“I imagined a story where I didn’t have to be the damsel”: Seriality, Reflexivity, and Narratively Complex Women in Westworld

Abstract

Abstract Westworld is a preeminent example of Peak TV: it has fully embraced the current context of production and reception and constructs its narrative with that in mind. In the tradition and evolution of television series which Jason Mittell deemed ‘Complex TV’ a decade ago, it is a highly self-reflexive, metatextual genre hybrid which confidently employs various strategies to confuse its viewers. In doing so, Westworld constructs complex parallels between the levels of content and form, one commenting on the other, and negotiates questions about femininity, intersectionality, and the performativity of gender by placing at its center two complex, ‘difficult’ female characters and their flawed, ambiguous struggle for agency and autonomy. This article further shows how the series’ meta- and intertextual approach implicitly comments on the extrinsic norms of problematic representational strategies and gratuitous nudity, sex, and violence within contemporary ‘Quality TV’ and particularly HBO’s hallmark series.