Contextual and Theoretical Studies Essay
There are many creations that have created wide spread of popularity than 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 and 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 it was true to become a superhero by radiation, spider bite or simply born with superpowers but from an early stage in my childhood, many children are spoilt in 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 creations 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 wide spread of media depictions of their characters through movies, radios, T.V. and through these medias, up to recent dates we have been exposed through 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 icon 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 unexpected of people can become heroes, Clark Kent through to Superman and allowed fans to escape from the world of pain and suffering into world where when there is crisis the 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", The Psychology of Superheroes An Unauthorized Exploration writes that because we have Superman and Clark Kent in the comic book series we see that Superman's acts of saving Earth is because of his alter ego Clark Kent and through Clark Kent, Superman is able to 'mingle' with humans allowing him to have a purpose to save the race of powerless beings and from what the quote mentions besides Superman's reasons for an alter ego we get a means of 'Cinema as a door', 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 because 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 Kents upbringing by his Earth parents have influenced his whole character", The Psychology of Superheroes An Unauthorized Exploration 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 perceivement 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" Batman and Philosophy The Dark Knight of the Soul, shows that Batman had risen in popualr 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 and 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 and insight of how becoming a hero without superpowers can be and the trials and tribulations he 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", Superheroes and Philosophy-Truth, Justice and the Socratic Way from this you begin to understand why Batman has become as popular as he has and that is because he 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 but because we understand that having them is a fantasy and isn't capable of happening and which attracts us much more towards Batman.
Not depending on having superpowers makes Batman that much of a realistic superhero one which readers can connect to because Superman and the other heroes that have superpowers depend on their powers and wouldn't be as popular if they didn't have them but Batman is what people want to be and he achieves his goals through humanly tactics. 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) which is a question that would need to be answered when we see ourselves to wanting to become a superhero and is we had our goal achieved when wanting to become a hero then what is our purpose to carry on and that's what Batman sees, himself as attached to a bigger picture, "...with great power comes great responsibility" Spider-Man, was quoted as an influenced quote which applies throughout the superhero world and such to Batman as he himself realises that once he has achieved the knowledge of his parents killer he may not have a reason to be Batman and would see it as a shame as he has brought a big difference to Gotham City and would not have a reason to risk his life. But wanting to be a superhero would be to follow the stereotype of doing good, abiding by the laws and helping the innocent from the wicked 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, from then Frank Miller had switched to Marvels rival company DC Comics which wanted to reinvent their most popular characters Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman and Frank Miller had put himself forward as to wanting to reintroduce the story of Batman and was given the opportunity through Batman Year One.
Frank Millers take on the Batman story had garnered much success due to his view on Batman being much different than how readers viewed Superman or Wonder Woman, although the concept of Batman having no power such as Superman and Wonder Woman remains Frank Miller tackled the idea of having Batman become much darker and having him involved in adult targeted storylines, rather than the children based layout that have been used since the creation of Superman and Batman. Frank Miller's work on Batman reinvented the way in which the character was meant to be and made 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 but Frank Miller had made Batman much open to getting the job done and Batman's motivation is towards finding 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" Batman and Philosophy The Dark Knight of the Soul, from this understanding Batman shares hatred towards the government as well as his parents killers and sees himself as an enforcement of the law a 'Vigilante'.
Vigilantes are in essence what all superheros are, they take matters into their own hands and see themselves as the law enforcer even if it means breaking laws to reinforce them and Frank Millers depiction of Batman showed this side of a superhero although the subject wasn't brought up until the creation of Watchmen created by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons which showed a different perspective of the superhero. Both The Dark Knight and Watchmen were influential in raising awareness and question to the vengeance that brings vigilantism as through Watchmen you see how some of the superheroes become vigilantes to carry on the name and protect the world, Dr Manhattan was changed because of his research and gained power but in the case of Rorshach his vigilantism choice was made because of a common reason to become a superhero to put right that which was wronged previously in this case Rorshach's upbringing affected his character and made him use a violence as an extension of his power to fight crime and because of humanity he bears the in-blot mask which makes his character unique as you don't see the visual expressions through humanly features but through the ink which had culminated after becoming "ashamed for humanity" Superheroes and Philosophy-Truth, Justice and the Socratic Way. Alan Moore's Watchmen and Frank Millers take on Batman changed how comics were perceived as they had brought in a new perspective one which hadn't focused on the greats and goods 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 brought and how these characters would react in different situations to ones that would always work out in the end.
