ENG 200ABatman & Pop Culture

Catalog

ENG 200A Batman & Pop Culture - Since his comic book debut in 1939, Batman has become one of the most iconic characters in American popular culture. This class will trace the evolution of Batman in response to changing cultural norms and explore the character through a variety of perspectives such as gender, class, race, and religion to answer the question: Who is Batman really? We'll interrogate how Batman reflects the standard of masculinity for the time period in which he is written, how his class status may impact the ways in which he treats criminals, how his whiteness shapes his ability to function as a vigilante, and much more. Students will engage with comics and various adaptations such as films, television, and video games in order to get a broad understanding of the Dark Knight's 'hybrid canon," theorized by Kevin Durand as the overarching concept of a character across mediums that is absorbed into the cultural consciousness, and to even question the concept of a Bat-canon entirely.