From Rugged To Real Stan Lee And The Subversion Of The American Monomyth In Theological Anthropology And Marvel Superhero Comics And Films

This project explores what is sometimes referred to as the "American Monomyth," a specific archetype for heroic action unique to the United States and expressed in several of its cultural artifacts. It begins by surveying the broad historical, theological, and philosophical roots of this monomyth and their expression in early American literature, focusing especially on the anthropological positions evident therein. Chapter Two then discusses the monomyth's anthropology as manifested in early American superhero comic books from 1938-1961. Chapter Three turns to consider the pivotal shift in superheroic portrayals of the human inaugurated by Stan Lee and Marvel Comics in the early 1960s and still pertinent today. Specifically, heroes went from being independent to communal; certain to dubious; simple to complex; autonomous to accountable; and exclusive to tolerant. At the same time, many Christian theologians, even those from vastly different cultural backgrounds, were likewise challenging, and continue to challenge, traditional formulations of what it means to be human. In Chapter Four I attend to six key American thinkers who not only demonstrate relational anthropologies in their own formulations, but also criticize various aspects of the American monomyth. It would seem that as we move further into the twenty-first century, presentations of human personhood in American comic books and theology continue to share similar convictions and respond to mutual concerns. The recent films based on Marvel characters, like their printed source materials, continue to question traditional American conceptions of human personhood and offer alternatives. At the same time, the films offer unique expressions of the Marvel stories due both to the distinct medium of film and its role in American life and to differences in cultural concerns since the 1960s. This is the topic of Chapter Five. Finally, the Conclusion draws upon the insights of the last three chapters to offer four anthropological proposals toward a constructive alternative to the American monomyth.