Authors
Verity Trott
Publication date
2018
Book
Superhero Bodies: Identity, Materiality, Transformation
Publisher
Routledge
Description
This chapter analyses the ways in which violence is situated within the home and how the internal threat of domestic and sexual violence is represented in different ways in both Jessica Jones and Alias. It examines the transformation of the overtly monstrous villain the Purple Man or “Killgrave” in Alias to a subtler, more terrifyingly insidious, genteel “Kilgrave” in Jessica Jones. The ways in which Kilgrave exploits Jessica and his other victims often happen within homes, apartments, hotel rooms, restaurants, and other normalised settings. The TV series emphasises that Kilgrave forces his victims to participate in what appears to be dating rituals such as celebrating their anniversary at a fancy restaurant. The chapter looks at the additional foregrounding of the theme of surveillance and concludes by drawing attention to the seemingly small act of asking a “pretty girl” to “smile".
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