<i>Sucker Punch</i> and the Political Problem of Fantasy to Female Representation

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.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Popular Culture

Grantor dc:publisher

Bowling Green State University

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Mullins, Anna C C

Contributors dc:contributor

• Cragin, Becca

• Film Studies
• Gender Studies
• Postfeminism
• action heroines
• fantasy
• desire
• Sucker Punch
• l'ecriture feminine

Statement 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.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1363533555

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:etd.ohiolink.edu:bgsu1363533555