Date of Award
Fall 2020
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Media & Communication; College of Arts & Sciences
First Advisor
Dr. Lisa Holderman
Abstract
The representation and proliferation of violence against women in media, when applying genre theory, reflects the social climate of rape culture and the social response to sexual violence. Looking at the Rape-Revenge genre through the scope of Feminist Theory, the only way to reintroduce female agency into a trauma led narrative is to reclaim the tropes used to perpetuation female exploitation and a popular culture ambivalent to male on female violence. Within this subversion and deconstruction, a genre benefiting from female trauma finally includes an honest artistic retelling of that female experience. With the intention of the creator in line with expression rather than exploitation as well as an assumed female audience the use of female perspective in Rape-Revenge films propells the genre into a more evolved and honest portrayal of the narrative as the auidence is led throught the framework by the gaze that runs parallel to it’s protagonist.
Recommended Citation
Birks, Sophia, "The Evolution of Revenge: Genre, Feminist Theory and Jennifer’s Body" (2020). Capstone Showcase. 7.
https://scholarworks.arcadia.edu/showcase/2021/media_communication/7
Included in
Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Other Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Women's Studies Commons
The Evolution of Revenge: Genre, Feminist Theory and Jennifer’s Body
The representation and proliferation of violence against women in media, when applying genre theory, reflects the social climate of rape culture and the social response to sexual violence. Looking at the Rape-Revenge genre through the scope of Feminist Theory, the only way to reintroduce female agency into a trauma led narrative is to reclaim the tropes used to perpetuation female exploitation and a popular culture ambivalent to male on female violence. Within this subversion and deconstruction, a genre benefiting from female trauma finally includes an honest artistic retelling of that female experience. With the intention of the creator in line with expression rather than exploitation as well as an assumed female audience the use of female perspective in Rape-Revenge films propells the genre into a more evolved and honest portrayal of the narrative as the auidence is led throught the framework by the gaze that runs parallel to it’s protagonist.