The New Heroines

Female Embodiment and Technology in 21st-Century Popular Culture

Katheryn Wright

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9798216122722
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Popular Culture
• Index: Social Sciences

This book explores how the next generation of teen and young adult heroines in popular culture are creating a new feminist ideal for the 21st century. Representations of a teenage girl who is unique or special occur again and again in coming-of-age stories. It's an irresistible concept: the heroine who seems just like every other, but under the surface, she has the potential to change the world. This book examines the cultural significance of teen and young adult female characters—the New Heroines—in popular culture. The book addresses a wide range of examples primarily from the past two decades, with several chapters focusing on a specific heroic figure in popular culture. In addition, the author offers a comparative analysis between the "New Woman" figure from the late 19th and early 20th century and the New Heroine in the 21st century. Readers will understand how representations of teenage girls in fiction and nonfiction are positioned as heroic because of their ability to find out about themselves by connecting with other people, their environment, and technology.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• 1 Introducing the New Heroines: Before and After Katniss Everdeen
• 2 Her Potential Lies Within: Zoey Redbird’s Remarkable Tattoos
• 3 Testing for Ability: Tris Prior’s Inconclusive Aptitude Test Results
• 4 The Significance of Others: Elsa, Anna, and Olaf’s Affective Connections
• 5 Body Boundary Issues: Hazel Grace’s Close Encounter with Anne Frank
• 6 Change as By-Product: Malala Yousafzai’s Nobel Peace Prize
• 7 From New Woman to New Heroine: Reimagining the Feminist Ideal
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Roster of New Heroines
• Index
• About the Author