Introduction
With
the increasing popularity of comic book movies, Marvel appears to be a front
runner for box office success. Producing movies based on their comic book
characters since 1944, Marvels first financial success was 1998s Blade. Since then Marvel has changed the
way audiences perceive superheroes and comic book movies. With this in mind, it
is important to highlight whether there is gender inequalities within Marvel
movies. With the approaching ten year anniversary of the Marvel Cinematic
Universe (MCU) these issues have been a recent focus amongst movie critics and
fans.
Those
who actively read movie news on a regular basis cannot ignore the bombardment
of stories from the studio powerhouse. From my own personal experience however
I have seen a reoccurring interest in the women of Marvel movies. Considering
myself an invested and informed Marvel fan, I wanted to explore how the women
within the films are represented; whether this is an accurate reflection upon
societal norms or a by-product of the media’s representations.
This
study will base its analysis upon three films, those being Spider-Man (2002), Thor
(2011) and Captain America: The Winter
Soldier (2015). These films have been chosen because I feel they highlight
key developments in not only the representation of the Female Action Heroine
but of the studio itself.
These films will be analysed within the
context of three frameworks outlined in chapters two, three and four. These
frameworks being Comic Book Movies,
their development and how the styles of changed. Gender and representation, how gender is constructed in society
and then representation within films, and finally the Action Heroine and her role within comic book movies and her changing
developments as comic book movies have gained momentum in at the box office.
By taking a semiotic and rhetorical approach
to this study, I will uncover how movie producers manipulate signs, frames,
costume and mise-en-scene to portray their chosen representations and whether
these adhere to previously perceived portrayals set out in the previous
chapters.
Chapter One
The comic book adaptation
The next three chapters will explore the three
frameworks that will be vital to the development of my thesis. The first of
which will be a study of secondary texts which discuss comic book movies. It is
critical for me to use these secondary sources in order to understand the scope
of research and place my study within context.
The second framework I will examine will be
the theories surrounding how gender is constructed and represented within film which
will eventually lead into the exploration of the female action heroine and her
developing image in cinema. Both of these frameworks will offer ideas and
theories I will build upon in my analysis.
Comic Book Movies
As soon as superheroes rose to prominence in
early comic books, film makers have been creating Hollywood blockbusters based
on the popular characters that were featured. Early comic book movies were
noted for their campy, child friendly style, epitomised in the early days of
Batman portrayed by Adam West. What
followed were decades of fluctuations in the popularity of comic book movies at
the box office. Movie producers would rehash and reproduce movies based on the
same characters until Marvel changed the way audiences and fans thought about
comic book movies.
The genre has now never been more popular with
roughly three movies based on comic books released every year (2015, [online]).
Amanda Berry, assistant Professor
of literature at American University has said that the reason comic book movies
have become so popular is due to its fan base, "Comic books have
generated -- and continue to generate -- a unique fan base. This fan base is
intensely loyal and seriously engaged in the very particularizing serial
culture of comic books" (2012 [online]). With
this in mind, comic book movie producers have the difficult task of adapting
the comic book into a movie that will keep both ‘fan boys’ and casual movie
goers engaged and informed.
This chapter will aim to
explore the issues movie producers face when adapting the comic book to a
blockbuster movie. It will examine how these issues and resolutions affect the
way female characters are translated into their movie counterparts.
The Art of Adaptation
Adaptation is
not a new phenomenon within art and film. Andrew Dudley (1984) has highlighted
that adaptation has been occurring since medieval times when paintings would
feature biblical
iconography and miracle plays based on bible studies (Andrew, 1984). In his book Concepts
of Film Theory, Andrew attempts to categorise film adaptation into three
subcategories that suggest the approach critics should adopt when analysing a
text: borrowing, intersection and fidelity of transformation. When placed into
the context of comic book movies, I feel the most important of these to
consider is the act of borrowing. He suggests that “the main concern is the
generality of the original and its potential for wide release and varied
appeal” (Andrew, 1984, p.13). Andrew contends that this is especially true of
those materials that are frequently used and repeated; because of this they claim
the status of “myth”. Liam Burke (2015) applies Andrew’s ideas to the process
of comic book adaptations. He proposes that if a studio were to adapt a comic story rather than the “mythic” idea of
Batman for example, the story would not contain all that is iconic to the
character such as the Batcave, Alfred or the costumed the villains, “Consequently
by adapting the myth of Batman rather than one specific comic story […] they
are able to maintain those staples that have reappeared in the characters many
incarnations” (Burke, 2015, p. 13).
