The Importance Of Nationalism In Captain America

Nationalism is what justifies nations. Without nationalism there is no need to distinguish between two neighboring countries, no need to establish political unions, no need for xenophobia. Nations are the product of small groups banding together to form one larger “imagined community.” Thus it disrupts a said community when an outsider moves in and attempts to assimilate: this is the issue with immigration. No longer does the nation share a common history. The nation is now defined by a citizenship rather than a sense of culture. Civic nationhood is associated with the United States, but can be increasingly seen seen in modern Europe. Civic duty is a more becoming a more prevalent form of nationalism; the US developed it as part of American

According to Jason Dittmer, Captain America is more of a representation of American society rather than a leader in shaping it, and thus the comic is an excellent source to see American values. The Captain says, “Americans have many goals, some of them quite contrary to others. In the land of the free, each of us is able to do what he wants to do, think what he wants to think. That’s as it should be, but it makes for a great many different versions for what America is.” One must take note of the importance of diversity in American values and cultures, which is in turn expressed through democratic ideology. Thus when Captain America supports the US government he does it not for loyalty to the government but for loyalty to democracy. This is representative of US interventionist foreign policy. When the US fights wars it is rarely seen as an expansionist move, but rather as an attempt to spread democracy. Captain America shows this “spread of democracy” in his war against fascist regimes that inspired the comic’s beginnings, whereas in Europe wars were typically justified by the expansion of national power. Due to his long standing heroism, Captain America is a symbol of democracy in the USA and thus displays American civic