The question I wanted to answer by conducting my research was whether superhero comics use language to convey traditional gender roles for both men and women. I predicted that for the most part superhero comics would use the fixed gender roles that society has become accustomed to. I also predicted that as far as gender fluidity went, superhero comics would stick to binaries of male and female. My main focus was to look at whether male characters showed traits of toxic masculinity, and if the female characters were portrayed as inferior.
When conducting my research I found that the older primary data were much more obvious in the way they conveyed traditional gender roles. In a 1938 Superman comic, superman is portrayed as a very masculine character, focusing on forcefulness and strength. He uses deontic modality through the use of the modal verb ‘must’ which is an example of a negative face threatening act. This suggests that he feels he has the power to force someone to do something they wouldn’t have otherwise done. Furthermore, he also uses the adverb ‘now’ to reinforce his power, which in turn conveys his strength. The inclusion of these traits of toxic masculinity could be influenced by historical factors such as the fact that America was at risk of war at the time. The media would want to portray force and strength as being a positive thing so that the general public would support their country if they had to go to war. Even 20 years later these traditional gender roles are still very prevalent. In a 1966 publication of The Avengers, the female character, Wanda, is seen to adhere to the expected gender role f a woman. In terms of discourse, her speech is all inner monologue, whereas the male characters are mostly outspoken. This suggests an inferiority to men as her words are not deemed important enough to be heard by all. She uses interrogatives such as ‘or am I just confusing pity with the dawning of love?’ to show uncertainty in herself, adhering to Lakoff’s deficit theory that women use frequent interrogatives in their speech. She is also referred to with the concrete noun ‘chick’ by a male character. This reinforces a sense of inferiority as this is a baby animal that is defenceless and powerless. These examples from my primary data support my hypothesis as up until this point in time male characters are portrayed as stereotypically masculine and females are portrayed as being inferior to their male counterparts. These attitudes to gender are what I expected to see when conducting my investigation.
However, what I did not expect to see was that this slowly starting changing around the 1970s. In a 1977 issue of The Justice League the inclusion of onomatopoeia through the use of attack words like ‘clang’ and ‘bam’ show that the female character, Wonder Woman, possesses some strength and physical abilities. The fact these are directed at Superman suggests that she is an equal match for him. This disproves my hypothesis as this is quite un-traditional. However, at the time American society was nearing the end of the second wave of feminism which would’ve influenced the amount of power women were perceived to have. This source however, does only convey a gradual change in inclusion of gender roles as there are many stereotypes still included. For example, the use of marked and unmarked terms continues this idea that women are inferior to men. Wonder Woman is referred to with the common noun ‘princess’, whereas she refers to another male character with the common noun ‘master’. The noun ‘princess’ suggests that she is defenceless and cannot save herself without the help of a man. This is very different to the connotations of the noun ‘master’ which suggests a large sense of control and that Wonder Woman in submissive. Since these are both examples of gender stereotypes this does support my hypothesis as it is clear these themes are present in superhero comics over a long period of time.
One source that does completely disprove my hypothesis is a 1993 Avengers comic which completely breaks traditional gender role. The female character, Black Widow, is seen to be in a traditionally male role. This can be seen through the semantic field of technology, created with the common noun ‘scans’ and concrete noun ‘energy echo’. This shows a female character to possess intelligence, a very uncommon idea to see within superhero comics. She also uses simple declaratives such as ‘we have a problem’ to convey certainty and confidence within herself. This disproves Lakoff’s deficit theory that women’s speech frequently includes interrogatives. These ideas are much more representative of what women at the time would think of themselves; that they are intelligent and capable of anything. It also reflects cultural changes that by this point in time it wouldn’t be unusual for a woman to go to university or enter what would’ve been traditionally male professions.
To conclude, my hypothesis was disproven as although traditional gender roles and stereotypes were common themes within comic books over a long period of time, there is evidence that these themes have started to change from the end of the 20th century. Interestingly, these changes do seem to correlate with cultural developments in society, and attitudes to women changing. For example, in the mid-90s American society had already witness two waves of feminism and were starting to enter a third. This alone would’ve altered attitudes towards women as they were powerful enough to influence change to the amount of rights they had, as well as how equal they were seen to men. As a result it would be unfair to say that modern comic books include these outdated attitudes towards men and women, even though older publications do convey this. It can only be assumed that the reason for this was due to the oppression women were experiencing in society at the time.
9ENO 03- gender identity in comics 