CSM professor releases new book examining “anti-heroines” in television
OMAHA, Neb. – College of Saint Mary Assistant Professor of English Dr. Molly Brost just published her first book, “The Anti-Heroine on Contemporary Television: Transgressive Women.” The book explores the term anti-heroine and how it’s been loosely applied to a wide variety of female characters on television over the past decade.
The concept for this book first came about at a pop culture conference Brost attended in 2015. “The next year I presented about books featuring anti-heroism,” says Brost. She was then encouraged to pursue the topic more and submitted a proposal. “And in the fall of 2018, I was offered a contract.”
Brost examines eight shows in her book, including Scandal, The Good Place, Girls, Jessica Jones, and You’re the Worst. She looks at what behaviors and characteristics cause female characters to be labeled anti-heroines, how those qualities and behaviors differ from those that cause men to be labeled anti-heroes, and how the label reflects society’s attitudes toward and beliefs about women.
“I’ve always written about female characters,” says Brost. “I ran across an article several years ago about the main character of ABC’s hit show Scandal, claiming that she was an anti-heroine. I thought to myself, ‘Is she really?’ So my project was exploring more of that.”
Brost found that there was a wide definition of the anti-heroine term. “One of the things that made [Scandal’s Olivia Pope] distinct was that she was striving to do the right thing in the end. And I found that many female characters on television ultimately aim to do the right thing, despite the road it takes them to get there.”
The book is published by Lexington Books and can be purchased online through Rowman & Littlefield or Amazon.
“It’s still surreal at this point,” says Brost. “My copy was delivered to me last week, but I still don’t know if I’ve totally processed it yet. But I think that will change as people begin reading and responding to it.”
Dr. Molly Brost earned her B.S. in Journalism and English from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. She obtained her master’s in English from Colorado State in 2004 and Ph.D. in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University in 2008.
