Book
English
ID: <
10670/1.lddk5k>
Abstract
International audience Inside a collection focusing on female murderers in a "post-feminist" context, the article deals with the representation of female characters in films adapted from dystopian young adult novels. I examine the way in which, inside the storylines, female teenage characters are developed in stark contrast to adult women. While teenage girls are depicted according to contemporary codes of "girl power," the images of adult women displayed inside the narrative are reminiscent of stereotyped “wicked stepmothers”. Significantly, film adaptations alter the original stories, turning male villains from the original novels into females in film adaptions. These alterations to the original stories are furthermore amplified by the recurrent staging, in the film versions, of bloody sacrificial scenes during which the young girls kill these ambiguous maternal figures.