The Heroine and the Meme: Participating in Feminist Discourses Online

Authors

  • Svenja Hohenstein Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5283/copas.250

Keywords:

Memes, Female Heroes, Online Feminism, Participatory Culture, Katniss Everdeen, Buffy Summers

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between feminist participatory culture and online ativism. I argue that Internet users participate in feminist discourses online by creating memes that present popular fictional female heroes such as Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games“), Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer“), or the Disney Princess Merida (Brave“). Emphasizing specific characteristics and plot points of the respective stories, memes project, spread, and celebrate feminist ideas such as female empowerment, agency, and equality.

Author Biography

  • Svenja Hohenstein, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

    Svenja Hohenstein is a research fellow of American Studies at the University of Tuebingen. The working title of her doctoral thesis is “Female Heroes in Contemporary American Culture.“ She holds an M.A. in British and North American Cultural Studies from the University of Freiburg and received the Stephen Crane Award for her M.A. thesis entitled “We’re strong, too. […] Just in a different way“ – Girl Heroes in Contemporary American Culture.“ She is an associated member of the Collaborative Research Center 948 “Heroes, Heroizations, Heroisms.“ Her research interests include Gender Studies, Popular Culture, Film and Television Studies, Heroism, and Fan Studies.

     

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Published

2016-05-13

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1 (2016)

Section

Articles

License

Creative Commons License

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work’s authorship and initial publication in this journal.

How to Cite

“The Heroine and the Meme: Participating in Feminist Discourses Online”. Current Objectives of Postgraduate American Studies, vol. 17, no. 1, May 2016, https://doi.org/10.5283/copas.250.

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