Help me understand the Super Hero genre

[Boss Radio]

Superheroes are our culture's modern take on mythology. The concept of godlike beings with awesome powers that walk among us, like Superman, brings us comfort on a near religous level. Superman first appeared during the great Depression and was an American symbol of hope. Other heroes like The Flash, Wonder Woman and Batman followed. Some had powers. Some had masked identities. Batman was nothing more than an urban Lone Ranger, as was Green Hornet and the Spirit.

When Marvel revitalized the sagging genre in the 1960s, the "flawed" hero was introduced - Spider-Man was ultra-nerd Peter Parker, the Fantastic Four bickered like a real family, etc.

Comic books were always the domain of young boys. So is Hollywood. As the modern comic book evolved, so did the marketing of the formerly fringe but now mainstream genre film. Witness Comicon - once the domain of a few busloads of geeks where awkward and socially inept men outnumbered females of any stripe 10:1, is now a spectacle second only to Cannes.

Good vs Evil. Mythology. The same Joseph Campbellian myth-driven story of gods punching each other to high heaven.

I personally am tired of the spectacle, unless it is a story that has not been told before. That being said, I am very excited to see Frank Miller's take on The Spirit, who is a 1940s noir Lone Ranger masked detective with girl trouble.

The Lone Ranger is still the best, because he was constantly explaining his view of frontier justice to Tonto, a scenario that would later play out with Batman and Robin.

But I digress.

[€uroMeinke]

Originally Posted by Boss Radio

Good vs Evil. Mythology. The same Joseph Campbellian myth-driven story of gods punching each other to high heaven.

I personally am tired of the spectacle, unless it is a story that has not been told before. That being said, I am very excited to see Frank Miller's take on The Spirit, who is a 1940s noir Lone Ranger masked detective with girl trouble.

The Lone Ranger is still the best, because he was constantly explaining his view of frontier justice to Tonto, a scenario that would later play out with Batman and Robin.

But I digress.

I like your take and I think maybe you identified the thing that irks me most - the Good and Evil morality tale that plays out. I tend to respond more to characters with more moral ambiguity - perhaps I'd like the flawed hero's more, but I think the genre paints them into that good and evil paradigm.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by €uroMeinke

I like your take and I think maybe you identified the thing that irks me most - the Good and Evil morality tale that plays out. I tend to respond more to characters with more moral ambiguity - perhaps I'd like the flawed hero's more, but I think the genre paints them into that good and evil paradigm.

The good ones have a lot of ambiguity.

Batman has always been my favorite. The appeal of Batman is twofold. 1) He's traditionally portrayed as "just a man". A really really really ridiculously skillful man, but mortal with no mutation, magic, or alien power. 2) He's morally ambiguous, mistrusted by the people he has given his life to protect, pushing the boundaries of just how far the ends justify the means.

The superhero stories that appeal to me do not have clear good vs. evil. They explore the themes and pressures that add up to good and evil, but I don't buy into it if it tries to make a black and white point. I'm much more interested when it explores the nuanced psyche of real people. Batman Begins I think is a good example. It tackled the subject of fear, making the point (among others) that while fear is a tool often used for evil ends, fear itself is amoral, turned evil only by those that choose to use it for such.

I'm not a huge fan of the genre, I haven't really been exposed to a whole lot of it. But from what I have seen, Batman is by far my favorite. It's always morally ambiguous, Batman possesses a highly damaged psyche. He's always struggling to separate what he wants from what he knows is right. I'm sure there are others as well that I'm just not familiar with, but that's what does it for me.