Gender Differences in Superhero Characters' Roles, Appearances, and Violence as Portrayed in Superhero Movies

Gender Differences in Superhero Characters' Roles, Appearances, and Violence as Portrayed in Superhero Movies
Author: Jessica Rauch
Publisher:
Total Pages: 104
Release: 2012
Genre: Thesis
ISBN:

Because many members of society have seen movies involving one or more superheroes, individuals begin, possibly unknowingly, to create stereotypes of what people should look or act like. These stereotypes help establish what gender roles, appearances, and images of violence are deemed acceptable in society. Thus, it is important to understand the content in such movies. In this study, data from a content analysis of superhero movies was analyzed to examine the differences of gender images portrayed within the movies. Males were more likely to appear as the main character, be more muscular and powerful, have more special abilities, and use more weapons. Females were more likely to be portrayed as attractive, sexy, thin, and wear more revealing clothing. The messages portrayed through superhero movies are discussed.

Gender Roles in Superhero Movies

Gender Roles in Superhero Movies
Author: Lucia Vitzthum
Publisher: GRIN Verlag
Total Pages: 30
Release: 2017-03-09
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 3668413371

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Applied Geography, grade: 1,0, University of Duisburg-Essen, language: English, abstract: Superhero movies have been the biggest money-making machine in recent years. Spiderman, Superman, Batman, Iron man all have been successful movies and all protagonists have been male. This work aims to examine the role of women in superhero movies and how they have changed. This work also differentiates between women as the main character and women in superhero teams like "The Avengers".

Superheroes and Masculinity

Superheroes and Masculinity
Author: Sean Parson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 154
Release: 2019-10-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1498591507

Superheroes and Masculinity: Unmasking the Gender Performance of Heroism explores how heteropatriarchal representations of gender are portrayed within superhero comics, film, and television. The contributors examine how hegemonic masculinity has been continually perpetuated and reinforced within the superhero genre and unpack concise critiques of specific superhero representations, the industry, and the fan base at large. However, Superheroes and Masculinity also argues that possibilities of resistance and change are embedded within these problematic portrayals. To this end, several chapters explore alternative portrayals of queerness within superhero representations and read the hegemonic masculinity of various characters against the grain to produce queer possibilities. Ultimately, this collection argues that the quest to unmask how gender operates within superheroes is a crucial one.

Gender Portrayal in Marvel Cinematic Universe Films

Gender Portrayal in Marvel Cinematic Universe Films
Author: Kristen Ray
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2020
Genre:
ISBN:

The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is the most popular film franchise in terms of box-office dollars. This superhero franchise has the power to influence their vast and dedicated audience greatly regarding gender. Social cognitive theory and cultivation theory shows that MCU movies could influence the gender schemas some people have. Previous research has shown that men are often portrayed as evil and as preparators of violence. Women that are violent are considered unnatural and go against gender stereotypes. Evil women are often portrayed as victims of circumstance or good women that are compelled to be evil for a short time. This study is a content analysis of the MCU films in phases one through three, which focuses on gender, moral alignment, and rewards for violence. There is an increase in the percent of female main characters over the course of the phases. There are high percentages of females that are rated "good" and a higher percentage of males that are "evil". There is no significant relationship between gender and rewards for violence. Although there appears to be progress in portraying men and women similarly, there is still progress to be made.

Hot Pants and Spandex Suits

Hot Pants and Spandex Suits
Author: Esther De Dauw
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
Total Pages: 217
Release: 2021-01-15
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1978806051

The superheroes from DC and Marvel comics are some of the most iconic characters in popular culture today. But how do these figures idealize certain gender roles, body types, sexualities, and racial identities at the expense of others? Hot Pants and Spandex Suits offers a far-reaching look at how masculinity and femininity have been represented in American superhero comics, from the Golden and Silver Ages to the Modern Age. Scholar Esther De Dauw contrasts the bulletproof and musclebound phallic bodies of classic male heroes like Superman, Captain America, and Iron Man with the figures of female counterparts like Wonder Woman and Supergirl, who are drawn as superhumanly flexible and plastic. It also examines the genre’s ambivalent treatment of LGBTQ representation, from the presentation of gay male heroes Wiccan and Hulkling as a model minority couple to the troubling association of Batwoman’s lesbianism with monstrosity. Finally, it explores the intersection between gender and race through case studies of heroes like Luke Cage, Storm, and Ms. Marvel. Hot Pants and Spandex Suits is a fascinating and thought-provoking consideration of what superhero comics teach us about identity, embodiment, and sexuality.

