Killing Eve - Theorists

Question 1

Genre

Answer 1

Steve Neale.
Codes & Conventions - Subverts the typical spy-thriller genre. Women in typically masculine roles.

Question 2

Narratology

Answer 2

Todorov.
Equilibrium - Disruption - Recognition - Repair - New Equilibrium

Question 3

Feminism

Answer 3

Van Zoonen.
Subverts the notion that women’s bodies are spectacles. Keeps women in traditionally masculine roles. Villanelle presented as an amoral psychopath.

Question 4

Structuralism

Answer 4

Levi Strauss.
Binary opposites - Villanelle vs Eve.

Question 5

Representation

Answer 5

Stuart Hall.
Representation - Women of multiple ages in powerful roles, non-maternal characters.

Question 6

Intersectionality

Answer 6

bell hooks.
Represents women of colour, challenges patriarchal norms, transgressive women.

Question 7

Performativity

Answer 7

Judith Butler.
Villanelle ‘acts’ feminine and presents herself as a woman by imitating other people.

Question 8

Cultural Industries

Answer 8

Hesmondhalgh.
Minimising risk, maximising audiences: Vertical integration (BBC Studios), formatting (Sandra Oh, Phoebe Waller Bridge. Using them to attract viewers)

Question 9

Reception

Answer 9

Hall.
Encoding-decoding
Preferred, negotiated, oppositional readings
Different audience responses to Killing Eve – user comments, LGBTQ+ responses

Question 10

Fandom

Answer 10

Jenkins
Fans as active participants in construction and circulation of textual meanings.
Fan-appropriate texts – ‘textual poaching’
Fans construct social and cultural identities through borrowing and inflecting mass culture images: participatory culture (i.e Killing Eve Wikis, fan sites, social media)