Theseus Versus Hannibal Lecter: Heroic Quests Into The Labyrinth In Modern Cinema :: Paul Salmond

Modern cinema has borrowed freely from Greek myth and adapted these stories to its own dramatic needs. One tale that sits firmly in the US cinematic tradition is that of Theseus journeying into the Cretan labyrinth to slay the monstrous Minotaur who annually devoured young virgins from Athens . This mythical story has rarely, if ever, been portrayed literally on screen, but has served as a metaphor for a quest, both physical and psychological, that a hero is required to take to defeat some abominable unknown. To this end, filmmakers have tended to combine the fundamental framework of the Minotaur myth with elements of the Orpheus myth, whereby a hero is required to risk his life to rescue an imperiled maiden by journeying into the dark and hazardous underworld where a deadly monster awaits.

This paper will examine different versions of this heroic myth in modern cinema. It will look initially at how the Western attempted to use the theme of heroic rescue, and used Native Americans as the savage embodiment of a pre-civilized world where demons still reigned. This was most notably explored in John Ford's The Searchers (1956) where John Wayne's character of Ethan Edwards must rescue his niece from a marauding Comanche tribe as part of a 5-year trek that takes him on a parallel psychological journey. Here the labyrinth through which he must navigate is his own loathing of the Comanche and how this is driving an irrational desire to kill his own niece on recovering her.

In late 20th C film, the Underworld of the undiscovered continent has been replaced by the Hades of the urban landscape, as the serial killer has become the new Minotaur - a loathsome beast that preys on the young, has superhuman powers, and can only be located and killed by an exceptional hero. Three films will be examined that explore this theme, David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986), George Sluizer's The Vanishing (Sporloos 1988) and Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Each film involves a hero who undergoes a purifying psychological journey, and a deadly physical journey, into the lair of the beast to rescue a woman facing death. Each film also involves a 'minotaur' - a murderous monster who represents a world where darkness and chaos reign. And each film features a labyrinth, a perilous physical zone that the hero must enter alone without any guarantee that he/she can or will return.

The paper will also look at how the iconic role of the serial killer was adapted in modern cinema in a recent exploration of a literal updating of the superhero saga. M Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable (2000) depicts the awakening of an American Everyman to the realization that he is an actual superhero - part of an heroic 'race' whose deeds were formerly immortalized, and who now have been engulfed by the mundane social fabric - and how he uses this newly-discovered power to defeat evil.

The presentation will involve a discussion of the above films and the heroic themes that link theme. This will be supported by screening of segments of the films themselves, as well as scenes from certain other productions that illustrate the central thesis.

Bio Note :: (Dr) Paul Douglas Salmond, PhD (Classics and History) Melbourne University , 1994; 2002-2004 Manager, Orchestras Review Secretariat / Film Industry Section; Department of Communication, IT and the Arts; 1995-2002 Adviser, the Department of Communication, IT and the Arts and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet; 1987-1994 Lecturer/Tutor, Department of Classics and Archaeology, University of Melbourne; School of Classics , Archaeology and Ancient History University of Sydney
Email :: Paul.Salmond@dcita.gov.au

RIPPED OFF! Cross-Media Convergence and 'The Hulk' :: Gareth Schott

Media and other goods are becoming increasingly inter-connected. This has significant implications for how individuals use and interact with them. This paper outlines a comparative inter-textual case study of the Hulk that analyses how textual structures and meanings associated with the character are adapted and transformed across different media. Having begun life as a comic superhero (1962), The Hulk has spun off into many other products namely, television (1977), animation (1982), countless toys and more recently the 2003 Hollywood movie (Ang Lee) and its accompanying digital game (Universal Interactive). Despite the proliferation of the Hulk into different realms of the media, the character originates from a clearly defined cultural tradition in comic books. To that effect, comics retain the status of 'authoritative original', by which the modality and authenticity of the spin-off products continue to be developed and judged. Eric Holmes (Lead Designer at Radical Entertainment), responsible for translating Bruce Banner and the Hulk into interactive characters, exemplifies this as he describes the process as "a great opportunity... [that] brings a lot of baggage in the form of expectations too".

