BOOKS:
This book is called “America’s world identity : the politics of exclusion” and it looks like it examines American national identity in the context of things like racism and sexism. I think this could have a lot of good background info for me that could help inform which areas of history and culture to look at the most in relation to superhero comics.
This book is called “Enter the superheroes American values, culture, and the canon of superhero literature” and it looks like it deals a lot with superhero media in relation to fans and the history of superhero comics in general. I’m especially interested in this book for the sections on fandom and diversity, but all of these sections look potentially useful to my project.
https://alliance-primo.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/primo-explore/fulldisplay?docid=CP71252830350001451&context=L&vid=EVSC&search_scope=tesc_alma_summit&tab=alma_search_tab&lang=en_US
This book is called “Bending steel : modernity and the American superhero” and it’s basically an analysis of the origin of superheroes as popular culture in America. I’ve actually used this book in a previous class for a previous project and I still have my notes on it, so I wanted to take another look at it to see whether or not it mentions Asian Americans (or other ethnicities) in any capacity or if it’s completely focused on white superheroes.
This book is called “The modern superhero in film and television : popular genre and American culture” and just like “Bending Steel”, it’s another one that I’ve looked at for a previous project that I think I have notes for. I want to take another look at this one too, to see whether or not/how Asian Americans are addressed in the book.
This book is called “Asian/American : historical crossings of a racial frontier” and on first glance it looks like it’s a fairly in-depth look at the history of Asians in America and how culture and society has developed. I need to have a more thorough background in what it means to be Asian American in order to be better able to see things like which characters in superhero comic books are racist stereotypes, for example.
This book is called “Super-history : comic book superheroes and American society, 1938 to the present” and it’s examining history through looking at superhero comic books. I think this will be a huge help in identifying racism and stereotyping towards Asian Americans in comics as well as seeing things like which stereotypes linger and which ones change or disappear over time.
This book is called “Ages of heroes, eras of men : superheroes and the American experience” and I thought it might be interesting to look at because it’s examining the history of superheroes and how they’re depicted from multiple disciplines. I also noticed that according to the description, most of the heroes they’re examining are white men, and the only woman mentioned is Wonder Woman, so I’d be interested to see if they examine any other heroes that aren’t white or men and what kind of examination they do, if so.
This book is called “Asian American X : an intersection of twenty-first-century Asian American voices” and I thought it might be valuable because it’s got a lot of different Asian Americans talking about their experiences and I’m sure at least one of them will talk about or mention popular culture and their relation to it. It will also be a valuable “sample” that I can potentially compare to depictions of characters as presented in superhero comics to see if those characters contain any semblance of authenticity or if they’re just caricatures.
ARTICLES:
https://www-jstor-org.evergreen.idm.oclc.org/stable/20439103
This article is called “Everyone’s a Superhero: A Cultural Theory of “Mary Sue” Fan Fiction as Fair Use” and I think it will be helpful because it talks about the relation between fans and the source material they are creating works based off of, as well as some gender dynamics that are at play in fandoms. I think this will provide me with a different, more female-oriented perspective that will be valuable.
https://www-jstor-org.evergreen.idm.oclc.org/stable/30029789
This article is called “Introduction: Coloring America: Multi-Ethnic Engagements with Graphic Narrative” and it’s all about stereotyping in comics. I think it will be useful because even though it doesn’t seem to address specific representations in comics, it does seem to delve into the more psychological aspects of why stereotypes became so prolific.
https://www-jstor-org.evergreen.idm.oclc.org/stable/2903369
This article is called ” ‘Black Skins’ and White Masks: Comic Books and the Secret of Race” and I think it will be helpful because it also examines stereotyping in American comic books, but is looking specifically at depictions of Africans and African Americans. This will hopefully provide me with a different perspective on race and representation in comic books.
FILMS:
This is an hour long film called “A Hero Can Be Anyone : (1980’s-today)” and looks like it’s mostly just an overview of superhero culture in the last 30 years. I don’t know how valuable this would be, but based on the descriptions of each section then if nothing else it might give me clues about what sorts of things to do more research on or paths to take.
I also want to look at the MCU;
- Iron Man (movies 1 and 3 specifically, as well as comics)
I want to look at the Ten Rings and the Mandarin and compare their depictions in the movies to depictions in the comics, and just analyse those depictions in general. I would be looking at stereotypes/racist caricatures, whether the movies are more problematic than the comics or vice versa (or whether they’re about the same problem-wise, just different), and other things of that nature.
- Doctor Strange (as well as comics)
I know the movie has a lot of Asian stereotypes and problematic themes, so I’d like to examine those as well as compare to the comics to see what was changed for the big screen and what wasn’t, and whether those changes were positive, negative, or about the same in terms of problems.
- Daredevil Netflix Series (as well as comics)
Specifically I want to examine the depictions of the Hand and possibly Elektra. I would be using the Netflix series to compare their depictions of the Hand and Elektra to the comics.
(I might also look at the Ben Affleck Daredevil movie and the Jennifer Garner Elektra movie, both from the early 2000’s, for an additional point of comparison.)
- Iron Fist Netflix Series (as well as comics)
Iron Fist in general has a lot of problematic themes that seems to include white people appropriating Asian culture, so I want to examine it in more detail and compare the comics and the Netflix series to see if there are any differences in how the character/themes are handled.
- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
I’m not as familiar with this series as some of the other ones, but I’m pretty sure at least two of the characters are meant to be of Asian ancestry. I want to see how their characters are handled by the writers.
I want to look at DC as well, specifically Ra’s al Ghul in both the comics and in Batman Begins (2005). Again, I want to compare and contrast to see if there were any major changes from comic to screen, whether there were any racist stereotypes present in the source material that weren’t in the movie, whether the movie changed things about his character that created or fixed problems, etc.
CARTOONS:
- American Dragon: Jake Long
This Disney Channel cartoon has a lot in common with superhero media and could be considered a type of superhero cartoon, and it has several characters who are Asian American and a lot of characters who are Asian in general. The main character is also voiced by an Asian American, although Dante Basco is Filipino instead of Chinese like his character is. I think it would be helpful for me to examine the depictions presented here in relation to “traditional” superhero media such as comic books.
- My Hero Academia
Even though it’s an anime, its depiction of superheroes is obviously based on American superhero culture. If I were to use this, then specifically I would be looking at the character All Might, who is almost like a stereotype of the big, blond, macho, American man. It might be interesting to look at superheroes from another country’s point of view and use that as a lens to examine our own superhero culture, and what that means for us.
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