Agbayani Worship: Mythmaking, Colonial Mentality, and the Problematics of a Filipino Captain America

Vina Orden will present on her essay in CUNY FORUM Volume 11:1, examining how narratives in popular media can perpetuate or challenge existing power structures and colonial mentalities. Orden explores this through the complex dynamics behind the pop culture success of comics like The United States of Captain America. Her analysis delves into the diverse creative team behind these comics, including queer, Filipino, First Nation, and South African writers. And she critically questions whether Captain America, despite such diverse creative input, must still operate within a context of imperial power dynamics and the realities of the U.S. nation state.