Fierce Females on Television

Nicole Evelina is a USA Today bestselling author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and women’s fiction. Her books have won more than 50 awards, including four Book of the Year designations. She was named Missouri’s Top Independent Author by Library Journal and Biblioboard as the winner of the Missouri Indie Author Project in 2018 and has been awarded the North Street Book Prize and the Sarton Women’s Book Award. In addition to books, her writing has appeared in The Huffington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Independent Journal, Curve Magazine and numerous historical publications. Her other book in the Cultural History of Television series is Sex and the City: A Cultural History.

This entertaining study from novelist Evelina surveys how, since the mid-1990s, a new crop of shows has centered around 'stronger' and 'more independent' female leads than the medium had previously seen. She suggests that such shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Alias, and Jessica Jones foreground the concerns of ordinary women, even when their protagonists have extraordinary abilities, marking a shift from the working mothers (Clair Huxtable in The Cosby Show) or unrelatable superheroes (The Bionic Woman) that had been the norm.... [F]ans will enjoy the fresh insights into some old favorites.

• IntroductionPART I: THE SHOWS AND THEIR LEADING LADIESWomen in Fantasy and Science Fiction ProgramsSmart Spies and Political ParagonsPART II: THE ISSUESThe Influence of Third- and Fourth-Wave FeminismThe Real Meaning of Female StrengthFemale Friendships and FamilyThe Revolution Will Be Televised: Fighting the PatriarchyWomen and SexDiversity’s Many FormsRedemption NarrativesConclusionEpisode GuideAcknowledgmentsNotesBibliographyIndexAbout the Author