Masculinity in Comic Books

Discuss about the Gender Representation in Comic Books.

Lanier (2014) in the article titled The Supermen of the Justice League and X-Men: Comic Book Representations of Masculinity for Today’s Audience has provided an extensive observation and explanation of how the media focuses on masculinity. The author has given special attention to masculine representation in comic books like Uncanny X-Men, Justice League and so on. These comic books represent the hegemony of the male characters, which also represents how men are dominant in the real society. However, with the re-launch of these two most popular comic books, the hegemonic portrayals of male characters have seen a remarkable change. I shall use this article in order to provide an extensive analysis of the representation of masculinity and the dominance of men in particular.

While the hegemonic representation of men in the aforementioned comic books has changed, the inherent hegemonic characteristic remains the same. The representation of the male characters in these popular comic books depicts the typical cultural beliefs of the population. The male superheroes are portrayed in such a way that puts increased emphasis on their power and strength that speaks volumes about the Western perspective about manhood and masculinity.  These superheroes with pumped up muscles and perfect body perform tasks of extraordinary courage and valor that typify the role of men as protectors. The “ideal physique” of the superheroes in the comic books leads to effect the perception of men in real life about their physical selves chiefly in two ways. The first is their feeling of inferior when compared to the super masculine male characters with unbelievable physique. Second, their consciousness about being attractive in front of sexually appealing and beautiful women as portrayed in the comic books. Another problem with such representation, as mentioned in the article is the personality and demographic representation. The comic book characters have always seem to represent a world that is inhabited by white men and where women are young and curvy or aged and fragile but never equal.  

It has however, also been mentioned in the works of many scholars that the gender representation has changed over time and female characters have been given prominent portrayals. The hegemonic masculinity has been somewhat replaced by the progressive gender representations. Examples of the shows like The Powerpuff Girls, Pokemon and Teamo Supremo have been used to show the change in the mindset of the makers. Lanier (2014) has analyzed the tramsition of the two popular comic books and found that both have had changes in the way masculinity is represented. While on one hand, Justice League franchise maintained its hegemonic demographic traits of masculinity but reduced hegemony in terms of behavioral traits. On the other hand, the Uncanny X-Men series introduced non-hegemonic characters having significant roles in the series.

Representation of Women in Comic Books

Many other scholars have focused on the representation of women in various comic books. Fretheim (2017) for example, decided to include three comic books to analyze the representation of women and the heroism they demonstrate. These three comics included Wonder Women, She-Hulk and Black Widow. In all the three books, women have been portrayed as symbols of courage, strength, stamina and heroism combined with the roles they play in the communities. Analyzing the article would help in understanding the representation of feminism in the comic books in contrast and comparison to real life. In addition, the article also compares and contrasts the three female super heroes.

The introduction of Wonder Woman in the 1940s marked the beginning of an era that saw the emergence of female superheroes. The genre of comic books has always been dominated by male superheroes and the introduction of Wonder Woman challenged the expectations of the genre in terms of being a superhero as well as a woman. Fretheim (2017) makes a distinction between the terms ‘superhero’ and ‘super heroin’ stating that the super heroin is not just the female version of the superhero but she is a completely different entity. The portrayal of Wonder Woman over the ages in the works of different makers has also undergone changes mostly in physical terms. This has largely been done, states the author, to satisfy the needs of the white, heterosexual readers, predominantly adolescent males who see the super heroin as their romantic interest rather than a realistic lady. She-Hulk as a super heroin has been created as the female version of the popular male superhero, the Hulk. As mentioned in the work of Fretheim (2017), although She-Hulk is the female version of the monstrous Hulk, her physique is nowhere near the male superhero. Further, the expectations of the ways female superheroes look in comparison to their male counterparts do not contribute towards an interesting cast of characters or promote realistic and healthy female characters. Black Widow, on the other hand, deviated from the characters represented by both Wonder Woman and She-Hulk. Unlike the other two, she was more human. The character although emerged in the 1960s, it received actual prominence only during the 1990s. The Avengers franchise further provided greater significance to Black Widow as an important character. Black Widow is more interesting than the other two characters because of her ordinary traits and still being able to stand on equal terms with the male superheroes. The role of Black Widow is far superior to her previous contemporaries like Wonder Woman and She-Hulk simply because she breaks the stereotype of female characters in comic books.

