The distortion of feminism in serial fiction. Representation and perception of the mis-narrative of the feminine in Bridgerton

The representation of women on screen has been and continues to be a relevant issue (Buonanno 2014; Buonanno, Faccioli 2020), as it manages to both express current ideas about the feminine and influence perceptions and imagery about the sexes (Ciofalo, Leonzi, Quercia 2021). In the field of serial fiction, narratives have recently been influenced by the multifaceted post-feminist current, which considers women free and self-possessed, but at the same time in constant search of the male figure, between hyperfeminization, denial of feminism and the search for a new status quo (McRobbie 2004). Telling the post-feminine has therefore been complex, giving rise to probable disorders in its representation, and subsequently of its perception: on some occasions the desire for women's affirmation has been portrayed in a distorted way, almost as dominant and overbearing towards the other sex. In such narratives, moreover, the female body is used as a means of exercising power, damaging those attracted to it, giving rise to a kind of "toxic feminism" (McCann 2020). The goal of this study is to understand the characteristics of such representations and the resulting effects on perception. In this occasion, the dynamics of a kind of "female supremacy" represented in Bridgerton, a product of Shondaland productions, famous for its female-driven narratives, are observed (Griffin, Meyer 2019). Content analysis (Krippendorff 2018) on the episodes of the first season brought out mis-represented forms of the feminine and made it possible to identify a controversial passage in which this is particularly evident: the debated rape by the protagonist against her husband. In this regard, a qualitative analysis was carried out on the articles of famous U.S. newspapers that have discussed the scene, and on the comments to the same received on Facebook. The aim is to understand the perception and the degree of tolerance towards such a scene, as well as towards a gaze defined by the narrative as feminine that seems to be subject, on the contrary, to a fe-male gaze (Mulvey 1975), representing an empowered female character somewhat negatively, the consequences of which, it is hypothesized, could result in forms of rejection of feminisms or even fuel misogyny.