Holy Star! It's Femme Fatales!

 

From: Ghost

Marvel Legends, and superheroes in general, are one of the most popular toys that are geared toward boys. As soon as you walk into the boys’ toy aisle at Target, all you see is predominantly male action figures along with Pokémon toys and LEGO. On the other hand, if you go into the girls’ toy aisle, you will notice a lot of pink colour and dolls - which are predominantly female - and Disney Princesses, all over the place. This is an excellent method to reinforce a gender stereotype geared toward kids in believing certain toys like action figures are for the boys since they make up the majority of male characters, for instance. As a result, I chose to take a picture of Captain Marvel and Black Widow figures because they represent the Reverse Smurfette Principle. They broke the traditional Hollywood standard despite receiving a lot of criticisms from our society. They are the stars of their own standalone films, especially as there are no major male protagonists in the main cast and they get to defeat male antagonists, which is very rare in our media.

In this photo, both figures have a powerful symbolism since they are dressed up like a typical superhero (i.e. wearing gender neutral clothing) instead of wearing a skirt or other feminine clothing. Black Widow is dressed like a soldier and Captain Marvel wears a military leather jacket, which is very rare to witness a woman wearing in real life. This shows how they are all business and ready to fight and defend the world from dangers rather than being incorporated into a gender stereotype and do feminine tasks such as wearing a make-up, nursing, or cleaning. As you can see there is no feminine colours, mainly pink or purple, on their costumes. A lot of people would associate blue with boys and pink with girls based on the gender norm (Wolchover, 2012). In addition to their appearances, they stand tall as equals in this angle. It shows their confidence and polished presence as a superhero. Next, there are a bunch of hay sticks, a few leaves, and stones in the background. They represent nature, which can be appreciated by anyone regardless of their gender. It displays them as equal, as if they fight on the battlefield against enemies just like their male counterparts do.

With the current direction Marvel Studios is taking they encourage more diversity and inclusion, including women and people of colour as leading characters. This empowers kids and gives them hope that they will be able to grow up treated like an equal in their society. For instance, Black Panther is extremely well liked by the Black community and basically everyone else, and it was a huge successful film. It gives Marvel Studios a great confidence in producing more diversified films, and the kids will be able to notice more diversity in their toys. As a result, it would make them feel more accepted and okay for who they are and they can become whatever they want to be rather than being conformed to an outdated social norm.

A lot of people would associate blue colour with boys while pink colour with girls based on the gender norm (Wolchover, 2012). Life Science. Retrieved from: https://www.livescience.com/22037-pink-girls-blue-boys.html