Some lauded 2023 as the year of the feminist fable, thanks in part to the hit movie Barbie, however it was also a year of ideological backlash. Many claim such movies or celebrities are not feminist enough. For this International Women’s Day, Dr Jessica Ford urges us to recognise the limits of these pop-culture narratives and think more expansively, and critically, about feminist forms.

Feminism and popular culture a have a complicated situationship. Feminism is both a lens through which popular culture is examined and an ideology that is spread through films, TV series, music, podcasts and other media. As such, critics have long been preoccupied by the intersection between feminism and popular culture, insofar as particular characters, authors and genres have been identified and theorised as “feminist.”

There is a critical desire to label film, television, music, and celebrities catering to women as “feminist.” Refinery29 argues that reality TV is “one of the most feminist formats in TV today.” Sofia Coppola’s latest feature film Priscilla (2023) has been described as “a bold feminist retelling of Elvis’ dark fairytale marriage.” Taylor Swift’s ongoing Eras tour and subsequent monocultural moment has led to a range of dissections of her alleged feminism in The New York Times, Vice and Ms. Magazine.