Open lecture with Neal King
Welcome to an open lecture with Neal King, Professor of Sociology at Virginia Tech, Virginia, USA. Title of the lecture: "Gendered violence by Hollywood superheroes". The lecture will be held Wednesday May 29 at 14:15-16 in the Torgny Segerstedt-room, 2-1026, Engelska parken, Thunbergsvägen 3H. The lecture is organised by the Department of Sociology and the Centre for Gender Research.
Abstract: Comic-book superhero movies of the last few decades in Hollywood (1987-2019) have altered the profile of the female superhero, from sexual adjunct and relatively powerless sidekick of a male superhero, to a full protagonist independent of men. Still, feature films focused on such superwomen have only just begun to appear and succeed. This analysis of female superheroes tracks their developing roles in the protection rackets of (fictional) national governments, entangled in corruption and state violence, inflicting the large-scale destruction on the very communities for which they also provide protection. Where female heroes of older films protected only small circles of loved ones, newer heroes enter the terrain of state violence that once distinguished manhood. I conclude with a discussion of the feminist politics of such violence. Do such heroes become more or less feminist as they enter the halls of state power and do more violence as state agents? Does their increasing violence make them more or less useful to feminism?
For questions, contact Sandra Torres.
Poster (Link removed) .