : still wondering about Wonder Woman.

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