this is interesting! i actually kind of disagree that a lot of these titles explore complex morality—i don’t think amy dunne is both a victim and anti-hero, she’s a compelling character who the text wants you to feel sympathetic for despite all the bad she does but not at any point is she any real kind of victim. i love this genre and i love many, many of these books but soo much of the discussion kind of skates past this idea that they really focus on a singular kind of victimhood that i feel like we can attribute to late-state capitalism and the idea of taking care of one’s self at the cost of community around them. what makes it so interesting is that the morality feels murky when reading because you’re rooting for protagonists because you can relate to their frustrations around patriarchal systems and yet capitalist structures seem to be absent from the conversations. midsummer is always attributed as a Good For Her and the relationship it holds to white hegemonic capitalist and colonist structure / cults ignored because it’s easier to see violence & power as reclamation for the individual in peril rather than looking further at the mass affects re community. anyway very interesting, would love to see you delve into the role capitalism and community plays out in this genre & if you see a correlation between the rise of these stories as relating to the rise of of therapy talk & individualism within late-state capitalism and online spaces.
"Her Body and Other Parties" has been sitting on my shelf for much too long, I NEED to get to it soon
this is interesting! i actually kind of disagree that a lot of these titles explore complex morality—i don’t think amy dunne is both a victim and anti-hero, she’s a compelling character who the text wants you to feel sympathetic for despite all the bad she does but not at any point is she any real kind of victim. i love this genre and i love many, many of these books but soo much of the discussion kind of skates past this idea that they really focus on a singular kind of victimhood that i feel like we can attribute to late-state capitalism and the idea of taking care of one’s self at the cost of community around them. what makes it so interesting is that the morality feels murky when reading because you’re rooting for protagonists because you can relate to their frustrations around patriarchal systems and yet capitalist structures seem to be absent from the conversations. midsummer is always attributed as a Good For Her and the relationship it holds to white hegemonic capitalist and colonist structure / cults ignored because it’s easier to see violence & power as reclamation for the individual in peril rather than looking further at the mass affects re community. anyway very interesting, would love to see you delve into the role capitalism and community plays out in this genre & if you see a correlation between the rise of these stories as relating to the rise of of therapy talk & individualism within late-state capitalism and online spaces.
I wasn’t familiar with this term but I’m here for it. Great job!
A very compelling read, thank you!
I was thinking about this the other day, what do you think the earliest example of “good for her” is???
Omg I love this question… Nancy Downs??? Or Amelie?
I was thinking about Annie Wilks in Misery killing her husband????
Omg yes 🙌