The Persephone Complex: Post-feminist Impasses in Popular Heroine Television

Abstract

In this thesis I examine why the myth of Persephone is being retold in post-feminist media cultures where traditional feminist critiques have been otherwise foreclosed. Using psychoanalytic theory, I argue that this Persephone is a symptom of an impasse around the question of what it means to be a woman. I consider four popular television heroines who personify this phenomenon––Ally McBeal, Sydney Bristow, Veronica Mars and Meredith Grey––to demonstrate how Persephone’s story animates the question of sexuation or sexual difference today.