Superheroes and Solutions? (for Labor Day, 2012)

Superheroes have been around for a long time-Superman and Batman since the 1930’s, Spiderman since the 1960’s. In a New York Times article, authors Manohla Dargis and A.O.Scott suggest that today’s superheroes are even more powerful.  (“Super-dreams of an Alternate World Order,”  July 1, 2012). Superheroes tap into our national myths and ideas of “American exceptionalism—“….that this country is different from all others because of its mission to make ‘the world safe for democracy,’ as Woodrow Wilson and…Iron Man both put it.”

A major change from the superheroes of the ‘30s and ‘60s is that the element of playfulness is no longer a common part of the repertoire. The few women superheroes perpetuate sexism through their physical beauty and indulgent smiles. The Joker’s question from “The Dark Knight” is mocking, “Why so serious?” Revenge has become the obsession.

Psychologists know that the appetite for revenge feeds on itself, the way a blast of oxygen energizes a fire. I witnessed a small example of this acted out on the cross-town bus the other day: an altercation between a woman, angered when a tall man shoved her frail 82-year-old father, ordering him to get out of the way. “Wait until you get old,” she shouted. He yelled back a series of profanities and the exchange roared above the purr of bus motor for several blocks. Fortunately no one had a gun.

News in the media supports the fact that men are losing power in our society. Perhaps the superhero serves as an anodyne, numbing the pain of men who feel impotent in our modern society.  If this is the case, the development serves to distance us--through avoidance, denial, escapism--from positive, constructive action: respect, understanding, apology, and empathy.

Have the superheroes gone too far? The frightening question underlying this media trend:  Is this hunger for revenge contributing to the random shootings that threaten to become commonplace? The last mass slaughter occurred in an Aurora, Colorado movie theatre during the midnight premier of “The Dark Knight Rises.”

How much longer, how much more, before we hit bottom?

Dear Reader, Please share your thoughts. Jsimon145@gmail.com