This paper takes the simultaneous release of the film and digital game as its focus and contrasts their convergent paths with the differing patterns of engagement and interpretation that they offer the same audience. Contributing factors to the coherence of the 'remediation' (Bolter & Grusin, 1999) of previous representations of The Hulk, within the digital game, include a voice over by Eric Bana (Bruce Banner in the film version), the continuity of the film sets, the combination of photo-realism and cartoon cell-shading and the presence of enemies from the comic universe (e.g. Half-Life, Flux & Ravage). At the same time, the interactive nature of the game diverges from the manner in which audiences traditionally engage with the Hulk. The orientational function of the packaging for the game serves to address us in a way that no other text other than a digital game can. The game lets you BE the Hulk as you "smash your way through this epic adventure"; an adventure that picks up where the film left off. The simulational nature of this media allows the player to perform actions that modifies the behaviour of the system. Indeed, very few games can compete with The Hulk for its levels of environmental interactivity and destruction. The transformative theme of the narrative is also played out in the game with the player adopting both Banner and the Hulk as protagonists with different abilities, characters and motivations. Here the player no longer just witnesses the spectacle of the destructive power of the Hulk, but also experiences the frustration of Banner when he loses control and becomes the Hulk, altering the game experience from the appropriate and required use of stealth and furtiveness to unlocked rage and exposure as the Hulk. The paper thus combines a reading of the Hulk with an account of the reactions and interpretive strategies employed by fans' in their engagement with the texts.

Bio Note :: University of Waikato, NZ
Email :: g.schott@waikato.ac.nz

Clotheshorse or Heroine? The Dilemma of Postfeminism and the Aesthetics of the New Wonder Woman :: Rikke Schubart

During the seventies and eighties the female hero's costume was not of particular importance. Stars such as Pam Grier and Tamara Dobson were fashionably dressed, however, never in a manner that shifted focus from the actress to the costume. Sigourney Weaver and Linda Hamilton indeed became famous for 'dressing down' in white underwear (imitating 'working class style' male action heroes). In the late nineties this changed. From being one among a film's many stylistic elements the costume has moved to the front as the element that shapes the actress, characterizes her character and sets the tone of the entire movie.

This paper analyzes the costumization and fetishization of the female heroes of Charlie's Angels, Charlie's Angels 2: Full Throttle, Kill Bill: Volume I and Kill Bill: Volume 2 as an example of what Sarah Projansky in Watching Rape (2001) critically calls "equality and choice postfeminism" and "(hetero)sex-positive postfeminism" - that is, the argument that postfeminist women are free to 'choose' to have thin, sculpted bodies and dress sexy, just as they can 'choose' to enjoy sex and thus transform themselves from passive objects-to-be-looked-at into active subjects to be admired, desired and identified with. It is said that feminism has become "a style, easily acquired and unproblematically worn." What then about the postmodern Hollywood costume, explicitly referring to woman as sex-object, as icon, as copy of former icons, copy of former films, stars, periods? Can such style be unproblematically worn? Indeed, what are the problems of postfeminism's playful, selfconsciously and ironic use of body, identity and gender politics? Does a super-woman outfit bring super-woman powers? And to what use do the new wonder women use their powers?

Bio Note :: Rikke Schubart is Ph.D. and director of studies at the Center for Media Studies, University of Southern Denmark. She has published four books in Danish, among them her ph.d. on the American action movie: Mission Complete: The Action Movie from Dirty Harry to The Matrix, 2002. An anthology edited with Anne Gjelsvik is forthcoming, Femme Fatalities: Representations of Strong Women in the Media (Nordicom, 2004). She is chief editor of the Danish media journal MedieKultur.

Email :: schubart@wanadoo.dk


Entering the Green: Imaginal Space in Black Orchid :: Sallye Sheppeard

Myth emerges from the depths of what we usually associate with the human imagination, arising de profundis in word and image embodied as ritual, which is to say that myth is verbal, visual, and visceral. Whatever other names, epithets, and actions we attribute to them, heroes, superheroes, and their tales always contain verbal, visual, and visceral elements. As mythic manifestation, the superhero exists not in transition but as transition. As transition or liminality, then, the superhero beckons us to that region Henry Corbin calls the mundus imaginalis, the very real imaginal world that is neither intellect nor imagination but both: the region of and. Yet to conceive of this world, to participate in it, one need not dwell solely in ephemeral theory, nor solely in reality as we know it. One must enter both worlds simultaneously. Myth does not speak of transformation within that region; myth is transformation within that region.

