Cultural theorists of all sorts have long argued that identity is a construction.  Race, gender, etc are not inherent, biologically-determined qualities in individuals — they are “made up” and enforced through exposure to a variety of cultural texts over the course of an individual’s life.

Girls, to cite an obvious example, learn how to be “girly” primarily by playing with Barbie or watching “Hannah Montana” — not because of any essential feminine genetic foundation.

These same theorists, however, would also tell you that the most remarkable aspect of the social construction of identity is that it hides itself.  Identity is constructed so that it seems natural.  As stereotypes become embedded in society, they no longer appear as stereotypes — but truth.

To go back to our “girly” example, if a girl decides to act like a “boy” — or defy gendered expectations in more subtle ways — she is looked at as different, strange or suffering from “identity confusion.”  The construction reinforces itself.

With that in mind, my jaw always drops when I able to see the mechanisms of identity construction in action — when the gears are exposed, naked for anyone willing to look.

The latest example comes in the form of a casting call for Spider-Man’s eagerly anticipated debut on Broadway: “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” (music by Bono & The Edge and directed by Julie Taymor).

At first the casting call is fairly run-of-the-mill :

The production is looking for candidates to fill the following roles (both principals and understudies):

PETER PARKER – Male. 16-20’s. Must have a great rock tenor voice. Can be nerdy with understated sex appeal and a good sense of humor.

MARY JANE – Female. 16-20’s. Beautiful girl next door. Strong pop/rock singing voice required.

But here’s the twist:

In addition, SPIDER-MAN is looking for a

LEAD FEMALE VILLAIN – Female. 25-35 years old. All ethnicities encouraged. Must have an amazing rock voice. Think Sinead O’Connor with a Middle Eastern/Bulgarian/Greek twist. Foreign and/or world music types are great. Foreign accents are great.

Putting aside that the bizarre combinations remind me of the opening moments of Robert Altman’s “The Player” (”Sinead O’Connor with a Middle Eastern/Bulgarian/Greek twist”?), what we have here is a disturbingly conscious construction of a racialized Other, the positing of an irrational, often excessively violent and brutish alien foil that reinforces, through contrast, the strength and superiority of the white, European mind.

Edward Said, who meticulously outlined the development of a weaker, more feminized version of this racialized Other in “Orientialism,” once wrote about America’s construction of Arab identity:

So far as the United States seems to be concerned, it is only a slight overstatement to say that Moslems and Arabs are essentially seen as either oil suppliers or potential terrorists. Very little of the detail, the human density, the passion of Arab-Moslem life has entered the awareness of even those people whose profession it is to report the Arab world. What we have instead is a series of crude, essentialized caricatures of the Islamic world presented in such a way as to make that world vulnerable to military aggression.

I’m not saying that the new Spider-Man villian will be Arab or Moslem, but the end result will be the same.  Her ethnic difference will become the underlying rationale — the sanction — for Spider-Man to kill her … or defeat her in some slightly less fatal way.

All of which makes me rethink the potential racial coding behind supposedly racial-neutral villians like the Joker or the Riddler.  Certainly the “darkness” of Gotham — its anarchic lawlessness — has always seemed to express, not so subtly, a white, gentrified fear of diversity.

In any case, a villian is never just a villian.