Heroes & Heroines

Cultivation Theory and Superheroes: A Theological Analysis of The Dark Knight Rises

This article was interesting to read. Many times we think of how the female characters in superhero movies provide an unrealistic image of what females should look like. This article discusses the pressures male leading characters face to look capable of the feats their characters are capable of and how the male populations are turning to plastic surgery for the same reasons.

THE PORTRAYAL OF CRIME AND JUSTICE IN THE COMIC BOOK SUPERHERO MYTHOS* by Scott Vollum Cary D. Adkinson College of Criminal Justice Sam Houston State University ABSTRACT This article examines the representation of crime and justice in the worlds and lives of two of the most popular and pervasive comic book superheroes: Batman and Superman.

And for those of you not keeping count, Wonder Woman still remains at 1 feature-length film, which was an animated direct-to-video movie in 2009. Now, I'm no math major, but something seems off here. Where are all the female superheroes?

This is a very interesting article about how female superheroes are very underestimated. I think this would be a good article for anyone looking at gender. It is interesting because our data supports thus theory. Only one of the superhero movies in the data we have had a female as the superhero.

I really enjoyed this article and it would be great for my research paper because I would like to talk about female vs. male superheros. Very good article.

the spiral of silence -- extended to the social media age

My research question asks whether or not superheroes are good role models, and this article looks at that exact question as well as how to approach raising children who have superheroes as role models. I believe that the end of this article, which talks about ways in which superheroes can be adapted into good role models, will be helpful in coming up with recommendations for the end of my paper.

Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us about Ourselves and Our Society is a work of popular comic book criticism that explores why comic book superheroes have continued to matter so much to so many of us over the past several decades. This article is a good reference for social learning theories, particularly identification and catharsis theory.

Keywords: nationalism, superhero media, patriotism, priming, cultivation theory

Cultivation theory with the movies supporting nationalistic attitudes

I think that this is easily an example of cultivation theory because it fits with the idea that the more that society spends living in the television world, the more that they try to relate to it. I think that the more that you watch superhero movies, you get this idea in your idea that they have to play out a certain way, and if they were to go against these "golden rules" would the movie still be successful?

I really liked this article because this issue is a hot topic in the media today. Whether boys should play with dolls and girls be policemen-- I think this article says it perfectly when we assume boys should like superheroes and want to be masculine like they are. I also agree that parents should talk with their kids about the different stereotyping but allow them to make their own choice.

This article is fitting with a key debate in today's society over the influences that children have within their lives. Boys should like blue, girls should like pink. It fit's into everyday life as women are portrayed through media as damsels in distress and that men are the knights in shining armour. Stereotyping is slowly becoming an issue that more and more parents are dealing with when bringing children up.

LOS ANGELES - A woman in tights, a "queer" Flash and a black lead - all in a single bound. While Marvel and Sony dither about the diversity of their superhero lineups, DC Comics and Warner Bros. (in conjunction with New Line) punctured every Spandex ceiling on Wednesday when they announced an unprecedentedly diverse lineup of superhero movies. This article, like many others, highlights the lack of diversity in comic-based superhero movies. One aspect of it's content that caught my attention, however, were the examples used to show success in cast diversity. Films like The Hunger Games and Lucy use strong female roles and have had amazing success-- another reason to wonder why Marvel and DC are moving so slowly to do the same.

Talks about heroes in a different way-- one question asked is are heroes born or made? It talks about "normal" people trying to become heroes for what makes them heroes.