Bright young women, sick of swimmin', ready to … consume? The construction of postfeminist femininity in Disney's The Little Mermaid. Issue 3 (August 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Frasl, Beatrice
• Other Names: Dahl Ulrika guest-editor.; Sundén Jenny guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: European journal of women's studies. Volume 25:Issue 3(2018:Aug.)
• Page Start: 341
• Page End: 354
• Publication Date: 2018-08
• Subjects: Disney -- heteronormativity -- postfeminism -- queer -- The Little Mermaid; Women's studies -- Europe -- Periodicals; Women -- Europe -- Social conditions -- Periodicals; Feminist theory -- Europe -- Periodicals; 305.4
• DOI: 10.1177/1350506818767709
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1350-5068

Abstract

This study assesses how Disney's The Little Mermaid can be read as a 'postfeminist text'. It uses Gill's concept of 'postfeminist sensibility' and McRobbie's understanding of postfeminism as a 'double entanglement' of feminist and antifeminist discourses in analysing the text. Furthermore it aims at contributing to the understanding of postfeminism as a pop cultural discursive mode by focusing on the ways heteronormativity structures and presupposes it. In this sense, this reading of The Little Mermaid can be understood as a case study on the heteronormativity of postfeminist discourses and representations.