Born of the future and memory, Neil Gaiman's and Dave McKean's Black Orchid operates as vision and re-vision within this imaginal space. Its title character originates as human but becomes plant, a hybrid character named for a hybrid flower. She exists as human/plant, plant/human; she comes from the region of and. In its way, Black Orchid is a tour de force of comic genre transition, juxtaposing conventional bullying and violence with unconventional finesse and beauty, a modern tale of déjà vu and DNA. Regarded by many as a milestone in the development of adventure comics, Black Orchid takes the conventions of the genre and turns them inside out or, more accurately, turns them on themselves. At the mythic level, the work accomplishes a similar inversion. Black Orchid herself experiences the hero's journey more in the ancient tradition of Perseus than his successors, carrying forward major elements of two disparate cultures, one violent, one nurturing. Yet one can argue that Black Orchid's experience suggests something of a reversal of Perseus's journey. Her quest for self-identity leads her through Gotham City, Arkham Asylum, the Louisiana Swamps , and the Amazon Rainforest. Along the way, she encounters Batman, Poison Ivy, and Swamp Thing, familiar genre gods who serve as her psycho pomps as she descends from the world of heroic crime fighter to a nadir of violent madness and ascends to the world of "green" and, ultimately, a new vision for herself. It is this vision that makes Black Orchid's return to the world unique among her peers and Gaiman's and McKean's work unique within its genre.

Bio Note :: Dr. Sheppeard is a Professor of English and the Chair of English and Modern Languages at Lamar University . She is currently working on a second PhD in Myth studies.

Email :: sheppearsj@HAL.LAMAR.EDU

The Superhero as Labor: The Secret Corporate Identity :: Greg M. Smith

Several recent, very self-aware comics (Peter Milligan's and Mike Allred's X-Force/X-Statix, Robert Kirkman's Capes, Brian Michael Bendis's Powers, Kurt Busiek's Astro City) have foregrounded the notion that the superhero is a commodity whose value changes on the open market. Instead of their powers placing them above such mundane matters as earning a living, these heroes overtly rely on their powers to pay the bills, and their fortunes flourish or languish as their images rise and fall in popularity. This paper takes two different directions in examining the assumptions about labor as depicted in superhero comics. On the one hand, I discuss the postmodern emphasis on image maintenance that these recent comics acknowledge. On the other, I use the vantage point provided by these self-aware comics to unearth the assumptions about labor imbedded in classic superhero construction.

The classic dichotomy of superhero and secret identity not only embodies a youthful fantasy of transcending weakness and unpopularity but also depicts a more adult fantasy of escaping from the corporate grind. The vast majority of superhero secret identities are cogs within a large corporation. Clark Kent must wear the gray flannel suit and serve at management's whims, just as young Peter Parker must endure the indignities of J. Jonah Jameson's tirades. When secret identity characters are not mistreated as labor, they show a different fantasy: as corporate heads with the wealth required to create power. Thus Tony Stark's and Bruce Wayne's corporate holdings give them the means to afford all their fancy gadgets. The combination of superhero and secret identity allow these characters to be (in Robert Ray's terms) both official heroes (working within the established system through journalism or the law) and outlaw heroes (working outside the system's rules). There are very few small businesspeople among classic secret identities, and we need to examine superhero comics (themselves usually created by employees struggling with the industry's less-than-generous real life labor relations) as a powerful discourse about the rise of the organization man.

The convention of the secret identity seems important in the fantasy that the superhero transcends everyday labor relations. Once the secret identity disappears, the distance between employee and hero shrinks, giving rise to the notion that the superhero does labor that can be bought or sold. Luke Cage is frequently acknowledged as a landmark in comics racial imagery, but he is also important as a hero for hire, a hero without a secret identity, a man who has financial needs. Not surprisingly, Cage is a crucial figure bridging between the classic superhero comics and the more recent hero-for-hire comics such as Bendis's Alias (in which Cage appears).

Once the superhero's identity is no longer secret, the effort of creating two identities is no longer needed, and some recent superheroes have turned their efforts toward maintaining their public images. X-Statix is consciously aware of how their actions affect their Q ratings and their marketing promotions, just as any celebrity is today. These comics have turned from an emphasis on the modern corporate employee to the late capitalist corporate figure concerned with selling an image. Comics such as Superman Inc. reenvision even classic superheroes in corporate clothing. This recent trend occurs at the moment when the public has grown aware of Marvel and DC as owners of properties that can be marketed across media. In an era in which Jessica Lynch's heroism can be created by the U.S. military and where reality shows manufacture celebrity, these contemporary comics acknowledge our concept of modern heroism cannot be divorced from market-conscious image manipulation. Such comics highlight what classic superhero comics concealed using the convention of the secret identity: that individual action can never be totally divorced from the corporate self, even in fantasy.

