Dialectic of friendship: discourse analysis of communication and relationship between superman and batman in superhero comics

Abstract

This study conducted a 2-stage analysis of dialectics in a discourse of a seemingly antagonistic superhero partnership between Superman (Clark Kent) and Batman (Bruce Wayne) while aiming to expand upon our understanding of dialectical relationships, American friendship, masculine-heroism ethics, and the evolution of society. Firstly, the study used Quantitative Content Analysis (CA) in corroboration with William Rawlins’s Dialectical theory of Friendship (DTF), to extract themes and patterns shown in communications between the protagonists. Then, the study utilized Critical Narrative Analysis (CNA) in corroboration with Georg W. F. Hegel’s Speculative Dialectics to unmask critical implications created from the Superman-Batman dichotomy. The results showed that Superman and Batman have a complex friendship relationship, displaying a dominant frequency of expressiveness, judgment, and affection in communication. Such patterns in communication contribute to the expressive and honest friendship patterns shared between male friends in critical and industrialized reinforcement of opposite relationship, bipartisanship, and peaceful discourse in a rivalry which is a surprisingly common discourse in American culture. By using theories of archetypes, dialectical relations and dialectics to conduct content analyses in several media featuring Superman and Batman, the study argued that Superman and Batman as a complex and globally relative discourse that encourages an ethical hegemony and dialectical tension between fiction and reality that could potentially inspire people to read such media text seriously and adopt lessons from the two heroes to lessen socio-political disharmony improve how we live in reality.