"Who's The Man? Hollywood Heroes Defined Masculinity For Millions"
by Bob Mondello for NPR
"Tony Curtis used to say that he'd learned how to kiss a girl by watching Cary Grant at the movies. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he wasn't just sitting behind Grant at the theater — while also noting that he's hardly alone in taking instruction from films.
Movies have always offered a window through which audiences, sitting in the dark, can observe human nature without being observed. A movie theater is where many a boy learned how to make things right, the way John Wayne did in so many pictures, with fists or a gun. Movies taught about sacrificing for the greater good, as Humphrey Bogart did when he sent Ingrid Bergman off with a "here's lookin' at you, kid" in Casablanca. They're a place to learn about standing firm against injustice (with Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind), and about standing up for yourself (with Sidney Poitier in A Raisin in the Sun).
All of which was useful for a nation that thought of itself as a melting pot. For generations, newly arrived immigrants had emerged slowly from their ethnic enclaves in big cities, where things were comfortingly just like the old country. Assimilating was hard.
But film — even back when it was silent — was like an instruction manual for the American experience. For a nickel at the nickelodeon, a foreign fellow fresh off the boat could see exactly how American men dressed, how they greeted each other (with a handshake, not with European kisses on each cheek), and, more generally, how people in his newly adopted country behaved. Admittedly, silent films used a kind of shorthand for American behavior — stereotypes, to allow directors to brush in characters quickly without dialogue: women were almost always domestic, delicate and passive, while men were outgoing, strong and active."
SNIP to comply with DU's 4 paragraph rule. Article is really interesting and doesn't end up how you think it will. Mondello makes a good arguement for why there are so many super hero films these days.
Whole article and/or link to listen here:
http://www.npr.org/2014/07/30/336575116/whos-the-man-hollywood-heroes-defined-masculinity-for-millions
= new reply since forum marked as read
Specifically, web comics for which I can find an example related to any subject. 
TlalocW
But I still think the critique of modern movies the cartoons make is valid.
TlalocW
and it still works, right?
