In Praise of Unlikeable Women: Exploring Unlikeability in “Postfeminist” Times in My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Fleabag

Abstract

This thesis is premised on a critique of the widespread and enduring imperative for female characters to be likeable, both in fiction and on television. My project includes a close textual analysis of Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation as well as an examination of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s television series Fleabag, both of which having been criticized for their unlikeable female characters. Instead of pathologizing these characters’ unlikeability, I direct my attention towards criticizing the current “postfeminist” position, which works to commodify feminism via the figure of the woman as empowered consumer (Tasker and Negra 2) and fetishizes aspirational female characters as a distraction from systemic sexism that continues to impact women’s lives. Decades of chick lit and chick flicks that portray female characters following patriarchal expectations have led readers to push back and label “unlikeable” the women characters that do not fit these set categories.

Both the protagonists portrayed by Moshfegh and Waller-Bridge act in a way that is disproportionate with normative expectations of womanhood by depicting feelings and experiences women have long been encouraged to suppress. In doing so, they disrupt the postfeminist claim that feminism is no longer needed, thus engaging in a form of political resistance by refusing to allow their dark emotions to be translated into patriarchal standards.

The first chapter of this thesis establishes the concrete features of postfeminism, by drawing on definitions provided by Rosalind Gill, Angela McRobbie and others. Chapters Two and Three offer an evaluation of my two case studies of My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Fleabag. These case studies of two anti-heroines are aimed to portray women that are realistically constructed by showing negative traits and behaviors that real-life women can relate to. As such, I will show how the two characters created by Moshfegh and Waller-Bridge are liberated from the high standards placed on postfeminist females. In doing that, I aim to demonstrate how the extra-textual conversation deeming these characters “unlikeable” is distinctly encoded in gendered expectations about how women should behave, as defined by our current postfeminist background.