University of Wisconsin Milwaukee UWM Digital Commons Theses and Dissertations May 2013 The Rhetorical Construction of Female Empowerment: The veA nging-Woman Narrative in Popular Television and Film Lara C. Stache University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.uwm.edu/etd Part of the Communication Commons, and the Rhetoric Commons Recommended Citation Stache, Lara C., "The Rhetorical Construction of Female Empowerment: The vA enging-Woman Narrative in Popular Television and Film" (2013). Theses and Dissertations. 164. https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/164 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by UWM Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UWM Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE RHETORICAL CONSTRUCTION OF FEMALE EMPOWERMENT: THE AVENGING-WOMAN NARRATIVE IN POPULAR TELEVISION AND FILM by Lara Stache A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication at The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee May 2013 ABSTRACT THE RHETORICAL CONSTRUCTION OF FEMALE EMPOWERMENT: THE AVENGING-WOMAN NARRATIVE IN POPULAR TELEVISION AND FILM by Lara Stache The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2013 Under the Supervision of Professor John W. Jordan In this critical rhetorical analysis, I examine the contemporary avenging-woman narrative in popular television and film. As a rhetorical text, the avenging-woman narrative can be read as a representation of cultural constructions of female empowerment. In this project, I situate the contemporary avenging-woman narrative within the context of a contemporary third wave feminist culture, in order to articulate how the representations of female empowerment in the texts may be a negotiation of cultural tensions about feminism. The four primary texts chosen for inclusion within this study are made up of two television shows, Revenge (2011-present) and Veronica Mars (2003-2007), and two films, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) and Colombiana (2011). Each text features a woman depicted as transgressing social norms of traditional female behavior, usually through violence and with the purpose of exacting some form of revenge. Throughout this dissertation, I argue that although the image of the avenging-woman can be read as representative of female empowerment, the narratives simultaneously portray her as a cautionary tale against subversion within the system. I critique the depiction of female empowerment at the intersection of violence, a lack of homo-social relationships, a representation of sexualized feminine strength, and the objectification of the female body via fetishized technology. An analysis of each theme shows the complications that arise with the linking of women and power in the avenging-woman narrative. The representation of female ii empowerment is thus ultimately hegemonic, serving to reinforce the system the protagonist is depicted in the narrative as attempting to subvert. Although offering a pleasurable tale of justice and revenge, the avenging-woman text is also an example of how a rhetoric of female empowerment is problematic when it does not support political changes within a patriarchal system. iii © Copyright by Lara Stache, 2013 All Rights Reserved iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter 1: Introduction p. 1 Chapter 2: Methodological/Critical Perspective p. 35 Chapter 3: Violence in the Revenge Narrative – Hell Hath No Fury p. 55 Chapter 4: The Avenging-Woman – Man’s Best Friend p. 84 Chapter 5: Feminized Feminism and the Avenging-Woman – Bustier, Lipstick, Taser p. 111 Chapter 6: Technology, Techno-scopophilia, and the Cyborg – Say Hello to My Little Friend p. 135 Chapter 7: Conclusion p. 160 References p. 178 v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In attempting to figure out whom to thank for their help in the completion of this project, I have found the difficulty of the task overwhelming. I cannot adequately express the gratitude I feel toward all those who have influenced and supported my work, but I will do my best. Advising is at times a thankless job whose challenges are often not fully realized by those being advised. I want to thank Dr. John Jordan for his support, encouragement, and for leaving no doubt that he thinks my research is important and interesting. He has a passion for writing, an absolute intolerance of anything subpar (especially when he knows you can do better), and an endless supply of metaphors about everything in life. I will forever appreciate his enthusiasm for my ideas and his unrelenting attempts to get me to understand thesis-centered writing. To say that I was challenged is an understatement, but I would not have wanted to write this any other way. Thank you. Thanks to my committee members: Dr. Kathryn Olson, Dr. Leslie Harris, Dr. Erik Timmerman, and Dr. Andrea Westlund, for their thorough feedback on the initial proposal of this