Bio Note :: Greg M. Smith is Associate Professor of Communication and Graduate Director of the Moving Image Studies program at Georgia State University.  His books include Film Structure and the Emotion System (Cambridge UP, 2003), Passionate Views:  Film, Cognition, and Emotion (Johns Hopkins UP, 1999), and On a Silver Platter:  CD-ROMs and the Promises of a New Technology (New York UP, 1999).

Email :: gsmith@gsu.edu

Magical Myth and Super-Science: The Intersection of Past and Future in the American Super Hero :: Kelli Stanley

This paper will explore the contrasts and similarities between "magic" and "science" in the creation of American myth, the comic-book superhero. Generally, superheroes emerged from an era in which pre-Atomic Age science was viewed optimistically; utopian images of science's benefits to coming ages was a common ingredient in most popular culture in the 1930s and early 1940s. Comic book superheroes, an illustrated amalgam of pulp, serial, boy's novel heroes, and traditional swashbucklers, tended to draw upon either the promise of science and the future or the magic and myth of a mysteriously enlightened (and richly fantasized) past culture for their powers and identities. My paper will examine the who, what, when, why and how of this phenomenon, and will focus on DC, Quality and Fawcett characters, including Superman, Wonder Woman, Hawkman and Hawkgirl, Aquaman, Dr. Fate, Captain Marvel and Kid Eternity.

I presuppose that superheroes as cultural phenomena are firstly mass-market products: that though their respective transformations reveal much about an individual era (Wonder Woman in the 1950s, for example), their underlying structure, whether built on a foundation of mythology or science-fiction, usually remains intact due to issues of copyright. I also focus on the 1930s and 40s as the most significant decades in the creation of super-heroes, but expect to specifically contrast the older versions of DC characters with their later alter egos in the 1960s (particularly Hawkman).

The analysis should reveal much about American attitudes toward the past and future, magic and science, and myth and fantasy at a potent and significant time in world history, and help us understand the enduring legacy of the American superhero.

Bio Note :: Kelli Stanley is a graduate student in Classics at San Francisco State University . Her interests include translation, gender studies, film, popular culture and its reception of Classics, and Roman Britain. She recently presented a paper on Wonder Woman-"'Suffering Sappho!': Wonder Woman and the Reinvention of the Feminine Ideal"-at the American Philological Association's  (APA) annual conference in January, 2004, and an article is forthcoming. She plans to enter a Ph.D. program upon graduation.

Email :: ks4color@pacbell.net

Saving the World Today: Tony Soprano and the Parody of American Heroism :: Charles J. Stivale

In proposing the topic of parodic representation of heroism in the HBO series, The Sopranos, the title of my talk poses two, perhaps contradictory problems: on one hand, in the framework of discussing Superheroes, one might be hard pressed to associate Tony Soprano and his crew with the contemporary hero (and heroine) counterparts such as Buffy, Angel, et al. On the other hand, the title might also appear to give away the entire argument of the talk; that is, once the parodic elements are emphasized, what more is there to say? In my view, the parody of the American "family," or rather "families," in The Sopranos presents a complex mélange of elements related to heroism and anti-heroism. I point to one such element in the title: with the reference to "saving the world today," I foreground the Eurythmics' song (from their "Peace" album) with which episode 12 of Season II ends: there, Tony has spent the day "cleaning up," as it were, after everyone around him (including his sister Janice who accidentally eliminated her live-in boyfriend, Richie Aprile) and thus pursues his quest to keep the frayed strands of his existence together. The use of music in The Sopranos not just to set atmosphere but also, at the end of each episode, to create sometimes ironic, sometimes poignant closure, points to the careful layering of textual and filmic elements in this series.

In order to address concisely the parodic aspects of American heroism and anti-heroism in The Sopranos, I offer a typology of the episodes' heroic registers: from a realist perspective, The Sopranos naturally follows the linear, narrative unfolding of the multiple subplots, extending the saga of the dual, and dueling struggle between domestic family drama (and comedy) of Tony, Carmela, Meadow and A.J., and the "business" family of the crime/mafia genre. Within the realist register, the depiction of heroism and anti-heroism, at home and in "the field", conforms to the episodic regularity and narrative twists and turns of other series television. However, both of these sub-genres receive constant spin within a postmodernist register, at once ironic and self-referential, and these inflections have the direct and constant effect of placing into question the heroic stance of nearly all concerned. In the case of Tony, the most obvious device comes from the very start of the show in his sessions for anxiety neurosis with the psychiatrist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi. As a result of these sessions, we learn that Tony's fixation with "saving the world," whatever its deeper sources (the mother-son relation is constantly referenced), results in his overwhelming admiration for the strong silent Gary Cooper, evoked in every season, and for his self-depiction as the Happy Wanderer. Yet, there is at least a third register that I will call "neo-Baroque" in which elements that are neither realist nor postmodernist, but rather chaotic and aesthetically ornate, notably in the celebrated dream sequences, intervene to explode the narrative and create extraordinary bifurcations on both the textual and metatextual levels. That these three registers encroach on each other is quite understandable since their interference places the thematics of heroism and anti-heroism constantly in tension, assuring the popularity of the series. In the time allotted for the presentation, I hope to bring out these elements with a few clips as well as the framework described in this abstract.

