The Warrior Women of Television: A Feminist Cultural Analysis of the New Female Body in Popular Media.(Book Review)

The Warrior Women of Television: A Feminist Cultural Analysis of the New Female Body in Popular Media. Dawn Heinecken. New York: Peter Lang, 2003.

In the past decade, there has been a remarkable increase in the popularity of films and television shows that feature tough warrior women as their protagonists. Dawn Heinecken weighs in on the current dialogue among feminist cultural critics, exploring the impact that these female heroes have on issues of gender, sexuality, and the body. Focusing on three TV shows--La Femme Nikita, Aeon Flux, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer--Heinecken argues that these characters offer new ways of conceptualizing action heroes that undermine the traditional male prototype. The introduction and first chapter provide a useful overview of the prevalent theories in feminist media studies today, covering such basics as Laura Mulvey's theory of the male gaze, and moving into a more historical analysis of male action films and female predecessors of Buffy, Nikita, and Aeon. Heinecken situates her own arguments within both a historical and theoretical framework that moves the reader seamlessly into her close readings of each show.

The bulk of the book focuses on each series in three separate chapters. Heinecken goes into detail not only about the female protagonists' shows, but also the narratives and structures that underpin how the female hero functions. She also explores all major and minor characters that appear, and any recurring themes, such as the pervasiveness of death in Buffy or the use of surveillance in Nikita. While at times this extreme attention to detail threatens to overwhelm the focus of her arguments, Heinecken manages to regroup. By the end of each chapter, she returns her attention to how the female action hero functions as a "contradictory figure" who often serves as both "eye candy and as a figure of power" (29).

To her credit, Heinecken ...