Date of Award

Spring 4-18-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

English

First Advisor

Dr. Lauren Pilcher

Second Advisor

Dr. Stefanie Sevcik

Third Advisor

Dr. Julian Knox

Abstract

By analyzing relevant cultural contexts to the popularity of the “Good for Her” genre, such as the “#MeToo” movement, the Trump presidency, and the resurgence of conservatism in the United States, the development of the “Good for Her” genre and its impact can be made clear. Given the genre’s development through social discourse on social media, it has become a universal and collaborative representation of liberation from oppressive experiences under a patriarchal society. The lead women in these films give those who experience patriarchal oppression a reprieve and an opportunity for catharsis they would not typically get in a male-led, male-focused film. The genre reinforces and builds upon the works of feminist film theorists such as Carol Clover and Laura Mulvey by offering a more contemporary evolution of Clover’s “Final Girl” through the combination of slasher and Final Girl to create the “Good for Her” films’ “victim-villain” and Mulvey’s theory of the “male gaze” by subverting and satirizing the typical female objectification of the old-school horror genre. Promising Young Woman acts as a definitive example of the genre and a crucial representation of the reality of rape culture while depicting a sense of voyeuristic and vicarious revenge and catharsis against the systems of patriarchal oppression that exist within the United States

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