The Comic Book Enthusiast
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Alina Nguyen Professor Hatfield English 495SH 29 April 2015 Haunted: Identity Since the mid-1930s, it is evident in the usage of stereotypes and assigning people of color as “servants” to supervillains that the comic book history has been rooted in racism with its portrayal of people of color. Further, the comic book industry has not always aimed to be progressive or offer hints of progression. Thus, characters of color are being marginalized in a fantasy world where marginalized characters (superheroes) inhabit. Moreover, it assigns the body of a person of color as useless and unhuman: a tool for racism. Therefore, utilizing the first five issues of the new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, can show that the colored body is in some ways haunted by the idea of acculturation, self-worth, and one’s identity. Despite stereotypes and trying to be someone else, Kamala is an excellent example of how the presence of Asian Americans within comic books have progressed as she eventually claims her own ethnic identity as well as her Jersey City-American identity. Kamala Khan is a 16-year-old girl who is still trying to find herself. She is a fan of comic books, especially the superheroes genre. It is ironic since she herself suffers a similar otherness due to her ethnic background constantly being at the forefront of who she is. However, she does not claim that difference and embrace it. In fact, she desperately wants to look white because white girls were deemed as pretty and worthy of praised. She does not quite recognize yet that it is problematic because it can ultimately dismiss her own ethnic identity. The idea of assimilation is dangerous because when one is fully immersed in that ideology, there is no sense of identity from one’s own view but an identity organized by western standards of worth. For example, she claims, “…my chances of becoming an intergalactic super hero are even slimmer than my chances of becoming blond and popular” (Wilson & Alphona 4). Here, shows that she regards her identity as nothing but easily replaceable, which is not a mindset anyone should have. In a sense, she is dehumanizing herself by looking at herself in a way that is “ugly.” Thus, she is othering herself in a space that already views her as an outsider. Especially, with characters like Zoe who is so unaware of her words and they can affect the people around her. Perhaps G. Willow Wilson is making use of what is so terrible in order to prove her point that stereotypes are absurd and not worth taking into account. Further, in Derek Parker Royal’s piece “Introduction: Coloring America: Multi-Ethnic Engagements with Graphic Narrative,” he recalls, “As legendary writer/illustrator Will Eisner points out, comics are a heavily coded medium that rely on stereotyping as a way to concentrate narrative effectiveness” (Royal 7). This is important to recognize because stereotypes are a social construct in order to keep certain ethnic groups below the dominant one. Thus, the haunting of stereotypes can cause someone to want to assimilate. Kamala is a distinguished character because she is the first Muslim identified character to have a book title in the Marvel Universe. The representation of female superheroes in general has progressed as well. For instance, Michael R. Lavin’s article “Women in Comic Books” states that “Even super-powered females were often defined by their relationship to men” (94). Kamala is not even concerned with boys explicitly. Despite having a potential love interest in Bruno, their relationship is not necessarily a typical superhero trope. Further, the way she dresses has progressed since Lavin mentioned that “Most super-heroines were dressed in revealing costumes. For younger, more innocent heroines, artists utilized a sexy school-girl look” (94). Perhaps her clothing is her first step in claiming her own identity and how she presents herself on her own terms. Since comic books are directed towards all kinds of readers, it is important that these readers are aware of what is going on in the world. Stereotypes are dangerous and can be used in various ways. For example, Royal concurs: In comics and graphic art there is always the all-too-real danger of negative stereotype and caricature, which strips others of any unique identity and dehumanizes by means of reductive iconography—the big noses, the bug eyes, the buck teeth, and the generally deformed features that have historically composed our visual discourse on the Other (8). Thus, dialogue is