Comic Book Analysis
Have students access the student chapter Comic Book Analysis and have students choose one or more comics.
Have them select at least two characters from the comic. The characters do not have to be clearly gendered, but they should not choose more than one who is clearly gendered as male or more than one who is clearly gendered as female.
Go through the instructions for the first part of the activity and have analyze the characters’ design in terms of shapes.
- (You may also distribute tracing paper if you have it, or scan or photocopy selected pages from the comics so that students can draw shapes directly on the artwork.)
Next, have students pair up and share their findings with a partner. Have the student pairs complete the second part of the Comic Book Analysis activity together.
As a class, share and discuss ideas and observations:
Are there any similarities shared by female characters?
- What shapes are used most often in their design?
- What shapes are used less often?
Are there any similarities shared by male characters?
- What shapes are used most often in their design?
- What shapes are used less often?
If there are non-human characters, are they “coded” with one gender or another? What shapes are used to do that?
Are there characters who do not have a clear or coded gender? How do they look different from the gendered or coded characters?
Besides shapes, what other trends do you notice in the characters you studied? Are there some comics that are exceptions to those patterns?
- For example, the male characters in the comic Bone are mostly made of curved shapes, while the female characters are primarily rounded rectangles.
Are there patterns in colours, in powers or abilities, or the roles they play in the stories?
If all you knew about gender came from these comics, what messages or conclusions could you get from the patterns you observed?