Graduation Year
2017
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Media Studies
Reader 1
Mark Andrejevic
Reader 2
Jih-Fei Cheng
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2016 Natalie M. Eisen
Abstract
This thesis explores the idea of the “monstrous-feminine,” or the idea that female monsters of television and film are linked to their femininity in a way that male monsters are not linked to their masculinity. Using the work of scholars such as Barbara Creed, Shelley Stamp Lindsey, and Jane M. Ussher, the thesis covers various facets of women’s lives as seen through the distorted lens of the monstrous. The character of Helena from the television show Orphan Black is used as a concrete example of the stages of the monstrous-feminine: the girl-child, menstruation and puberty, sexuality, and motherhood.
Recommended Citation
Eisen, Natalie, ""She's Not a Real Monster": Orphan Black's Helena and the Monstrous-Feminine" (2017). Scripps Senior Theses. 929.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/929
This Honors Capstone is an updated version of the thesis submitted in Fall 2017