Bio Note :: Prof. Charles J. Stivale teaches French literature, language and civilization at Wayne State University in Detroit ( Michigan) USA. He has written books and articles on 19th and 20th C French writers and the theorists Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari as well as a book from Duke University Press on Cajun music and dance.

Email :: C_Stivale@wayne.edu

Snap, Crackle and Shop: Superheroes as Superbrands in the Advertising of Products to a Young Demographic :: Holly Stokes

An investigation into the merge between traditional hero narrative structure and contemporary promotional discourse; 'If Popeye can push the popularity of spinach what can Lara do to your Visa?'

Advertising and promotional media in general has rearticulated the motivation of the classic superhero. No longer does he engage in a relentless pursuit for wealth, victory, manhood and a fair maiden, from a contemporary perspective his quest for heroic grandeur is now fulfilled through his consumption of a choc-coated breakfast cereal. It appears that the narrative conventions originally employed to levitate the hero to his supreme status have been adapted by advertising to enrich a product or brand to this same level of recognition and respect. In consideration of this textual transition the paper will consider the following issues:

  • A product's impact on hero narrative tempo and its involvement in the disturbance and restoration of equilibrium.
  • How brands carve their rhetoric and image from hero ideology.
  • When brand became hero through the birth of Coco Pop Monkey and Paddle Pop Lion.
  • Redefining the heroine - VISA's contribution to visual culture and Lara Croft.
  • How the dualistic structure of the hero narrative captivates young consumers.

Bio Note :: Holly Stokes is currently completing an Honours degree in communications at the University of South Australia, where she also tutors in advertising. She is a member and 2004 graduate of the News Limited Australasian Writers and Directors Association, a member and current scholar of the Adelaide Advertising and Design Club and member of the Adelaide Media Club. She is also an active cyber-member of the Paddle Pop Lion Club and a Martial Arts student inspired by her most respected hero, Lara Croft. 

Email :: holly.stokes@unisa.edu.au

How did The Bride Become so Deadly?' Violence, Feminism and the New Girl Hero :: Jennifer Stokes
'I'm pissed off and the whole world owes me.' Vanessa Lutz, Freeway

'Dates are things normal girls have. Girls who have time to think about nail polish and facials. You know what I think about? Ambush tactics. Beheading. Not exactly the stuff dreams are made of.' Buffy Summers, Halloween, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

The Bride's story is dominated by violence - she is seeking violent revenge and her 'bloody satisfaction' for the atrocities committed against her. This quest is legitimated by the horror of having her wedding party slaughtered and unborn child ripped from her womb, as well as being gang-raped while comatose. These horrible transgressions against her body and destruction of her attempt at a 'normal' life, allow the audience to fully support her in her quest to kill Bill - the man responsible for these events. Focussing on Tarantino's character The Bride from Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2, as well as other recent screen depictions of feminist heroes, this paper will question the place of violence in the representation of the new girl hero.

Kill Bill is dominated by The Bride's quest to seek revenge against patriarchal oppression, violence and injustice. Her quest can also be seen in other texts including Freeway, The Long Kiss Goodnight and Thelma and Louise. By engaging audience sympathy, these texts legitimate female violence and allow redemption through righteous anger. These texts also tap into an underlying cultural anxiety about women attaining equality and how they will use this new 'power'. Earlier texts allowed women to voice their fury and frustration; however these texts allow women to fully appropriate 'male' power, through aggression, weaponry and masculine posings.