Gender and the Superhero Narrative

Gender and the Superhero Narrative
Author: Michael Goodrum
Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi
Total Pages: 323
Release: 2018-10-01
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1496818814

Contributions by Dorian L. Alexander, Janine Coleman, Gabriel Gianola, Mel Gibson, Michael Goodrum, Tim Hanley, Vanessa Hemovich, Christina Knopf, Christopher McGunnigle, Samira Nadkarni, Ryan North, Lisa Perdigao, Tara Prescott-Johnson, Philip Smith, and Maite Ucaregui The explosive popularity of San Diego’s Comic-Con, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and Netflix’s Jessica Jones and Luke Cage all signal the tidal change in superhero narratives and mainstreaming of what were once considered niche interests. Yet just as these areas have become more openly inclusive to an audience beyond heterosexual white men, there has also been an intense backlash, most famously in 2015’s Gamergate controversy, when the tension between feminist bloggers, misogynistic gamers, and internet journalists came to a head. The place for gender in superhero narratives now represents a sort of battleground, with important changes in the industry at stake. These seismic shifts—both in the creation of superhero media and in their critical and reader reception—need reassessment not only of the role of women in comics, but also of how American society conceives of masculinity. Gender and the Superhero Narrative launches ten essays that explore the point where social justice meets the Justice League. Ranging from comics such as Ms. Marvel, Batwoman: Elegy, and Bitch Planet to video games, Netflix, and cosplay, this volume builds a platform for important voices in comics research, engaging with controversy and community to provide deeper insight and thus inspire change.

Superheroes and Masculinity

Superheroes and Masculinity
Author: Sean Parson
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 152
Release: 2021-07-15
Genre:
ISBN: 9781498591515

Superheroes and Masculinity examines how heteropatriarchal representations of gender are both perpetuated and challenged within the superhero genre. This collection critiques stereotypical portrayals of hegemonic masculinity and explores queer alternatives to such formulations within superhero comics, film, and television.

The 21st Century Superhero

The 21st Century Superhero
Author: Richard J. Gray II
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2011-09-07
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 0786487305

Superhero films are one of the most enduring genres of cinema, and their popularity is only increasing in the 21st century. These ten critical essays explore the phenomenon through the lenses of numerous academic disciplines, and cover topics such as the role of globalization in the formation of superhero narratives, the shifting nature of masculinity and femininity in the superhero world and the state of the genre today. Of particular interest is the way these narratives, however fantastic, abstract, futuristic or simplistic, resonate with specific events in the world and function as starting points for discussion of contemporary sociopolitical conflicts.

African American Women and Sexuality in the Cinema

African American Women and Sexuality in the Cinema
Author: Norma Manatu
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 9780786451449

The representation of African American women is an important issue in the overall study of how women are portrayed in film, and has received serious attention in recent years. Traditionally, "women of color," particularly African American women, have been at the margins of studies of women's on-screen depictions--or excluded altogether. This work focuses exclusively on the sexual objectification of African American women in film from the 1980s to the early 2000s. Critics of the negative sexual imagery have long speculated that control by African American filmmakers would change how African American women are depicted. This work examines sixteen films made by males both white and black to see how the imagery might change with the race of the filmmaker. Four dimensions are given special attention: the diversity of the women's roles and relationships with men, the sexual attitudes of the African American female characters, their attitudes towards men, and their nonverbal and verbal sexual behaviors. This work also examines the role culture has played in perpetuating the images, how film influences viewers' perception of African American women and their sexuality, and how the imagery polarizes women by functioning as a regulator of their sexual behaviors based on cultural definitions of the feminine.

The Gendered Superhero

The Gendered Superhero
Author: Jennifer Volintine
Publisher:
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2016
Genre: Comic books, strips, etc
ISBN: 9781369139686

This thesis examines American gender concepts of masculinity and femininity depicted in six Modern Age superhero comic books. Specifically, it examines how the American gender concepts of hegemonic masculinity, hypersexualized masculinity, emphasized femininity, and hypersexualized femininity are depicted in three Marvel and three DC comic books. This examination found that despite gender differences defined by biological essentialism that legitimates gender inequality, female and male superheroes are much more alike than different through what I term "visionary gender". Also, it examines indicators of gender not previously examined in American superhero comic books. In particular, it examines the text of superhero comic books to demonstrate that language use in comic books is gendered and that female superheroes use interruption as a way to control and dominate male superheroes in conversation. In addition, two viewpoints within the comic book subculture are examined: the comic book readers and the comic book artists. It addresses the readers' interpretation of gender depicted in a selection of images illustrating superhero characters' bodies and it observes the artists' intention in illustrating superhero characters with respect to gender.