Call for Essays

Edited Anthology

The Heroine's Tale: Reimagining The Female Hero's Journey in the New Millennium 

We are seeking essays for an edited collection titled “The Heroine's Tale: Reimagining The Female Hero's Journey in the New Millennium.” This collection considers the role of the contemporary heroine, aiming to take stock of existing conversations and debates related to cultural and creative representations of heroines and heroinism and providing the basis for new directions of inquiry.

The past two decades have seen landmark moments for women that likewise reflect a nuanced and often-fractured notion of what it means to be a heroine in the new millennium. From female-centered shows such as Showtime’s SMILF and the Amazon original I Love Dick, to Time’s decision to name “the silence breakers” its 2017 “Person of the Year,” the past ten years reflect an increased presence of women both in front of and behind the camera, challenging the patriarchal norms present in Hollywood. Such challenges are evident in a shift reflected in popular culture’s (re)depictions of independent and iconic female characters and personages on both the small and big screen (e.g., A Handmaid’s Tale, Scandal, Wonder Woman, Hidden Figures, etc.).

This book will survey the changing role of the heroine in popular culture, discuss how representations of heroinism have changed and remained the same in the wake of significant feminist benchmarks, and explore how conceptions of the heroine have been impacted by processes of adaptation and transmediation. 

Possible topics might include (but are not limited to): 

• Historical understandings of heroines and heroinism
• Heroine character types (e.g., mothers, teachers, advocates, professionals, entrepreneurs)
• Adaptations of heroines in any medium (e.g., film, novel, graphic novel, illustration, fan fiction, gaming)
• Figurative adaptations of heroines (e.g., female anti-hero, female serial killer)
• Intertextual heroines (e.g., Gossip Girl and The Age of Innocence, Sex and the City and Girls)
• Changing trends in representing heroines and heroinism in response to social and political impetus 

Preference will be given to essays that address identity politics in female-centered texts (e.g. Orange Is the New Black, Insecure).

Contributor guidelines: 

• Completed essay (7,000-8,000 words) emailed as a MS Word document or PDF.

Please also include:

• Abstract (150-250 words)
• Brief biography of each author/coauthor (50-80 words)

Deadline: December 2, 2024

Please submit all materials and any questions to Caroline Smith (cjsmith7@gwu.edu).

Kate Newell

Executive Dean of Academic Services

Savannah College of Art and Design

knewell@scad.edu

Caroline J. Smith

Associate Professor, University Writing Program

George Washington University

cjsmith7@gwu.edu