Devon

A very interesting parallel between Citizen Kane and Westerns that had never occurred to me — excellent work!
It took me years of badgering from my father to finally watch the film, and I’m so glad that I waited: I was actually able to appreciate the symbolism within the cinematography and the film’s overall themes and messages.

Wow! This is a wonderfully-written article, complete with all of the characters that I grew up adoring and wished to be like. I love the parallels drawn between the different characters and the struggles they face, whether racial, academic, or magical.

Very well-written and well-researched article!

I would like to add, as some other commentators have pointed out, that the depictions of many male superheroes bear a similar role, with hyper-masculine personalities and grotesquely muscular forms — Rob Liefeld’s horrendous Captain America art comes instantly to mind. I believe that the gender stereotypes for male characters in comics also negatively affect readers who take these characters as role models.

These sometimes-toxic representations of role models in comics, for both men and women, skew their beliefs of how people should behave, dress, etc., and therefore set up impossible expectations of femininity, masculinity, and sex appeal.

Overall, I think comics need to start realistically portraying their heroes — no more washboard abs or skimpy armor. I think (hope) most comics readers are focused on the storylines, character arcs, etc., rather than how little clothing (x character) is wearing this week, and I hope that comics artists can start to reflect that mindset in their work.