When someone hears the word hero, it brings a feeling of respect. Each country has its heroes and honors them, perpetuating their names in books, movies and memorials, composing songs about them and their idealized images. But there are some heroes that are unreal and were composed by people with certain purposes and during a certain period of time. One of them is World War II that brought not only destruction, but also creation. It is a turning point it the world of comics, as many of the iconic heroes began in WWII period and are still popular with the audience.
The history of mankind is the story of us overcoming our limitations. A human being is a weak, fragile and mortal creature. Yet thousands of years we push ourselves further and further – use of technology, science and natural resources, to improve ourselves. People have learned to make fire, have mastered flight, subdued the Earth and for the last century even got beyond it deep into space. To remind ourselves that we are better creatures than any others, people have come up with the heroes and began to create for them a work of art – the myth of the hero – the oldest form of these artworks.
The myth of the hero, so-called monomyth, existed in all ancient cultures. Joseph Campbell, the author of the classic book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, described the essence of the monomyth in such a way: a hero of a myth is sent to the supernatural world or enters the supernatural situation, meets enemies and defeats them and comes back home with certain experience and gained wisdom that he received during his journey.
There are many interpretations of myths, but the most interesting is what is on the surface of it: a hero, first of all, overcomes himself, and then improves the others. Hercules, Gilgamesh, Rama – they all show what the human race is capable of, what good they can be, what they are capable of. The idea of the superman that by his own superiority elevates other people is deeply embedded in the culture: from ancient times it has taken many forms, but it is not going away, and in the twentieth century is back with a bang: e it is turn of a young nation to invent her own characters with superpowers.
America is the only country with the youngest traditions and culture. The colonists that settled the new land cut themselves off from the culture of the countries they came from and as a result developed their own folklore, traditions and myths. Anyway, at the beginning of the twentieth century Americans have created a need for heroes, and they began to appear in the world of pop culture, in cheap literature, on television and in the movies. Zorro, Tarzan, science fiction characters like Flash Gordon – mysterious, romantic, they helped people out of pure altruism, were loved by the audience and inspired people.
The most famous creators of the comic book world became DC and Marvel. Publisher DC Comics was founded in 1934 and four years later – jackpot – it released a comic book about Superman. Part of its popularity helped immigrants that were arriving in America every month: a huge number of people forced to abandon part of their culture and those, who are in search of a new one. Cultural scientists even claimed that the writers managed to create a character, who as “an immigrant had left his old life behind to make a new one for himself on Earth”. (Pevey 15)
When the first comic book about Superman was published, American readers recognized him as a hero, because comics told not about imaginary and alien world, but specifically about what happened in the USA of that time. So what was it about? America out of the Great Depression, looks forward to the new policy, it hopes to gain power and to fight corruption. What Superman is doing? It currently seems that he is struggling with some freaks – he fights with specific manifestations of evil, such as corruption in the parliament, domestic violence, for example, he stops the hand of a man, who wants to hit his wife. And the notorious is an example of the kitten, which he takes from the tree. Superman fights with the real evil that people see in their daily lives.
The next reason of his popularity is the simplicity and clarity of his character compared to the others. The cover, which depicted Superman with raised car in his hands, surprised and attracted the attention – on the wave of his popularity other superheroes began to appear by leaps and bounds. In the period from 1939 to 1941, the world learned of Batman and Robin, Green Lantern, Flash, Human Torch, and many others.
A superhero, who has fantastic magic abilities – can fly, see things through, has superpowers and super-speed – reflects some social expectations, and in this sense is incorporated in the picture of the world that people have. As a symbol it embodies their utopian expectations for the future. This naïveté is still ever present in the culture, and it becomes the expression of popular culture, which owns superheroes
The Second World War began in 1939, but the United States does not participate in it until the end of 1941. But during six months they fought in the comics. It is interesting that Captain America appears more than six months before the actual outbreak of hostilities involving the United States. (Pop Culture Propaganda – Captain American History!) This means that people and the government had certain expectations, they wanted to overcome isolationism, because America had always been separate from Europe and wanted in the thick of things. And so in a symbolic way could compensate for the lack. The Second World War gave rise to a number of characters that associated with it, including, for example, Wonder Woman, who appears as a staff secretary. At this point, there is the rise of patriotism and superhero shows up great and feels comfortable in the culture.
The Second World War increased the marketability of comics in several times: people looking for a way to learn and to hasten the victory of good over evil, so the simple guys with supernormal enjoyed the same success. Some publishers have even developed the story lines of the war, forcing his characters to fight with Hitler and the Nazis. Circulation at the time exceeded a million copies a month. (Blumberg)
Nearly every event that happened during WWII influenced on the plots of comic books. So, after resetting the nuclear bombs on Hiroshima appeared the heroes with the nuclear powers, like Atom Man. (Howze) It is noteworthy that the characters with similar abilities have appeared in children's comics: Atomic Mouse and Rabbit helped the younger generation to cope with the fear of a possible nuclear attack. Comic books gradually become popular not only among adults, but also teenagers and even little kids, who by looking at innocent pictures unconsciously form their world view.
