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The Captain America character has gone through over 60 years of history since its creation in 1941, generating a legacy that is inseparable from the political and patriotic connotations that his name denotes. The character was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, two men of Jewish descent living in America, and has since been transformed into a representation of American values, ethics and politics. The Captain America character not only represents American ethos but also is meant to be a symbol of resistance against what is considered by hegemonic ideology to be “un-American,” perpetually placing the character on the side of “right” and “good.”
The creation of this mythos allows the Captain America figure to be applied to a variety of different political agendas and contexts. It separates the symbol from the individual, allowing the mantle to be applied to multiple different subjects. The Captain America fandom, particularly the part of the fandom that creates transformative productions of the character such as fanfiction and fanart, have explored the role of identity in the Captain America mythos and separation of the shield from Steve Rogers, the alter ego. Steve Rogers, in contrast to the blank slate of Captain America, has a history as a subaltern subject. Before receiving a supersoldier serum, he was disabled, working class, politically liberal and it’s canon that he grew up in a queer neighborhood in Brooklyn and was raised by a single mother. This image of Steve Rogers creates an interesting relationship with the Captain America mythos in that the former is meant to be a unique individual and the latter a symbol. The Captain America transformative fandom has often used this relationship as a form of critique, offering readings of culture that subvert hegemonic norms or criticize the exclusion of minority and subaltern subjects.
This practice can be seen in the appropriation of the propaganda song used in the 2011 film Captain America: The First Avenger. Titled “The Star Spangled Man with a Plan,” the song reflects the nationalist and jingoistic tones that accompany a name like Captain America and the costume he wears- a recreation of the American flag. The song’s purpose in the film is to convince people to purchase war bonds and it features Steve Rogers as a Captain America caricature in tights doing a stage performance in which he knocks out Hitler and performs amazing feats of strength all while surrounded by chorus girls. The film is purposefully drawing on nationalistic imagery in order to create a juxtaposition between the stagnate image of a commercialized Captain America and the progressive symbol created by the actions of Steve Rogers.
Accompanied by blaring trumpets and with a celebratory tone, “The Star Spangled Man with a Plan” comes across like an anthem. The structure of the song is a series of questions, each one asking who will come to defend the United States during the war; the opening lyric reads, “Who’s strong and brave here to save the American way?” The song also offers a definite answer to the questions: “no one but Captain America.” The image of Captain America that it offers up is a man who is “forceful and ready to defend the red, white and blue,” “smart as a fox,” and “stalwart and steady and true.” These descriptors are meant to create the image of the idyllic American male; a man of action willing to give his all for his country.
The song also establishes a firm image of the “other,” using racist and pejorative terms. The song asks “who’ll hang the noose on the goose-stepping goons from Berlin,” and “who’ll kick the krauts to Japan” and answers with a resounding repetition of “the star spangled man with a plan.” The song enforces the idea that America has enemies, namely the Axis powers, and places Captain America in a position of victory, claiming that he will “finish what they began” and “fight like a man for what’s right night and day.” These lyrics tie back to the tradition of making Captain America a blank slate that fights whoever or whatever is threatening the country at the time, allowing him to remain the moral epicenter of the United States.
The Captain America fandom has produced multiple covers of this song that seek to transform the politics of “The Star Spangled Man with a Plan” and remove it from its jingoistic ideology. One such cover, titled “The Star Spangled Man,” was adapted and recorded by username Sanura, and posted on the fanfiction website “Archive of Our Own.” The song was not only a response to the original version in the film but also a derivative from the fanfiction story titled “A Partial Dictionary of the 21st Century by Captain Steve Rogers, US Army” written by username copperbadge. In the story, Steve Rogers attends an open mic concert at a café where a woman performs a cover of “The Star Spangled Man with a Plan,” and it’s described as:
“slow, and sad, and not all the lyrics are the same -- because the song wasn’t about [Steve Rogers] but more about this mythical hero who would do it all and she's left out the line. The song was always just a lot of questions about who will fight for America or save America or give his all in battle, but in the original, there was an answer: The Star Spangled Man. And she's left the answer out. So it's not an anthem to raise money for a war or get enlistment numbers up. It's a cry out for help. Who'll rise and fall, give their all for America?"
