Consumption in the city: The turn to interiority in contemporary postfeminist television. (April 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dejmanee, Tisha
• Is Part Of: European journal of cultural studies. Volume 19:Number 2(2016)
• Page Start: 119
• Page End: 133
• Publication Date: 2016-04
• Subjects: domesticity -- femininity -- girlie culture -- Girls -- postfeminism -- recession -- retreatism -- Sex and the City -- The Mindy Project; Culture -- Periodicals; Culture -- Popular -- Periodicals; Culture -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Cross-cultural studies -- Periodicals; 306.05
• DOI: 10.1177/1367549415585555
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1367-5494

Abstract

In this article, I discuss a postfeminist 'turn to interiority' which takes place in US postfeminist television from 2005 onwards. Drawing on the theoretical critiques of postfeminist retreatism and girlie femininity, this turn is characterised by a concern with interior spaces – reviving domesticity and the importance of finding and securing a home – as well as internalised consumption – replacing forms of material consumption with the quest for self-actualisation, particularly through eating and expressions of the authentic self. I analyse this shift through a comparative analysis of the television shows Sex and the City, Girls and The Mindy Project . I argue that the turn to interiority is a product of the US cultural context, but also that this examination evidences the malleability and longevity of postfeminist ideology. Accordingly, I argue for the continuing importance of critical scholarship on postfeminism as an insight into the failures and pervasiveness of neoliberal politics.