A Feminist Political Economic Look at DC and Marvel Superhero Film Adaptations Laura Stoltzfus
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Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2014 Keeping the 'He' in 'Heroes': A Feminist Political Economic Look at DC and Marvel Superhero Film Adaptations Laura Stoltzfus Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] ! FLORIDA STATE! UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION! AND INFORMATION ! ! ! ! ! KEEPING THE ‘HE’! IN ‘HEROES’: A FEMINIST POLITICAL ECONOMIC LOOK! AT DC AND MARVEL SUPERHERO FILM ADAPTATIONS! ! ! ! ! ! By! LAURA STOLTZFUS! ! ! ! ! A Thesis submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master !of Arts ! ! ! ! ! Degree Awarded: ! Spring Semester, 2014 Laura Stoltzfus defended this thesis on April 16, 2014. The members of the supervisory committee were: ! ! ! Jennifer Proffitt Professor Directing Thesis ! ! ! Davis Houck Committee Member ! ! ! Donna Nudd Committee Member ! ! ! The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ! ! !ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS! First of all, I must thank my thesis committee––Davis, Dr. D, and Dr. Proffitt––for the endless support and encouragement offered me during this process. You are all professors who are also mentors, and hopefully friends. None of this would have happened without you three, and I thank you for your counsel and your presence. Dr. Proffitt, thank you for being kind when offering advice and for allowing me to invade your office from time to time and ask you thousands of questions. Thank you for pushing me to submit my work to conferences and journals. Davis, thank you for taking my freshman self under your wing and lighting the spark that resulted in this. My knowledge of Socrates, archives, and cats has grown because of you. Dr. D, your combination of art and academia is inspiring, and I hope you continue to make students broaden their horizons and open their minds. You all are the best committee a student could ask for and !have made this experience a positive one. Dr. Laurents, thank you for believing in me. You were the first Communication professor I met, and I was enthralled. You are like the caring older sister who is a lovely combination of sage and sass, and you helped me discover how fun communication can be. Your kindness has been a !bright spot during my time here, and I will never forget it. I am also indebted to my family and friends, people who have listened to rants, edited draft after draft, and did not complain about the sheafs of paper littering various tables. Mom, thank you for spontaneously visiting me and cheering me up; Dad, I appreciate your support and encouragement even though you have also been incredibly busy; Nic, you have been a wonderful friend, editor, and mentor throughout this journey. Thank you all for sticking with me and seeming interested in my constant discussions of superheroes; thank you for your patience and goodwill. Prettyface and Chilli Pepper, thank you for breaking the monotony of writing by !demanding food and attention. Lastly, thanks to Ira. From the encouraging notes to Tan’s delivery during busy weeks, you have kept me grounded through this process and words alone cannot express my thanks. You are an !incredible partner. ! !iii TABLE OF CONTENTS! !ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................................vi !1. An Introduction to Heroes and Hosiery .....................................................................................1 !1.1 Purpose of Study ..................................................................................................................3 !1.2 Significance ..........................................................................................................................7 !1.3 Research Methods ..............................................................................................................10 !1.4 Looking Ahead ...................................................................................................................12 ! !2. The Literature of Comics and Their Films ...............................................................................14 !2.1 A Brief History of the Comic Book Industry .....................................................................15 !2.2 Female Representation in Superhero Comics ....................................................................19 ! !3. Theory and Methodology .........................................................................................................25 !3.1 Political Economy of Media ..............................................................................................26 !3.2 Feminist Political Economy Defined .................................................................................31 !3.3 The Importance of Feminist Political Economy and Superhero Films ..............................33 !3.4 Conducting Textual Analysis .............................................................................................38 !3.5 Textual Analysis Explained ................................................................................................40 ! !4. A Political Economic History of Comic Books and Their Film Adaptations ..........................43 !4.1 A Brief History of Superheroes in Print .............................................................................47 !4.2 The Platinum Age ..............................................................................................................47 !4.3 The Golden Age .................................................................................................................48 ! !iv !4.4 The Silver Age ...................................................................................................................50 4.5 Industry, New Technologies, and Synergy: Communication Firms and Licensing from the ! Bronze Age Onward ...........................................................................................................54 4.6 The Multimedia Superhero Environment in the 21st Century: From Print Properties to ! Silver Screen Sensations ....................................................................................................59 !4.7 Taking a Political Economic Approach to Superheroes .....................................................64 !4.8 Political Economy and Female Representation .................................................................69 ! !5. Analyzing Themes Within the Top Ten Superhero Films Since 2000 .....................................72 !5.1 A Discussion of the Most Profitable Films and Their Characters .....................................76 !5.2 Discussion of Recurring Themes, or the Trap of Tropes ...................................................79 !5.3 Darling Damsels and Vexing Vixens: A Dichotomy of Women ........................................81 !5.4 Promoting Hypermasculinity and Demoting Female Masculinity ....................................85 5.5 Males and the Consumerist Weapons-Industrial Complex: Superheroes as ! Caring Capitalists ...............................................................................................................87 !5.6 Women as Expendable and the Use of Females as Plot Devices .......................................89 ! !6. Research Findings, or Where We Go From Here ....................................................................91 !6.1 Limitations of Study ..........................................................................................................92 !6.2 Recommendations for Future Study ..................................................................................92 !6.3 Closing Thoughts ...............................................................................................................94 ! APPENDIX A: Information on the Top Ten Films ......................................................................100 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................101 !BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................................114 ! ! !v ABSTRACT! ! The genre of superhero films has taken the movie industry by force, resulting in over a dozen comic book adaptations within the past decade alone. These films are based on intellectual properties originally appearing in comic books, and most of the adaptations are from DC and Marvel characters. As DC and Marvel, the two largest publishing houses, are wholly owned by TimeWarner and Disney, respectively, superheroes are easy and free content for media conglomerates to adapt. Due to the success of the superhero genre and its various offshoots like toys, video games, and merchandise, this work examines the top ten films since 2000 through the lens of feminist political economy of media. Issues like ownership within the comic book industry and the film industry, the inherent patriarchy of hierarchical capitalism, and gender representation in adaptations will be explored. Concluding that superhero films as a genre of profitable adaptations perpetuate stereotypes of females as dangerous vixens or damsels in distress, and that females have less agency than their male counterparts, I argue that such representations are the result of a media oligopoly