This project looks at gender representations in popular cultural texts. Its argument that there is a shift in male characters from “toxic masculinity to soft boy personalities” is particularly intriguing. It also argues that in recent portrayals of women superheroes film and TV series, there is a tendency for women to be represented as being accomplished in the areas of STEM and warfare strategies, as in the case of Black Panther and the recent The Flash TV series, among others. Nonetheless, the paper is careful to point out that despite such representations in popular culture, in STEM-related industries in the real world, women are still under-represented.

In the past decade, there has been rising awareness and recognition towards gender equality, where more international organizations are paying attention to gender issues and representation, by taking part in and leading the initiatives to foster females’ values and rights.

Meanwhile, the movie industry does make changes to gender representations of both male and female in character portrayals. Movies have been an influential medium for delivering ideologies and cultural concepts. Often, movies have the ability to affect human behaviors, where people could learn new cultural information and habits through the movies’ settings and character portrayals. By examining superheroes movies could better reflect the change in gender representation as gender stereotypes such as strength and power, intelligence, inequalities are being heightened.

In the last decade, the superhero genre has changed the depiction of female characters by demonstrating their tech-intelligence and capabilities in STEM, showing their leadership skills and producing female-led movies. There are also significant changes in male characters, where their developments challenge the concept of traditional masculinity with soft boy personalities, by being more expressive in emotions and weaknesses, being more dependent in team businesses, and being more family-oriented.

Therefore, in this paper, the change in gender representation of last decade’s superheroes genre will be discussed through the changes in both female and male character portrayals and the societal reasons that led to such changes.

I believe this capstone project has best concluded what I have gained as an English Major in CUHK, being able to critically see how literature relates to our societies and how it shapes our own personal identities. This capstone project has given me a great opportunity to appreciate the current development of gender representations in movies, and also to explore what else could be done to better improve the gender situation in our reality.

I would like to especially thank Professor Eddie Tay for giving me insightful feedbacks, and for guiding me through the entire capstone project. His support and advices have allowed me to develop a fuller analysis towards the topic, and to critically think from different perspectives.

I would also like to thank Professor Michael O’Sullivan for his inspiring course ENGE 2140- Superheroes in Graphic Novel, Comics and Film, which has inspired me to further explore different gender-related topics not just under the Superhero genre, but also our societies.