• Login
    View Item 
    •   DSpace Home
    • SUNY Brockport
    • Events/Conferences
    • Master's Level Graduate Research Conference
    • View Item
    •   DSpace Home
    • SUNY Brockport
    • Events/Conferences
    • Master's Level Graduate Research Conference
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of DSpaceCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjects

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Men of Steel and Sentinels of Liberty: Superman and Captain America as Civilians and Soldiers in World War II

    Thumbnail
    Date
    2014-04-26
    Author
    Deverell, Richard D.
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    During World War II, both Timely Comics and DC used Superman and Captain America to contextualize the war and present various ideologies to their readers. The comics, in keeping with historian John Dower’s thesis , portrayed World War II as a racial conflict pitting Anglo-Americans against non-whites around the world. While comic book writers and illustrators targeted the Japanese with the worst of the stereotyping, no non-white group escaped unscathed. African Americans, Indians, and surprisingly Native Americans faced racial stereotyping in comic books, serving to reinforce white male supremacy and cast America as a white nation defending itself against non-white enemies. The very first time an African American character appeared in Captain America Comics, he appeared in the background and then disappeared as soon as Captain America and his allies began fighting Nazis, again reinforcing the white supremacist portrayal of the war. Subsequent African American characters fit into the minstrel image and further dehumanized one group of Americans in a comic meant to unite all Americans. DC’s two Superman titles, Action Comics and Superman, avoid any portrayal of races other than Caucasians and Japanese. The comics, as a burgeoning form of mass media that catered to both soldiers and civilians, represented the war in the simplest terms possible, pitting attractive white men against dehumanized and grotesque portrayals of nonwhite soldiers and civilians.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1951/72335
    Collections
    • Master's Level Graduate Research Conference [446]

    SUNY Digital Repository Support
    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2022  DuraSpace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    DSpace Express is a service operated by 
    Atmire NV
     

     


    SUNY Digital Repository Support
    DSpace software copyright © 2002-2022  DuraSpace
    Contact Us | Send Feedback
    DSpace Express is a service operated by 
    Atmire NV