Sanura’s cover of the song takes the elements described in the fanfiction and sets them to music. Besides eliminating the answering repetition of “the star spangled man with a plan,” Sanura also alters the lyrics of other parts of the song. The cover shifts the focus from the nation at war with another country to being at war with itself: “we can’t ignore there’s a threat and a war from within,” a shift from the original lyric “…threat and a war we must win.” Another shift in focus is from the “other” to the “us” that occurs at the end of the song. The original version asks, “who’ll finish what they began,” which is answered, but Sanura’s cover ends with the question, left unanswered, “who’ll finish what we began?” The cover still claims a need for America to be saved, but rather than cite a foreign “other” as the enemy, the cover makes the enemy an introspective, ideological threat.
Unlike the imagery in the original, Sanura’s song portrays a much different idyllic figure. In this version, the audience is asked “who vows to fight swift and true for what’s right night and day,” replacing the masculine requirement posed by the original. Likewise, instead of describing the unnamed savior as “forceful,” Sanura phrases it “gentle” while also repeating the lyrics “stalwart and steady and true.” Despite changing the characteristics of the idyllic savior, the overall message of the cover remains the same; it just refrains from answering its own questions, negating Captain America as a specific individual and transforming it into a symbol.
“A Partial Dictionary of the 21st Century by Captain Steve Rogers, US Army,” also inspired another cover, this one adapted and recorded by username A Singing Detective, hosted on the website SoundCloud and titled “The Star Spangled Man with a Plan.” Unlike the original and Sanura’s cover, this third version refrains from describing what the idyllic Captain America or savior figure would be like. Instead, the song is almost entirely a call to action. It copies the original format by posing a series of questions but instead of speaking in vague terms, A Singing Detective wrote the song with a specific demographic in mind. On her SoundCloud profile she states, “For me my take on the song became very much about the struggle for gay rights, which is happening of course not only in America, but for me America's policy about freedom has always struck me as particularly ironic in the face of the gay rights struggle.” Although this demographic isn’t explicitly stated in the cover, the creator’s intent frames the Captain America figure as something that can stand and fight for the rights of an oppressed group within a nation rather than just for a concept of “good.”
In another departure from the original version of “The Star Spangled Man with a Plan,” A Singing Detective doesn’t name an antagonist, choosing instead to focus solely on the meaning of Captain America and who is capable of fulfilling such a role. The songs asks, “Who won’t ignore that there’s still many more to set free? Who will rewind us, remind us of integrity?” and “Who will speak for those who can’t say ‘Are we so sure that freedom is still the American way?’” By posing these questions, A Singing Detective deviates from the tradition of defining Captain America by his enemies by placing the responsibility of change on the figure. In this version of the song, Captain America plays the role of the instigator instead of the savior.
A Singing Detective further complicates this by questioning the existence of a Captain America figure. Instead of using the original lyrics, “Who’ll whip the giant attacking America? No one but Captain America,” this cover asks “Who’ll make up for what we lack in America? Is there such a thing as Captain America?” By questioning the mythos of Captain America and neglecting to name the figure’s attributes, the song implies that anybody can take up the shield and adopt the identity of the Star Spangled Man with a Plan. This enforces the song’s message that a savior isn’t what’s needed to end the oppression mentioned in the lyrics but rather a figure that is willing to “speak up and take a stand.”
The duality presented in the different versions of “The Star Spangled Man with a Plan” is something that has been explored extensively throughout the transformative Captain America fandom. Because of the fandom, Captain America belongs to both a hegemonic and subversive culture. Transformative fandom uses their cultural productions as a mode of critique and within that context, Captain America/Steve Rogers can be a way to provide criticism for cultural representations and representations within the political and social sphere. Outside of transformative fandom, the Captain America figure loses its progressive status and instead becomes a symbol of hegemonic American values and ethics.
Tumblr user idiopathicsmile explores this idea in her “CapSongs Project"; she wrote three songs exploring the Captain America mythos as opposed to Steve Rogers. The songs are set in the same universe as the Captain America films produced by Marvel Studios and approached the subject matter as if they were covers of real songs. Idiopathicsmile describes this project on her profile: “[she] thought it would be fun to go through all the songs written about Steve Rogers and do a series of covers, like a study in shifting perspectives of an American icon through the years?” The creator then continues to give a historical context to each of the covers, placing them in a specific political setting that adds commentary to the Captain America mythos while at the same time enforcing a progressive depiction of Steve Rogers. Idiopathicsmile’s project becomes an analysis of the potential jingoistic portrayal of Captain America and its opposition to the politically and socially liberal Steve Rogers.
