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"As superhero after superhero makes their big screen debut – and earns sequels, team-ups, and crossovers with a successful launch – the lack women in the spotlight is becoming impossible to overlook." - Andrew Dyce, Screenrant [1]

Why do comic book movies like The Avengers reinforce traditional gender stereotypes and what impact does this have on audiences?

As Andrew Dyce states in the quote above, the battle for equality between men and women in superhero films continues to rage on. The most recent example of the reinforcement of traditional gender stereotypes is Marvel’s The Avengers [2] where the sole representation of women is through the character of Black Widow. Through comic book movies such as these it is clear that traditional gender stereotypes are being reinforced. It is hard to believe this doesn't impact on the mainly male target audience for these films. In recent years, the introduction of new and digital media has led to a turning point for gender equality in wider society as there have many examples of women having a more equal representation. This may be reaching superhero movies too - one of Marvel’s latest movies is Captain Marvel where the main protagonist is a woman. [4] This essay will evaluate how comic book movies reinforce and subvert traditional gender stereotypes and how this might impact on audiences.

Historically, women in comic book movies have been a stereotypical portrayal of that time period. The chosen historical text is Captain America[5]. The narrative of this is multi-strand narrative, with two strands developing, the first being the emergence of the German super soldier known as Red Skull, who is identified as the villain later in the movie. The second strand being the rise of the American super soldier, Steve Rodgers, also known as Captain America. The stereotypical representation of women is first evident when the main protagonist is leaving for the super soldier program. There is a long shot of the main protagonist’s mother, she is shown wearing bright coloured dress and serves the family and husband. This was stereotypical of the values that wartime America had tried to boost morale in order to promote winning mentality. The first appearance of women in the movie has made women portrayed in home. Further on in the movie, there is a long shot of a female named Dr Gonselli, who is shown in a white lab coat. This subverts the stereotypical view of women as they are shown as more than just housewives. A left to right panning long shot is used to show when Dr Gonselli is shot dead by Nazi spy. This presents the audience with an abrupt end to women in a subversive role. Steve Rogers is presented restrained to a table in a long shot, then cuts to a close up of Rogers breaking free from his metal restraints. This presents men as superior and indestructible as he does he is hit with two bullets in the chest, shown by a close up. He then carries on fighting in a several cuts. A long shot is used to show the power of Rogers as it shows him killing a Nazi spy with one punch. There is a zoom out long shot of Dr Gonselli dead on the hospital bed; this shows that woman are nothing more than a plot device used to move the story on. Representations of women have been embodied in the character of Dr Gonselli who is killed with one bullet. As Syvanis writes in Gender Representation in the Superhero Genre: “Film-makers primarily choose to focus on a super heroine’s looks and attractiveness to draw in male audiences.”[6] This presents that women’s roles in movies are based on sexuality and base it on their curves. In contrast, the Steve Rogers character is able to show his bravery, endurance and strength through noble acts throughout the movie. This is even more effective through the use of low angle shots that make the audience look up towards him. The next shot is a medium shot of Steve Rogers in a hospital gown surviving the two shots this showing that males have more guts and are stronger physically.

Comic book characters reinforce traditional gender stereotypes. Propp’s seven spheres of action are shown in the fight scene between Red Skull and Captain America. The spheres show the hero versus the villain. Red Skull is a red head which connotes danger and violence. He is wearing a black coat that connotes a mysterious and dark persona. A panning long shot to a close up shot is used to show Captain America stabbed with three knives to throat. A long shot is used to show Captain America tied to a rocket and sent to America to blow up but Captain America once again shows his heroism and bends the wings and crash in the arctic where he is frozen in ice. There is a small beach scene where Captain America runs past a busty women in a bikini and stares at her as he does, this links to Mulvey’s male gaze, where the dominant objects on screen are for the benefit of men. In the climax scene Captain America needs to save his girlfriend (Princess) and does this with the help of the president (Helper), this also links to Propps character theory. FIND QUOTE