The Problem with Adaptation
The process of adapting a comic book into
film, although popular, is still classed as highly controversial. Many comic
book artists are simply against the idea of adapting their images onto the
screen, such as artist Art Spiegelman. Pascal Lefevre has discussed that
Spiegelman “does not want to see his Maus
adapted as a live action movie because he considers the metaphoric style of his
story telling essential and impossible to adapt outside the comics medium” (Lefevre,
2007, p.2). Lefevre highlights that there is however a strong artistic link
between comic books and cinema. He argues that films and comics are “both media
which tell the stories by series of images” (Lefevre, 2007, p.2). In The Problem with Adapting the Drawn Image,
Lefevre highlights four main issues with adapting the comic book to cinema;
The
first, to what extent has a scriptwriter for film to rewrite the story, second,
how to go from page layout to single, unchangeable screen frame, third, how to
translate static drawings into moving and photographic images, and fourth, how
to give the “silent world” an audible sound.
Lefevre,
2007, p.12
Lefevre debates all these issues in terms of
film production and how these issues can change the outcome of the overall
comic book movie. One main difference he argues is the production value of both
mediums “The creative part in film is done by a group of people (writer,
photographer, director, actor, editor and the like), whereas drawing and
writing a comic can be done by a small team” (Lefevre, 2007, p.3). Due to the
wider audience reach of comic book movies, producers have to remain cautious
when adapting minority groups, including women, from their comic book portrayal
to their big screen portrayal.
How
has the style changed?
Following a rise in the interest of the sci-fi
genre, comic book movies saw a change in style, focusing a lot more on the science
fiction action. 1978s Super-Man
proved to be the first comic book movie to become a critical and commercial
success which used this device to their advantage. This trend would continue in
the years to follow, including Tim Burton’s Batman
(1989). Although this proved to be highly successful, their violence was
limited due to their chosen target audience. As Lichtenfeld (2004) notes “As
comic books tend to target the young, it would stand to reason that comic book films,
do as well” (Lichtenfeld, 2004, p.289) he explains how
one film in particular changed the whole concept of a comic book movies. The Crow (1994) was the first non-DC (the
studio which dominated the box office during this time) to establish a
franchise that brought new realms of violence and action to the genre; violence
that would then be matched by Blade, Marvel Studios first franchise to
battle DC at the box office (Lichtenfeld, 2004, p289).
Another stepping stone in
the ever evolving style of the comic book movie, Blade does not strictly borrow from the formula that its comic book
film successors do “but instead combines elements of the
comic book with those of the more traditional action film, thus marking a
transition between the two” (Lichtenfeld, 2004, p.289). Lichtenfelds work
offers an understanding into the development of the visual elements that make
up a comic book movie. Discussing a range of movies from The Crow, Punisher, Spider-Man and Batman Begins, he marks the development of not only comic book
movies, but also the action genre itself and how it has now become a system of
sub genres (Lichtenfeld, 2004, p.333).
How do viewers make sense of comic book movies?
By its definition, a comic
book movie adaptation is “an intertextual out-growth or extension of
the comic book” (Rae & Gray, 2010, p.87). We must therefore take into
account that an audience reception of a comic book movie can be predetermined
by one factor; whether they have or have not read the source material. Neil Rae
and Jonathan Gray (2010) argue that “Knowledge of comics clearly formed an
essential part of the evaluation process for comic readers when viewing and
discussing films” (Rae and Gray, 2010, p.91). Their study identifies two main
groups of comic book viewers, those who are “intertextually
‘rich’, yet are likely to be the minority
in the theatre” (Rae and Gray, 2010, p.89) and those who are “intertextually ‘poor’, yet likely the majority, and
hence the dominant viewing group” (Rae and Gray, 2010, p.89). It is therefore
this majority group that has the ability to determine the dominant
interpretation of the movie.
To further their studying of these distinct
viewer groups, Rae and Gray interviewed a group of fifteen individuals,
consisting of those who have or have not read the original source material.
Their study found that non-readers could enjoy the films as films, while
readers of the source material took the film and studied it as part of an
episodic text, or rather a larger universe.
In this chapter I have explored the scope of
research within which this dissertation is based upon. I have examined the
issues that can arise during the process of adapting a comic book movie from
its original source material. While developing technologies have allowed for
more instantaneous interactions between audiences and producers it is important
to consider how this can affect the products they produce. Due to this the
comic book movie industry has been able to adapt and develop according to current
trends. Because of its large and active fan base, comic book creators and producers
are able to listen to the concerns and criticism from the fans;
These fan letters are not merely notes of praise or
complaint, but often comprise fascinating and complex acts of critical reading,
noting problems of continuity or “‘realism” in a series; suggesting “better”
plot variations; and giving extensive readers’ reports on particular issues
like large and small plot arcs, character development, visual renderings, and
writing style.
Barrett, 2015, p.62
