Includes bibliographical references and index.

This book focuses exclusively on struggles to define the "single girl" character in TV and film during a transformative period in American society. The author has scoured a wide range of source materials, unstudied film and television scripts, magazines, novels, and advertisements to demonstrate how controversial female characters pitted fears of societal breakdown against the growing momentum of the women's rights movement. The book focuses on the "single girl", an unmarried career woman in her 20s or 30s, to show how this character type symbolized sweeping changes in women's roles. Analyzing films and programs against broader conceptions of women's sexual and social roles, she uncovers deep-seated fears in a nation accustomed to depictions of single women yearning for matrimony. Yet, as television began to reflect public acceptance of career women, series such as Police Woman and Wonder Woman proved that heroines could wield both strength and femininity, while movies like Looking for Mr. Goodbar cautioned viewers against carrying new found freedom too far. The author takes us behind the scenes in Hollywood to show us the production decisions and censorship negotiations that shaped these characters before they even made it to the screen. She includes often overlooked sources such as the TV series Get Christie Love and Ebony magazine to give us a richer understanding of how women of color negotiated urban singles life. And in television shows like Mad Men, she reveals how trailblazing characters continue to influence portrayals of single women

SACFinal081324