{"id":{"repo_id":"ohiolink","oai_identifier":"oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:bgsu1363533555"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/ohiolink/oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:bgsu1363533555","repository":{"repo_id":"ohiolink","name":"OhioLINK","base_url":"https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/oai/oai"},"display":{"title":"Sucker Punch and the Political Problem of Fantasy to Female Representation","abstract":"One of the main tasks of feminism in the twenty first century is to address the way sexual fantasies of women limit the ability to achieve real world change in gender relations and gain political equality. Fantasy, as the means by which capitalism operates (i.e., it is through the use of fantasy that consumers are convinced to buy products) dominates American popular culture and, since the female body features so centrally in these fantasies, feminism is charged with disrupting a complex system that equates women with pleasure. Sucker Punch is important to this discussion because it is a unique example of a mainstream attempt to critically address dominant fantasies about women and, using the work of Laura Mulvey, Slavoj Zizek, Jeffrey Brown, Angela McRobbie and Rosalind Gill, among others, I explore the way the film gives important insight into the limits of successfully emptying fantasy of pleasure. I divide the film's engagement with pleasure into two main areas: postfeminism and male desire. Ultimately Sucker Punch offers a disturbing vision of the way postfeminist empowerment fantasies (which are broken up into empowerment through female sexuality and empowerment through violence) map onto male heterosexual fantasies that encourage and allow women to be sexually exploited. Further, the fact that Sucker Punch was a commercial and critical failure reveals the problems inherent in critiquing popular depictions of the female body whilst simultaneously trying to sell (and thereby popularize) that critique.","abstract_html":"One of the main tasks of feminism in the twenty first century is to address the way sexual fantasies of women limit the ability to achieve real world change in gender relations and gain political equality. Fantasy, as the means by which capitalism operates (i.e., it is through the use of fantasy that consumers are convinced to buy products) dominates American popular culture and, since the female body features so centrally in these fantasies, feminism is charged with disrupting a complex system that equates women with pleasure. <i>Sucker Punch</i> is important to this discussion because it is a unique example of a mainstream attempt to critically address dominant fantasies about women and, using the work of Laura Mulvey, Slavoj Zizek, Jeffrey Brown, Angela McRobbie and Rosalind Gill, among others, I explore the way the film gives important insight into the limits of successfully emptying fantasy of pleasure. I divide the film's engagement with pleasure into two main areas: postfeminism and male desire. Ultimately <i>Sucker Punch</i> offers a disturbing vision of the way postfeminist empowerment fantasies (which are broken up into empowerment through female sexuality and empowerment through violence) map onto male heterosexual fantasies that encourage and allow women to be sexually exploited. Further, the fact that <i>Sucker Punch</i> was a commercial and critical failure reveals the problems inherent in critiquing popular depictions of the female body whilst simultaneously trying to sell (and thereby popularize) that critique.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Mullins, Anna C C"],"institution":"Bowling Green State University","degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"masters","degree_discipline":"Popular Culture","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Cragin, Becca"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2013,"date_issued":"2013-05-24","date_published":"2013-05-24","updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:36:39Z","subjects":["Film Studies","Gender Studies","Postfeminism","action heroines","fantasy","desire","Sucker Punch","l'ecriture feminine"],"languages":["English"],"rights":["unrestricted","This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws."],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1363533555","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Cragin, Becca"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Mullins, Anna C C"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2013-05-24"]},{"key":"dc:publisher","label":"Institution","values":["Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Electronic Thesis or Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Popular Culture"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["masters"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["Bowling Green State University"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Film Studies","Gender Studies","Postfeminism","action heroines","fantasy","desire","Sucker Punch","l'ecriture feminine"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["unrestricted","This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws."]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1363533555"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["One of the main tasks of feminism in the twenty first century is to address the way sexual fantasies of women limit the ability to achieve real world change in gender relations and gain political equality. Fantasy, as the means by which capitalism operates (i.e., it is through the use of fantasy that consumers are convinced to buy products) dominates American popular culture and, since the female body features so centrally in these fantasies, feminism is charged with disrupting a complex system that equates women with pleasure. Sucker Punch is important to this discussion because it is a unique example of a mainstream attempt to critically address dominant fantasies about women and, using the work of Laura Mulvey, Slavoj Zizek, Jeffrey Brown, Angela McRobbie and Rosalind Gill, among others, I explore the way the film gives important insight into the limits of successfully emptying fantasy of pleasure. I divide the film's engagement with pleasure into two main areas: postfeminism and male desire. Ultimately Sucker Punch offers a disturbing vision of the way postfeminist empowerment fantasies (which are broken up into empowerment through female sexuality and empowerment through violence) map onto male heterosexual fantasies that encourage and allow women to be sexually exploited. Further, the fact that Sucker Punch was a commercial and critical failure reveals the problems inherent in critiquing popular depictions of the female body whilst simultaneously trying to sell (and thereby popularize) that critique."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf","p.103","733.5 KB"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Sucker Punch and the Political Problem of Fantasy to Female Representation"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Cragin, Becca"],"dc:creator":["Mullins, Anna C C"],"dc:date":["2013-05-24"],"dc:description":["One of the main tasks of feminism in the twenty first century is to address the way sexual fantasies of women limit the ability to achieve real world change in gender relations and gain political equality. Fantasy, as the means by which capitalism operates (i.e., it is through the use of fantasy that consumers are convinced to buy products) dominates American popular culture and, since the female body features so centrally in these fantasies, feminism is charged with disrupting a complex system that equates women with pleasure. Sucker Punch is important to this discussion because it is a unique example of a mainstream attempt to critically address dominant fantasies about women and, using the work of Laura Mulvey, Slavoj Zizek, Jeffrey Brown, Angela McRobbie and Rosalind Gill, among others, I explore the way the film gives important insight into the limits of successfully emptying fantasy of pleasure. I divide the film's engagement with pleasure into two main areas: postfeminism and male desire. Ultimately Sucker Punch offers a disturbing vision of the way postfeminist empowerment fantasies (which are broken up into empowerment through female sexuality and empowerment through violence) map onto male heterosexual fantasies that encourage and allow women to be sexually exploited. Further, the fact that Sucker Punch was a commercial and critical failure reveals the problems inherent in critiquing popular depictions of the female body whilst simultaneously trying to sell (and thereby popularize) that critique."],"dc:format":["application/pdf","p.103","733.5 KB"],"dc:identifier":["http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1363533555"],"dc:language":["English"],"dc:publisher":["Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK"],"dc:rights":["unrestricted","This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: all rights reserved. It may not be copied or redistributed beyond the terms of applicable copyright laws."],"dc:subject":["Film Studies","Gender Studies","Postfeminism","action heroines","fantasy","desire","Sucker Punch","l'ecriture feminine"],"dc:title":["Sucker Punch and the Political Problem of Fantasy to Female Representation"],"dc:type":["Electronic Thesis or Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Popular Culture"],"thesis:degree_level":["masters"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"],"thesis:institution_name":["Bowling Green State University"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T03:36:39Z"}