SANI SATYA PRATIWI, 2013 Women’s Portrayals in the Comic Books
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Sievers 2003, examined how women are stereotyped in American comics that are published from year 2002. She found that women continue to be in the minority. They are less
likely to be main characters, the rescuer or the person in charge. They are also objectified visually by depicting them with large breasts, tiny waists, revealing outfits and uncomfortable
poses. Surprisingly, heroines woman superheroes are also depicted the same as the women in comic book. They are almost always subordinate to man superhero. This can be easily seen when
they battle with super villain. In several actions, they faint, overexert themselves and worry about smudging their make-up, even sometimes they still need others man superhero help in a
battle. To sum up, all those studies revealed that women, even heroines are stereotyped as weak
creatures, persons in charge, wife and in the minority Young, 1991, 1993, Sievers, 2003. As mentioned before, the st
udies of women‟s stereotypes, women‟s portrayals and women‟s representation in general had been conducted by many researchers. However, as far as the
research concerned, there hasn‟t been any study investigating the “newest” heroines. The “newest heroines” itself means that the selected heroines in this study were created a long time
ago but they were published in comic books only recently. This study then focuses on the portrayals of heroines and their alter egos in the comic books published by Marvel and DC
Comics from 2012.
1.2 Research Questions
The present study is geared towards answering the following research questions:
SANI SATYA PRATIWI, 2013 Women’s Portrayals in the Comic Books
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1 How are heroines and their alter egos portrayed in American superhero comic books
published by DC Comics and Marvel in year 2012? 2
What does the portrayal signify?
1.3 Scope of the Study
The present study is limited to only investigate how woman heroines and their alter egos are portrayed in selected American superhero comic books published by DC Comics and Marvel;
Phantom Lady and Doll Man 2012, Catwoman 2012, the Defenders 2012 and Red She-Hulk 2012. This study further investigates what are signified by the portrayal.
1.4 Aims of the Study
Based on the two research questions above, the aims of this study are to examine the portrayals of heroines and their alter egos, and to investigate what the portrayal signifies.
1.5 Research Method
This study employs a qualitative descriptive method. It discusses the portrayals of the heroines and their alter egos in selected American superhero comic books published by DC
Comics and Marvel. The selected comics are Phantom Lady and Doll Man 2012, Catwoman 2012, the Defenders 2012 and Red She-Hulk 2012.Van Leeuwen and Kress 2006 theory
on Reading Images was used as the main framework to analyze the images in the comics. While,Van Domelen‟s visual analysis coding sheet 1998 was applied as the second framework.
To analyze the verbal text accompanying the images, systemic functional linguistics SFL
SANI SATYA PRATIWI, 2013 Women’s Portrayals in the Comic Books
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proposed by Halliday 2004 wa s also employed. Finally, Brannon‟s theory on gender stereotype
2004 was applied to further discuss the analyzed data.
1.5.1 Data Collection
The data are in form of online comic: images and verbal text published by DC Comics and Marvel; Phantom Lady and Doll Man 2012, Catwoman 2012, the Defenders 2012 and Red
She-Hulk 2012. The data are collected by downloading them from www.comicsall.com, www.indowebster.com and www.filecrop.com on May 2012.
1.5.2 Data Analysis
The collected data are in the form of images and verbal text. The data in the form of images are analyzed by using the main framework, Van Leeuwen and Kress 2006 theory on
Reading Images and Van Domelen‟s visual analysis coding sheet 1998. Additionally, the data in the form of verbal text are analyzed by using Halliday‟s theory on systemic functional
linguistics 2004. In conducting the study, the following steps were taken:
Selecting four series of heroine online comics published by DC Comics and Marvel; 2
comics were taken from DC Comics and two other comics were taken from Marvel. Two comic from the different publishers feature independent heroines, two other comics feature
heroines in a team of superhero.
SANI SATYA PRATIWI, 2013 Women’s Portrayals in the Comic Books
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Analyzing the collected data from 2 aspects: images and verbal text. To analyze the
images theory of Kress and Van Leeuwen 2006 on Reading Images and Van Domelen‟s visual analysis coding sheet 1998 are employed. To analyze the verbal text, systemic
functional linguistics Halliday, 2004 is used. It covers the written text in the speech balloons and the comments of the text.
Interpreting and making conclusion of the analyzed data.
1.6 Clarification of Terms
To avoid misunderstanding, the following is the clarification of the terms used in the study:
Stereotype It is a broad generalization about an entire class of phenomena based on some knowledge
of limited aspects of certain members of the class. Wood, 1994
Comic Book Comic book is defined as a booklet of words and pictures integrated into a flexible and
powerful printed format Witek 1989:3
Superhero Superhero is a character in a film or a short story who has special strength and uses it to do
good things and help other people. Superhero also can be meant as someone who has done something very brave to help someone else. Cambridge English Dictionary
Heroine
Heroine is a person usually female who is admired for having done something very brave or having achieved something great. Cambridge English Dictionary
Reading Images
SANI SATYA PRATIWI, 2013 Women’s Portrayals in the Comic Books
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Reading images or visual grammar is a framework that focuses on the structures or „grammar‟ of visual design – colors perspective, framing and composition. Gunther Kress
and Theo van Leeuwen, 2006
1.7 Organization of the Paper