In the Avengers, Black Widow is the sole representation of women and it can be connoted through her name that she is a femme fatale. Black widow spiders are known to kill their partners and lay eggs in their carcases. As Laura Bates of Everyday Sexism states: [7]“The male gaze is utilized to hyper sexualize the female character, further misrepresenting women in the media through visual depiction and the starvation of their personal agency.” This links to the way that Black Widow is used for the appeal of men and through the sex appeal of women as “Sex is their weapon.”[8] The Avengers connotation is that it can reinforce and subvert the stereotypical view of women, as she had “spent most of the movie bending over various objects in revealing clothing.”[9] It reinforces the stereotype as the Black Widow is the only woman in the Avengers and has no film that led to the build up to her character like Captain America[10], Hulk[11], Iron Man[12] and Thor[13]. The Captain America’s costume connotes his patriotism for his country through the red white and blue. Iron Man’s costume is a battle suit, which is red and yellow, this which connotes spitfire and hints to his hot shot personality. Thor’s costume represents his heritage of Asgard and his origins. Hulk is a large green behemoth that where shredded trousers; this presents him as a wild and ferocious character. Black Widow's costume is a full black body suit which creates an enigmatic presence as she could be two faced.

The dominant ideologies portrayed in the Avengers are that women are inferior to men and are the weaker sex. This is evident from the fact that the Black Widow is presented as the only woman and “She is dressed in a suit that perfectly forms to her curves, as to appear appealing, and she armed with the smallest weapon. This is how women are portrayed in cinema.”[14] This is the idea that woman gain power from their sexuality. The target demographic for the Avengers is 12-30 year old males however, “40% of its opening-weekend audience were women.”[15] Presenting that Avengers is targets the male demographic, but a large percent is female. As the audience we are put in a position where we see the heroes in an inspirational light where we are viewing their selfless acts of justice and protecting us. This contrasts the stereotypical view of women as usually the main group of civilians being saved are women and children. The narrative subverts this view, even though other Marvel films like Thor and Iron Man presented women to be vulnerable. All the heroes are delineated with egos and their mistrust issues become present as soon as they meet, for example the scene where Thor attacks Iron Man in order to take Loki back to Asgard, this is the first meeting between the two heroes this is shown through a low angle long shot of Thor striking Iron man with a vast lightning bolt. - DISCUSS THE IMPACT ON A FEMALE AUDIENCE OF CHARACTERS SUCH AS BLACK WIDOW. ADD QUOTE IF POSSIBLE.

The establishing shot of Black widow’s introduction she is portrayed as a helpless woman. As an over the shoulder low angle long shot is used to show her tied to a chair and being interrogated by a foreign general. The low angle presents her as helpless which is stereotypical of females, as princesses – Propps character types. However, through dialogue she is able to trick the General and Hench men using her assets, these are shown through high angle point of view shots of the general looking down upon her. The stereotypical view of woman is broken down through the fight scene between the general and black widow. This next scene is when Loki is in the containment unit. This scene presents Black Widow as deceitful and cunning. This is exemplified by the reaction of the Loki, shown through a close up, where he was tricked by Black Widow. This subverts the stereotypical view of women in society, in the current society we see women as the person who takes care of the house and kids rather than working. The disposition that is associated with this view is caring and loving, but this view shows her as evil and in some sense a femme fatal. Socially, this scene shows how women can be more than just passive they can be cunning and malevolent. Historically, the view of women has changed completely as they are seen as equals and in some cases superior to men. Economically, it shows how women are also helping with the economy. Black widows character is put to the test as she is put against two of her fellow Avengers members. The first being the strongest and the mightiest shows that her representation as a woman is stronger as it shows women aren’t weak and don’t need to be protected, they are able to fight their own battles, until she is being chased by the Hulk where she is running down the corridor where as Hulk is demolishing everything in his path. It can be connoted that Hulk is the representation of society3[ and there view in the world and Black widow is presented as women trying to escape the stereotype until she is hit out by the stereotype and becomes a princess, according to Propps seven character spheres, and is saved by Thor.

