Their Bodies, Their Selves: Reflexivity and Embodiment in 2010s Women's Autobiographical Author-Performer TV Dramedies

Abstract

Abstract During the 2010s, American television witnessed a growing attention to and presence of women, both in TV representation and in TV creation and production. As part of that development, the self-representation of women who are both the creators and the stars of their shows — such as Lena Dunham (creator and star of Girls; HBO, 2012 – 17), Tig Notaro (creator and star of One Mississippi, Amazon, 2015 – 17), Issa Rae (creator and star of Insecure, HBO, 2016 – 21), Pamela Adlon (creator and star of Better Things, FX, 2016 – 22), and Frankie Shaw (creator and star of Smilf, Showtime, 2017 – 19) — has been on the rise. This article examines these five dramedies in which women both exert authorial voices in telling their own stories and bring to bear performative embodiment in starring in these autobiographical texts. The textual multilayeredness of these author-performers’ autobiographical dramedies, the article shows, reveals the ways in which authorship and performance operate in the realm of women's televisual representation.