Girl Power: Feminism, Girlculture And
GIRL POWER: FEMINISM, GIRLCULTURE AND THE POPULAR MEDIA Ashley Lorrain Smith, B.A.S. Thesis Prepared for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS August 1999 APPROVED: Diane Negra, Major Professor Shanti Kumar, Committee Member C. Melinda Levin, Committee Member Steve Craig, Department Chair, Radio, Television and Film C. Neal Tate, Dean of the Robert B. Toulouse School of Graduate Studies Smith, Ashley Lorrain, Girl Power: Feminism, Girlculture and the Popular Media. Master of Science (Radio, Television and Film), August 1999, 147 pp., references, 141 titles. This project is an interrogation of three examples from recent popular culture of girlculture, specifically texts that target young female consumers: the Spice Girls, Scream and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. These examples are fundamentally different than texts from earlier female targeted generic models because they not only reflect the influence of the feminist movement, they work on feminism’s behalf. The project’s methodology grows out of feminist film theories and cultural studies theories. One chapter is dedicated to each text, and each reading works to reappropriate girlculture texts for a counter-hegemonic agenda by highlighting the moments when each text manages to subvert its mass mediated conservative biases. Copyright 1999 By Ashley Lorrain Smith ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project owes a debt of gratitude, first and foremost to Dr. Diane Negra, whose enthusiastic support helped me to see it, from its inception through the many ups and downs of its maturation. Indeed thanks are due to my entire committee. The tireless willingness of Dr. Diane Negra, Dr. Shanti Kumar and Professor Melinda Levin to read draft after draft has helped this document attain a much higher level of analysis than it could have without their invaluable assistance.
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