Women of Power: Superheroes vs. Magicians

Abstract

From the mind reading Cassandra of Greek mythology through the mind reading Jean Grey of X-Men, women have been depicted in fictional contexts—particularly in the world of superheroes—as having magical powers. In the history of American stage performance, however, magicians have almost always been men.

There are three aims for this presentation:

• To consider the modes in which female characters have appeared in superhero comics, television shows, and films, and compare them to the modes in which female magicians have performed in the last hundred and fifty years.
• To begin to understand why relatively few stage magicians have been women.
• To explore the ways in which this disparity is starting to diminish at the start of the 21st Century.

This topic will be examined from the perspective of a historian in the field of popular performance, but also from the perspective of an insider, since the presenter has been a performer of magic for decades.