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Yara Eid PHD Proposal
1
The Alpha Female and the Femme Fatale: A Psychofeminist Reading of the New Woman in the Selected Works by August Strindberg, Veronica Roth and Gillian Flynn on Paper and Screen
Yara Eid
The Alpha Female and the Femme Fatale: A Psycho feminist Reading of the New Woman in the Selected Works by August Strindberg, Veronica Roth and Gillian Flynn on Paper and Screen
Title
In
This study aims at throwing light on the trending literary phenomena of the alpha female and the femme fatale and how most of the recent successful writings of all genres are mainly led by struggling, fighting and even avenging women of different ages. Readers not only accept, grasp and understand those surviving women, but also relate to them for their vulnerability as well as their audacity. Therefore, the present researcher discusses these two concepts that define the portrayal of the new woman in literature throughout the light of the psycho-feminist studies that would interpret the psychological disorders and social borders that would drive a lady to become either an alpha female or a femme fatale.
Intro
For the alpha female and the femme fatale , they are not two different terms as much as they are two consecutive and developmental phases. In other words, it is propable that an alpha female, a dominant lady, due to some certain psychological and social factors, would turn into a femme fatale or a killing machine". So, I suggest dealing with both concepts from a psychofeminist reading and how one would lead to the other as if they two faces of the same new woman, who is capable of leading and avenging as well.
Intro.1
It is also worthy to mention how psycho-feminism has undoubtedly contributed to critical studies as it offers such broad and wide-ranging themes and issues related to the literary/ cinematic representation of women. Subsequently, the readers and the viewers have an unprecedented chance to work on important concepts and terms to reach an in-depth analysis of the alpha females and femme fatales in the selected adapted works.
Intro.2
Speaking of psychofeminism, it is a branch of psychology that critiques the feminist psyche within the social/ psychological boundaries as well as the problems of identity and psychiatric disorders. Consequently, the researcher studies how each female protagonist has certain challenges. Moreover, psycho-feminism has undoubtedly contributed to critical studies as it offers such broad and wide-ranging themes and issues related to the literary/ cinematic representation of women. Subsequently, the readers and the viewers have an unprecedented chance to work on important concepts and terms to reach an in-depth analysis of the alpha females and femme fatales in the selected adapted works.
Intro.3
- Chapter One
The Psychoanalytic Interpretation of the Alpha Female.
It tackles the awakening of the alpha female protagonists from a psychoanalytic perspective, throughout focusing on the psychological disorders, social borders and the cultural transforming changes, which the selected alpha females have to go through and battle with.
Chapter 1
For example, in the first part of this chapter, the researcher presents a psychoanalytic scanning of August Strindberg's Miss Julie (1889) and her
* Hysteria
* Double Identity
* Confused sexual identity
* Anger
* Psychological/ Social Dissatisfaction
Moreover, the researcher suggests how Julie's psychological challenges have restrained her from winning her battle against her own self , that's why she commits suicide.
Ch1.1
Also, the researcher makes a critical comparison and a cross reference to Henrik Ibsen's Nora in A Doll's House. That is another alpha female who, same as Julie, suffers from the psychological dilemma of the double identity and the egotistical conflicts. Additionally, this chapter highlights Nora's metamorphosis from a shallow silent woman into an independent one. In this regard, the researcher does a close psychoanalytic analysis of Nora's cycle of change towards being a new woman.
Ch1.2
Ch1.3
On the other hand, in the same chapter, this study sheds light on Veronica Roth's alpha female "Tris"in her novel Divergent,throughout introducing a psychofeminist reading of Tris's
Defense Mechanism as a method of survival
Fear of failure and anxiety
seeking for superiority and accomplishing it
Likely, the researcher adopts a cross reference to Margaret Atwood's "Offred" in the Handmaid's tale and how" Offred", as well as "Tris" manages to survive by creating her own defense Mechanism as a means of escapism.
Chapter 2
Chapter two
The Psychopathic Analysis of the Femme Fatale .
