Marvelous Representation: Ms. Marvel's Impact on Diversity and Feminism in Contemporary Media

Ms. Marvel: No Normal is a new superhero movie about a Pakistani-American Muslim girl in Jersey City. Kamala Khan is an American who struggles with her identity and often feels like an outsider. Kamala sneaks out and goes out to a party where she gets caught up in a strange mist and blacks out. When she woke up, she found out that her body could do things that no other human could. She can change her size, shape and, above all, change her identity to become a superhero. This essay supports that Ms. Marvel plays a vital role as the media coverage portrays.

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One apparent reason why the book is essential is that Kamala Khan portrays a kind of diversity underrepresented in contemporary media. Kamala Khan Represents an overall trend used in comic books of embracing religious diversity. Khan's role as the superheroine is a representation of the minority religious groups in fictitious movies. Elizabeth Weaver sees Ms. Marvel as a new twist taken in superhero movies. She states, "Kamala's thoughtfully rendered representation emerges as a singularly powerful and feminist depiction of Muslim Pakistani-American identity" (Weaver, 2019). Weaver believes that Khan represents the Marginalized Arabs in a superhero movie. Kamala Khan first featured in Captain Marvel in 2013. Afterward, she was then given her series in February 2014. Mansur Shaheen also discusses representation in the comic but sees it differently. Other than focusing on the representation of Arabs in the American fantasy world, she sees Ms. Marvel as a representation of generations. Ms. Marvel proves to represent a rather underrepresented group and focuses on defining a much bigger group for Zoomers' age. According to Shaheen, the children growing up from 2010 are more immersed in a superhero than the generation before them. Thus, Kamala Khan's appearance in Ms. Marvel represents a relatable avatar that Zoomers can easily recognize and relate to. Mansur Shaheen states, "Kamala is a relatable avatar for younger readers, and she is often in situations that Zoomers can easily recognize from their own lives" (Shaheen, 2020).

The comic book, Ms. Marvel, portrays a kind of feminism typically absent in media. According to Nyala Ali, the series title itself is feminist as it features Ms. thus, stirring up debate online on its ambivalence. Ali believes that Kamala's Muslim identity was identical in the series, but the revealing costume has not been expressed in other films featuring Arab culture. Nyala Ali states that the film portrays "a casually offensive blonde-haired blue-eyed classmate whose knowledge of Islam is limited to ideas of mandatory burqas and contraband bacon, which is a particularly smart move on Wilson's part (who, by the way, is also Muslim)" (Ali, 2015). The blonde representation is rather feminist and portrays Arab women as blondes with little understanding. In the article "Unveiling Marvels," Kent argues that comics such as Ms. Marvel frame women within hegemonic ideologies, and Khan represents a break from tradition (Kent, 2015). Besides, Kent further argues that Khan's inclusion in a superhero comic portrays a breakthrough for Muslim women in Western movies, especially women of color. Furthermore, Kent addresses the Muslim's sensitivity and indicates the Khan intersectional experience's specificity, as illustrated by writer G. Willow Wilson (Kent, 2015). In the article "Ms. Marvel: Genre, Medium and an Intersectional Superhero," Erika Chung states that Ms. Marvel's comic is a step in a different direction, which contrasts with the male-dominated superhero comics (Chung, 2019). She claims that Ms. Marvel is an intersectional representation of young Muslim characters of color. Ms. Marvel is a comic series that challenges the typical male power fantasy. Chung further explores Ms. Marvel as a genre that explores the superhero role that has been defined by the male.

The comic book also tackles intersectionality, which is an idea that's become more and more important in recent years. Gill argues that Ms. Marvel is the best movie depicting the intersectionality framework. Marvel plays a significant role in exploring intersecting factors such as gender and religion (Gill, 2015). Other than portraying women as oppressed gender, Ms. Marvel: No Normal portrays the ideology of religious difference. Khan is a Muslim and exists in environments that might portray anti-Islamic sentiments. Chung's article "Ms. Marvel: Genre, Medium and an Intersectional Superhero" explains the intersectionality evident in the superhero movie. Chung explains how race and gender have played a role in the Kamala Khan Superhero fiction. She states that Ms. Marvel results "…in a nuanced representation of a young woman of color as a superhero that goes beyond tokenism." (Chung, 2019). Ms. Marvel acts as a prime example explaining the difference in sharing commonalities such as gender, color, and religion. In Kamala Khan's role, the above functionalities overlap each other. In the beginning, Khan is depicted as a young woman who struggles with identity. Chung further states that Ms. Marvel illustrates how power relations of race and gender intersect through Kamala Khan. Curtis and Cardo explore the role played by Kamala Khan in demonstrating feminism. In the article ‘Superheroes and third-wave feminism,’ the authors state Khan plays an important role in intersectionality, exploring themes such as gender, religion, solidarity, and equality (Curtis & Cardo, 2018). Kamala Khan as Ms. Marvel is a nuanced and intersectional representation of a young woman of color as a superhero. The intersectional race and gender become a barrier for Kamala since she navigates identity such as a Pakistani-American Muslim who is always conflicting to understand her identity. However, as she understands her powers, Khan is able to intersect identities thus depicting that superheroes do not necessarily need to be black.

References

Ali, N. (2020). "No Normal" Indeed: Ms. Marvel's New Female Readership. Bookslut Retrieved 10 December 2020, from http://www.bookslut.com/features/2015_02_021119.php

Chung, E. (2019). Ms. Marvel: Genre, Medium, and an Intersectional Superhero.

Curtis, N., & Cardo, V. (2018). Superheroes and third-wave feminism. Feminist Media Studies, 18(3), 381-396.

Gill, V. S. (2016). 'Everybody Else Gets to Be Normal': Using Intersectionality and Ms. Marvel to Challenge'Normal'Identity. The ALAN Review, 44(1), 68-78.

Kent, M. (2015). Unveiling Marvels: Ms. Marvel and the reception of the new Muslim superheroine. Feminist Media Studies, 15(3), 522-527.

Shaheen, M. (2020). Kamala Khan Is the Superhero Zoomers Deserve - Electric Literature. Retrieved 10 December 2020, from https://electricliterature.com/kamala-khan-is-the-superhero-zoomers-deserve/