Postfeminist Discourse in 'Y: The Last Man'.

摘要

The sixty issue comic book series Y: The Last Man (Brian K. Vaughan & Pia Guerra, 2002-2008) is a graphic narrative depicting the world after a mysterious plague takes the lives of the entire male species except one man: Yorick Brown. The series spans a five-year period during which Yorick and two other lead female characters journey together encountering numerous others along the way who make up a diverse population of women who have survived the plague and its aftereffects.;The series inhabits a unique space in postfeminist media culture as part of the male-dominated medium of comics. The creators are faced with a multitude of opportunities to confront stereotypes, break traditional formulas, step out of comfort zones (whether their own or the readers'), and make potentially bold statements about gender norms, masculinity, sexuality, and feminism. In the following analysis, I present evidence of Y: The Last Man as a postfeminist narrative while drawing critical conclusions about its relative success in reimagining contemporary popular discourses about feminism.