Media studies, Vol. 7 No. 13, 2016.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.20901/ms.7.13.8
The Beautiful and Dangerous: A New Depiction of Heroines in North American Television Drama Series
Irena Sever Globan
orcid.org/0000-0001-6214-9124
; Catholic University of Croatia, Department of Sociology, Zagreb, Croatia
Antonija Pavić
; Catholic University of Croatia, Department of History, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Television drama series are nowadays one of the most common television formats in the entertainment program genre. On the one hand, heroes and heroines of these series mirror social and cultural realities and changes, whereas on the other, they offer imitation models and shape ideas about, among other things, what being male and female means. While in the first three decades of their existence television series predominantly showed stereotypical male-female relationships through active heroes and passive housewives, in the last two decades we have witnessed changes which question the stereotypical depiction of gender roles. Television started presenting new main heroines that are equally courageous, independent, intelligent and violent as their male partners although they continue to perpetuate the stereotypical depiction in terms of physical attractiveness and sex appeal. This primarily refers to the protagonists of North American series such as Buffy, Nikita, Xena, Alias, Revenge, Rogue, etc. This paper discusses the characteristics of these new heroines in the leading roles and their potential to redefine the female character.
Keywords
television drama series; media heroines; gender representation; stereotypes; media violence
Hrčak ID:
166852
URI
Publication date:
20.6.2016.
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