He comes back badder and bigger than ever!' : Adapting the masculine and negotiating the feminine in treasure-hunting adventure narratives

Over the last decades, genre fiction has witnessed the invasion of a host of female authors writing from a self-consciously feminist perspective who have shaken the structural and ideological foundations of genres such as romance, detective and science fiction. Some genres such as adventure, however, have remained recalcitrantly impervious to change and the ideological premises from which adventure operates remain essentially masculinist. Taking some recent examples of treasure-hunting adventure narratives as case studies, my aim in this paper is to analyse how adventure has incorporated superficial textual changes while failing to effect a profound transformation in the nature and form of its discourse, remaining a mummified stronghold of patriarchal conventions which are becoming increasingly outmoded

Sex and the City or How to Be Single and not Die in the Attempt

One of HBO’s television series Sex in the City’s major attractions is its obvert defence of women’s independence in a context in which thirtysomething single white (or otherwise) females are regarded as a social anomaly and are still judged and, above all, valued according to their capacity to find a partner and become wives and mothers. Like other examples of post-feminist or chick-lit fiction, however, Sex and the City’s defence of female independence stops short of fully embracing spinsterhood has a fulfilling option for women. This paper focuses on the limitations of postfeminist fiction to escape the patriarchal conventions that still regulate social interaction in both the public and the private spheres

Dexter: Villain, hero or simply a man? The perpetuation of traditional masculinity in Dexter

The paper analyses how television series Dexter generates complicity with its serial killer protagonist, Dexter Morgan, not only by giving him a heroic edge that overrides the monstrosity of his crimes, but also by focusing on his attempts to blend in and pass undetected by posing as a caring partner, father and co-worker. Dexter’s efforts to curve his inborn violence into submission and to appear as the New Man envisioned in our supposedly post-feminist state of affairs, however, do not prosper and the series ends up promoting an image of men as inherently aggressive, individualist and selfish. Dexter, I argue, does not manage to countermand a construction of masculinity based on violence and endorses a patriarchal ethos actively and stubbornly engaged in its self-preservation.El artículo analiza cómo la serie Dexter genera complicidad con el asesino en serie protagonista, Dexter Morgan, no sólo proporcionándole atributos heroicos que nos hacen olvidar la monstruosidad de sus crímenes, sino también presentando a Dexter como un hombre ‘normal’ que intenta pasar inadvertido haciéndose pasar por un buen esposo, padre y compañero de trabajo. Los intentos de Dexter de controlar su violencia y estar a la altura del ideal postfeminista de lo que debe ser un hombre, sin embargo, no tienen éxito y la serie acaba promoviendo una imagen de la masculinidad basada en la agresión, la individualidad y el egoísmo. Dexter, por lo tanto, no logra desligar la masculinidad de la violencia y activamente promueve la supervivencia del sistema patriarcal

<i>Sexo en Nueva York</i> o cómo ser soltera y no morir en el intento

One of HBO’s television series Sex in the City’s major attractions is its obvert defence of women’s independence in a context in which thirtysomething single white (or otherwise) females are regarded as a social anomaly and are still judged and, above all, valued according to their capacity to find a partner and become wives and mothers. Like other examples of post-feminist or chick-lit fiction, however, Sex and the City’s defence of female independence stops short of fully embracing spinsterhood has a fulfilling option for women. This paper focuses on the limitations of postfeminist fiction to escape the patriarchal conventions that still regulate social interaction in both the public and the private spheres

Sex and the City or How to Be Single and not Die in the Attempt

One of HBO’s television series Sex in the City’s major attractions is its obvert defence of women’s independence in a context in which thirtysomething single white (or otherwise) females are regarded as a social anomaly and are still judged and, above all, valued according to their capacity to find a partner and become wives and mothers. Like other examples of post-feminist or chick-lit fiction, however, Sex and the City’s defence of female independence stops short of fully embracing spinsterhood has a fulfilling option for women. This paper focuses on the limitations of postfeminist fiction to escape the patriarchal conventions that still regulate social interaction in both the public and the private spheres