The Saddest Superhero Analysis

Colin Cowherd, a radio show host known for his commentary on sports and scandals, discusses the fragility of reputation in a race sensitive, contemporary society in his essay, “The Saddest Superhero.” Using Marxist theory to analyze Cowherd, I seek to answer if dominant social structures restrain racism, or perpetuate discrimination through ignorance? The discussion and consideration of how racism is approached in contemporary society will reveal Marxist principles of dominant ideologies within society being reinforced in artifacts. In modern politics, the representation, presentation, and discrimination of a race is consistently discussed, however, the structures of culture and society that perpetuate these issues are not acknowledged. Marxist theory enables critics to deconstruct the content of artifacts to reveal the implicit messages that reflect society’s values and opinions, which can be used in Cowherd’s essay. Cowherd’s “Saddest Superhero” essay is included in his anthology, Raw, which was published in 2015 following the author’s initial success of his first book, You Herd Me! I’ll say it if nobody else will. …show more content…
Cowherd criticizes this activist ploy and laments that the hashtag written on paper cups “would have little or no impact on the systemic issues that create the kind of racial tension that results in the death of someone like Trayvon Martin or Michael Brown” (3-4). Through his acknowledgement of the severity of racism within modern society Cowherd exposes the superficiality of international corporations merely placing hashtags on disposable material as an attempt to alter systemic issues within society. Similar to CRM, Starbucks’ “Race Together” campaign is primarily concerned with how appearances can be equally affected by accusations and also by staying