Contextual and Theoretical Studies Essay
Throughout the years there have been many creations that have created widespread popularity since the inception of 'The Superhero' from the mid 1930s, involving the most recognized superhero in Superman. Within the past couple of years we see that the film industry has delved into the comic book genre which shows that this once children's form of entertainment has a much deeper root. This essay seeks to enlighten readers through the exploration of the superheroes’ roles within the current culture and to understand why even at an adult age we still have a connection to a media that was from our childhood.
Many children as they grow up are attracted to the concept of a superhero, what they can do and whether they could really become a superhero by radiation, spider bite or simply being born with superpowers. From an early stage in childhood, many children are spoilt by the amount of superheroes that are available. Superman and Batman are the vastly popular characters which originated from the Golden Age of comics (Miller, 1987) where they saved the world and stopped the evil villains and created a wave of momentum for the creation of household names from Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, the Hulk, Wonder Woman to the Green lantern and many more. Superman and Batman have always been the most beloved characters who graced the pages of newspapers and comics in the 1930s (Morris, 2005) and brought with them widespread media depictions of their characters through movies, radios, T.V. Through these medias, up to recent dates we have been exposed to the worlds of these characters and tie-ins of other characters from the two big comic companies DC and Marvel. From the wide range and forms of characters that we have grown up with, we see a common trait that has been passed on through the periods of superheroes, being either male or female and having powers that extend from themselves to fight for truth, justice and protecting the innocent. Superman has always been engaged with the fight for truth, justice and the protection of the innocent (Morris, 2005) since his earlier stages of his comic book inceptions and thus became an iconic figure, one which was well beloved because he encompassed what all of us wanted to be, a person who was more than what people see us as, someone who was destined for more than being a simple teacher, company worker or the person you were expected to be.
Superman allowed comic book fans to look into a world where the most unexpected people can become heroes, for example Clark Kent through to Superman. Clark Kent allowed fans to escape from the world of pain and suffering into a world full of crisis there will be someone to stand up and save us all. "Without Clark Kent as Superman's alter ego Superman wouldn't have a purpose to save Earth other than the right thing", (Rosenberg, 2008) wrote that because we have Superman and Clark Kent in the comic book series we see that Superman is able to save Earth because of his alter ego Clark Kent being normal. Through Clark Kent, Superman is able to 'mingle' with humans allowing him to have a purpose to save the race of powerless beings. From what the quote mentions besides Superman's reasons for an alter ego we get a means of 'Cinema as a door' (Elsaesser, 2010), from how the readers view Clark Kent as a disguise for Superman but also a springboard to get into the stories that he is in. Transforming from the working class to Superman makes the reader see that this depiction of reality shows how any normal working class can become a hero from their simple jobs. Another understanding of Superman's character from "Clark Kent’s upbringing by his Earth parents have influenced his whole character", (Rosenberg, 2008) this mentions how from Clark Kent's upbringing with his farming parents made him who he is and allowed readers to view the rising hero that becomes Superman and because he is brought up to being a good person he is seen as the hero and encompassing the American colours of red, white and blue as a symbol of protection and hope to the American people during the time of the wars.
However this repetitive notion of what superheroes are classed as being, the saviours of humanity due to their powers, is one that has changed when Batman had risen up, as he was more of the humanly superhero, rather than the superhero with powers. Batman became a hero to many people as "...he is just a 'human' being, even though he is much different than the rest of us", "Devotion of his life to avenge his parents death and other victims, by risking life and limb" (Irwin, 2008), shows that Batman had risen in popular fame to Superman as he was much more than a being that had powers, as he was one that was able to, without powers, use his own strengths to fight off the 'bad guys', all to find his parents' killer. Batman's complexity shows how ordinary human beings can become hero and through the Batman's comics we see how he learns and adapts to the teachings he receives will make up the Batman and how all that teaching leads him to the accomplishments of taking out the bad guys, the enemies and the villains and from the comic readers are able to see through Batman how they can become a superhero.
Batman comics allow the question of "what if we could take matters into our own hands?" and take an event which could occur in reality and making Batman use it as a reminder of what needs to be fixed. With events of sorrow taking place in reality a reader becomes connected with Batman because they may have gone through a similar event and wondered whether you could change it or stop it from happening again and gives the reader an insight of how becoming a hero without superpowers can be and the trials and tribulations he or she faces. Batman is a character who sees his skills as his power, not relying on superpowers to overcome obstacles, "...the reason that the more super an individual might be, the less heroic he or she could possibly be, and the more heroic a person is , the less super they'd have to be", (Morris, 2005) from this you begin to understand why Batman has become as popular as he has. Batman is in essence 'powerless' to the superheroes who have powers and thus makes him that much of a hero all be it that we would love to have superpowers however we understand that having superpowers is a fantasy and isn't capable of happening, which attracts us more towards Batman.
Not depending on having superpowers makes Batman that much of a realistic superhero, one which readers can connect to, compared to Superman and various other heroes that have superpowers who depend on their powers wouldn't be as appealing to their audience if they have no superpowers. Batman on the other hand is what people want to be, achieving his goals through humanly methods and trying to get retribution for the death of his parents. Batman's purpose is to find his parents killer and when he achieves his goal but thinks "...nothing haunts me more than finding out who killed my parents", "...their unsolved murder changed Gotham City", (Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, 2005). So many children and adults like to become a superhero, having goals or intentions to that urge and when the goal of the superhero are fulfilled, what is the purpose of carrying on for the children and adults. Batman realises himself as being attached to a bigger picture, "...with great power comes great responsibility" (Spider-Man, 1961) is an influenced quote which applies throughout the superhero world and in Batman's case he realises that once he has achieved the knowledge of his parents killer he may not have a reason to be Batman, to risk his life and keep things in order as he has brought a big difference to Gotham City. But wanting to be a superhero would be to follow the stereotype of doing good, abiding by the laws and helping the innocent and such superhero stereotype had been consistent until Frank Miller had introduced himself to the comic book world of Batman. Although already recognised as one of the names to be accustomed to through his work on the reprise of the fading Daredevil, Frank Miller had switched to Marvels rival company DC Comics (O’Neil, 1987) which wanted to reinvent their most popular characters Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman and Frank Miller had put himself forward to reintroduce the story of Batman through the opportunity of Batman Year One.