In many ways, these women are fighting for normalcy in their lives. The Bride seeks a normal life for herself and her daughter. Buffy the Vampire Slayer desires to go out on dates like a normal teenager and Freeway's hero, Vanessa Lutz, just wants to live with a responsible guardian (her Grandma). These texts consider women defending their right to be a part of the status quo and, at the same time, their frustration with the inadequacies of 'normality' in patriarchal society. The role of women in late modernity is complicated by the choices implicit in third wave feminism and these texts reflect this complication; some act to domesticate or normalise these characters, whereas others challenge dominant discourses. These texts provide commentary about the difficulties of being a woman in late modernity and challenge the ideals of feminist ethics.

This new female violence can be seen in film, television and animation, where contemporary texts present a previously incongruous mix of femininity, violence and aggression. Through utilising a feminist, cultural studies analysis, I will discuss the impact of these new heroines, who move away from the forgiving principles of individualistic, care based ethics and towards a 'masculine' perspective. I will consider the textual cues for audiences to accept these new girl heroes and debate whether these texts can be seen as another version of the moral panics that have hampered women's struggle for equality. From this analysis, I will discuss what these texts suggest for the future of women heroes and feminist ethics on screen.

Bio Note :: Ms. Jennifer Stokes works as a Tutor and Edit Supervisor in the Film and Video Production Department of the University of South Australia. She is currently completing her Honours in Communications, focusing on feminism and animation. She also works in a freelance filmmaking capacity for SOJE Productions. Her recent papers include Cel Grrrls: the potential for feminism in animation, presented at Console-ing Passions, New Orleans , U.S.A. , 2004, and 'Do I know what edgy is?' Feminism, Marketing and Animation, based on a presentation given at Sonic Synergies, Creative Cultures in Adelaide, S.A., 2003.

Email :: jennifer.stokes@unisa.edu.au

Buffy and the Amazon Princess :: Jennifer K. Stuller

"Man's use of force without love brings evil and unhappiness. But Wonder Woman has force bound by love and with her strength, represents what every woman should be and really is." -William M. Marston

"Risk the pain. It is your nature. Love will bring you to your gift." -The First Slayer to Buffy

Men have long had examples of the hero to model themselves after. Is it possible for women to look to modern mythology for empowering representations of themselves? Do the superheroes available to women reinforce stereotypes rather than break them? What defines a female a hero in ways which are similar to or different from men?

This paper will investigate the relationship between two 20th Century female heroes, Wonder Woman, created by William Moulton Marston in 1941, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, created by Joss Whedon in 1992. Both women, born of mythological lineage and endowed with superpowers, were envisioned by their makers as catalysts for upending constrictive or stereotypical views of women. Marston, with his two simultaneous "wives" led an unconventional lifestyle, whereas Whedon is a family man. The contradictory positions of these two men certainly influence their relative creations. While Whedon's sensitive intelligence may be more in line with 1990's "grrl power" influenced feminism, Marston required a more open-minded approach than most men of his day in order promote a female hero in the comic book genre. Although in retrospect we may not see Marston as leading a life that corresponds with a feminist agenda, Wonder Woman might in fact be more feminist because of his "radical" behavior.

Both Wonder Woman and Buffy have a strength that is rooted in their ability to love. Does the suggestion of love-as-strength embrace innately female characteristics, infusing what is powerful about women into a liberating archetype? Or is the assumption that "love" is inherent in women a sticky concept? The idea that a female superhero must embody a nurturing temperament might reinforce stereotypical and oppressive feminine ideals. But there is also the possibility that Wonder Woman and Buffy could represent a liberatory reimagination of femininity. With their exquisite femininity they certainly offer an alternative view of the female hero who has often had to appropriate masculine attributes in order to be seen as heroic (for example, Joan of Arc, Xena Warrior Princess or Ellen Ripley of the Alien films). They may in fact transcend gendered boundaries altogether, offering up a 21st model for an inclusive heroism.

In comparison, male superheroes have also been traditionally been motivated by the power of their emotions. Batman seeks vengeance for the murder of his parents and evolves into a vigilante. Spiderman is motivated by his commitment to his "great responsibility," which can also be viewed as guilt, rather than a devotion to something larger than himself. For both men their motives are largely selfish. I believe that Wonder Woman and Buffy Summers offer an empowering feminist response to these and other male heroes in that they exhibit selfless love and a genuine devotion to the safety and happiness of others. Each is compelled by a power greater than their own psyche. Their "Love" becomes integral to their strength.

