Gender as an Axis for Change in the Comic Book Industry: A Feminist Perspective
HUM3326
Final Assignment
Gender as an Axis of Change for the Comic Book Community
Gender as an Axis of Change for the Comic Book Community
The role of sex and gender in media and popular culture has undergone a recent evolution that is unprecedented throughout American history. In the 1950s it was common to see women portrayed in media almost exclusively as house wives, with secondary roles that were subservient to male characters. While there have been positive changes in the portrayal of sex and gender within popular culture today, there are still persisting issues that need to be corrected. The pigeonholing of female characters into certain roles such as the wise mom, the sexy femme fetale, or the warrior woman who is killed in the third act have become detrimental to the way that the American community understands females and what they are capable of. Though women have broken through many social barriers, are able to vote, and wear shorter skirts, the idea of women lacking direct agency and being passive are still fundamentally embedded concepts in the entertainment industry. This is especially true of the depiction of women within the comic book community. With an understanding of both sides of the issue, females involved in the comic book community, as both writers and fans, have an opportunity to break barriers and create change for the new younger female community. I would like to use the “comic book community” as an example to address the portrayal of women within the greater media, the fan based side of the community and the limits it has put on female interests in the past, how these boundaries are set in order to restrict female access, and show how this resistance is still effecting the female American community today.
Comic Book strips are often seen as small panels that give access to an alternate reality. Within this alternate reality, comic book fans and aficionados live out their fantasies and vicariously experience thrills that are unavailable in every day life. Thus comic books provide the reader with an idealized representation of modern American Society. These representations of society, while created for entertainment purposes, provides readers with real life possibilities and experiences. They create a frame from which the reader views the world as it is, and how it should it be. Although there may be tight costumes, and some super powers, these comics are planted right into the modern American image. They have the power to positively or negatively influence
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