You’re invited! November’s Inclusive Reads & Conversations with UW-Green Bay Libraries
November Speaker: Prof. Bryan Carr, ‘Holding Out for a Hero: Comic Book Superheroes & Social Justice’
There is no denying that comic book superheroes are a major part of our cultural moment, and lately stories of caped avengers and supervillains have aspired to greater social relevance, from The Batman’s meditations on systemic inequality to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s exploration of America’s painful history of racial injustice to The Boys’ satire of corporate America and its unending ability to profit off of these stories. But are superheroes truly a genre that can speak to lived experiences and challenge the status quo, or ultimately another platform through which such inequality is implicitly or explicitly reinforced? This discussion examines two recent essays on our relationship with superhero narratives in light of the release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and seeks to explore the potential and pitfalls of mapping the fight for social justice onto these masked crusaders
The November discussion will take place virtually via Microsoft Teams on Wednesday, November 16th from 11:30pm-12:30pm. If you are interested in attending, please click here to sign up. A recording of the event will be available to all who registered and cannot attend live.
Accommodations- If you need an accommodation to attend this event, please contact Sarah Bakken at bakkens@uwgb.edu or 920-465-2666. All accommodation requests should be made no less than two weeks before the event. We will attempt to fulfill requests made after this date, but cannot guarantee they will be met.
For more information, click here or contact Sarah Bakken at bakkens@uwgb.edu or 920-465-2666
Bryan Carr is Associate Professor in the Communication and Information Science programs at UW – Green Bay, and is also part of the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies faculty. His research focuses on issues of representation in popular culture (particularly superhero media and video games) and our media economy. In April of this year, he published The Transmedia Construction of the Black Panther: Long Live the King with Lexington Books. In October, along with his colleague and mentor Meta Carstarphen, he also published Gendered Defenders: Marvel’s Heroines in Transmedia Spaces, a co-edited volume of essays exploring feminist theory and symbolism in Marvel’s superheroines. He is also the host of Serious Fun on the Phoenix Studios podcast network.
