The Influence Of Education On Female Liberation In The American Popuar Culture

Throughout the years.the influence of education on female liberation has remained a heated area of discussion in the academia,rendering a debate between "education-as-liberating" and"education-as-reproductive." While the former argues for an all-round liberating effect of education on female,the latter deems that due to the influence of the existing social structure and hierarchy,education,instead of liberating the females,reproduces the class structure and the patriarchal dominance.However,studies on the representations of the issue in the contemporary American popular culture are insufficient.This paper is an attempt to fill the research gap by answering the question of how the influence of education on female liberation is represented in the contemporary American popular culture.As an influential cultural expression of the 21st century U.S.,the superhero movies produced by the Marvel Studios succeed with their immense popularity in the U.S.Further,all Marvel Studios movies exhibit a significant homogeneity in terms of the mode of' narration.theme,and characterization,etc.,bearing a strong corporate signature instead of director signatures.Thus,this research takes the educated female characters in the Marvel Studios superhero movies as research subjects,and categorizes the selected characters into three groups based on their educational level.The analysis begins by an investigation of the year of appearance for each educational level.The influence of education on females in the following three aspects is then analyzed:individual class status and self-esteem,experience in romance and relationship with the political society.This study finds that with the passage of time the educational level of the selected female characters ascends.Education's influence on the three aspects above differs.In terms of individual class status,family factor may play a more significant role than education in the determination of one's class status.In regard to individual self-esteem,education is a significant source of confidence for the selected females.In the field of romance,most females have established permanent romantic relationships with the major male characters,whereas those"too educated" are not endowed with romance.For all those with romantic partners,educational level appears to be an important criterion during male's selection:male characters constantly offer affection towards females when they are viewed as "smart".Once a romance is established.females tend to voluntarily adjust her life's objective,directing her life away from her previous ambitions and orienting herself towards romantic and family responsibilities.In the realm of political awareness and contributions,with the increase of educational level,both political awareness and contributions increase.However,indirect means appears to be the major manner in which contributions are fulfilled.Further,apart from the traditional "combating the villain and saving the world" mission,in recent times female begins to utilize the power of education in political endeavors of "building female companionship and fighting gender discrimination."Moreover,the movies indicate that education for females is not always beneficial to the political socicty since some of the characters commit faults of various natures,and with the increase of educational level.their faults ascend significantly in severity.Based on the findings above,this paper discusses the social reality reflected by the representations of the characters.The ascendance in the character's educational level and the enhanced self-esteem by education mirror the rising feminization of the educational attainment n the U.S..when an increasing number of females acquire increasingly higher degrees.The rising political awareness and participation of females in the reality is also reflected in the fictional stories.Further,from 2017 when the#MeToo movement popularizes,Hollywood movies in an attempt to answer to the calls of the public begin to endow the educated females with the power to participate into the feminist political storylineHowever,education does not produce an all-round liberation for females.What is rellecled in the selected females is a social reality that education is somewhat powerless in disrupting the existing class structure.Moreover,portrayal of the selected females in terms of romantic experience and political contributions suggests an anxiety towards females with education.The power of educated females is thus frequently neutralized.Females voluntarily domesticize herself once a romantic relationship is established,and those who are "too smart" are not endowed with romance;females' means of participation into politics is frequently indirect,and some of them commit faults when utilizing her education,rendering a devastating damage to world peace.The movies echo the social sentiment of fear,trauma and uncertainty after the 9-11 terrorist attack and the financial crisis.Behind the doubts of the American might in military and economy in the "decades of fears" is the loss of belief in the social structure and hierarchy on which the nation is built.The superhero movies,serving to rewrite the trauma and to arouse the confidence in the American ideology,reflect the want of the masculine hegemony in the eraThis thesis concludes that what is represented by the movies is neither an all-round"education-as-liberating" nor an all-round "education-as-reproductive" picture.Instead,multiple social f-orces shape the influence of education on female liberation into a complex picture.The popular culture has thus offered a compromise solution,depicting the females as both "liberated" and "reproduced" by education.