Unlikeable Female Characters

The Women Pop Culture Wants You to Hate

By: Anna Bogutskaya, Terri White - foreword

Narrated by: Raquel Beattie

How bitches, trainwrecks, shrews, and crazy women have taken over pop culture and liberated women from having to be nice.

Female characters throughout history have been burdened by the moral trap that is likeability. Any woman who dares to reveal her messy side has been treated as a cautionary tale. Today, unlikeable female characters are everywhere in film, TV, and wider pop culture. For the first time ever, they are being accepted by audiences and even showered with industry awards. We are finally accepting that women are—gasp—fully fledged human beings. How did we get to this point?

Unlikeable Female Characters traces the evolution of highly memorable female characters, examining what exactly makes them popular, how audiences have reacted to them, and the ways in which pop culture is finally allowing us to celebrate the complexities of being a woman. Anna Bogutskaya, film programmer, broadcaster, and cofounder of the horror film collective and podcast The Final Girls takes us on a journey through popular film, TV, and music, looking at the nuances of womanhood on and off-screen to reveal whether pop culture—and society—is finally ready to embrace complicated women.

©2023 Anna Bogutskaya (P)2023 Tantor

Exceptional!

Absolutely loved this book! The breakdown of female characters in tv and film throughout history was so interesting. 10/10 would recommend!

Soooo good!!

I just wanted to leave a 5 star review Audible why are you like this 😭