Feminist or 'racist or whatever' : exploring mixed messages in (post)feminist 'women's comedy'

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This dissertation uses feminist critical discourse analysis of five popular "women's comedy" texts, interviews with eighty-nine viewers of those texts, and cultural content surrounding the texts in order to understand the cultural context of women's comedy including how it contributes to and reflects emerging discourses of race, gender, and feminisms. Specifically, I examine Tig Notaro's stand-up special Tig Notaro: Boyish Girl Interrupted (2015), Ali Wong's stand-up special Ali Wong: Baby Cobra (2016), Ghostbusters (2016), Trainwreck (2015), and a live stand-up performance by Leslie Jones. By using an intersectional lens to analyze the ambiguous characteristics of the current postfeminist media environment and the inherently ambiguous features of comedy, this project explores the complexity of discursive formations including the potentially contradictory ways that women's comedy engages with discourses of gender, race, and feminisms.