ZORRO
He has been played by some of the most well-known Hollywood actors, from Douglas Fairbanks to Tyrone Power to Antonio Banderas. He has appeared in television shows, comics, video games and novels. Like Superman, Spider-Man and Mickey Mouse, he is an instantly recognizable global icon. For more than a century, since his first appearance in Johnston McCulley’s fiction, Zorro has been one of US popular culture’s most vibrant transmedial heroes. But the story of Don Diego Vega/Zorro also references traumatic episodes in the history of California and the Mexican American experience going back to the 19th century. Through a survey of his representation in various media, this course traces the origins, prehistory and influence of Zorro (Spanish for “fox”), highlighting the character’s role in the creation of the superhero, his image of Latinx masculinity, his changing public reception over the course of the 20th/21st centuries and what he/she means to US culture today.