Using the works of modern feminist pop culture writers such as Sherrie A. Inness, Elyce Rae Helford, Rhonda Wilcox, Frances Early and Trina Robbins, I seek to address the comparisons and contrasts between these two female superheroes. One could argue that Buffy is the latest warrior in a long matrilineage, and it is my belief that Buffy is a modern day evolution of the Amazon Princess, known as Diana, a.k.a. Wonder Woman. The correlations between the two women are implicit in their just actions as well as in their mythological representations. Just as Marston believed that a strong female archetype could exist to counter the male-dominated realm of fantasy comics, Whedon believed that it was time for a feminist just warrior to grace our television screens. Although their creation by men rather than women may be problematic, we can still read these characters as having awesome feminist potential.

Bio Note :: Jennifer K. Stuller is currently a student at the University of Washington majoring in the interdisciplinary Comparative History of Ideas Program and minoring in Women Studies.

Email :: jkstuller@comcast.net

Exploring the Link Between Masks and Superheroes :: Melissa Skipper

In many minds, superheroes and masks are linked. But is there a deeper, more subtle link between masks and superheroes than the simple need to merely conceal the wearer's identity? Masks have been used throughout the ages, their implementation varying from culture to culture. An early use of the mask is in religious ceremonies. Superheroes and their masks can be compared to the use of masks in religious ceremonies, where the wearer assumes attributes represented by the mask. The most familiar use of the mask is allowing the wearer to operate in anonymity. With superheroes both applications of the mask may be in effect.

We shall explore two of the superheroes within the DC Universe who best embody the characteristics defined by the mask each wears. Focus first on Superman, who on the surface does not appear disguised. Superman, otherwise known as Kal-El, wears no mask as a hero and therefore seems more trustworthy. Kal-El's mask is Clark Kent . With a pair of glasses, a change of hairstyle, and a more unassuming persona, Kal-El dons the mask of humanity and becomes a member of his adopted home.

The second individual is the more complicated. Batman's character is an individual who is composed of multiple masks. The first mask is the one that he considers himself to be--Batman. Batman came about as the result of the death of Bruce Wayne's parents. From that point, Bruce worked and trained with one goal in mind. No one else would suffer the anguish that he did as a child. The identity of Batman was born through Bruce Wayne's attempt to create a disguise that would strike fear into the hearts of criminals. Like the creature whose name he assumes, he seems to silently come out of nowhere.

The second layer of Batman's mask is Bruce Wayne. Only those who know his secret, ever see the true Bruce Wayne. What the public sees is a charming playboy, someone who cannot be bothered to manage the company he owns. He hides behind an aura of flamboyance.

A third layer is that of identities, such as Matches Malone, created by Batman to allow him to operate in the vicious Underworld that exists in Gotham City . This is an Underworld that hosts some of the more psychotic and dangerous criminals in the DC Universe. This is not an area that Batman or Bruce Wayne would be able to access, hence the need for other identities or masks that would allow him to gather the desired information while not being noticed.


Bio Note :: I have a Master's Degree in Library Science and am currently employed at the Memphis/Shelby County Public Library and Information Center . As a Senior Librarian involved with collection development one my areas of responsibilities includes graphic novels and comic books. I have been an avid reader of comics and graphic novels since my father introduced them to me as a young child.
Email :: mskip@bellsouth.net

Lord Rama :: Dr.Jayant Sonwalkar

Bio Note :: Ph.D., MBA , MA (SW), MA(Hist), D.Ex.M.M. Sr.Faculty in Marketing Institute of Management Studies University of Indore KhandwaRoad Campus, Indore-
Email :: drjayant.ims@dauniv.ac.in

Conquerer of Flood, Wielder of Fire: Noah the Hebrew Superhero :: Estelle Strazdins

This paper argues that in the corpus of Hebrew myth, Noah, the Biblical Flood Hero, is an individual trapped between humanity and divinity - an incongruous position to either state, which is viable only due to the special relationship Noah has with fire. He is an outcast in the human world; yet, through his use of fire, Noah saves humanity from destruction both at the time of the Flood and for all the days to come before the eschaton. This pattern of a being, who is more than human and, for this reason, unable to function in society, is common amongst superheroes. Thus, this paper also explores why mankind (both ancient and modern) yearns for mythical heroes of this type and why the heroes themselves rebel against their outsider role.

