In this weeks class we looked at the role of women in the ‘superhero’ story. I found this very interesting to discuss, as it combines two fantastic topics I enjoy, feminism and superheros! We looked at Wonder Woman and how she was created to represent a strong female role model that fights for love, peace and gender equality. I must say I was very surprised to learn that she was created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston in 1941, seems very progressive for its time and has definitely lead me to a new found appreciation for her character as I’ve never really been a big fan of any other DC characters apart from Batman, I grew up favouring Marvel Universe instead…
yay positive female role models!
Speaking of Marvel, we then moved on to look at the character Agent Carter, who is a part of the Marvel film universe in the Captain America films. We looked at the different mediums her character has travelled across, first starting in the Captain America film, then to the ‘Marvel Short’ and ending in her own spin-off TV series. Its interesting how she was portrayed across the three transmedia continuations. I would say she started of very strong, representing a female character that was not just a love interest which is fantastic to see in a genre that is so heavily dominated by males. As her character moves onto the Marvel short and the spin-off series, I would say her representation starts to go downhill, to the point where I would say her fight for equality becomes comical, becoming somewhat of a gimmick. I found this interesting quote online which I think makes a good point…
“While this response is obviously well-intentioned, the fervent focus on Peggy Carter’s gender (ABC’s tagline for the show is “Sometimes the best man for the job…. is a woman“) could be considered its own form of sexism, and could ultimately be damaging to the show’s quality. It brings to mind the much-researched sociological phenomenon of stereotype threat, where people from marginalized social groups experience anxiety from having their gender or race emphasized and ultimately perform worse in tests because of it.”
– H. Shaw-Williams, Screen Rant
Anyway I could rant about this for ages but perhaps I better leave it here….
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