Wednesday 15th October, 5pm – 7pm, KLT5
School of Arts Research Seminar
The antihero series in American television revolves around a morally bad protagonist, nearly always male. In this talk I discuss how women are portrayed in the antihero series by focusing on two questions. First, I investigate how the (male) antihero’s wife is portrayed, with special focus on Skyler White in Breaking Bad, but also drawing parallels to other wives such as Carmela Soprano (The Sopranos) and Abby Donovan (Ray Donovan). I suggest that the portrayal of the antihero’s wife often impedes sympathy with her. She is tied to a home that is typically presented as unhappy and restricting. Her resistance to her husband’s illegal escapades can make her appear as a drag, a kill-joy and an obstacle to the fun and entertaining suspense sequences that in many ways can be said to offer the spectator the enjoyable transgressions at the heart of the antihero narrative. Second, I compare this portrayal of the (male) antihero and his wife to the portrayal of the female antihero, such as Jackie Peyton (Nurse Jackie), Anastasia/Carrie Hopewell (Banshee), Nancy Botwin (Weeds) and Patty Hewes (Damages).
Dr Margrethe Bruun Vaage is Lecturer in Film at the University of Kent. Her main area of research is the spectator’s engagement with fictional films and television series, and more specifically the imagination, the emotions and the moral psychology of fiction. She has published papers in journals such as the British Journal of Aesthetics, Midwest Studies in Philosophy and Screen. She is currently writing a book entitled The Antihero in American Television (under contract, Routledge).