It focuses on how a superior alpha female would evolve into a femme fatal who can be extremely fierce, deceptive and even aggressive. This phenomenal femme fatal is capable of committing ghastly psychopathic avenging acts, which assure that strong ladies can startlingly turn on their devious mode and destructive powers once they are degraded, offended or heartbroken. Thus, the researcher traces this literary / cinematic phenomenon of the psychopathic feminist revenge throughout selected literary works as well as their cinematic adaptations. In this perspective, this study delves deep into these vengeful ladies’ psyche and how they have been psychologically influenced by a hateful incident or the revenge instinct itself.
2. 1
For example, in the first part, the researcher discusses Gillian Flynn’s “Amy”, in Gone Girl (2012), the psychopathic avenging female who decides to frame her husband in the crime of killing her. So, she plans to frame him in a murder under the public eye and executes revenge in a cold sociopathic manner. This critical study would explore Amy’s Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) that interprets her impulsiveness, mental instability and psychopathic scheme.
2.2
In this regard, the researcher also studies and compares Flynn’s sociopath to Lisbeth Salander, the exquisite femme fatal of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy (2005), from a psycho-feminist approach. This is due to her psychopathic plotting to torture her rapist, who used to extort and abuse her in a horrid way. In this respect, the researcher uncovers Salander’s suffering from Post traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and displays its symptoms that are quite obvious in her antisocial and disconnected personal traits, especially after being severely maltreated multiple times by different abusers. However, it did not stop her from being a brilliant computer hacker who could outdo “Blomkvist”, the male investigative journalist, in solving crimes and mysteries.
2.3
For the second part of the chapter, the researcher traces the psychological and physical scars of Camille and Adora, the troubled mother and daughter in Gillian Flynn’s Sharp Objects (2006), in which the mother suffers from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSP) since she forced her daughter to act sick till she died, while Camille directs her rage and stress towards her own body by making scars and cutting her body. In this part, the researcher highlights Adora’s psychological disorder and Camille’s childhood trauma and memories of her mother’s abuse.
2.3
Accordingly, a cross reference is made to the maniac psychopathic revenge of Carrie in Stephen King’s Carrie (1974) . This is due to this young lady’s discomforting mutation from a tormented victim of brutal sadism and humiliating bullying into a fearful monster using her telekinetic powers in killing her abusive mother and vicious school mates. Therefore, this chapter presents a psychoanalytic reading of the novel’s femme fatale “Carrie White” on both paper and screen. Additionally, the researcher writes about Carrie’s depressive paranoid-schizoid anxiety as a result of being brought up in a hostile environment by a hating mother.
Ch 3.1
Chapter three
The Psycho-Feminist Studies and the Rise of the Screen Adaptations
It presents the creative intersection between literature and cinema as well as the rewarding outcomes of such an artistic integration. Besides, the researcher introduces a theoretical background that defines the screen adaptation theory throughout focusing on the independent authentic identity of such dramatic method, along with its refined techniques. It also gives serious attention to the most frequent terms of the screen adaptation theory such as intertextuality, transmediality, hypotextuality, etc. Moreover, this chapter investigates the experience of reading a book versus watching its adapted movie, play or TV series. On the other hand, the researcher mirrors the stepping up of the alpha female phenomenon on screen throughout shedding light on the selected screen adaptations of the selected works under study.
Chapter 3
Ch3.1
In other words, this chapter elucidates how literature does not only have a psychoanalytic aspect but also a cinematic one. This intermingling and resonance between the theory of adaptation and the psychoanalytic feminism can be clarified throughout the theoretical backgrounds and terms of both in addition to an applied psycho-feminist analysis of the different adaptations that reflect the influence of the cinematic magic in advocating and delineating the psychoanalytic /feminist reading of a text. Such critical study scans the artistic signs of the characters’ performance on screen and how far it echoes the scenes on paper.
Therefore, the researcher peers into the selected theatrical, cinematic and televised adaptations of the previously mentioned works so as to look into the vital and serious contributions made by film makers in decoding the psycho feminist dimensions of the selected alpha females and femme fatales.
Ch3.2
Conclusion
The researcher would briefly go over the covered arguments and viewpoints in the paper so as to state the findings and implications of this study.