JOURNAL ARTICLE

A Woman is Being Side-Kicked: Gothic Superheroes and the Suppression of Female Autonomy Amid Feminism's Second Wave.

  • Published In: Gothic Studies, 2023, v. 25, n. 3. P. 261 1 of 3

  • Database: Academic Search Ultimate 2 of 3

  • Authored By: Tegan, Mary Beth; Costello, Matthew 3 of 3

Abstract

This essay examines the treatment of women in the Gothic superhero comics of the 1970s through the lens of Michelle Massé's In the Name of Love: Women, Masochism and the Gothic (1992). While superhero texts generally neglected women even at the height of second-wave feminism, the Gothic superhero sub-genre goes even further, drawing on the regressive trope of the suffering woman to 'side-kick' female characters and deny their agency and autonomy. Exploring four female characters who share this fate, we examine their different responses to the Freudian beating fantasy enacted in their narrative arcs, delineating the high costs and limited gains of traumatised women who dream of triumph. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additional Information

  • Source:Gothic Studies. 2023/11, Vol. 25, Issue 3, p261
  • Document Type:Article
  • Subject Area:Literature and Writing
  • Publication Date:2023
  • ISSN:1362-7937
  • DOI:10.3366/gothic.2023.0175
  • Accession Number:173707606
  • Copyright Statement:Copyright of Gothic Studies is the property of Edinburgh University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

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