Abstract
This dissertation examines how the films Black Panther (2018), its sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022) and Captain Marvel (2019), attempt to reimagine, reinvent, and at times subvert, existing societal and cultural myths pertaining to race and gender in comic book films, particularly the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). I argue that current superhero films have constructed a mythology wherein leading superheroes are white and male and that this mythology upholds hegemonies of race and gender. However, in recent years, the MCU has attempted to destabilise this mythology by including leading superheroes from diverse backgrounds, and I have analysed the aforementioned films to establish how successfully the MCU has accomplished this goal. In my analysis of Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, I have primarily considered myths of blackness and Africa, but I have also considered how womanhood is portrayed in both films, particular as Wakanda Forever centres a black woman. I have also engaged with how the colonial undertones of both films still potentially sustain harmful mythologies through the villainisation of oppressed groups. In my following chapter, I have analysed how the feminist undertones in Captain Marvel reinvent mythologies of (white) womanhood within the MCU. Yet, I have also discussed how the film deals with romanticised mythologies of militaries as well as how the film still sustains harmful racial mythologies. My theoretical approach is based primarily on Barthes’ Mythologies, as well theories of race and gender to guide my research. To approach these varying topics, I considered a wide range of theoretical concepts from the fields of semiotics, discourse analysis, film studies, postcolonial studies, and feminist studies (considering both black and white womanhood). As the MCU pushes towards diversity, I have argued that mythologies of race and gender are being disrupted or subverted, but that some harmful mythologies are still being upheld, leaving these discussions about race and gender ambiguous. Nevertheless, I have concluded that this push towards diversity should continue as representation is valuable to audiences from various demographics and that these representations work to dismantle mythologies that support hegemonic power structures.