It’s hard to miss with that power stance, spandex, and names ending in “man”: masculinity is an essential element of the superhero character. Brad Bird’s supermen and boys in The Iron Giant (1999) and The Incredibles (2004) are no exception. Scholars of children’s media have explored masculinity in the ever-increasing amount of superhero films intended for child audiences at great length. Specifically, scholars often uncover patriarchal narratives in children’s superhero films; scholarship on The Incredibles details just such a connection between superheroes and masculinity. In contrast, there is woefully little on The Iron Giant in general, a film which features multiple representations of masculinity in relation to superheroes. Though The Iron Giant is a story about a boy named Hogarth and his giant robot, Hogarth’s understanding of heroism comes from superhero comics. In addition to the giant, Hogarth encounters an intriguing cast of men whose portrayals of masculinity problematize patriarchal superhero comics. I engage scholars’ past work on The Incredibles and patriarchal superhero narratives in order to lay the groundwork for an exploration of masculinity in The Iron Giant. Patriarchal masculinity is separate from heroism in The Iron Giant’s superhero narrative, exposing the productive potential of children’s superhero films.
About the presenterKacey Doran
Kacey Doran holds PhD in Childhood Studies from Rutgers-Camden and is the Esports Lecturer at Rowan University. She helped create and develops Rowan’s esports curriculum. She holds an M.A. in Children’s Literature from Hollins University and a B.A. in Women’s and Gender Studies from West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Her dissertation focused on alternative perspectives of The Legend of Zelda franchise through feminist humanist and qualitative research methods analyzing videogames, visual and material culture.