enough in the usage of stereotypes because caricaturizing people of color within the images is even easily grounded in the heads of the reader and that is what sticks. Therefore, the want to bring awareness is useless in a sense because the images overlap the content. Moreover, one of Kamala’s feats is that she has the ability to take certain stereotypes and change them and make them satirical. Thus, instead of letting the stereotypes seep through her in a more negative context, she can just modify it to be a joke, which is what it is. For instance, she says to Bruno, “God! You sound just like my parents. Too bad you’re not Pakistani. Otherwise they’d totally throw me at you” (11). Here, demonstrates her ability to make fun of herself, which shows that she sees how ridiculous these certain “regulations” are. However, she is still a teenager and as she still is trying to find herself, she still needs to learn how to recognize her self-worth. Like any young kid, she wants to fit-in and she is only trying to do what she has believed all her life it seems that white people are better and that people who like her will never be at that level. Additionally, it is worth noting that Captain American himself believes that rejecting one’s own culture and ethnic background is wrong. Perhaps this is Wilson’s way of telling to the world that things have changed and they should, too. Although, it was not until she finally received her powers and come into control of them that she saw in herself potential and finally relieved herself of that haunting of trying to desperately to fit-in. Specifically, when she says, “These powers mean something. Something scary but good. And for the first time, I feel big enough to have greatness in me” (19). Even though she says this interior monologue as she was shapeshifted as a white superhero, she is finally starting to catch a glimpse of that identity through one’s own view of herself. Moving on, when she goes to Bruno’s work and sees him getting robbed, she decides to call the police but it does not work because her phone is dead. The officer asks her: “This supposed to be a prank or something, kid? Cause you don’t look like Ms. Marvel to me” (8) in which she replies: “What’s Ms. Marvel supposed to look like?” (6). Here, shows that she finally accepts that she is different and the she embraces it. She is claiming herself as someone who has been doubled-othered due to her secret identity as well as being a person of color. Finally, she completely takes on her own self as someone worthy of these powers as she affirms her own identity as a Muslim Pakistani American: “…I’m here to be the best version of Kamala” (9). Creating a self-created identity is very important in order to see one’s self-worth and she is at that point in her life. Therefore, her powers granted her the ability to view herself in such a way. Maybe, Wilson wanted to show readers that it does not need to take shapeshifting powers to view themselves in such a light. The appearance of Kamala Khan in comic books right now is something so powerful and so new and necessary in societal growth. Comic books is a medium that can reach such a wide audience and no matter how big or small the reader is, being aware of the issues in society is so crucial. As a result, there is progression even if that progression is minimal within the comic book industry. However, there will always be a need for more diversity to show people that people of color deserve to be recognized as people, too. Furthermore, allowing stereotypes to modify one’s own identity is harmful and can damage one’s sense of reality because she will be fixed on the fantasy. Moreover, it is important to recognize that one’s own lens is much more valuable than the opinions and comments of others. Being a good person and being a superhero is about helping others. Works Cited Lavin, Michael R. “Women in Comic Books.” Serials Review 24.2 (1998): 93-100. ScienceDirect. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. Royal, Derek Parker. “Introduction: Coloring America: Multi-Ethnic Engagements with Graphic Narrative.” MELUS 32.3 (2007): 7-22. JSTOR. Web. 29 Apr. 2015. Singer, Marc. “‘Black Skins’ and White Masks: Comic Books and the Secret of Race.” African American Review 36.1 (2002): 107-119. JSTOR. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. Wilson, G. Willow and Adrian Alphona. Ms. Marvel: No Normal. New York: MARVEL WORLDWIDE, INC., 2014. Print. This draft is 5 pages and a half. I still need to add two articles for the final paper and that should help in reaching the 8-9 page requirement.
