Hello, I’m Rosie – nice to meet you!
I’m a PhD candidate at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) studying misogyny in Roald Dahl’s oeuvre and subsequent adaptations. This project will bolster a surprisingly sparse area of academia, bringing many of his short stories for adults into scholarship for the first time. While there is a plethora of reviews and opinion pieces on Dahl and his work, it is in need of academic attention which has heretofore been limited in its scope and rigour.
Though it’s likely you’ve heard of a handful of Dahl’s darkly humorous tales, you may be surprised to learn that many of his works feature explicit sexual violence. The project will look at the problematic portrayals and treatment of female characters in his fiction, how this is mirrored in his children’s fiction, and then explore how these issues are dealt with by adapters.
It’s an especially interesting time to embark upon this project due to the upcoming adaptations of Dahl’s children’s stories, which started with The Witches in 2020 and most recently included the star-studded ‘WONKA’ musical with Timothee Chalamet. The $1bn deal between Netflix and The Roald Dahl Story Company means his characters will become streaming landmarks for the next few years, which in turn leads to re-watch previous adaptations and seek out his books. Dahl will once more be prominent in the public eye, and I wholly intend to make the most of the media attention and discuss this project openly and accessibly. I want the reach of this project far extend the realms of academia; this research intends to help Dahl’s readers regardless of their level of education by arming them with questions and talking points to question the problematic narratives and female characters in his works.
You can find me elsewhere online! Especially when I’m procrastinating.
Instagram: @rosieandroald
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