Making sense of the American Collective Identity through Captain America: The First Avenger (2011): A Multi-method Analysis

Abstract

American national identity has received much attention from multidisciplinary fields of research. Thus, this research deals with the role of heroes and villains in reflecting on post-9/11 events—specifically in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). The focus is directed toward the symbolic meanings of the main characters in the chosen movie. Through cinematic representations, this research highlights the nexus between heroization, villainization, and the American national identity. The confrontations between American heroes and foreign villains in entertainment reflect America’s global positioning as a superpower fighting “evil.” I chose a qualitative research method to prove this hypothesis. I conducted a thematic analysis that involves decoding the main characters by examining their binary opposition and representation of the U.S. and the foreign enemy and their connotations within the broad context of reasserting and repositioning the U.S. as a global power after 9/11. I also decoded the meanings of key events within the movies in relation to their historical contexts and their connotations in a post9/11 context. My theoretical framework relies mainly on Claude Levi-Strauss’s theory of Binary Opposition, Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities, Jeffrey Alexander’s Cultural Trauma, and Michael C. Frank’s Cultural Imaginary of Terrorism in post-9/11. This research suggests that the symbolism of Superheroes and Supervillains articulates their role in rebuilding national identity in post-traumatic times.