ResonanceDesign

Here is a thought…

A society expresses it’s rules and believes through it’s myths. I think we can easily agree on that. Given the recent flood of contemporary myths onto the silver screen, I would be happy to announce the superhero as one form of myths that, obviously not unlike science fiction, is an element of social and political commentary.

As a superhero’s existence is the symbol of individuals with(/in) power to apply social norms in a very straightforward manner( or at least was in the beginning), is a superhero a measure of the public’s believe in higher institution’s power and their ability to apply the rules everyone wants to live by?

Being european, let’s start with Superman(1932). Not even from earth, almighty and indestructible, he is not more or less the beginning, but the peak of the Ubermensch and a symbol of purity. One guy does it all, saves planet and universe, etc. Political? Well look at it. Clean shaved and strong jawed, what a posterboy for the most powerful country on the planet(since about the 20s?). A symbole for social norms nearly on par with the statue of liberty. But it is pretty much downhill from here in terms of ethics and trust from this early example.

Marvel, the other side of popular superhero comic universes has already had a very different look at things. Spiderman(1962)’s power are very passive (climbing, spider-sense) and his body strength is nothing compared to most other heroes plus his responsibility for his aunt and his wife Mary-Jane are influencing him in a way that nearly over-rules the enabling effect of his powers and in addition to all there is a constant shift of Spiderman being perceived as both saviour and menace in the public eye, IronMan(1963) is an alcoholic, which has him nearly killing innocent people being under the influence while wearing his armor, The Hulk(1962) has a decade long struggle against his super powered but out-of-controlled dark side and the Fantastic Four(1961) never seem to stand a change against any enemy unless they are all together, which shows both strength and weakness of the family structure they represent. Apart from the Silver Surfer, Marvel heroes seem to be very weakened by the fact that they are, essentially human, which always made them more accessible to the audience.

Next stop, the mid 80s- mid 90s dark and gritty era. With titles like Dark Knight(1983), The Crow(1989), Grendel(1982), Sin City(1991), Spawn(1992) and others, even though some of the superheroes might stem from unearthly backgrounds, their powers are often very earthly. Guns becomes very important for some reason. In connection with the often dark side of life, be it a criminal as the hero like in Sin City or having a contract with the devil as in Spawn, Superheroes or Anti-Heroes as they are called by now, show us that they are more than flawed in their existence. Where Superman most of the time would try not to even kill his enemy, anti-heroes cover the spectrum of misbehavior from accidentially killing bystanders to being cold-blooded killers themselves. The bad side of social norms is starting to be explored even though still on the background of a mainly black and whit, good and bad world, but the boundaries are fading.

Having the focus of the story, the drama of a character, being shifted more and more to the complexity and confusion about the self and her/his place in life and society, makes the role of the superhero more and more questionable.

If we take a step back looking at Superheroes as the higher power, that sometimes works in mysterious ways, two institutions have the most symbolic resemblance in terms of responsibilities and actions. Organized religion and government. I don’t want to talk about the shift of belief in religion, or in a way I will do this, but the easier resemblance is the government(you might play this game with corporations just as well these days). After decades of scandals of sexual or criminal nature, the former institution of the government has become more transparent and we are able more than ever to put faces on it, to see the very basic and (non-super) human side to it, as much as it’s violent face in dealing with problems.

In the “western world” the trust in the government being able to solve problems has been disappearing at an alarming rate. In the comic worl, writers have been responding in a harsher way than simply not voting anymore. In Alan Moore’s The Watchmen(1986), the government ultimately has control over the Superheroes, as it does not allow masked vigilantes to just roam the streets, ultimately leading to Superheroes fighting for the U.S. in Vietnam. Similar to Captain America’s involvement fighting the Nazis during the 1940s, yet in Alan Moore’s visionary tale, the fact of Superheroes fighting in a war for a country is less a political decision than a symbol of powerlessness on the Superheroes’ side.

A similar lack of power despite, is shown in Powers, Who killed Retro girl? (2000), where a Superhero-fan, an everyday guy, kills one of the most powerful Superheroes only to get media attention and fame. The same killing of Superheroes has now reached the mainstream. Marvel in particular, killing off Captain America, THE american patriot in it’s politics ladden Civil War(2007) series.

As ususal, the independent publishers are one step ahead, with series like The Boys(2006). Published by Wildstorm publishers, it was cancelled after 6 issues, “because DC (of whom Wildstorm is an imprint) were uneasy with the anti-superhero tone of the work”. And it’s no surprise considering to what lengths The Boys goes. A secret government team, put in place to show Superheroes “where the line is”, through setting an example in killing them off in case of misbehaviour. Looking at the depiction of Superheroes as ignorant, raping, money-obsessed egomaniacs, who behave worse than some politicians might being said of doing these days.

So where does this leave us? Who are the people with powers that we believe in?

Have our myths finally caught up with Lord Dalberg-Acton’s famous words:

“Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.”

Here was a thought…