Chapter I Introduction
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the general description of the study. It covers background of the study, research questions, scope of the study, aims of the study, research method, clarification of the terms and organization of the paper.
1.1 Background
Oxford Dictionary (2008:435) mentions that “stereotype (n) is fixed idea of what somebody or something is like.” While portrayal (n) and portray (v) have more meanings: “1) make somebody or something in a picture; describe somebody or something in a piece of writing, 2) describe or show somebody or something in a particular way, 3) act a particular role in a film or play” (Oxford Dictionary 2008:342). In relation to this, Stuart Hall (1997:1) defines representation as “the production of meaning through language”.
Leaning on these, portrayal and representation can be understood to relate to how somebody or something is described. Representation can appear in both informational text such as newspapers and literary text such novels and dramas. For example how Lady Macbeth in
Macbeth, written by Shakespeare, is portrayed as a woman who has sexual lust of power which gives her the image of having strong and raw power (Daniel, 2011).
There have been studies conducted in relation to human‟s stereotype, portrayal or representation, especially women‟s representation. The research goes back as far as the Post-
World War II. For example Dunne (2012), focused on women representations in comic books SANI SATYA PRATIWI, 2013 Women’s Portrayals in the Comic Books
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published in post-World War II. Her research finds that from the debut of female superhero
Wonder Woman, women representation was always within the frame of gender bias. Post-WWII, comic books represented women as wife, mother and secretary. In the era of Rosie the Riveter, women could handle men‟s work. Dunne also found that many superheroes have an alter ego, which means that a superhero has two different lives. In the end, Dunne discovers that comic books had the ability to both shape and reflect the changes in society. Comic books presented the fact that women were essentially „invisible‟, in both American life and comic books in the 1950s until 1960s. This indicated that there was an important relation between comic books and real life; art imitated life and in some cases, life imitated art- especially in pop-culture.
Another research with the same vein was conducted by Wood (1974) who analyzed women‟s stereotype in comic books. Wood found that girls in comic books were portrayed as a bad influence, greedy and threatening to leave their boyfriend if gifts were not offered. Girls could not protect themselves from bad guys. In the storylines, they were exploited and got captured by the villain. They were the objects to be rescued by superhero. Girls were also seen as a threat; a superhero, who fell in love with a girl often got into troubles.
Young (1991, 1993) also conducted a study related to women stereotype in comic world.
He investigated Marvel Universe Trading Cards from 1991. From the analysis he found that the comic book universe was quite sexist. From all of the cards, heroines or woman superheroes were featured only 22%. The finding showed that women are in the minority in the Marvel
Universe. Young also discovered that although men and women had an equal win or loss ratio in a battle, heroines fought in fewer battles. Man superheroes consistently have greater power and stamina.
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Sievers (2003), examined how women are stereotyped in American comics that are published from year 2002. She found that women continue to be in the minority. They are less likely to be main characters, the rescuer or the person in charge. They are also objectified visually by depicting them with large breasts, tiny waists, revealing outfits and uncomfortable poses. Surprisingly, heroines (woman superheroes) are also depicted the same as the women in comic book. They are almost always subordinate to man superhero. This can be easily seen when they battle with super villain. In several actions, they faint, overexert themselves and worry about smudging their make-up, even sometimes they still need others (man superhero) help in a battle.
To sum up, all those studies revealed that women, even heroines are stereotyped as weak creatures, persons in charge, wife and in the minority (Young, 1991, 1993, Sievers, 2003). As mentioned before, the studies of women‟s stereotypes, women‟s portrayals and women‟s representation in general had been conducted by many researchers. However, as far as the research concerned, there hasn‟t been any study investigating the “newest” heroines. The
“newest heroines” itself means that the selected heroines in this study were created a long time ago but they were published in comic books only recently. This study then focuses on the portrayals of heroines and their alter egos in the comic books published by Marvel and DC
Comics from 2012.
1.2 Research Questions
The present study is geared towards answering the following research questions:
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1) How are heroines and their alter egos portrayed in American superhero comic books
published by DC Comics and Marvel in year 2012?
2) What does the portrayal signify?
1.3 Scope of the Study
The present study is limited to only investigate how woman heroines and their alter egos are portrayed in selected American superhero comic books published by DC Comics and Marvel;
Phantom Lady and Doll Man (2012), Catwoman (2012), the Defenders (2012) and Red She-Hulk
(2012). This study further investigates what are signified by the portrayal.