project. I am grateful to each of them for agreeing to serve on my committee two years ago, and I could not have had a better group of scholars through which to learn and grow in my writing. In addition, I cannot thank them enough for being so enthusiastic about this dissertation topic, and for their encouragement about my potential as a scholar. I want to give a special thank you to Rachel Davidson, my writing-buddy who read multiple versions of the early chapters of this project. Thank you for sharing your talent and giving me necessary feedback in a way that was so kind and thoughtful that it vi did not even feel like criticism. I will forever be grateful to the program planner of Central States 2010, who put us on the same panel and marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship. Additionally, I want to express my gratitude to both Emily Cramer and Kimberly Kulovitz for their unending moral support and discussions during this final year. Your phone calls and hugs were always well timed and helped push me through during some of the more frustrating writing periods. I have been very lucky to have a fantastic cohort of peers and I want to additionally thank the following people for all their support over the last four years: Jeremy Adolphson, Ruth Beerman, Andrew Cole, Anna Herrman, Falon Kartch, Melissa Maier, Mridula Mascarenhas, Kim Smith, Kelly Tenzek, and Katie Turkiewicz. I had no idea that in starting this program, I would also be gaining so many wonderful friendships and I will always consider you my Milwaukee family. I also had some excellent encouragement from the non-rhetoric faculty at Milwaukee, and I would especially like to thank Dr. Nancy Burrell, Dr. Kathryn Fonner, and Dr. Lindsay Timmerman. Even just asking how the writing was going and listening to me talk about it was more than you probably had time for, but I thank you for your kindness and thoughtfulness. I would also like to acknowledge my friends Mary and Rob Chase, Mac McCormick and Liz Walker, Sheena Ozbolt, and Christy O’Brien for always asking about my dissertation progress and for maintaining our friendship, even when I disappeared for months on end. I promise to be your resident expert on the avenging- woman narrative and to pay you back with my full support in all of your own personal endeavors. Additionally, I want to thank my second family, the Manguns, for fully vii supporting and encouraging my pursuits and always reminding me that this is a very exciting time. To my parents, Michael and Jan Stache, thank you for encouraging education from the moment I was born. My mom always wanted to go to college, and when I was five, she decided to start the path to her bachelor’s degree. I vividly remember watching her at the kitchen table as she wrote her papers on the typewriter (!) and thinking that school must be very important and incredibly cool. My father gave me a mind for math that has done nothing for my career in rhetoric, but has frequently served me well in Vegas. Thank you both for being lifelong learners and for passing on that passion. I would also like to thank my sister, Lindsay Altwine, for her thoughtful encouragement over the past four years, and for her fiercely loyal support ever since we were babies. Her reassurance is constant and promised me that not only was my completion of this degree possible, but that it was also quite probable. And, finally, I would like to thank the talented Robert Mangun, my soul mate/financial advisee. Thank you for being there at the budding stages of this idea and for enjoying talking about this topic almost as much as I do. I will never be able to adequately express how much I appreciate both the frequent conversations about writing that we had over pancakes, as well as your willingness to read my work. Your love of writing, attention to detail, and reminders about strong paragraph structure helped me get chapter one in the shape I needed to finish this project. I love you and thank you. viii 1 Chapter 1: Introduction In 2010, Melissa Silverstein authored a column on Forbes.com with the headline: “Lisbeth Salander, The Girl Who Started a Feminist Franchise.” Describing the main character of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo as “a diminutive, bisexual, punked-out and kick-ass 20-something superhacker,” Silverstein emphasizes the multi-faceted identity of the powerful female protagonist (para. 1). Lisbeth Salander belongs to a growing category in cinema: the avenging-woman. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, an adaptation of the first novel in the trilogy by Stieg Larsson (2008), is a contemporary example of the avenging-woman narrative. The fact that the best-selling novel has been made into a feature film twice, once in 2009 by Danish director, Niels Arden Oplev, and remade in 2011 by American director, David Fincher, serves as a testament to the popularity of both the book and the character of Lisbeth Salander.