Rebuilding American Manhood: The Green Hornet Circa 2011

Rebuilding American Manhood: The Green Hornet Circa 2011

The good folks at popmatters.com just published a short essay I wrote on the Green Hornet. My goal here was to contextualize the new movie within the American experience. If you have been following my recent musings, you know that I think there is a link between pulp era and contemporary superhero inspired media. This article maps some elements of that relationship through a close examination of the new Green Hornet film. As you know, I like the film, but my goal was to look beyond the surface to find a deeper meaning in the cultural foundation of the Green Hornet character.

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Wonder Woman

The ruminations over new activity to bring Wonder Woman back to the small screen once again remind me of the unique place DC Comic characters occupy in our collective mind’s eye. The struggle to produce a Wonder Woman film says much about the challenge represented by the Amazon Warrior/Princess who does not need to be rescued. Despite the growth of women’s role in society, we still assume a paternal and maternal model for men and women's in society. While Wonder Woman is not barred from motherhood, she is not seeking to place herself within the familial framework in an obvious way. Indeed, the recent runs of Wonder Woman have been better in part, because they have embraced the character as who she is--warrior, diplomat, and leader. Wonder Woman is one of the key characters from DC, yet she has not had the iconic stories similar to Batman (The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke, or Year One) or Superman ( Greatest Stories or Red Son) in print. Instead, many people know abo…

why blame comics for societal failure

Comic books are often blamed for societal failure. Comics are the perfect excuse for a child's bad behavior. Comic books are often violent and very influential. Kids these days look for role models and some of the role models they find happen to be in comics. Parents also hate to place blame on themselves for their children acting out. This is why they look towards comics to blame. It seems like no one ever fesses up to any of their mistakes and people look for a reason to cover them up. Comics cannot be continued to cover up or mistakes. We need to start getting our acts together and realize we are the ones who need to take responsibility for our actions. If society is that influenced by comics we definitely have a major problem.

'Nuff Said: American Graphic Media

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