Elisabeth Krieber

Department	Department of English and American Studies
PhD Supervisor	Univ.-Prof. Dr. Ralph J. Poole
PhD Co-Supervisor	tba
Start	SoSe 2017
Contact
Topic/Title	Subversive Female Performances in Visual Media (Working Title)

Abstract

The portrayal of women in visual media is a striking example of how our collective consciousness is constantly influenced by cultural myths. The elegant female nude in classical art, the seductive object of desire in films, and the glamorous embodiment of contemporary beauty ideals in advertising have shaped and disseminated an image of women that defines them by their appearance and stylises them to meet the demands of the heteronormative male gaze.Although much has changed between the publication of Laura Mulvey’s influential essay ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ and today’s portrayal of the independent post-feminist woman in the mainstream media, gendered subjectivity is still reinforced by categorical stereotypes. In order to highlight the ideological bias on which the construction of such representational standards is based, the underlying processes of naturalisation must be exposed. This can be achieved through new, subversive forms of representation.In my doctoral thesis, I aim to examine subversive artistic performances in visual media that critically engage with female subjectivity and, through their representational practices, challenge femininity as a clearly definable category. The artists’ engagement with established binary gender categories, cultural stereotypes and conventions of visual.