The Extra-Ordinary Girl

Care, Connection, and Social Power On and Off Screen
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-032-95516-2
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 200 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Reihe: Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies

Positioning the teen girl as a figure possessing exceptional power with the potential to instigate change, this book examines the “extra-ordinary” girl as she exists under neoliberalism today.

Through a combination of textual and cultural analyses of figurations of girlhood in popular culture, and qualitative research group interviews with teen girls, the author emphasizes the importance of listening to real teen girls whose perspectives and values might not match those attributed to dominant cultural models of girlhood. This book explores contemporary girl figures and figurations of girlhood, on and off screen, highlighting how girls who are not in the public eye negotiate standards of exceptionality in relation to their own experiences of social power, while also defining the importance of care and connection to their relationships and personal values.

This book is a unique and comprehensive combination of methodological and conceptual approaches to cultural, historical, and sociological analyses, while exploring questions of feminism and the speculative fiction genre. It will appeal to girlhood and feminist studies, film and media studies, child and youth studies, humanities, cultural studies, and social sciences.

Zielgruppe

Academic, Postgraduate, and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Benigno, Tina Belinda

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Gender Studies, Geschlechtersoziologie
• Sozialwissenschaften Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften Medienwissenschaften
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Mediensoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: Background and Context

Part I: On and Off Screen

Chapter 1: Speculative Fiction and the Real World
Chapter 2: Teen Girls in Toronto Interviewed

Part II: Figurations of Extra-Ordinary Girlhood: The Warrior-Activist

Chapter 3: Katniss and The Warrior/Activist Figure on Screen
Chapter 4: Teen Girl Activists in North America

Part III: Figurations of Extra-Ordinary Girlhood: The Witch

Chapter 5: Sabrina and the Witch Figure on Screen
Chapter 6: Teen Witches Today and in History

Part IV: Negotiating Figurations of Girlhood: The Complexity of Care
Chapter 7: Context, Analysis, and Responses to Care, Relationships, and Power
Chapter 8: Cultural Context: Neoliberalism, Media, and Community

Conclusion

Appendices

Index

Über Autor(innen)

Tina Belinda Benigno is Assistant Professor of Media Studies/Humanities, and Faculty Advisor (Arts, Humanities, Political Science, and Education) in the Department of English and Communications at Albertus Magnus College, USA.