Empowering the Heroine with Violence

A Changing Representation of Female Superheroes in The Avengers Film Series

Abstract

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The superhero genre film as a form of storytelling has become of vehicle of representations of powerful women to its audiences and no longer underrepresents women as characters in positions of power. A changing portrayal of female superheroes of The Avenger film series provide evidence of a shift in representation and stereotyping of female characters in the global media system. This study aims to investigate the representation of heroines in The Avengers series – The Avengers, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. It discusses how female representation is constructed through the body image of the female superheroes and how female power is represented and communicated in The Avengers film series. It argues that one of the critical shifts of representation of females related to power is in the expanded and more equitable representation of the use of violence. This qualitative study uses the method of narrative analysis to examine representations of selective superheroines. The analysis focuses on the physical appearance of female characters, their characteristics of violence and violent behaviour, as well as diegetic conversation and gender-based relationships. The study applies concepts of post-feminism theory, and Stuart Hall’s concepts of representation and identity in the analysis.