Research On Female Image In Marvel Cinematic Universe

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is the typical representative of American superhero movies.From 2008 to 2019,the Marvel Cinematic Universe has gone through three stages of development,23 films were released and they have earned more than $20 billion.There was no new movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2020 because of COVID-19.The Marvel Cinematic Universe released four new Movies in the US in 2021,starting the fourth stage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.The movies are interconnected,building a grand superhero world and forming a unique worldview.This paper mainly selects the female images in 23 films released in the first three stages of Marvel Cinematic Universe from 2008 to 2019 as the research object.The Marvel Cinematic Universe has created many superheroes.Male superheroes such as Iron Man and Captain America have become symbols of the American spirit.Most of the female images are female superheroes,which can be divided into Mutant hero,Technology hero,Mythical hero,magic hero,ordinary hero and half-human hero according to the source of superpowers.In addition to superheroes,other female characters include companions,assistants,and female supervillains.In the first stage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe the characters are mainly male.Female characters are relatively single.Not only are there a small number of female characters,but they are basically girlfriends or assistants of male superheroes.In the second stage of the Marvel Cinematic Universe,female images are gradually enriched,new female images appeared,and the original female images continue to develop.In the third stage,female images became diversified,“Captain Marvel” as a female independent film appeared,and the female images became more and more independent.The Marvel Cinematic Universe has shaped the female images in various ways,such as appearance shaping,divinity and humanity,growth narrative,cosmology construction.In appearance shaping,the characteristics and personality of female images are displayed with clothing,hair,weapons.In the opposition and unity of divinity and humanity,on the one hand the divinity of female images is shown and becomes a contemporary mythology,on the other hand,the humanity of female images is shown and the imperfect heroes are created.In the growth narrative,the growth and changes of female images are revealed to make the images more three-dimensional through the hero’s journey and character arc.In the construction of cosmology,the Marvel Cinematic Universe is regarded as a narrative model and business model to form a network of character relationships and a strange universe.The formation of female images in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is influenced by cultural context,consumption context and technological context.In the cultural context,major events such as the “9.11” incident in 2011 and the 2008 financial crisis made people call for superheroes.On the other hand,the female superheroes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe embody and spread American spirit and values.The development of feminism and race consciousness in the United States is also reflected in the shaping of female images,with the emergence of feminist superheroes such as Captain Marvel and non-white female superheroes such as black Africans.In the context of consumption,the consumer society has emerged since the 1960 s.The Marvel Cinematic Universe takes the female body as a Consumption object,bringing visual pleasure.The Marvel Cinematic Universe integrated marketing in business to form a huge IP and super industrial chain.In the technical context,the development of film technology has promoted the Marvel Cinematic Universe to present the superheroes’ superpowers realistically on the screen,constructing the sense of science and technology in the film and creating an image spectacle.The Marvel Cinematic Universe has become the world’s top cultural phenomenon and communication phenomenon,not only achieving commercial success,but also becoming the carrier and business card of American cultural imperialism.The narrative mode and business mode of the Marvel Cinematic Universe provide us with useful reference for shaping female images.In the process of Chinese culture going abroad,we need to create film products with global influence like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and shape our own female hero image.In this paper interdisciplinary theories and methods were comprehensively applied such as communication,film and television arts and cultural studies,in order to systematically explain the types,changes,shaping and generating context of female images in the Marvel Cinematic Universe,providing the theoretical and practical references for the development of China’s film industry.