Czy mężczyźni marzą o stroju superbohatera? Wzorce męskości osadzone w kulturowym kontekście stroju herosa popkultury

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Date
2019
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Polski Instytut Studiów nad Sztuką Świata, Wydawnictwo Tako
Abstract
Do men dream of a superhero costume? Patterns of masculinity embedded in the cultural context of the hero costume of pop culture.The social and individual construction of identity in today’s post-modern world according to Gordon Mathews recalls shopping in the global supermarket of culture. Popular culture provides many possibilities of such construction, it is most often held on the principle of bricolage. For this reason I’m interested in the comic as a mass medium of meaning, the phenomenon of which as a tool for content is based on universality and simplicity of the image language (narration) through which it reaches mass audiences and shapes the public opinion of the majority of men. This characteristic convention, which is most visible in the so-called superhero comic, seems to present a quite unilateral pattern of masculinity. The superhero outfit plays an important role in the process of shaping this pattern – it is often equally important as his natural and preternatural powers. Therefore, this article invokes the figure of Batman, the hero of one of the oldest cartoon series and an icon of pop culture. It is perfect for a comprehensive analysis of how the dress – here in a form of tight-fitting tricot (and later an armor) with a cloak – communicates the standards of masculinity. At the same time, I would like to compare the Dark Knight with an unnamed aging hero from the series of images by a Swedish artist, Andreas Englund. Such a comparison will be used to extend the analysis of not so obvious history, which shows yet another possibility to shape the external image of a man on the basis of the cultural context of the pop culture hero’s outfit. Simultaneously, I try to relate both examples with male studies that have been carried out since the turn of the 1960s and the 1970s of the 20th century including, above all, the concept of “hegemonic masculinity” of Raewyn Connell’s authorship. The key for the Australian sociologist is a statement that “social sex is a configuration of practice and it is possible to describe it in categories of the standard, rather than the norm. The most important in construction of social sex is what people actually do, rather than what is expected from them or what is their imagined ideal of the given gender”. In my opinion, the outfit alone – the superhero costume – initiates an entire scope of meanings in both analyzed cases, including patterns of masculinity. Nolan’s films about Batman and Englund’s series of images refer in their genesis to the narrative structure of mythologizing nature, immanent for the comic. They show model, exemplary figures, whose transformations constitute pointers for the readers (viewers), becoming the basis for identification. And again, their clothes are the first factor separating a hero from a nor mal man. Englund’s narration makes impression only because the ageing man is dressed in a costume of a comic-book hero. In turn, the Dark Knight without his bat outfit would lose his identity, ideology, and control over his madness.
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Keywords
kostium superbohatera, superhero costume, Batman, Raewyn Connell, hegemoniczna męskość, hegemonic masculinity, Andreas Englund
Citation
Co (nie)przystoi mężczyźnie. Ubiór męski w sztuce i kulturze / What does (not)suit a man? Male clothes in art and culture, red. M. Furmanik-Kowalska, A. Straszewska, Warszawa-Toruń 2019, s. 221-234.
ISBN
978-83-949807-4-0