A number of years ago, at the community college where I teach, two of my colleagues—one in English and one in Sociology—did a great presentation about the character of Lois Lane and how her portrayal in different Superman incarnations (comic, movie, TV shows) has been shaped by the time periods in which she and they were created—shifting from independent woman to more helpless damsel in distress and back again.  Similarly, a friend of mine from grad school, is currently focusing a lot of her academic […]