Frank Millers take on the Batman story had garnered much success due to his own interpretation of Batman being much different than how readers viewed Superman or Wonder Woman, with the concept of Batman having no power compared to the likes of Superman and Wonder Woman and Frank Miller tackled the idea of having Batman become much darker, involved in adult targeted storylines. Rather than the children based layout that have been used since the creation of Superman, Batman was reinvented in a way in which the character was meant to be, making him that much more of a popular figure whilst Superman had begun to fade in popularity because of the same character doing the same thing and knowing that he will beat the evil villain at the end of each story seems predictable. Where as Frank Miller had made Batman much open to getting the job done,making his motivation towards the identity of his parents killer but in another sense "Gotham's government is Batman's hatred as the state were incapable of maintaining their laws and order" (Irwin, 2008), perhaps gives an understanding that Batman also shares hatred towards the government as well as his parents killer because the government hadn’t kept control of their citizens and sees himself as an enforcement of the law a 'Vigilante'.
Vigilantes are in essence what all superheroes are (Kaveney, 2008), they take matters into their own hands, seeing themselves as the law enforcement even if it means breaking laws to reinforce them and Frank Millers depiction of Batman shows this side of a superhero although the subject wasn't brought up until the creation of Watchmen created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (1986) which showed a different perspective of the superhero. Both The Dark Knight and Watchmen were influential in raising awareness and questioning the vengeance that brings vigilantism and through Watchmen you see how some of the superheroes become vigilantes to carry on the name and protect the world. Dr Manhattan however had gained power through his research making him the only hero to have an ability but in the case of Rorschach his vigilantism choice was made because of a common reason to become a superhero to put right that which was wronged. Rorschach's upbringing affected his character (Watchmen, 1986), making him use violence as an extension of his power to fight crime and blaming humanity he bears the in-blot mask which makes his character unique as you don't see the visual expressions through humanly features but rather from the ink which had culminated after being "ashamed for humanity" (Morris, 2005). Alan Moore's Watchmen and Frank Millers take on Batman changed how comics were perceived as they brought in new perspectives that focused on the bad and good of being a superhero, sinking deeper into how Superman's take on the world being black and white, good and evil and not seeing the view from another side, that is what Watchmen and Batman added to the dynamic of comics, how these characters would react in different situations to a one that would always work out in the end.
From the revamped Batman and the vigilantism Watchmen bring these two comic books changed the perception of how superheroes were looked upon as heroes for doing the right thing, being there when needed but those were from the earlier stages of comics book fantasies which inspired younger kids to be like them. During many childhoods there had become an attachment to beings who had powers which were fantasies, achievements in which children would yearn to want and to change the world, these are what make us feel a sense of jealousy and longing to be more than ordinary. Morris (2005) explains that "...after viewing the Superman comic of being superior in any shape or form to those around you, to stand out and be visible to abide by your own laws" simply put that we lust for power, a catalyst to stand out from our peers and allows us to have a field of superiority over each other, without any limitations. Although this is true, "Part of the appeal of the superheroes is that through them we can live out our dreams and fantasies" (Rosenberg, 2008) which again is a sense of accomplishment that we want to have a lead over others to show we are different from the other people, giving us an edge. From those two perspectives they explain how we want power to prove something, to be 'top of the food chain' or have control to do what we want to but Hopkins (2009) explains that "allow us to imagine riches of life by having enhanced special abilities and extraordinary experiences-wondering what we could do if we weren't so restricted or limited/ordinary". Understanding that perhaps we want something that we know we can't have is what leads us to taking shortcuts by becoming a superhero and having no restrictions in the society we live in from the amount of suffering in the real world we see much more security, surveillance and restriction on certain areas. Many see having abilities such as a superhero allows us to stray away from these restrictions but with power we can lean over the people that are enforcing these restrictions and wanting to get our views across without limitations because of the equipped superpower we become an anti-hero who has his own motives to fulfil at any cost.
As Kaveney (2008) explains, the superheroes appealing nature is important to us as it ascertains to the fact of becoming something we aren’t and accomplishing such storyline based acts, living out fantasies and dreams. In other cases though, (Morris, 2005) there are flaws within the superhero character, (Moore , 1986) graphic novel, Watchmen exposes through their exploration of how superheroes would affect prolific moments in history if they were at that moment in time. In this sense for reality to be played into a world where fantasy is tangled with reality but because of this the portrayal human characteristics are brought into play and this is where jealousy, greed and others would begin to show the level of maturity coming across the comics. With the level of maturity rising due to comics such as Watchmen (1986), to the surprise of this maturity being in comic books it allows escapism into a world where harsh parts of reality are altered. From our addictions of the superhero being a way to escape reality, through Moore’s Watchmen (1986) we see how the appeal is towards an older audience and Morris (2005) states that the relevance of Superman within the reality of kids having to go through metal detectors at school is on which has no relevance to a reality which is more darker than that of a comic book. Although the superhero is a very intriguing and appealing piece of non-fiction we see reality as threat to want to escape it to a world where justice prevails and the bad are always gone near the end.
2647 WordsBibliography:
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