This book explores the changing portrayal of leading female characters in 21st-century security TV shows set behind the scenes of democratic regimes facing multifaceted threats, from jihadist terrorism to health risks.
Offering an in-depth examination of several case studies, the authors speak to a larger debate on the differences of women’s representations in security TV series within and between geographical and cultural areas. Beginning with a definition of this popular genre of TV series and highlighting its specificities, the book brings together researchers from media studies, humanities, philosophy, and gender studies to interrogate new forms of visibility of female figures in popular culture.
This book will appeal to scholars, postgraduate students, and research students working in film studies, media studies, popular culture studies, gender studies, philosophy, and sociology.
This book explores the changing portrayal of leading female characters in 21st Century security TV – shows set behind the scenes of democratic regimes facing multifaceted threats, from jihadist terrorism to health risks. It will appeal to film studies, media studies, popular culture studies, gender studies, philosophy, and sociology.
Introduction. Grammar of Understanding: Ways of Being, Feeling, and
Seeing Women in Security Television
1. Women Are Taking the Lead! Focus on the Character of Claire Underwood in
House of Cards
2. Nothing New in the East: Instrumentalization of Women in Turkish Security
Series
3. Dystopia as Empowerment? The Case of Sister Night in Watchmen
4. Emotional Warfare and Global Conflict in Homeland and The Americans
5. I Am Queen Sono: A Spy Series Represents Africa
6. Desperate Housewives at War with ETA: Patria
7. Gender, Genre, and Generative AI Representation: Regressive Simulacra in
The Capture
8. Navigating Contradictions: The Ambivalent Portrayal of Women in the
Russian Series Sleepers
9. Gender and Geopolitics: Behind the Scenes of Deep State with Sara Johnson
10. Women as Security Workers: From the Individual to Collective Care
11. Why Did You Have to Do This? Beyond Controversy, An Online Reception
Analysis of Audiences Comments on the Last Season of Killing Eve
Index
Alexandre Diallo is a researcher and lecturer whose work focuses on race and gender representation in popular culture, toxic masculinities, and the reception of TV series and films. He has published on these themes about visual media and online audience responses. He has held academic positions at Erasmus University Rotterdam, Sciences Po Paris, Université Paris of 1 Panthéon Sorbonne, and Paris Sciences et Lettres.
Sandra Laugier is a French philosopher who works on ordinary language philosophy, moral philosophy, democracy, and popular culture. She is the translator of Stanley Cavell's work in French. Among recent books are TV-Philosophy: How TV Series Change Our Thinking, (2023), TV-Philosophy: The Ethics and Politics of TV (2023), and Wittgenstein: The Senses of Use (2025). She is a professor of philosophy at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, France.
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