Gender Studies
Comics are sprawling with gendered language and imagery, some conforming to and feeding into established gender binaries, and others seeking to subvert them. As this section tries to reveal, comics are a rich source for looking at the assumptions, realities and imaginaries governing the role of women as well as the gendering of the nation, the city and the body. This continues to be an invaluable and understudied area of research.
Lulu often ventured into issues of gender, echoing a liberal agenda of the empowerment of women. Created in the mid-1930s, the serial is careful to not venture too far into a more radical form of women’s emancipation. As such Lulu portrays the image of a strong and confident little girl, but is never rid of her emotive and ‘feminine’ qualities.