The changing roles of women in American comic books

1 online resource (77 pages) : PDF

2017

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

The comic book industry is entering an era in which gender is the trending topic of conversation. Historically, comic books have catered to a masculine audience, with the majority of popular comic books featuring male characters, most often created and produced by men. However, recent years have seen a significant increase in female participation in comic book culture. What was once perceived as a male-dominated space is slowly transitioning to a space that not only promotes strong female protagonists, but welcomes female writers and readers. With this transformative moment in mind, this thesis examines how female heroes in comic books are represented today. This study intends to create a dialog on intersectionality (or the study of overlapping or intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination) by providing a critical analysis and close reading of the characters of Kamala Khan from Ms. Marvel: No Normal, Gwen Stacy from Spider-Gwen: Most Wanted?, and Jane Foster from Thor: Goddess of Thunder. These characters exemplify how modern representations of females in comic books are progressive in some ways, but limited in others. The main goal of this research is to highlight that, while the comic book industry is shifting towards becoming more inclusive to female characters, producers, and readers, there are many obstacles that these heroines must overcome in order to break through the veil of patriarchy surrounding the comic book industry.

masters theses

Literature
English literature

M.A.

Comics
Gender
Graphic Novels
Race
Women

English

Basu, Balaka

Rauch, Alan
Hogan, Katie

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2017.

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http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:148