Accidently a Villain- Demetria Seawood

Accidently a Villain

Abstract

             I went into this research with one question and ended up answering a few. Hyper-masculinity and gender-stereotypes are very common in our world. Boys are only considered men if they follow a certain set of rules. Superheroes, such has Captain America tend to display these attributes with ease, and go above and beyond this call of manhood. The problem is young boys have a hard time separating fiction and reality. The over-the-top actions of a boy’s favorite superhero can be confused with the everyday actions of an ordinary man. Captain America was purposely over masculine because he was created to persuade the American people to join the Army, back during WWII when people thought Hitler was going to take over the world. In 2011, when his film was released Captain America was again used as a “Go Army” commercial while American men and women were fighting in Iraq. Captain America also exposes the pressure put on the male body. However, he does not try to change the mindset of his peers, instead he conforms to societies expectations.

Advice

1.Do not panic! This paper is not as hard as it sounds. Once you choose a topic that you like the research will be interesting rather than stressful. Start early and find a source or two a day, and before you know it the research portion is done and you have way more than 5 to 6 sources for your paper.

2. You will have the option to work with a partner, only do this if you are absolutely positive and can really cut time out of your schedule to work together. I was originally working with a partner, and before we finalized topics in class I decided I wanted to do the paper alone. In class you are supposed to "marry" the topic and it was really awkward because I wanted to break up with my partner. Eventually our research paper looked like two papers jammed together and we broke the group up and turned in separate papers. However, this could have all been avoided if I really sat and thought about whether or not I really wanted to work with a partner.

 

Please feel free to steal my sources.

 

Works Cited

Baker, Kaysee, and Arthur A. Raney. “Equally Super?: Gender-Role Stereotyping of Superheroes in Children’s Animated Programs. “Mass Communication and Society, 10.0 (2007): 25-41

Berger, Maurice, Wallis, Brian, and Watson, Simon. Constructing Masculinity. New York: Routledge, 1995. Print.

Captain America: The First Avenger. Dir. Joe Johnston. Perf. Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell. Paramount Pictures, 2011. DVD.

Colombo, Gary, Cullen, Robert, and Lisle, Bonnie. Rereading America: Cultural Contexts for Critical Thinking and Writing. Boston: Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2010. Print

Johnson, Gary V. Man Up: Perspectives of Male Masculinity Through Superhero Identification. n.p.: ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing, 2013.

Stabile, Carol. “Sweetheart, This Ain’t Gender Studies”: Sexism and Superheroes.” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies, 6.1 (2009): 86-92

ThinkProgess.org. Center for American Progress Action Fund. 17 March 2006. Web. 28 May 2015.