The first song in the series is title “Take Up Your Shield, Steve Rogers” and is done in the folk style of the 1950s. The song gives the history of Steve Rogers, describing his transition from the “Little Steve Rogers who never had the knack of running from a fight” and “rushed in to defend most anyone” to his role in the war and picking the first desegregated team in the US army, a unit called the Howling Commandos. The chorus of the song reads, “Take up your shield, Steve Rogers/ Take up your shield tonight/ Take up your shield, Steve Rogers/ there’s wrongs out there that need some setting right.” It’s notable that the song isn’t calling on Captain America but rather on Steve Rogers; it calls on the man rather than the symbol. Unlike the covers of “The Star Spangled Man with a Plan” that invoked Captain America as a source of change, this song cites Steve Rogers as the source of strength.
The song’s biography states that it was a response to McCarthyism and government censorship and the use of Captain America propaganda images. The final stanza of the song, a revision of the chorus, is what gives the song its political context: “…If he could see the things that we’re doing in his name today/ I think that boy would rather stay asleep…/so lay down your shield, Steve Rogers/ and we’ll pray that someone picks it up again.” This song, instead of continuing to glorify America through Captain America imagery uses Steve Rogers as a critique of nationhood during that time period. Because Captain America is held up as a representative of American values, invoking Steve Rogers becomes an act of subversion.
The next song in the project, called “Let Him Sleep,” is simple and short, and also uses Steve Rogers as a critique against the use of Captain America as conservative propaganda. With the history that idiopathicsmile gives this song, this battle becomes literal; “Let Him Sleep” was performed at a “Steven G. Rogers Memorial” music festival in 1967 that was hosted in direct combat to a conservative political party hosting a “Captain America Memorial Concert.” The conservative music festival is characterized as “a sort of anti-Woodstock: a weekend of wholesome music, speeches by all the conservative heavy hitters of the day and a general celebration of “the right kind” of American.” The history of this song places Steve Rogers in direct opposition to Captain America and separates the man from the symbol.
The style of “Let Him Sleep” is slow and forlorn, the lyrics pleading for the audience to “Let him sleep, let him sleep/ in a foreign grave so cold and deep/ dreamin’ of a country that had promises to keep/ c’mon won’t you let that poor child sleep/ c’mon won’t you let Steve Rogers sleep.” These lyrics, like “Take Up Your Shield, Steve Rogers,” imply a disillusionment with the state of America and its politics, a similar theme to the two covers of “The Star Spangled Man with a Plan.” Unlike the covers, however, “Let Him Sleep” isn’t a call to action or even a statement about the necessity of action. It instead acts as a memorial for Steve Rogers, placing his identity above the use of the Captain America mythos.
The third and final song of idiopathicsmile’s project, “For the Crows,” is a commentary on the creation of the Captain America mythos and the eclipse of Steve Rogers. In order to keep Captain America as a political symbol, it became necessary to erase the individual from the legend. The third verse states, “And all those films they made/ and all the songs they played/tied a gag around your mouth/ and called it USA.” “For the Crows,” in the universe that idiopathicsmile created, is a response to the government’s destruction of files about Steve Rogers that were suspected to contain information that would have altered the desired image of Captain America, such as Steve Rogers' sexual orientation. By including this information, idiopathicsmile introduces Steve Rogers as an outsider to heteronormativity and puts him in conflict with the more stagnate and apolitical Captain America usually produced in mass media.
The song was written partially in relationship to the Watergate scandal and the lyrics reflect the overall sense of distrust that the American people had for its government at the time as well as anger over the erasure of Steve Rogers. The song acknowledges, like A Singing Detective’s cover, that Captain America is just an idea, an identity waiting to be filled in. Unlike the cover, this isn’t depicted as a positive attribute because it eliminates the individual: “Oh but Captain oh my Captain/ please forgive these foolish men/ you know they got you killed already/ but somehow did it again/ the memories go/ left out for the crows.” The erasure of Steve Rogers, especially as an established queer character in this history, then becomes an act of epistemic violence.
Idiopathicsmile’s project, when compared to the covers of “The Star Spangled Man with a Plan,” highlight two of the different forms of critique presented by transformative fandom. The importance of the individual Steve Rogers becomes relegated to the side when considering the power of the Captain America mythos yet at the same time, it is impossible to have Captain America without the individual. Taking both figures into consideration, the fandom has appropriated both the individual and the mythos into political statements offering subversive readings of a hegemonic cultural production.