Research Project Proposal; Comic Book Films and the Female Audience

Recently it seems there has been a great deal of debate in the media regarding the representation, or rather the misrepresentation of female characters in the superhero movies of Marvel and DC. Whilst the comic books are filled with just over 30% of female characters (Comics Alliance 2014), an even smaller percentage makes it to the cinematic universe. This decision by Marvel and DC to exclude female characters from its movies seems counter-productive when the 2014 data from` the MPAA shows that females make up more than half of moviegoers in America alone!

Additionally, with current box-office hits trending towards superhero movies it would seem to be a logical decision to look further into the female relationship with these movies. It would be of interest to find out WHO is watching these movies? And for WHAT purpose do women watch these movies- if they do at all?

Therefore the question I would like to propose for this research project is:

To explore the Uses and Gratifications, Female Audiences Gain From Watching Superhero Movies.

My idea for this question initially came from two sources. The first was my comic book obsessed friend who was having a rant to me one day about the prejudice that exists for women in the comic-book fandom. She was telling me about how she herself had been subjected to comments such as “you only pretend to like comics to get guys” or “ you only watch superhero movies to look at the shirtless guys.” The feminist in me wanted to disprove this immediately and show that some females enjoy these movies in the same way men do. The second source of my inspiration came from the Huffington Post YouTube video about girls at comic-con. In the video the girls speak about their experiences at comic-con where men have harassed them. It would seem some men don’t understand that women can like comics for the same reasons. This type of attitude essentially perpetuates the “bluntness of the traditionally patriarchal fantasy played out in comics (2011, p.3).

In my preliminary research I was unable to find anything pertaining to my question as most of the studies were focused on the actual representation of females in superhero films. As there is an absence of studies in this area, this seems to be worthwhile looking into. I looked for some related sources that could help me in my analysis of this question.

I began with looking at the uses and gratifications theory, as I didn’t know too much about it. I’m glad I did as uses and gratifications theory turned out to be fundamental to what I want to research! This theory developed by Herta Herzog and continued by Blumler and Katz looks at “why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs” (BCMS glossary 2014). In this reading Herzog looks at housewives regarding their motivations for listening to radio soap operas. She wanted to research the satisfaction and fulfilment derived by listeners. This is very similar to what I want to investigate so I thought this was a good reading to start with.

Another reading I came across that I thought was relevant to my proposed study was ‘Demanding respect: the Evolution of the American Comic Book’. Although this doesn’t directly relate to the aspect of superhero movies I want to study, I thought it would be good to look at as it gives some context to the comic book culture, which drives the cinematic universe. In the chapters I’ve read, some good points are made about the differences between comic books and the movies they are based on.

The other reading I used to gain a better understanding of my question was Men, Masculinity and the Media by Steve Craig. This reading had some valuable information about the readership of comic books. DC comics claims that 91% of their audience is male, however this source didn’t account for the female readership or the shift that this may have taken when comics are adapted to film.

The way I intend to undertake this research is through a questionnaire about superhero movies, which I will give to both males and females in the demographic of 18-26 year olds. My questions will centre on why people watch these films and what it is that attracts them to watch them. For my study I will be focusing mainly on the female response but will use the male response to compare and analyse my raw data.

I hope that through this research project I find out why women watch superhero movies. Hopefully, my results will indicate that they like the compelling characters, action sequences and pop culture references. But, if it so happens that the majority of women watch these movies purely for the hot guys contained within them, then I see no harm in that either.

-Lizzellbee 🙂

References:

• Matt D. Wilson, 2014,Five Thirty Eight Digs Into Demographics of Superheroes,Finds They’re Still Overwhelmingly Men, Comics Alliance, viewed 24^th March 2016, http://comicsalliance.com/fivethirtyeight-superhero-demographic/

• Melissa Silverstein,2014,MPAA Data Shows That Women Are Still the Majority of Moviegoers,com, Viewed 24^th March 2016, http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/mpaa-data-shows-that-women-are-still-the-majority-of-moviegoers

• Huffington Post, 2015, Cosplay Women of Comic Con Talk Cat Calling, YouTube Video, 12^th October, YouTube, viewed 24^th March 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUeDVYHWHIs

• Brown, J 2011, Dangerous Curves: Action Heroines, Gender, Fetishism, and Popular Culture, University Press of Mississippi, Mississippi.

• Herzog, H 1941,On Borrowed Experience: Studies in Philosophy and Social Science.

• Maloney, S 2014, Uses and Gratification Theory, BCMS glossary SOLS, viewed 24^th March 2016 https://moodle.uowplatform.edu.au/mod/glossary/view.php?id=67244&mode=letter&hook=U&sortkey=&sortorder=

• Lopes, P 2009, Demanding Respect: The Evolution of the American Comic Book, Temple University Press, Philadelphia.

• Craig, S 1992, Men, Masculinity and the Media, Sage Publications, United States.