Blair Davis an associate professor of media and cinema studies at DePaul’s College of Communication has a book coming out next year, titled “Comic Book Women: Characters, Creators, and Culture in the Golden Age.”
Radio DePaul spoke with him on the upcoming Marvel movie Shang-Chi, the lasting cultural impact of Black Panther and diversity and representation within the Marvel universe.
“Superheroes are about bodies that are different,” he said. “If that’s the case we can use superheroes to celebrate all kinds of differences: cultural, ethnic, sexual, in terms of gender and ability and all of these things. Celebrate difference, because superheroes are all about difference.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What’s the cultural significance and potential impact of the upcoming Marvel movie Shang-Chi (the first Asian American Marvel superhero movie) especially given the recent surge in violence against Asian Americans?
The Shang-Chi movie has been a long time coming and I’m really looking forward to it because the character is another favorite of mine. I really like those 1970s, what they call street-level characters. I’ve got a bunch of his books on my shelf. This character is just a great way to introduce a wider range of superheroes into the Marvel cinematic universe, let alone an Asian character who opens up this whole other mythology in the comics. It also expands this idea of who gets to be a superhero.
I think the timing of having a visible Asian superhero is perhaps helpful. If we have this idea of expanding who gets to be a superhero in an era in which we’ve got a lot of really violent attacks upon Asians, I think this might hopefully help. It’s this idea of what popular culture can do to help change people’s minds to help, perhaps, give them powerful, positive representations of Asian Americans.
One would hope that this could change at least one or two minds, but I love the idea that Marvel has consistently been introducing new characters of color, introducing different genders into the Marvel cinematic universe. But that aside, I think Shang-Chi is just the right hero for expanding the scope of Marvel to characters who aren’t just big Iron Man and Thor type of characters.
The diversity of characters that they’re introducing naturally should include these lesser-known characters, many of whom are indeed characters of color. I love the fact that Marvel is introducing a character that mass audiences don’t know. And Shang Chi has 40 years of history. He’s a great character. So, I’m really glad that he’s been introduced into the Marvel cinematic universe.
Given the social and political movement for social justice during the past year, do you see the ways viewers consume film entertainment changing?
That’s what we call in media studies, the audience reception theory. It’s the idea of how individual audiences use, consume and understand a given text, film, comic book or television show. It’s hard to say what the individual viewer takes away from any given film unless you start to study it and use methods to either do interviews about what you think and how you react.
I think [Black Panther] was the start of a change in how audiences could envision a hero on screen. And so that was a major step for Hollywood to say we don’t just have to have Iron Man, Thor and Captain America — White heroes. We can have a successful character of color who leads this multi-million dollar franchise. And the associates, either toy lines, or happy meals, or clothing, show that there is a market for these heroes.
That has sort of led to this change of you know, ‘yes, we can take these risks’ — if you want to call them risks. It’s cynical to say, but we can take these ‘chances’ on these non-White heroes. I think that because Marvel has been doing this for the past four or five years, in the planning stages, they’ve realized that there is a wider market for a wider range of heroes, and it all comes down into, again, this notion of who gets to be a superhero.
There should be a hero to represent each and every one of us. Superheroes are about bodies that are different. These are bodies that can do different things than I can do: that have super strength, super speed and superpowers. It’s all about difference. So if that’s the case we can use superheroes to celebrate all kinds of difference: cultural, ethnic, sexual, in terms of gender and ability and all of these things. Celebrate difference, because superheroes are all about difference.
Do Marvel movies include minority groups? What do you think he represents for young America?
There have been characters of color who are legacy heroes for what was initially a White character. And we see that with Sam Wilsdon “Falcon” taking over as Captain America and in the comics, Kamala Khan taking over as Ms. Marvel. These characters of color who take over these roles are initially played by White heroes, which is a way to introduce new characters and new heroes to represent all of us in society.