Another comic book movie that reinforces gender stereotypes is Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. In this film, aside from Selina Kyle and Miranda Tate, it is almost like Gotham is totally devoid of women. For example, major scenes involve a bus load of orphans, who are all male, an all male football team, and a police force of 3000 where there was not one woman. The main villain is Bane and his entire crew is made up of men. The movie only contains two thin, sexy, able bodied white women; the producers have creates a universe where women of colour, fat women, women of differing abilities and looks, are almost non-existent. Although, Tate and Kyle are created to be so interesting, it doesn’t directly portray how Nolan views women, as both women’s characters have been given depth and realism they have a physical relationship with Bruce Wayne at different points in the film, which inputs the idea that women are only objects of men and that sex sells. Selina Kyle is a very interesting character because she carries her own set of moral standards which interact with Bruce Wayne. Overall, she tends to operate out of self interest and she doesn't sacrifice herself for anyone, unlike so many other women in superhero films Selina Kyle steals from the rich only. She is very concerned about how the rich have gained their wealth on the backs of the poor. This portrays the embodiment of women as selfish and egotistical which brings another representation of women to the table as they aren’t weak or small but cunning and dangerous. Batman becomes a “symbol of vigilantism, justice, vengeance and even fascism.” [16] REREAD - CLUMSY SENTENCES. ALSO HAVEN'T COVERED IMPACT ON AUDIENCE HERE.

There is an argument that comic book movies objectify all characters – both male and female – and therefore should not be criticised for reinforcing traditional gender stereotypes. Characters such as Wolverine in the X-Men films (played by Hugh Jackman) are objectified for the audience. As Media academic Derek Johnson argues in ‘Film and Comic Books’, the Wolverine character is in the film is different to the comic: “Unlike the comic wolverine of the “classic”[17] continuity, consistently drawn as short, stocky scruffy, and ugly (or at least unattractive). Jackman’s Wolverine was tall, trim (but muscular), and handsome. In the film’s, Wolverine’s body was objectified and idealized. Jackman was frequently shown bare-chested.” (p79)[18] This suggests that criticisms that are made towards female characters in comic book movies can also be made towards male characters too. However, the portrayal of Wolverine by Hugh Jackman still reinforces some gender stereotypes such as power, strength, leadership and heroism. For female characters, it is still more about body shape and costume than their actual skills and qualities. Professor Courtney Lee Weida, writing in Visual Culture and Gender is 2011, asks this question: “What do young women identify as protagonists, subjects, and objects of comics and graphic novels in the hyper-masculine re-emergences of Batman, Superman, and Hellboy?”[19] This presents the audience with the reinforced male gender stereotypes.

In recent years, there has been a rise in feminism due to the inequality in a lot of different aspects of society. There is an Everyday Sexism Project exists “to catalogue instances of sexism experienced by women on a day to day basis.”[20] This shows the rising revolution of women becoming equal in society and breaking the stereotypes of the society we are currently living in. In New York City, a woman had decided to do an experiment where she decided to walk through New York City in tight jeans in order to record how many men would comment or harass her for the clothes and her body. There was only one shot used throughout the video which was a long The experiment had produced the results of “100+ instances of verbal street harassment had taken place within 10 hours”[21] these instances weren’t from one background but they involved “people of all backgrounds”^[6]. The representations of women have been derogatory and have always put woman in “In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female.”[22]

Though the majority of superhero films have been predominantly male, there is a rise of the revolution of woman as the leads in superhero films. The most recent being the mighty hammer wielding Norse God Thor being transformed and changed in to a female, Marvel Comics “announced the superhero will become a woman in a move to attract more female fans to the franchise.”[23] The new Thor’s first look has been depicted with “long blonde hair, metal armour and a red cape” (Wyatt, 2014). The comic book world is not only platform that has begun to change as “Captain Marvel will be the first of Marvel's female heroes to star in her own film, which is being announced today with a release date scheduled for July 6th, 2018.”[24]

In conclusion, the superhero universe has been a universe of stereotypes and short hands of identifications, “where the women superheroes...are built to promote their sexuality.”[25] Women have become an object of the male gaze and just used as an attraction for men to drool at along with the big explosions and action. “Superhero films are known for their male-centric nature.”[26] This shows that the whole movie revolves around the main protagonist, where “The biggest superhero names have all been “attractive,” white, heterosexual”[27] this shows that the most idolized roles of superheroes, as had put it in his post-colonialism theory that the minority of the population put on white masks. Although, the traditional gender stereotypes have been created, the times have changed how accepted woman as superheroes are. For example, wonder woman had an “early start as a strong non-stereotypical female character” presenting to us that she was the original change of stereotypes.

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