I don’t need another hero
One upside to writing about masculinity is that going to the movies counts as research. I have taught enough men ages 18-35 to know that I need to see every superhero movie. Even if they do not themselves like superhero movies, blockbusters end up being an assumed topic of conversation with their friends and coworkers. One very gracious student who loves superhero movies stayed in conversation with me as I watched hours and hours of backlogged movies. After sorting through the nuances of each era’s Superman, the various Batmans, the Spiderman from Electric Company to the Spiderman crawling up buildings today – I realized I was not going to find a superhero franchise that I like. I was on a fool’s errand, because I disagree with the whole shtick. Read more
