No One Likes Straight Men More Than Other Straight Men
Location
Presentation 2 (Learning Commons- Studio M)
Session Format
Oral Presentation
Your Campus
Armstrong Campus- Learning Commons, April 19th
Academic Unit
Department of Literature
Research Area Topic:
Humanities & Social Sciences - Literature & Philosophy
Abstract
No One Likes Straight Men More Than Other Straight Men
Once on the brink of bankruptcy in the early 2000s, Marvel Studios alone has been able to produce over 30 films and television series within the past 14 years; and that’s not including the Spider-Man, or X-Men movies produced by Sony via Marvel Comics licensing agreements. Across all major production companies and comic book houses the amount of popular media produced is staggering. Society’s fascination with the nature and archetype of the hero; however, is anything but new. In fact, the ideas and codes that so many popular heroes follow stem from the Old English poem, Beowulf. In this study, I’ll be looking at the heroic code in Beowulf and how those tenants inform superhero culture and the consequences of those ideas in modern society; like the idea of toxic masculinity – what it is, where it stems from and how it affects modern society. For this study I’ll look not only at Marvel, but also DC Comics and their models for superheroes for both men and women. Working through a feminist lens I’ll connect toxic masculinity to the othering and ostracizing of women within the hero epoch and genre, beginning with Beowulf itself via Seamus Heaney’s renowned bilingual translation and Maria Headley’s newly adapted translation.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Presentation Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Start Date
4-19-2022 1:00 PM
End Date
4-19-2022 2:00 PM
Recommended Citation
Stringer, Sadie, "No One Likes Straight Men More Than Other Straight Men" (2022). GS4 Georgia Southern Student Scholars Symposium. 11.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/research_symposium/2022A/2022A/11
No One Likes Straight Men More Than Other Straight Men
Presentation 2 (Learning Commons- Studio M)
No One Likes Straight Men More Than Other Straight Men
Once on the brink of bankruptcy in the early 2000s, Marvel Studios alone has been able to produce over 30 films and television series within the past 14 years; and that’s not including the Spider-Man, or X-Men movies produced by Sony via Marvel Comics licensing agreements. Across all major production companies and comic book houses the amount of popular media produced is staggering. Society’s fascination with the nature and archetype of the hero; however, is anything but new. In fact, the ideas and codes that so many popular heroes follow stem from the Old English poem, Beowulf. In this study, I’ll be looking at the heroic code in Beowulf and how those tenants inform superhero culture and the consequences of those ideas in modern society; like the idea of toxic masculinity – what it is, where it stems from and how it affects modern society. For this study I’ll look not only at Marvel, but also DC Comics and their models for superheroes for both men and women. Working through a feminist lens I’ll connect toxic masculinity to the othering and ostracizing of women within the hero epoch and genre, beginning with Beowulf itself via Seamus Heaney’s renowned bilingual translation and Maria Headley’s newly adapted translation.
