FROM SUPERHEROES TO SALUTES: (RE)DEFINING AMERICAN MASCULINITY
The Dispatch, May 2018
It’s Halloween, and a dimly lit neighborhood is filled with young boys pretending to be superheroes. They run and leap door to door, with swords in hand and capes swirling behind them. A little Captain America runs past, wearing a padded muscular suit, face mask, American flag costume, and shield. He joins his other superhero friends. “Don’t mess with me. I’m a tough guy,” he growls. The little boy thrusts his shield to the sky. “Captain America to the rescue!” he cries.
It has been 75 years since superheroes were first introduced to America, transforming immortal gods of the past, from iconic cowboys to the Norse deity Thor, into palatable (and mass-producible) action figures for boys. Starting out as ordinary men, they go through some kind of physical transformation that leaves them with special powers that help them prevail over tyrannical villains, and evil despots. America loves a good hero story—and superheroes are a product that sells, through comics, toys, TV shows, and movies. These action figures identify as selfless, everyday heroes. They use their strengths to save ordinary people by taking on the bad guy. Brave and courageous, heroes do not shy away from danger.
The impact of these comic book characters extend far beyond the movie screen, impacting our ideas about America, patriotism, and deeply influencing the American Dream. But here is also where superhero stories get thorny. Their message comes packaged in a muscular, sculpted body draped in the American flag. Even when the flag is not part of their costume, it is part of their purpose. Patriotism is part of the package, but it is a patriotism defined by domination.
Superheroes are at war with everything, and everyone, except for the ‘chosen’ they defend — the community, or nation, they’ve selected as being worthy. American flags, which 63% of Americans own at least one of, patriotic bumper stickers, and red, white, and blue tank tops are symbols of a particular idea of what America is — strong, but also serve as membership badges. To own one makes you part of the protected few.
This is Captain America patriotism: the extreme embodiment of a particular type of masculinity, clad in an American flag, standing for the American Dream.
Captain America was created in 1941 by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby to address an anxious nation. From his red, white, and blue costume to the stars and stripes emblazoned on his shield, he is built for battle in the name of freedom and liberty. He was presented as a national symbol and a sign of hope during World War II. He was designed to rally spirits and a nation, but his influence has far surpassed his role as wartime propaganda.
Superheroes, including Captain America, quickly became role models that purport to show boys what a man is supposed to be like, according to society's standards. The message is clear: stand up for your country or you are not a man. What starts as a Halloween costume transitions to army fatigues. Play swords become real guns. As boys embrace their favorite superhero character, they begin to embody a superhero mindset. The more strength a boy shows, the more success he achieves, whether at the playground, on sports fields, or in school. As toughness and dominance are emphasized and rewarded, sensitivity, empathy, and intimacy are socialized out of him.
And the rewards go beyond the schoolyard. Extroverts are regularly rewarded and pushed to the front of lines and classrooms, and fast tracked in business, while introverts struggle to be seen and heard. As boys who are stereotypically masculine grow into men, they gain social, political, and professional clout. Not playing into this game risks being labeled a coward or—worse still—a girl, so boys and men are left with limited choices for how to perform in the world.
They cannot show pain, vulnerability, or fear, so they learn to switch them off. With an inability to fully express themselves, they are prone to externalizing their emotions by lashing out. We explain this away by saying that aggressive behavior and impulsive violence is normal. “Boys will be boys,” is how the expression goes. In stadiums, aggression and national pride blend into one patriotic soup. As fans waved flags from football stands, players smashed into each other, a stand-in for scenes of war in a contemporary colosseum. Baseball may be more tame, but only six weeks after the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush threw the first pitch at Game Three of the 2001 World Series at Yankee Stadium.
The throw was a statement to the world, the diamond a platform for propaganda, and the sports world followed his lead, grabbing onto the opportunity to add more national symbols, more patriotic songs, more members of the armed forces, and more flags. “Patriotism,” writes Howard Bryant, Senior Writer at ESPN, “is an extension of politics,” and bringing both into athletics has blurred the line between drunken tailgating and representing your country.
Sports stadiums may not be a very super heroe-y setting, but there are young boys in the stands. Many of them have superhero-themed sheets, toy guns, and will dress up as Captain America for Halloween. They will pledge to be patriots and to protect our nation, but as long as we celebrate violence and wrap dominance in an American flag, we cannot hope to raise men who embrace empathy, who ask questions, and who can define patriotism for themselves.
Did You Know?
Captain America’s “real” name is Steve Rogers. In the comics, the character served in the U.S. military as a counterintelligence agent while countering Germany’s Nazi propaganda.
Six American flags have been planted on the moon.
The #MeToo movement is helping to expand the definition of what it means to be a man in America beyond dominance and control.
Dig Deeper
Read: “The (Coming) End of Toxic Masculinity” (Pacific Standard)
Watch: The Mask You Live In