After that comes the decline: the war ended, in the United States – the baby boom, prosperity, it comes out of the post-war crisis, with the best performance, and then begins the growth of voltage of the Cold War. It began a new round of interest in superheroes. There appeared Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, and Iron Man. They represent a completely new state of culture – fear of nuclear threat. It turns out that comics not only absorb the cultural fabric that exists, but in many ways form the opinion of people, because they have become a total phenomenon.
It should be mentioned that comic books that appeared during the war period, first of all became an effective mean of propaganda. There were comics, which were created by the government’s order, like Captain America. The first adventures of Cap presented him as a soldier fighting against the forces of the Third Reich and Japan, Nazi supporters and followers, and secret agents that tried to intrude in the USA. The cover of the first issue of a comic book Captain America #1 (1941) depicts the superhero punching Adolf Hitler in the jaw with his fist. It was a significant step, as “at a time when most American popular culture was avoiding specific mention of the Axis powers, preferring to hint vaguely at ‘powers of darkness’”. (Dailly) Captain America was created as agent of the U.S. military and America’s the most powerful comic-book propaganda of wartime. Very quickly Captain became a national figure and the definite patriotic superhero: he represented more national than individualistic desire. The readers saw him as a brave soldier, reliable person, and an embodiment of the best possible human features. Moreover, it is important to mention that "Captain America comic-books were sent to soldiers in huge quantities, and the troops enjoyed them as a morale booster for the duration as well as a form of contact with their homeland”. (Dailly)
In the movie Captain America: The First Avenger the director Joe Johnston presents the hero as a young weak man Steve Rodgers, but with a great will to fight for his country in the war. The main hero says: “There are men laying down their lives. I got no right to do any less than them”. (Captain America: The First Avenger) Finally, he gets an opportunity to become a soldier. Nobody believed in a skinny guy except Doctor Abraham Erskine, who proposes Steve to participate in an experiment and soon turns him into “the first in a new breed of super-soldiers” aimed to “personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of Hell”. (Captain America: The First Avenger) For several times in film Abraham Erskine mansions the importance of the soldier to be not only strong, but also sympathetic: “a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows compassion”. (Captain America: The First Avenger) That is why the audience sighs, when in the film Steve covers a training grenade with his own body and impregnate with love and respect to him.
The movie also clearly shows that Captain America was used at first as a symbol of the country and inspiration for soldiers. He travels with performances, visits soldiers, kids and ordinary people entertaining them, saying patriotic speeches, encouraging to enter the forces and buy bonds: “Sell off a few bonds, bonds buy bullets, bullets kills Nazi's. Bing bang boom. You're an American hero.” (Captain America: The First Avenger) But that is not how Steve imagined himself being a soldier. That is why he decides to violate the order and goes on the real war. This deed reveals Captain America’s best features: people see him as brave, patriotic, valiant man and soldier – a superhero.
But the attention should be paid not only to the inner world of Captain, but also to his appearance and life in general. He is totally an American symbol from head to foot. First of all, it is his name. It already contains the word ‘America’ and represents the superhero’s belonging to the country and highlights his nationality. Secondly, Steve Rodgers was born not on any date, but on the 4 of July – known as the Independence Day of America. His birthplace is New York – the most multicultural city of the USA. Thirdly, the costume and the shield of Cap actually represent the American flag and is of blue, red and white colors with white stars he incorporates American ideology. “He represents with the star the fifty U.S. states and with the stripes the thirteen original colonies that rebelled against the British crown.” (Dailly) The writers of Captain worked hard on creation of this superhero, because the government anchored all its hopes on him as on the tool of propaganda.
Nowadays, Captain America became a crucial figure not only in a comic book world. His fights against evil reflected in a range of movies, cartoons and computer games. He is the first four superhero, who began to create a new culture in the art of America and then of humanity. To some extent, today he performs the same function as he had in the war period (Hydra clearly revived only in order to maintain the reputation of Cap). In the comics, after the Third Reich fell, Rogers switched to a new national enemy of the United States – the Communists. He appeared very rear in the comics and soon the creators, having no other plots for the character, place him in the cryogenic storage (in a film Rogers heroically sacrificed himself in order to destroy Tesseract). After ten years Captain was found by the superhero team the Avengers in the North Atlantic Ocean. He was still snoring in the ice with shield in hand. Since then, the Captain America joins the team and continues his fight against the evildoers.
