BONUS: Fashioning the 'Camp' Superman Body

This bonus episode is a talk by Zara Korutz for the DePaul Pop Culture Conference "A Celebration of Superheroes".  Please join the conference on May 1, 2021 by registering at https://popcultureconference.com/2020-superheroes Abstract: Superman, who is a manufactured entertainment superhero character, can be considered an iconic symbol of the Pop-culture Movement in the 1960s— an era when cultural authorities used zeitgeist philosophies, like ‘Camp’, as a way of deciphering new intellectual approaches to artistic sub-cultural phenomena and social revolutions. Superman’s appearance holds cultural power through iconography which is a visual language of social significance that belongs in a larger contextual social structure as outlined in semiotics (Barthes 1995).  Superman’s power is marked by his fashion and is integral to understanding his identity. The often-dramatic transformation from his alter-ego identity allows for the possibility of another truth, and this duality creates a sense of magical escapism which is fundamental to understanding the superhero’s construct— wherein the costume, like a suit, is used as a ‘weapon of style’ (Breward 2016:116) that holds special powers of physical and ideological strength (Brownie and Graydon 2016).  Superman’s fashioned muscular body can be understood as a metaphor for transforming queer modes of representation in society into dominant modes through symbols of commodified hegemonic masculine power. Therefore, Superman’s secret is a paradox of perceived truth that is not fixed but relative to the state of being (Basu 2017). Sincere gratitude to Dr. Jane Tynan, Dr. Royce Mahwatte and Dr. Elizabeth Kutesko for their support of this research.   References Barthes, R. (1995) The Semiotic Challenge. University of California Press. Basu, P. (2017) The Inbetweenness of Things. Materializing Mediation and Movement Between Worlds. London and New York: Bloomsbury. Breward, C. (2016) The Suit: Form, Function and Style. London: Reaktion Books Ltd. Breward, C. (1998) Cultures, Identities, Histories: Fashioning a Cultural Approach to Dress,  Fashion Theory, 2:4, 301-313. Brownie, B. and Graydon, D (2016) The Superhero Costume. London and New York:  Bloomsbury Academic Publishing. Meyer, M. (1994) The Politics and Poetics of Camp. London & New York: Routledge. Sontag, S. (2018) Notes on Camp. Penguin Random House UK. Cover Photo: Courtesy ClipArt.info