Thank you very much for reading and any feedback is much appreciated. -Nguyen, Alina
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Proposal The superhero genre is a fantasy world where superheroes are seen as others in the space in which they inhabit. However, people who are victims of othering in reality, cannot even be seen as “normal” in a world that is filled with fantasy characters (superheroes) who are seen as others themselves. Thus, I want to talk about the representation of people of color in comic books. Specifically, looking at the representations of Asian Americans. For example, The Claw was deliberately racist: modeled after the Fu Manchu and as the epitome of the yellow peril. I want to argue that the superhero genre and comic book industry has progressed in its representation of Asian Americans in comic books. The progression I am hoping to make clear is that the ability to get one’s work published without the restraints of major publishing companies allows such progression. For instance, Gene Luen Yang and Sonny Liew wanted to give the assumed first Asian American superhero an origin story so they decided to team up, and made it happen. In addition to progression, I want to discuss the necessity in positive representations of Asian Americans in comic books to show a sense of identity that an Asian American reader can connect to. I will be analyzing some comics from Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology and Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology as well as The Shadow Hero to show the past representations of Asian Americans to present ones. I will also be using two essays from Paul Hirsch and Tim Gruenewald. Hirsch’s piece focuses on past representations of people of color. Gruenewald’s essay talks about how Gene Luen Yang brought his focus on identity within his previous works to the graphic novels that bridged Avatar: The Last Airbender and Avatar: The Legend of Korra together. Research Question(s): Has the representation of Asian Americans in comic books progressed? Does the progression help with claiming an Asian American identity rather than dismissing it, in order to fit-in? Bibliography Gruenewald, Tim. “From Fan Activism to Graphic Narrative: Culture and Race in Gene Luen Yang’s Avater: The Last Airbender—The Promise.” Drawing New Color Lines: Transnational Asian American Graphic Narratives. Ed. Monica Chiu. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 2015. 165-188. eBook. Tim Gruenewald’s essay focuses on how the flop of The Last Airbender film led to the hiring of Gene Yang for the graphic novels that bridged Nickelodeon’s two hit shows together. Further, he gives critique on the casting of white actors for essentially Asian characters. Also, since the fantasy world of Avater was heavily inspired by Asian culture, fans started to imagine the characters as Asian because cultural appropriation is wrong. Thus, the graphic novels had a purpose other than bridging the two series, and one of the major purposes was to give new life to a franchise that was doomed by the live-action film. Additionally, Gruenewald mentions Yang’s works in the past that influenced how he carried The Promise’s trilogy. For example, his graphic novel American Born Chinese is about claiming one’s own identity and viewing that identity worthy of praise. I can use this to illustrate how important it is to show that positive representation within comic books can help the reader connect to their own identity. Also, the idea of having a fantasy world where a certain of group of people is not allowed to be represented as such in reality can be juxtaposed with my idea written above. Hirsch, Paul. “‘This is Our Enemy!’: The Writers’ War Board and Representations of Race in Comic Books, 1942—1945.” Pacific Historical Review 83.3 (2014): 448-486. JSTOR. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. Paul Hirsch’s article gives an in-depth analysis on the representation of race within comic books during World War II. Apparently, the heightening of the American war effort was at the expense of race and ethnicity. Further, the Writer’s War Board (WWB) was a government agency that had relationships with publishers to release comic books with war promoting content. Further, violence went hand-in-hand with war progression. Then, Hirsch mentions the history of comic books and an interesting point he made was that comic books became prominent in immigrant communities. Moving on, comic books were an important part of the military because they served as learning and recruitment tools. Additionally, the WWB believed that having some type of race content within comic books was enough to make people aware of those issues due its popularity. Eventually, he mentions that race and ethnicity was never a serious focus in these comic books until Japan and Germany continued with the war. Moreover, being racist within comic books was to show that it was just and the right thing to do: human nature. He has sections dedicated to German, Japanese, and Chinese, and African American peoples and their representation within comic books as well as examples within actual comic titles and panels. I can use this to show the past representations of Asian Americans in comics. Yang, Jeff, Perry Shen, Keith Chow, and Jerry Ma, eds. Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology. New York: The New Press, 2009. Print. This anthology has comics within that I’ll be using as evidence for my argument. Yang, Jeff, Perry Shen, Keith Chow, and Jerry Ma, eds. Shattered: The Asian American Comics Anthology. New York: The New Press, 2012. Print. This anthology has comics within that I’ll be using as evidence for my argument. Yang, Gene Luen, and Sonny Liew. The Shadow Hero. New York: First Second, 2014. Print. This book deals with identity and also features the presumably first Asian American superhero’s origin written by Gene Luen Yang! Thank you very much for reading! (Please feel free to offer suggestions!) -Nguyen, Alina |