Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: New Books in Popular Culture
Episode: Mary J. Magoulick, "The Goddess Myth in Contemporary Literature and Popular Culture: A Feminist Critique" (UP of Mississippi, 2022)
Description: Goddess characters are revered as feminist heroes in the popular media of many cultures. However, these goddess characters often prove to be less promising and more regressive than most people initially perceive. Goddesses in film, television, and fiction project worldviews and messages that reflect mostly patriarchal culture (including essentialized gender assumptions), in contrast to the feminist, empowering levels many fans and critics observe.Building on critiques of other skeptical scholars, The Goddess Myth in Contemporary Literature and Popular Culture: A Feminist Critique (University Press of Mississippi, 2022) deepens how our remythologizing of the ancient past reflects a contemporary wor...