Vivienne Varlette is an original contribution to screenwriting and creative writing academia. The accompanying thesis explores feminist themes and post-feminist ideas through a self-reflexive approach to writing an original television drama series (Vivienne Varlette). This approach aims to challenge female screenwriters to interrogate the motivations behind their narratives. The research delineates the contours of contemporary feminist accounts and post-feminist sensibilities as a mode of analysis. For my working definition of feminism, I assert the disproportionality of women’s oppression, experience of sexism, equality of opportunity and liberation compared to men’s, given the same societal circumstances (see Introduction) in twenty-first-century Western society. Post-feminism is not a movement or necessarily a negative response to feminism. Instead, it is a reaction and conversation driven by ideas of women’s choice and empowerment. For my definition of post-feminism, I adopt Rosalind Gill’s perspective of post-feminism as a multifaceted response to feminism. It can be viewed as a sensibility driven by complex and interrelated ideas (Gill, 2007. p1). The creative and critical exploration extends to analysing female screenwriters’ responses to feminist issues and audience perceptions of the narratives presented based on potential post-feminist sensibilities. The research aims to find new and original methods for using multiple antiheroines who embody gender-political significance (see Chapter 2.2) to discuss women’s real issues on screen. By utilising a creative-critical methodology, this study probes the representations of women in contemporary Western Anglophone television drama and comedy series. The findings highlight the prevailing social discourses influencing women in twenty-first-century Western societies and the proactive measures female screenwriters undertake to navigate and reshape these discourses. Ultimately, this new and original contribution to screenwriting knowledge argues that the antiheroine archetype serves as a potent vehicle for dissecting feminist and post-feminist themes. Even more so, the presence of multiple antiheroines in one on-screen narrative enables female screenwriters to advocate for women’s rights to embrace complexity, messiness, and defiance within misogynistic and patriarchal systems.
| Date of Award | 13 May 2024 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Supervisor | Michael Stewart (Main Supervisor) & Jodie Matthews (Co-Supervisor) |
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