From the revamped Batman and the vigilantism Watchmen these two comic books changed the perception of how superheroes were looked up as hero for doing the right thing, being there when needed but those were from the earlier stages of comics book fantasies which aspired younger kids to be like them and to follow them through their victories and that is what made kids become attached to this being who had powers which were fantasies, achievements 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 as in Superheroes and Philosophy-Truth, Justice and the Socratic Way "...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" which simply says we lust for power, a catalyst to stand out from our peers and allows us to have a field of superiority over each other and not have limits. But 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, p45) 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 to give 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 do but from X-Men and Philosophy "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" we get an understanding that peraps we want something that we know we can't have because it would lead to a shortcut and having no restrictions in the society we live in due to the amount of suffering in the world we see much more security and surveillance restriction on certain areas but having abilities lets us stray away from that because we have a power a sense lean over the people that are enforcing these restrictions but if we have the power we would be able to rule the world under our orders trying to make the world a better place, in other word an anti-hero who has his own motives to fullfill at any cost.
We look at how superheroes have affected us through their storylines and character traits and how we yearn to be like them because of their concept of power being heat vision, spider features, adamantium claws and other powers but having that power we feel we can change things as the setting of Watchmen being around the 1980s and showing how superheroes being a possibility would affect certain moments in history. Our addiction of superheroes could be a way of escaping the harsh reality we currently live in or seeing the good triumph and even to have connection of what we might do in circumstances if we chose the other options as Batman had chosen to become a vigilante and aren't vigilantes a justification of power, they take things into their own hands and thats what attracts us to wanting to be like Batman or because of his parents being killed he wanted to find his parents killer and justify through that goal for his actions of rule breaking and wanting to be above the law.
Try and make this conclusion more academic:
As …. states, the reason Superheroes are important to us is……… However some writers (example) have more recently begun to examine the flaws in the Superhero character, (Moore, date) a graphic novel such as Watchmen (date) has explored how Superheroes would actually affect certain moments in history if they were real. This realistic portrayal though immediately brings into the fictional situation the fact that ordinary human frailties, such as jealousy, greed etc. would begin to operate. This has long been the central feature of the novel, but it is a surprise to see this in a comic book. If our addiction to superheroes could be a way of escaping the harsh reality we currently live in, perhaps new comic book genres such as Moore’s Watchman reflect the fact that the audiences for comic books are now older. This is supported by Morris, 2005, who states that….
2500 Words
Bibliography:
Hopkins, P. D. Southworth, J, Kavaldo, J. Dunn, G. Darowski, J. Robichaud, C. Teschner, G. (2009)
X-Men and Philosophy:New Jersey:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Miller, F. Mezzucchelli, D. Miles, R. O'Neil, D. (1987) Batman Year One:New York:DC Comics
-William Irwin, Mark D.White, Robert ARP,(2008)
'Batman and Philosophy The Dark Knight of the Soul':New Jersey:John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
-Tom Morris, Matt Morris,(2005)
'Superheroes and Philosophy-Truth, Justice and the Socratic Way':Chicago and La Salle, Illinois:Open Court
-Roz Kaveney,(2008)
'Superheroes! Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Films' :London:I.B. Tauris
-Robin S. Rosenberg, Ph.D, Jennifer Canzoneri,(2008)
'The Psychology of Superheroes An Unauthorized Exploration':Dallas, Texas:Benbella Books INC.
Fingeroth, D. (2005) Superman on the Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us about Ourselves and Our Society. London: Continuum
Within Text:
-'Quote From Book' (Patrick D. Hopkins, Jason Southworth, Jesse Kavaldo, George A. Dunn, Joseph J. Darowski, Christopher Robichaud, George Teschner, 2009)
-'Quote From Book' (Frank Miller, David Mezzucchelli, Richmond Miles, Danny O'Neil, 1987)
-'Quote From Book' (William Irwin, Mark D.White, Robert ARP, 2008)
-'Quote From Book' (Tom Morris, Matt Morris, 2005)
-'Quote From Book' (Roz Kaveney, 2008)
Eventually to cut out
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