I’m (Not) A Girl: Animating Experiences of Girlhood in Bob’s Burgers
Authors
Barnett, KatieAffiliation
University of ChesterPublication Date
2019-03-01
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Discourses of girlhood increasingly acknowledge its mutability, with the ‘girl’ as a complex image that cannot adequately be conceptualized by age or biology alone. Likewise, theories of animation often foreground its disruptive potential. Taking an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses girlhood studies, animation studies, and screen studies, this article analyses the representation of the two main girl characters, Tina and Louise Belcher, in the animated sitcom Bob’s Burgers (2011–present). Taking this concept of mutability as its central focus, it argues that animation is an ideal medium for representing girlhood, given its disruptive potential and non-linear capacities, whereby characters are often frozen in time. With no commitment to aging its young female characters, Bob’s Burgers is instead able to construct a landscape of girlhood that allows for endless reversal, contradiction and overlap in the experiences of Tina and Louise, whose existence as animations reveals girlhood as a liminal space in which girls can be one thing and the other – gullible and intelligent, vulnerable and strong, sexual and innocent – without negating their multifarious experiences.Citation
Barnett, K. (2019). "I’m (Not) A Girl: Animating Experiences of Girlhood in Bob’s Burgers." Journal of Popular Television, 7(1), 3-23.Publisher
IntellectJournal
Journal of Popular TelevisionAdditional Links
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/intellect/jptv/2019/00000007/00000001/art00001;jsessionid=3olbqvfqioegh.x-ic-live-03Type
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
2046-9861ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1386/jptv.7.1.3_1
Scopus Count
Collections
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/