It is interesting to mention that Captain America had his own female prototype in the comic book world – Wonder Woman. She is a princess Diana and the warrior of the Amazons tribe with her mother Hippolyta as the queen. According to the Greek mythology, the Amazons is a tribe of women living without men. They could perform all the men’s duties like building, hunting, fighting, and making war and so on. The comics tell that after a ship wreck captain Steve Trevor appeared on the Paradise Island, where the Amazons lived. Princess Diana found him unconscious, helped to gain strength and at the end fell in love with him. Hippolyta organized a competition to choose one Amazon, who should accompany the captain back to his homeland, stay with him and fight for justice. Her daughter Diana took part in the competition without mother’s permission, won it and left the Paradise Island with Steve Trevor.
The character was created by William Moulton Marston as an alternative to brutal masculinity. The first story about her was published in the All Star Comics #8 in December 1941. The image of Wonder Woman carried a large charge of eroticism that made her popular not only among the female audience but also among men. Diana wears a suit to perform feats, made in the colors of the American flag (like Captain American’s) with the symbol of the eagle on his chest. The usage of national symbols in a suit declares patriotic pathos of the heroine, her national identity, gives additional semantics to the image.
Wonder Woman was designed to support the female part of the country. No, it was not aimed to encourage women to fight Nazis, but to lower their fear of it. “If a woman can fight, why should I be scared?” – A thought the comics tried to provoke in women’s heads. Moreover, Diana inspired a lot of females to become stronger and more independent. Many men left their houses for war and women had to complete all their duties that needed physical strength, confidence and strength of mind. The Second World War took a lot of lives leaving the families without fathers, brothers and sons that is why women had to take everything in their hands.
The propaganda of the idea of a female warrior was meaningful in the context of the Second World War II, but after the end of it the role of women in American society has changed completely. Her task changed to maternity, unemployed housewife living in the suburbs, support of family values. In this context, a single, strong, working Wonder Woman, having a long, but not non-committal relationship with Lieutenant Steve Trevor, looked somewhat provocatively.
In 1958, the image of Wonder Woman is experiencing a change in accordance with the spirit of the times. She obtains more feminine features: the shape of her figure, in accordance with the fashion style, rounded off by removing excessive sportiness, facial features change: large eyes, as it were touched up, underlined cheekbones and lips are bright and plump. Compared with the original version of the image, there was no more emphasis on her physical strength.
The image of Wonder Woman combined in those years just two oppositely directed vectors: on the one hand, it promoted the feminine, soft sensuality, traditional heterosexual relationships and family values, and on the other – it embodies an alternative for women opportunity to be unfettered, sexy, independent and successful in work. Later this aspect of character prevailed, and today's Wonder Woman decided to look through the lens of feminist interpretation of her image.
Both Captain America and Wonder Woman were tools of propaganda, but they totally coped with the task. After the war, step by step their characters started to fade, but soon they were reborn in Marvel movies. The characters bring their history in the modern world, fight against evil and continue to inspire millions of people with their pure hearts and strong muscles.
During wartime a new genre of superhero comic series helped to create a positive image of political power in the eyes of the general reader. Comic books about superheroes, like many other American media broadcasted the idea that the key role of the US in the war. Superheroes during the war personified the entire American nation – participant of war, and after the war, they became a symbol of US victory in the war. The comic book heroes were designed to support people in the hard times the country suffered and gave citizens hope and provoked patriotic thinking.
Captain America was a major superhero during the Second World War and still remains the symbol of the USA. He was an idol for soldiers and hero for little comics readers, who were raised to protect their country from the very childhood. Ladies had their own superheroine – Wonder Woman – that helped them to overcome the wartime, loss of their beloved husbands and become as strong and independent as Diana.
Nowadays, comic books gain their popularity again. There appeared more new superheroes accompanied with their antagonists. Their role changed from propaganda to entertainment. Although, in the era, where people are losing their traditions, culture and religion because of technologies, superheroes remind that human being is still in the center of everything.
Works Cited
Blumberg, Arnold T. "The Captain – America In WWII Magazine". Americainwwii.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 June 2016.
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Print.
Captain America: The First Avenger. Dir. Joe Johnston. Perf. Chris Evans, Tommy Lee Jones, Hugo Weaving, Hayley Atwell, Sebastian Stan. Paramount, 2011.
Dailly, Christian. "Captain America: The United States Versus Itself, Through The Eyes Of A Wartime Fictional Hero". Americansc.org.uk. N.p., 2014. Web. 9 June 2016.
Howze, Thaddeus. "Is Marvel's Ant-Man Ripped Off From DC's Atom?". Quora.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 11 June 2016.
Pevey, Aaron Timothy. From Superman to Superbland: The Man of Steel's Popular Decline among Postmodern Youth. Thesis. Georgia State University, 2007. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Scholarworks.gsu.edu. Web. 7 June 2016.
"Pop Culture Propaganda – Captain American History!". The Nerd With Nothing Better To Do. N.p., 2012. Web. 11 June 2016.
