“America is Safe While its Boys and Girls Believe in its Creeds!”: Captain America and American Identity Prior to World War 2

Jason Dittmer

doi:10.1068/d1905

journal article Jun 01, 2007

“America is Safe While its Boys and Girls Believe in its Creeds!”: Captain America and American Identity Prior to World War 2

Jason Dittmer

Environment and Planning D: Society and Space Vol. 25 No. 3 pp. 401-423 · SAGE Publications

View at Publisher Save 10.1068/d1905

Abstract

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.

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Cited By

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A taxonomy for communication geography

Paul C. Adams · 2010

Progress in Human Geography

Metrics

21

Citations

81

References

Details

Published: Jun 01, 2007
Vol/Issue: 25(3)
Pages: 401-423
License: View

Authors

J

Jason Dittmer

Department of Geology and Geography, Georgia Southern University, PO Box 8149, Statesboro, GA 30460-8149, USA

Cite This Article

Jason Dittmer (2007). “America is Safe While its Boys and Girls Believe in its Creeds!”: Captain America and American Identity Prior to World War 2. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 25(3), 401-423. https://doi.org/10.1068/d1905

“America is Safe While its Boys and Girls Believe in its Creeds!”: Captain America and American Identity Prior to World War 2

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