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Barman, Daisy. "Comics beyond Fun and Thrill: A Critical Reflection on Gender Dynamics and Public Imagination in Select Popular Comics-based Movies." Gnosis Special Issue (2019): 81–91. Added by: joachim (10/25/21, 4:47 PM) |
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| Resource type: Journal Article Language: en: English Peer reviewed BibTeX citation key: Barman2019 Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details  |
Categories: General Keywords: Adaptation, Film adaptation, Gender, Superhero, USA Creators: Barman Collection: Gnosis Special Issue |
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| Abstract |
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As a part of children’s growing up, ‘Comics’ as an electric discourse occupies important place in crafting their mental geographies. These print as well visual narratives contribute in children’s imagination as a form of secondary socialization. These visual discourses contour their ways of looking at the world in general along with the binaries of good and evil. Recently, film adaptation of comics has become a blooming industry in the world of visual culture. Although the first popular superhero ‘Superman’ dates back to 1938, however, last two decades have shown stratospheric flourishing of films based on popular comics. The two leading franchises of them are Marvel and DC comics. The target audience of these films have travelled beyond children and reached all age groups. However, one very common feature of these superhero movies is that they often give us a narrative of ‘men’ as ‘Heroes’ who are the sole saviors of the universe. This paper will deal with select superhero films which have busted public imagination as well as public wallets and have made a remarkable imprint on audiences as well as the market. The paper is an attempt to delineate how do these films offer us a comprehensive picture of gender dynamics? In the 21st century where women have come out on the streets against unequal power relations and historical subjugations of women, where do women stand in ‘saving the universe’ in these technologically charged fictive narratives? How these films as fictions echo the diktats of patriarchal apparatus? How such hyper-real visual discourse impregnates public imagination with normalized and unjust patriarchal injections such as violence, war, destruction and misogyny? How far and well the tales of women as savior of the world such as ‘Wonder Woman’ or ‘Captain Marvel’ are received by the public in comparison to conventional male superheroes?
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