Convenções estéticas e narrativas das adaptações fílmicas de super-heróis: MARVEL E DC COMICS (1978-2018)

Abstract

This thesis intends to investigate the film adaptations of Marvel and DC superheroes produced between 1978 e 2018, highlighting the noteworthy growth in such productions throughout the last decades and the configuration of a superhero movie genre. This investigation is justified by the strong presence of these works in pop culture, extrapolating the boundaries of pages and screens. In terms of genre, these films are usually identified as action, adventure, fantasy or sci-fi films. I ask, however, in face of the specific features of these narratives and their market value, if the structural elements of this body of works are not enough to outline their own genre, set apart from other categories. To go through with this analysis I will start from live-action film adaptations of the aforementioned characters, discussing their most paradigmatic narrative tropes and aesthetic configurations. From this setting, I intend to delineate which characters compose the superhero film and how this generic model employs the cinematic medium to establish their specificity in face of audiences. My hypothesis is that, aside from the presence of superpowerful beings easily identifiable as heroes or villains, these films elect particular cenographic treatments and thematic typologies, singularizing themselves as an autonomous genre. With the goal of understanding the most archetypal elements of the heroic narrative, I seek support in the writings of Campbell (2004) and Vogler (2007). In terms of establishing the language of superhero narratives, I work from the observations of Coogan (2006) and Burke (2015). To analyze the formal characteristics of these movies, as well as the specificities that might characterize them as a singular genre, I seek theoretical support in the analytical models provided by Altman (1999), Cawelti (2003), Thompson (2003), Bordwell (1989; 2006) and Schatz (1981).