Overloaded

by Imelda Whelehan

This volume examines the phenomenon of laddishness and the cult of the girlie in film, TV, advertising, music, politics, literature, and society. It interprets these trends as a nostalgic longing for a pre-feminist society which, through the medium of comedy and irony, has been manipulated by popular media as a liberation from political correctness. Contrasting the culture icons of the 1990s with the 1970s tough chicks and the 1980s New Man and Have-It-All Woman, the book aims to show how the rhetoric of "laddism" emerged and how it has infused so many aspects of our cultural identity.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction

202 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2000

About the author

Professor Imelda Whelehan has published widely in the areas of feminism, adaptation studies, popular culture and women's writing. She has recently co-edited the Bloomsbury Adaptations: Critical and Primary Sources (2022) with Professor Deborah Cartmell. Forthcoming is a co-authored chapter, 'Screening the Australian Novel' (with Claire McCarthy) which will be published in The Cambridge History of the Australian Novel in 2023. She is also writing a monograph, Post-War Adaptations which will be published by Bloomsbury. She has spend many years in research leadership in the UK and Australia and has been Dean and PVC for Graduate Research at the University of Tasmania, The Australian National University and the University of Western Australia.

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overloaded was interesting. It was published in 2000, which meant the use of the Spice Girls, Chris Evans, FHM, Bridget Jones and Wonderbras as examples and references seem quite dated now when you think about how things have moved on, and not for the better either. Back then, the twin horror of Zoo and Nuts did not exist. The right-wing papers were creating a minor stink about 'ladette culture' and whether or not Zoe Ball's nights out on the town were detrimental to society. And the Spice Girls had just spent a few years shouting 'Girl Power!'. But it was interesting to note how many of those things evolved into what, for example, Ariel Levy has discussed in her recent book on 'raunch culture'. There were some interesting chapters of racism and classism too, which i appreciated.

[Teleseparatist · Rating 3 out of 5]

And I thought *I* sound pessimistic when discussing popular culture and postfeminism.

(Note to self: My edition is actually shorter than the page count but the difference makes up for the Atwood ebook which has no page numbers.)

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

don't expect prophecies (regarding the future...), just a well-written review of pop culture