Disney Channel’s Extraordinary Girls

This book examines the depiction of girls with extraordinary abilities in 2000s Disney sitcoms aimed at tweens. The author argues that a double standard forced the girls, unlike their male counterparts, to hide their superpowers and highlights the impact of these series on cultural ideas of gender and childhood.

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Between 2001–2011, the Disney Channel produced several sitcoms aimed at tweens that featured female protagonists with extraordinary abilities (e.g., celebrity powers and super/magical). In this book, Christina Hodel argues that while male counterparts in similar program openly displayed their extraordinariness, the female characters in these programs were often forced into hiding and secrecy, which significantly diminished their agency. The author analyzes sitcom episodes, commentary in magazine articles, and web-based discussions of these series to examine how these television series portrayed female youths and the impact it had on its adolescent viewers. Combining close readings of dialogue and action with socioeconomic and historical contextual insights, Hodel sheds new light on the attitudes of the creators of these programs (mostly white, middle-aged, Western, heterosexual males) and the long-term impact on women today. Ultimately, her analysis shows, these blockbuster sitcoms reveal that despite Disney’s progress towards creating empowered girls, the network was—and still is—locked into tradition. The book is of interest to scholars of Disney studies, cultural studies, television studies, and gender studies.