bell hooks intersectional analysis theory

bell hooks – Intersectional Analysis Theory Overview

• bell hooks argued that media should be analyzed through intersectionality — the ways race, gender, class, and other identities overlap to shape experience and representation.

• Media representations can either reinforce oppression or challenge social hierarchies by showing multiple intersecting identities.

• Intersectional analysis highlights how power structures are embedded in culture and media narratives.

Gender and Power

The series foregrounds women in power, but explores how gender intersects with occupation and social hierarchy:

• Eve, as an MI5 agent, navigates a male-dominated professional environment.

• Villanelle, as a female assassin, subverts expectations of both gender and morality

Moral and Social Identity

• The overlap of gender, morality, and professional identity shows how women negotiate complex power dynamics.

• The show highlights how social and institutional structures shape opportunities, actions, and risks for female characters.

Intersectional Empowerment

• Villanelle and Eve reflect different forms of female agency: one empowered through danger and audacity, the other through intelligence and institutional authority.

• This intersectional portrayal allows audiences to see women in multidimensional roles beyond simple stereotypes.

Race and Class

• Assane Diop’s identity as a Black, working-class man directly engages with systemic social and racial hierarchies.

• The elite Pellegrini family represents wealth, privilege, and corruption, creating a clear contrast and highlighting social inequality.

Intersectional Oppression

Assane’s struggle combines racial discrimination, class oppression, and social marginalization, showing how intersecting identities influence experience.

• His cleverness and ingenuity allow him to navigate and resist these systemic barriers, providing a nuanced representation of intersectional agency.

Empowerment through Resistance

The series portrays empowerment not as innate but as achieved through skill, strategy, and social understanding, emphasizing the intersection of race, class, and personal identity in shaping outcomes.