Marvel and Hegemony

What do Spiderman, Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Hulk, and Mr. Fantastic all have in common. Well many things. One is their all the flagship heroes of Marvel Comics and their all white males. This isn't a shock, many of these characters were created in the 60's, a time when woman, African-Americans and other marginalized groups were still looked down upon.

However, even in today's more diverse world, Marvels heroes still lacked diversity. People were wondering why the heroes of Marvel, or at least the mainstream ones, were still primarily white males. This did not go unseen, as many began to demand more diversity with Marvel's heroes. Marvel, actually took note of this, and began rebooting their characters.

In 2011, Marvel introduced the new Spiderman, Miles Morales, to replace Peter Parker.

In 2014, they did the same and replaced Miles with, Gwen Stacey, the Spider-woman.

In the same, Thor lost his powers and his hammer. His powers and hammer were soon claimed by his love interest, Jane Poster (Nataile Portman's character in the movies).

In 2016, the Iron Man mantle was abandoned by Tony Stark. It was in turn taken up by Riri Williams, an African-American engineering student.

All four characters and examples were met with praise from readers and critics alike. These changes showed not only was Marvel willing to listen to it's readers, but change with the times and accept diversity in the pages of comics.

Secret Agent Woman

On this redemption blog post week I would like to take a shot at week 5's blog topic of characters who break ethnic stereotypes. I admit that this was tough for me to think of a character strong enough to use as an example, but I came back time and time again to the exhilirating lead actress of Quanitco: Priyanka Chopra as Alex Parrish.

I cannot wax peotic enough about just how majestic and enchanting this show really is. It begins with our main character Alex Parrish laying in the ruins of a destroyed Grand Central Station - with no recollection of how or why she is there. She is instantly picked up by a group of senior FBI agents who waste no time in pinning the blame on her. It is instantly apparent to her, and to the audience, that she is being framed. The rest of the season works its way backwards as she must recall every other agent and mentor she met and worked with in FBI boot camp to figure out who the real culprit is.

The background of the character, and the actress, is Indian. There is a heavy side-dish of tragic backstory to the character of Alex, though they do not try to change her real-life heritage. Alex's father was a top FBI agent who died suddenly during her childhood, a fact that is covered up by all parties. Alex is sent to live in India with extended family after this event, but soon returns and joins the FBI in hopes of finding out more about what he did while he was an agent.

Alex Parrish is an extremely strong, intelligent, and resilient character - a far cry from the stereotype of dumb and cheap or poor Indians owning convenience stores or the like. Though her heritage has very little to do with why the character is so enjoyable to watch, it could be said that if the character of Alex was any other race, the show might not have the same tone. There's a note of exotic wonder to Alex, because even the white characters in the show are painted as a bit boring and typical. (Caleb, who's parents are both agents and very powerful and rich, and also Shelby who comes from a rich southern family and enjoys plenty of privilege.)

Quanitco's varied cast of characters also includes many other races and backgrounds, including the character of Nimah Anwar, a woman of Arab descent who values her privacy above all. Though she on the surface appears to be a conservative muslim, more secrets are revealed about her as the show progresses. The character of Simon Asher fills both the Jewish and gay roles, though again, he is not all he appears to be. Finally, one of th emost notable presences in the show is that of Miranda Shaw, who also seeks to openly destroy the stereotype that blacks cannot have important jobs, etc. She is one of the few characters who remains static about her outlook and reason for being there, where the others may be hiding things or embellishing the truth at times.

I encourage anyone who has not seen Quantico to watch at least the first season, as I fear I cannot say much else without giving away much of the reveal. You will not be disappointed with the plot, I promise!

Postmodernism and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Well, it's here, the end of the course. This was an interesting course and I have enjoyed these blog posts. One of my favorite topics was postmodernism, I found it to be a rather unique and in a strange sense, relatable topic. So, I decided to combine postmodernism with something I like, more so a movie, book, or TV show I like. So I decided to combine postmodernism with one of my favorite TV shows of all-time, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005-present).

For those unaware, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, follows Dennis, Mac, Dee, Charlie, and Frank, five friends and deplorable human beings who own Paddy's Pub, a run-down bar in South Philly. Each episode deals with the gang coming up with some scheme and trying to benefit from it. The show has tackled taboo topics such as abortion, terrorism, gun-control, and many others and

There are many ways to look at postmodernism, one such it's criticism of certain aspects of modernism, or Always Sunny's case, modern sitcoms, such as Fuller House (2016-present), Big Bang Theory (2007-present), and Modern Family (2011-present). In episodes like The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award and Old Lady House, Always Sunny attacks the clean and overly sentimental sitcoms of today. For example, in The Gang Tries Desperately to Win an Award, the gang investigates why every year they are passed on the Bar of the Year Award. Their search takes them to a clean cut bar with all the cliche TV tropes, the black best friend and the will-they-or-won't-they specifically.

It's Always Sunny not only does the stories attacks the common tropes of TV, the characters attack these tropes as well. A perfect example lies in Dennis Reynolds, of of It's Always Sunny's main characters. One of the most popular character tropes in sitcoms is the womanizer. Such popular examples include Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother) and Zack Morris (Saved by the Bell). These characters use countless schemes to pick-up on woman and sleep with them. If anyone did this in real life, they'd be seen as sociopath. It's Always Sunny turns this trope on its head by actually making Dennis a sociopath. He even has a system for seducing women called the D.E.N.N.I.S. System, which involves tricking them, sleeping with them, and then dumping them, all while emotionally manipulating them.

In other words, the show takes a trope and turns it on its head.