Dreadful Women: An Exploration of Gender-Based Social Values and Expectations Through Viewer and Critical Reception of Female Antagonists on Television

Author

Emma Gavin, Scripps CollegeFollow

Graduation Year

Spring 2014

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Department

Media Studies

Reader 1

Elizabeth Affuso

Reader 2

Nancy Macko

Terms of Use & License Information

Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

© 2014 Emma Gavin

Abstract

By examining viewer reception of female antagonists in traditionally feminine roles on television—particularly the role of wives and mothers who have husbands to answer to and children to look after and are thus expected, in some form, to act as a caretaker or guide for others—we can explore modern societal attitudes towards female agency and gender-based expectations of behavior.

Recommended Citation

Gavin, Emma, "Dreadful Women: An Exploration of Gender-Based Social Values and Expectations Through Viewer and Critical Reception of Female Antagonists on Television" (2014). Scripps Senior Theses. 448.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/448