Karin Beeler

Seers, Witches and Psychics on Screen

An Analysis of Women Visionary Characters in Recent Television and Film

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

This book addresses the pervasive representation of women with unique visionary abilities in postfeminist television series and films from the 1990s to the present. These women mediate between the living and the dead or between different worlds of experience, redefining what it means to be "normal" and challenging the traditional boundary between science and the inner world of visionary, mystical experience. Part 1 includes a discussion of modern-day Cassandra figures, including the witches and other "seers" of the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Charmed, Hex, and Tru Calling. Part 2 discusses modern television shows whose main characters represent a contemporary spin on Joan of Arc, including Joan of Arcadia and the short-lived Wonderfalls. Finally, Part 3 investigates female mediums and other "psychic detectives" in reality television series such as Psychic Investigators and Rescue Mediums; the popular television dramas Medium, Ghost Whisperer, and Afterlife; and contemporary films such as Ghost, The Gift, and Premonition.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: McFarland
• Seitenzahl: 220
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Oktober 2008
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 13mm
• Gewicht: 365g
• ISBN-13: 9780786433469
• ISBN-10: 0786433469
• Artikelnr.: 23898464

Autorenporträt

Karin Beeler is the English department chair at the University of Northern British Columbia in Canada. She has published in various areas of film and television studies, including screen culture for children.

Inhaltsangabe

Table of Contents
Acknowledgments     
Introduction     
Part 1. Postfeminist Cassandras: Seers, "Witches" and Women Who Know the
Future
ONE. Cheerleader/Seer: The Hybrid Visions of Cordelia Chase in Buffy the
Vampire Slayer and Angel     
TWO. The Transformation of River Tam: Psychic Warrior, Female Prodigy and
Anti-Hero in Firefly and Serenity     
THREE. Phoebe and the Power of Sight: The Witch as Seer in Charmed     
FOUR. Visions of the "Mad" Outsider in Hex: Cassandra, Witches and Lesbian
Appetite     
FIVE. Postfeminist Savior: Seeing the Future and Reliving the Day in Tru
Calling     
Part 2. Joan of Arc in Contemporary Television: Images of a Reluctant Seer
SIX. Teen Visions of God: Postfeminist Heroism and Genre Crossing in Joan
of Arcadia     
SEVEN. Joan of Arc in Niagara Falls: Signs of a Seer and Cross-Cultural
Contact in Wonderfalls     
Part 3. Investigating the Dead: Mediums and Psychic Detectives
EIGHT. Psychic Women, "Dead" Men and the Search for Truth: Cross-Gender
Communication in Ghost, The Gift and Premonition     
NINE. Rescue Mediums and Psychic Investigators: Television for Women and
Paranormal Programming     
TEN. Resisting the Myth of the Bad Mother: Psychic Visions and Maternal
Anxiety in NBC's Medium     
ELEVEN. Looking for Closure: Investigating Mothers, Daughters and Disease
in Ghost Whisperer     
TWELVE. A Medium's Visions of a Third Space: Finding Family in the U.K.
Series Afterlife     
Conclusion     
Chapter Notes     
Bibliography     
Index