Gender Roles in Comic Books

The representation of gender throughout the years post Second World War until the 1960s in comic books further highlight the distinction between men and women characters in comic books. While I delve further on my analysis of gender roles in comic books, the article by Dunne (2006) provides crucial material. The author explains that while the forties era saw the emergence of the first female superhero; it was mostly inclined towards the typical female roles in the real society. The fifties, states the author, witnessed a return of the female characters into limited roles as were in the forties. However, the sixties began the era when female characters had the richest roles to play compared to the previous two eras.

The kind of roles women play in comic books is also important to understand their representation in this form of media. Roles are important because these are the alter-egos of almost every superhero, which refers to the alternative roles they perform in normal lives. On one hand, while the male characters were give highly prestigious and diverse alter-egos, the female characters on the other, had limited roles demonstrating any “upward mobility”. In 1960s however, events like the second wave feminism, civil rights movement and sexual revolution changed this perception. Women were beginning to be given importance both in the social system and in comic books. With the inception of the first female superhero, Wonder Women, the representation of women as both the superhero and the alter-ego received equal prominence. Diana Prince, the alter-ego of Wonder Women, as an army nurse in her normal life, broke the shackles of the male-dominated comic book world.

The later eras followed this and other strong female superheroes with equally prominent alter-egos were created that included Catwoman and Selina Kyle as her alter-ego, the Invisible Girl and her alter-ego Sue Storm, The Wasp and Jan Van Dyne as the alter-ego and so on. It is interesting to note the similarities and differences between the female superheroes and their alter-egos. The alter-egos of the Wasp and the Invisible Girl had almost the same roles outside being a superhero as they both had no professional job and both grew from being ordinary girl friends to strong women and mothers eventually. Releasing around the same time, both characters demonstrated the contemporary status of women in the society. The character of Wonder Woman perhaps has shown the most remarkable difference in terms of her role portrayed in comic books. From being an epitome of feminine strength in both the superhero and alter-ego roles, she was transformed into a mere character with no real substance. This happened especially after the death of William Moulton Marston – the creator of Wonder Woman. These instances explain how women’s roles have transformed through the Second World Era until the radical 1960s.

Women as Alter-Egos of Male Characters

A further analysis of women as comic book characters bring forth the issue of women being designated as second-class citizens. As Sharp (2011) notes, “Informed by sexism in Western cultures, female heroes often construct and perpetuate women’s statuses as second-class citizens”. The author further focuses on the ways different genders dressed and behaved and what roles they performed in marriages. The narrative however changed with time and female characters were landed stronger roles.  In the comic book titled Astonishing X-Men, the writer Joss Whedon and John Cassaday brought forward a different and prominent version of female characters. These female characters largely resemble the third wave feminism that rejected “gender essentialism and misogynist value systems”. The characters of female X-Men Emma Frost and Kitty Pryde in particular, represent the third wave feminist movement.

Comic books for long have been voicing opinions on the sociopolitical and socio-cultural issues that were current in the contemporary societies. However, most publications in the early years only depicted what the government wanted them to depict. The new era has witnessed American superhero comics deviating from the previous eras and adopting a more radical approach. These comics have both questioned and defended the recurring cultural norms of the society. When it comes to gender representation, these comic books have been remarkable in breaking the stereotypes. The Astonishing X-Men series that released within the years from 2004 to 2008 provided a unique view of the modern women that defended the ideologies of third wave feminism. The characters of Emma Frost, Kitty Pryde and Danger can be regarded as the representatives of a society where women fought against sexism and freed themselves from patriarchy. Although, the three characters are completely different in their backgrounds and behaviors and their way of liberation from patriarchy is also different, their motive is the same.  

It is thus evident from the above discussion that the representation of men and women in a mostly neglected media form that is comics have influenced the way both genders are perceived in the society. The essay has explained the way masculinity and femininity have been portrayed in the comic books since the mid-20^th century until the present century by discussing the works of several authors. The analysis revealed that the representation of female characters in the comic books has seen a drastic shift over the years with women being given equally prominent roles as that of men.

References:

Dunne, M. (2006). The representation of women in comic books, post WWII through the radical 60’s. PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal, 2(1), 13.

Fretheim, I. M. (2017). Fantastic Feminism: Female Characters in Superhero Comic Books. Master’s thesis.

Lanier, T. M. (2014). The Supermen of the Justice League and X-Men: Comic Book Representations of Masculinity for Today’s Audience. Doctoral dissertation, University of Georgia.

Sharp, M. L. (2011). Gender, feminism, and heroism in Joss Whedon and John Cassaday’s Astonishing X-Men comics.