Women-Mothers: the modes of constructing motherhood in contemporary seriality

Abstract

In this article, we will analyze the construction of the image of women based on their maternal role in three contemporary series: Mrs. America (FX-HULU, 2020), Top of the Lake (BBC Two, 2013), and The Handmaid's Tale (HULU, 2017). We will use the term motherhood in the audiovisual in the same way feminist theory understands it: as a fundamental axis in the construction of women. From this perspective, we understand motherhood as a critical mandate by which the hegemonic heterosexual sex-gender system arbitrarily distinguishes the sexual roles and practices that are socially attributed to the male and female genders as natural attributes (Preciado, 2011). We will also explore the construction of the image of women from the different social, political, and cultural scenarios represented in the series. We propose as a hypothesis that these three series, in English, with established actresses and actors in the American film industry and distributed by powerful platforms, construct images of women that recover and represent the stereotypical gender roles that the American feminist agenda points out as commonplaces to be reviewed and criticized. The characters in our series embody different ways of understanding and practicing motherhood that coexist (not without contradictions) in our time and involve extensive debates both outside and within feminist movements. We understand that the series, like any work of fiction, can become a space for channeling and conveying these debates.