Comics, Gender & Dis_ability: An Intersectional Analysis of the Superheroine Oracle

Oracle aka Barbara Gordon is one of the few female characters in the superhero genre with a visible physical dis_ability. As a wheelchair-using protagonist with her own comic series, the superheroine contributes to the representation of difference and diversity in a genre that is still dominated by _white_, heterosexual, agile male hero characters. However, as an extremely attractive dis_abled female character, Barbara alias Oracle is also objectified in several ways in her media presentation.

The lecture takes a look at the ambivalent portrayal of the superheroine from the perspective of both comics theory and intersectionality, highlighting the intertwining of the categories of gender, body and dis_ability and the political implications of representation that go hand in hand with them.

Dr. Véronique Sina is a film and media scholar at the Institute for Theatre, Film and Media Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt. She is also the initiator and co-founder of the comics research working group at the Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft.