America is Safe While its Boys and Girls Believe in its Creeds

Captain America and American Identity Prior to World War 2

Bibliographic Data

ID4475481
AuthorsJason Dittmer (0000-0002-1022-4978, Georgia Southern University, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume25
Issue3
Pages401-423
Publication date2007-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEnvironment and Planning D Society and Space (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0263-7758 • E-ISSN: 1472-3433
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1068/d1905
OpenAlexW1967174763
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited22

In this paper I engage with the literature on nationalism and popular culture to discuss the role of Captain America Comics in the production of American national identity and national interest prior to World War 2. The character of Captain America is introduced as an example of a rescaling icon, or a bridge between collective identity and the individual. Additionally, the impact of the context in which the comic was produced is discussed as a force in the construction of American identity before the 1941 entry of the United States into the war. The empirical portion of the paper is a content analysis of the first ten issues of Captain America Comics, all predating the attack on Pearl Harbor. The analysis focuses on the ways in which American behavior is disciplined through the narratives in the comic book, as well as the ways in which nationalities are scripted into a moral geography

Aesthetics · American literature · Archaeology · Art · Character (mathematics · Comics · Context (archaeology · Icon · Identity (music · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · National identity · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Sociology · World War II · Comics and Graphic Narratives · Educator Training and Historical Pedagogy · History · Law · Media Studies and Communication

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