Superhero identities for the 21st century

Thursday, 12 January 2017 - 6:00pm to 6:30pm

Superheroes are pervasive in popular culture. As one of our core folkloric traditions, these costume-clad characters have become a means to negotiate and articulate collective and individual identities, past and present. Amongst a multiplicity of cultural and communicational functions, superhero identities can symbolise a nation, sustain on-line  communities that use cosplay to challenge gender roles, and bring people together for special events under the banner of a specific caped crusader.

In early December, 2016, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) in Melbourne, in conjunction with the Superheroes and Me research project, held a two day symposium to explore "Superhero Identities". This week, Communication Mixdown spoke to Liam Burke (Swinburne University of Technology) and Angela Ndalianis (University of Melbourne), two of the symposium's key organizers.