The fourth wave has decidedly arrived, celebrating women and minorities in central roles. Utopias like Black Panther celebrate nonEuropean alternate paths. Disney princesses reject the old patterns. Now women can be Ghostbusters or Jedi, captain Stormtroopers, fly the TARDIS. Superheroines have found a sense of humor. Meanwhile, self-publishing and internet platforms have dispersed with many gatekeepers and established new levels of diversity. Thanks to the speed of the internet, backlash for this new wave appears simultaneous. However, progress keeps coming. Fans are finding alternatives to the Bechdel Test and clamoring for diverse creators, even as they discover amazing alternatives to bland strong female characters and gratuitous sexualization. While these trends were already appearing in books, comics, and television, cracking the most expensive medium of film has meant real global change. Youtube available at https://studio.youtube.com/video/e_hCmnqPfXg

1. 4th Wave Feminism
In Fantasy and Science
Fiction

2. First Wave
• 1860-1890 Sought the
right to vote, own
property, serve on a
jury, run for office, have
the law treat them fairly,
not be property. Anti-
slavery, not pro-equality

3. First Wave
• WWI changed perception and women got
the vote in Canada (1917), Britain and
Germany (1918), Austria and the
Netherlands (1919) and the United States
(1920).
• Women of color often did not.

4. First Wave Authors
• In Blazing World (1666), Margaret
Cavendish imagines a utopian kingdom with
herself as empress. Also Mary E. Bradley,
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Thea von Harbou
• Gothic: Mary Shelley, Kate Chopin, Gilman,
Gertrude Barrows Bennett
• Baroness Orczy’s Scarlet Pimpernel
• Virginia Woolf’s Orlando
• More in the 1930s and 40s with the pulp
magazines

5. Second Wave
• Equal pay, equal opportunities
• Female citizens not only lost their names
when they married; they were denied their
own credit cards, bank loans, and
insurance policies.
• Criticized for focusing on middle-class
white women
• LGBTQ are entering counter-culture but
not very integrated with feminism

6. Second Wave SF

7. Second Wave SF
• Ursula K. Le Guin The Left Hand of
Darkness
• Joanna Russ The Female Man
• Hélène Cixous, La
• Gerd Brantenberg Egalia's Daughters: A
Satire of the Sexes.
• Pamela Sargent’s Women of Wonder
• James Tiptree Jr.
• Marge Piercy Woman on the Edge of Time
• Octavia Butler Lilith’s Brood (80s)

8. Third Wave Goals
• Many international conferences (Nairobi,
Mexico City, Cairo, Beijing) with more
focus on race, class, religion, and sexual
orientation. This wave brought the fight
for social citizenship, based on a refined
understanding of intersectionality.
• Anti-discrimination legislation and pro-
active social inclusion programs

9. Third Wave/Girl Power
• Powerful women, white, blonde, gorgeous
• Most are somehow ridiculous, campy and
unrealistic, seeking traditional romance
• Young women emphasized assertiveness
through glamor and even materialism.
• Best friend of color, sweeps week lesbian
kiss

10. Third Wave SF

11. Third Wave SF and F
• Harry Potter, Ender’s Game, Sandman
• Mercedes Lackey, Tamora Pierce, Marion
Zimmer Bradley, Anne McCaffrey
• Connie Willis, Kim Stanley Robinson, Mary
Doria Russell, Lois McMaster Bujold, C.J.
Cherryh, Margaret Atwood, Lois Lowry
• Multicultural fairytales, sidekicks of color,
tolerance
• Lord of the Rings onscreen, Star Wars
prequels, Twilight, Sailor Moon

12. Third Wave SF

13. Concepts
• Feminist essays and websites start
conversations:
• Bechdel Test
• Male Gaze
• The Smurfette Principle
• Fridging/ Black characters dying
• Agency

14. The Fourth Wave Arrives
• The Hunger Games (2012)
• Divergent (2014-2016)
• The Heat (2013)
• Pacific Rim (2013)
• The 5th Wave (2015)
• Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
• Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
• X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)
• Ghostbusters (2016)
• Wonder Woman (2017)
• Ghost in the Shell (2017)
• Logan (2017), Atomic Blonde (2017), Ghost in the Shell (2017), Red Sparrow
(2018), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), A Wrinkle in Time (2018), Annihilation
(2018), Bumblebee (2018), Black Panther (2018), Mortal Engines (2018), Alita:
Battle Angel (2019), Men in Black International (2019), Captain Marvel (2019),
Dark Phoenix (2019)

15. What Is 4th Wave?
• Intersectional
• Multicultural
• Agency
• Own Voices
• Less sexualized
• Internet-era
Pushback

16. Stand-Out Authors
• Rick Riorden Presents/We Need Diverse
Books
• Lady Astronaut
• N.K. Jemisin, Nisi Shawl, Nnedi Okorafor,
Sarah Pinsker, Seanan McGuire, Marjorie
Liu, Naomi Novik, Rebecca Roanhorse,
Nalo Hopkinson, Catherynne M. Valente,
S.A. Chakraborty, Tomi Adeyemi, Ausma
Zehanat Khan, Priya Sharma, Sheree
Renee Thomas, Malinda Lo

17. Intersectional
• Models characters learning to care about
other groups’ problems and fight for them.
• Acknowledging unconscious
issues like implicit bias.

18. Multicultural

19. Agency
• The Bechdel Test isn’t enough
• Some want the Mako Mori
test—she’s most the star of
Pacific Rim but drives her own
plotline.

20. Internet Pushback
• Star Wars protests added
more women
• Doctor Strange (2016),
Marvel’s Iron Fist (2017-
2018) and Ghost in the
Shell (2017) were all
criticized for whitewashing
• Pushback: Ghostbusters,
Last Jedi, Captain Marvel
• Sad Puppies

21. Own Voices

22. Female Creators
• Wonder Woman’s Patty Jenkins became the
first female director to helm a major superhero
film. Also, Frozen, Bend It Like Beckham,
Bride & Prejudice, Persepolis, Deep Impact.
• Female scriptwriters: Frozen, Fifty Shades,
Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain Marvel,
Alice in Wonderland (2010), Maleficent,
Divergent, Tomb Raider (2018), Nanny
McPhee, The Danish Girl, Kick-Ass, Rise of
the Planet of the Apes, Miss Peregrine, King
Kong, Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Twilight

23. Older Heroines
• Ocean’s Eight, How to Get Away with Murder,
Star Trek Discovery, Orphan Black, Harry
Potter and the Cursed Child, Thor: Ragnarok,
and A Wrinkle in Time.

24. LGBTQ
• Trans protagonists: Supergirl,
Orange Is the New Black, Pose,
Sense 8, and Glee.
• Gay central characters finally broke
into the biggest television franchises
– Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the
DC Arrowverse.

25. Gender- and Race-Flipping
• Women and people of color were emphasizing that the world of superheroes
should be shared by all.
• Hamilton! Doctor Who, Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, Gwenpool, Lady Thor, Ghost
Spider

26. Disney

27. Today
in
Comics
Comics
•Monstress, Saga, Bitch Planet, Paper Girls

28. Star Wars

29. Coming to the Big
Screen…

30. vefrankel.com
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