A tale of two Harleys : the aestheticization and subversion of gendered violence in superhero films

Titelangaben

Rudolf, Veronika:
A tale of two Harleys : the aestheticization and subversion of gendered violence in superhero films.
In: Feminist Media Studies. (2026) . - S. 1-16.
ISSN 1471-5902
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14680777.2026.2666537

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Abstract

This paper examines how cinematic form encodes and contests the aestheticization of gendered violence through a comparative close reading of Suicide Squad (2016) and Birds of Prey (2020). Analysing both films’ shared protagonist Harley Quinn, the study traces a shift across three dimensions: visual framing and the gaze, the narrative construction of trauma, and the construction of patriarchal antagonists. Suicide Squad deploys the male gaze to aestheticize Harley’s suffering and routes gendered violence through romanticised abuse. Birds of Prey counters each strategy, centring Harley’s subjectivity through non-linear narration, refusing the display of violence through “not-seeing,” and exposing gendered violence by stripping it of romantic framing. Grounded in feminist film theory, trauma studies, and scholarship on heterosexuality and gendered violence, the paper argues that these shifts register broader cultural reckonings with gendered violence while acknowledging that feminist interventions and commercial logics remain intertwined within the superhero genre.