Noah possesses a secret history which is alluded to in Genesis and elaborated on in early Jewish Apocalyptic texts such as 1 Enoch, Jubilees and the Genesis Apocryphon. In Genesis Noah is a holy man, distinguished from his generation by his righteousness. However, he is also more than this: at Genesis 6:9 he is described as walking with God - a distinction shared by only one other man in the Hebrew bible, Enoch (Noah's great grandfather). Noah's superhero qualities manifest from his birth, since he enters the world in a blaze of fire and when he opens his eyes, 'the house shines like the sun' (1 Enoch 106:2). His appearance is so bizarre that his father fears he is the bastard son of an angel. Whilst this conclusion may sound far-fetched, at that time mankind was plagued by the Nephilim - the monstrous offspring of human women and rebel angels, known as Watchers: it is these creatures that Noah resembles. Although, Noah's father is convinced by Enoch that Noah is his son, the boy never shakes his connection to the Nephilim: they are his antitypes, his nemeses. Noah is created by sanctioned fire, the Nephilim by illicit fire; Noah is righteous, the Nephilim sin; Noah uses fire to preserve mankind, the Nephilim to destroy it. Noah survives the Flood which God sends to destroy the Nephilim.

Additionally, Noah is opposed to the rest of humanity, who are also tainted by the rebel angels' activities - the reason for their watery death - and it is this opposition which Noah's use of fire counteracts after the Deluge. To restore cosmic balance, Noah instigates the first sacrifice. This institution allows mankind to atone for their sins deriving from their association with illicit fire and, in this way, ensures that the devastation wrought by the Flood will never occur again. Yet, like Superman and Spiderman after him, Noah also rebels against his superhero role: he indulges in the sin of drunkenness. While he is intoxicated, his son reverts to evil and only when Noah resumes his authority are circumstances (if not his son) saved. Thus, Noah's attempts to assimilate to humanity fail and he must come to terms with his elevated, and therefore isolated, position in society.


Bio Note :: Estelle Strazdins is a Classics and Archaeology Masters candidate at the University of Melbourne . Her research involves the study of cultural stereotypes and their manipulation in the writings of Lucian of Samosata and Juvenal. Her Honours thesis focussed on the significance of fire in a Hebrew, Greek and Mesopotamian myth. Estelle is currently tutoring Everyday Life in Greece and Rome at Melbourne University 's Centre for Classics and Archaeology.
Email :: east@unimelb.edu.au

Changing Costumes, the Neo-Baroque and Japanese Popular Culture: Sentai, Hentai and Final Fantasy :: David Surman

This paper focuses on the recuperative effects of the neo-baroque in contemporary visual culture. The destabilising effects of postmodernism have undermined the traditional processes of characterisation in popular fiction. As I shall demonstrate, the neo-baroque provides an account of the formation of this contemporary subjectivity, highlighting the cultural contexts that give rise to popular 'inter-texts' such as Hideaki Anno's Cutey Honey and Hironobu Sakaguchi's Final Fantasy videogame series. Does the popular trope of the 'superhero costume-change' stabilise and recuperate -- through visual spectacle -- those fractured subjectivities representative of our contemporary visual culture?

Bio Note :: David Surman is a lecturer in Animation Studies in the School of Art, Media and Design at the University of Wales, Newport.

Email :: david.surman@newport.ac.uk

The Superhero Versus the Troubled Teen: Parenting Connor, and the Fragility of 'Family' in Angel :: Gwyn Symonds

In  Deep Down, the first episode of season 4 Angel, the  vampire superhero envisions an idyllic family scene with his friends from Angel Investigations and his son Connor.  They sit around a table sharing a meal and warm banter, a scene revealed as an illusion. The camera pulls back to reveal the watery reality of  Angel dreaming that Kodak moment from his imprisonment in a coffin in the depths of the ocean - entombed, seemingly for eternity, by the son he loves.  "Freeze the moment, dad. It'll last forever" says Connor. The phrase chillingly contrasts, for the audience, the idealised image of family with the reality of Connor's hate for a father he sees as the cause of his emotionally tortured adolescence. With the coupling of two vampires that mysteriously produces a demon/human son, Angel: The Series portrays a shift in the archetypal story of the superhero's journey.  The Champion, "helping the helpless" in the struggle against evil, flounders in the less epic realms of adolescent angst and the fraught parent/teenager relationship.  In an Oedipal storyline that pairs Connor in a sexual relationship with Cordelia, as a rival to his father, Angel struggles with fatherhood and his son's violent adolescent rebellion.  Connor, burdened by a dysfunctional childhood in a hell dimension, and escaping from there to the streets of Los Angeles , epitomises the horror genre's view of growing up as a journey through hell.  The show presents a bleak and painful view of family life in Conners story that deepens our sense of the souled vampire, Angel, as the quintessentially flawed superhero.

Bio Note :: Gwyn Symonds is a doctoral student at Department of English, University of Sydney.

Email :: gbsymonds@iprimus.com.au