Addison Allen

Date of Award

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Fairchild, Emily

Area of Concentration

Sociology and Gender Studies

Abstract

Superhero movies have become increasingly popular since the turn of the 21st century. Since these movies are so popular, they have the potential to reach large audiences and communicate cultural messages, including messages about gender. Being a superhero is inherently masculine because traits associated with superheroes are also associated with current conceptions of hegemonic masculinity: they are brave, strong, and successful. Because of this inherent masculinity, female superheroes are contradictions, therefore, their masculine existence as superheroes conflicts with the expectation that they are supposed to be feminine. The current study explores how male and female super characters are represented in contemporary superhero movies. I performed a content analysis, coding 76 super characters from 15 of the highest-grossing superhero movies since the year 2000. I coded for presence, independence, appearance, and tropes. I found a number of significant differences between male and female super characters. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

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