Date Thesis Awarded
4-2017
Access Type
Honors Thesis -- Open Access
Degree Name
Bachelors of Arts (BA)
Department
American Studies
Advisor
Charles McGovern
Committee Members
Sarah Glosson
Arthur Knight
Abstract
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is currently one of the most commercially successful entertainment brands in American popular culture, with a range of film franchises and television series under its banner. Although the brand maintains its popularity with various demographics, the casting choices in Doctor Strange (2017) generated controversy among Marvel fans and critics alike for excluding people of color or reducing them to villains and sidekicks. This thesis examines the online commentary surrounding the casting and marketing of Doctor Strange to evaluate how social media users on Reddit, Tumblr, and Twitter come to understand race and gender through the Marvel Cinematic Universe films and how executives and filmmakers react to the push for racial diversity in Hollywood.
Recommended Citation
Richardson, Ashley S., "Fandom, Racism, and the Myth of Diversity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe" (2017). Undergraduate Honors Theses. William & Mary. Paper 1019.
https://scholarworks.wm.edu/honorstheses/1019
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Included in
American Film Studies Commons, American Material Culture Commons, American Popular Culture Commons, Asian American Studies Commons, Ethnic Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons, Public Relations and Advertising Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Social Media Commons
