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The New Heroines in Film and Television: Post-Jungian Perspectives on Contemporary Female Characters

Author(s) : Helena Bassil-Morozow

Reviews and Endorsements

‘In this fascinating book, Helena Bassil-Morozow challenges and revises Jungian concepts in order to offer fresh insights into the evolution of the female persona. Drawing on a rich range of material, from folk tales through to fictions, contemporary films and tv programmes, she argues that the cultural templates for women are rapidly changing in response to their need to break free of the mask of femininity. Deftly analysing representations of defiant heroines, "liminal" mothers and female tricksters, she concludes that women are carving out new paths towards individuation and a fairer society.’ - Avril Horner, emeritus professor of English Literature, Kingston University

‘This is an important book for studies of gender in twenty-first century television and film, and also for those wanting to see Jungian theory grow up. Bassil-Morozow transforms Jungian notions of the persona and individuation to reveal the gender bias in traditional uses. For as The New Heroines in Film and Television demonstrates, the female persona is ubiquitous in filmed narratives, the feminine used to give meaning to male-oriented stories, or, in other words, the anima. Moreover, individuation in the Jungian sense occurs too often in its stunted masculinist form of the hero’s journey. While critiquing these conservative aspects of mainstream media, Bassil-Morozow brilliantly weaves together post-Jungian and post-Freudian ideas to show the emergence of resistant and transgressive female-centered stories. If you care about gender or film or TV, this book is a must.’- Susan Rowland, author of Jung: A Feminist Revision (2002)

‘A fiercely original account of the female protagonist in contemporary film and TV narratives. Bassil-Morozow continues the explorations of female individuation that have attracted a wide and enthusiastic readership. She traces the changes in the way recent heroines function as agents, rather than as passive characters. This is a timely book as female leads are emerging in roles which, previously, would have been unavailable to them. The book is a significant blend of Jungian and psychoanalytic film criticism.’ - Andrew Samuels, author of A New Therapy for Politics? and former professor of analytical psychology, University of Essex