Narcofeminism or Necrofeminism? Sexist Realism in the USA Network’s Queen of the South

Hoerl will discuss her current book project which argues that television’s fascination with “strong women characters” paradoxically illuminates its inability to imagine a feminist alternative to contemporary social life under late capitalism. Via an analysis of the USA Network series Queen of the South and its construction of a powerful woman narcotics trafficker, Hoerl explains that the spectacle of racism and violent misogyny grounds public culture’s attachment to the figure of the resilient, can-do women. Engaging Sayak Valencia’s work on gore capitalism, Hoerl suggests that television has begun to reckon with neoliberalism’s deep ties to white supremacy even as it fails to offer developed stories of intersectional feminist agency.