"A fresh feminist appraisal of the pop culture canon." - Publishers Weekly How bitches
trainwrecks shrews and crazy women have taken over pop culture and liberated women from
having to be nice. Female characters throughout history have been burdened by the moral trap
that is likeability. Any woman who dares to reveal her messy side has been treated as a
cautionary tale. Today unlikeable female characters are everywhere in film TV and wider pop
culture. For the first time ever they are being accepted by audiences and even showered with
industry awards. We are finally accepting that women are-gasp-fully fledged human beings. How
did we get to this point? Unlikeable Female Characters traces the evolution of highly memorable
female characters examining what exactly makes them popular how audiences have reacted to
them and the ways in which pop culture is finally allowing us to celebrate the complexities of
being a woman. Anna Bogutskaya film programmer broadcaster and co-founder of the horror film
collective and podcast The Final Girls takes us on a journey through popular film TV and
music looking at the nuances of womanhood on and off-screen to reveal whether pop culture-and
society-is finally ready to embrace complicated women. Praise for Unlikeable Female Characters
: "Fascinating insightful and kick-ass." -Emma Jane Unsworth internationally bestselling
author of Grown Ups and Animals "Beautifully written." -Chelsea G. Summers author of A Certain
Hunger "Part-cultural exposé part-Taylor Swift album." -Clarisse Loughrey Chief Film Critic
at The Independent "Brilliant masterpiece breaking down the tired tropes of TV and beyond."
-Aparna Shewakramani author of She's Unlikeable and star of Indian Matchmaking