1.4 Aims of the Study
Based on the two research questions above, the aims of this study are to examine the portrayals of heroines and their alter egos, and to investigate what the portrayal signifies.
1.5 Research Method
This study employs a qualitative descriptive method. It discusses the portrayals of the heroines and their alter egos in selected American superhero comic books published by DC
Comics and Marvel. The selected comics are Phantom Lady and Doll Man (2012), Catwoman
(2012), the Defenders (2012) and Red She-Hulk (2012).Van Leeuwen and Kress (2006) theory on Reading Images was used as the main framework to analyze the images in the comics.
While,Van Domelen‟s visual analysis coding sheet (1998) was applied as the second framework.
To analyze the verbal text accompanying the images, systemic functional linguistics (SFL)
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proposed by Halliday (2004) was also employed. Finally, Brannon‟s theory on gender stereotype
(2004) was applied to further discuss the analyzed data.
1.5.1 Data Collection
The data are in form of online comic: images and verbal text published by DC Comics and
Marvel; Phantom Lady and Doll Man (2012), Catwoman (2012), the Defenders (2012) and Red
She-Hulk (2012). The data are collected by downloading them from www.comicsall.com, www.indowebster.com and www.filecrop.com on May 2012.
1.5.2 Data Analysis
The collected data are in the form of images and verbal text. The data in the form of images are analyzed by using the main framework, Van Leeuwen and Kress (2006) theory on
Reading Images and Van Domelen‟s visual analysis coding sheet (1998). Additionally, the data in the form of verbal text are analyzed by using Halliday‟s theory on systemic functional linguistics (2004).
In conducting the study, the following steps were taken:
Selecting four series of heroine online comics published by DC Comics and Marvel; 2
comics were taken from DC Comics and two other comics were taken from Marvel. Two
comic from the different publishers feature independent heroines, two other comics feature
heroines in a team of superhero.
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Analyzing the collected data from 2 aspects: images and verbal text. To analyze the
images theory of Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) on Reading Images and Van Domelen‟s
visual analysis coding sheet (1998) are employed. To analyze the verbal text, systemic
functional linguistics (Halliday, 2004) is used. It covers the written text in the speech
balloons and the comments of the text.
Interpreting and making conclusion of the analyzed data.
1.6 Clarification of Terms
To avoid misunderstanding, the following is the clarification of the terms used in the study:
Stereotype
It is a broad generalization about an entire class of phenomena based on some knowledge
of limited aspects of certain members of the class. (Wood, 1994)
Comic Book
Comic book is defined as a booklet of words and pictures integrated into a flexible and
powerful printed format (Witek 1989:3)
Superhero
Superhero is a character in a film or a short story who has special strength and uses it to do
good things and help other people. Superhero also can be meant as someone who has done
something very brave to help someone else. (Cambridge English Dictionary)
Heroine
Heroine is a person (usually female) who is admired for having done something very brave
or having achieved something great. (Cambridge English Dictionary)
Reading Images SANI SATYA PRATIWI, 2013 Women’s Portrayals in the Comic Books
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Reading images or visual grammar is a framework that focuses on the structures or
„grammar‟ of visual design – colors perspective, framing and composition. (Gunther Kress
and Theo van Leeuwen, 2006)
1.7 Organization of the Paper
The paper of this research will be organized into five chapters as follows:
The first chapter: Introduction
This chapter is the introduction which contains background of the study, which relates to
the comics, research questions, aims of the study, scope of the study, significance of the
study, clarification of the terms, and organization of the paper.
The second chapter: Theoretical Framework
It consists of theoretical framework that provides literature review that is used to
investigate the research problems.
The third chapter: Research Methodology
This section contains the research methodology, discussing the steps and procedures of the
study, and the data resources in conducting the study.
The fourth chapter: Findings and Discussion
This chapter provides findings and discussion which is containing the result of the study
after conducting the research.
The fifth chapter: Conclusions and Suggestions SANI SATYA PRATIWI, 2013 Women’s Portrayals in the Comic Books
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This last chapter contains the researcher‟s interpretation toward the result of the research
findings in a form of conclusion and suggestion.
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