would Superman blog???
of course, my mind is not the sort to follow a stagnant path of reasoning. In fact, my mind really isnt that logical when you really get down to it. So, I found it no surprise when the other day I actually got to thinking about super heros the other day. Now, I am no expert when it comes to super heros. Never was a fan of reading the comic books religiously like some young children of my day. I was more an Archie fan since it was more interesting seeing how the common boy-next-door guy tried to win the hand of the high maintenance girl while there was a girl-next-door beside him that would move heaven and earth for his affection, than to read about some super mutated freak of nature trying to stop other super mutated freaks of nature from destroying the world. So, I am afraid my knowledge of super heros rests in the realm of movies and TV shows that have been put forth in the last 20-25 years.
Now, I know that Archie and the gang never had to deal with controversial issues. There were a few moments when they did the 'its a wonderful life' thing during the xmas season or perhaps dealt with homelessness and the poor when Veronica was decided to have grown to big for her britches and was getting...well, too materialistic and bitchy. Then it was always Archie or Betty with the help of Jughead that would help Reggie or Veronica see the other side of life. I cant recall a single issue or segment where Archie was discovered to be high on crack or Jughead moved his addiction up from hamburgers and fries to a hooker with a line of cocaine on the side.
But, I wonder if Superman, Spiderman, Batman or any of the other bands of superheros ever had to deal with something as dastardly as the smaller things like homelessness, drug addiction, prostitution or other issues of international controversy? Could you imagine Batman opening the papers, reading about the problems in North Korea and the nuclear testing and suddenly jumping in the batwing, flying over there and jumping down into the thick of things to stop the plans of the North Koreans? or perhaps Superman reading about the bombings going on in Ireland of old when the religous (what were/are they called? the IRA? NRA? PIA?) where blowing things up left right and centre? or, even for that matter not just them but reading that in some country there has been suicide bombers and then going to that area and stopping the bombings from happening, or finding the 'evil' doers and putting an end to their reign?
Why is it that with all the super powers that the comic book super heros had, they always stuck with 'safe' issues of crime? gang holds up a jewelary store and walks away with $100,000 in diamonds is a bad thing since theft in any country is bad...Spiderman swings in and saves the day. Group of terrorists plant a bomb in the Eiffel tower with plans to scare the world into giving them their demands, the bomb is triggered and will kill hundreds of innocents, which again in any country is a bad thing..Superman flies into action and throws the elevator and bomb into deep space to save the people (which causes more problems for good old Supe, if you ask me.) About the only super hero that ever stuck to really international issues would have been Captain Planet who had his band of 4 do-gooders that would go around the USA stopping pollutors and 'killers of Mother Earth'.
Would this be because the super heros realized that, to quote Peter Parker's Uncle in Spiderman: The Movie, "along with great power comes great responsibility". In that line of thinking, they couldn't enforce their views on the world. Granted, Superman might think that killing 1,000 of a countries poor with nerve gas to test out the gas or perhaps because the poor were just 'useless' people in society and therefore should be eradicated for the good of the society. Therefore, Superman kept to his own city dealing with crimes the he knew was wrong and didn't enforce his idea of human worth on other countries. Perhaps these great super heros were wise enough to realize that even though an evil dictator might have a country by the balls and be ruling the people like children the tyrants should not be stopped because their style of rule did not fit cleanly with the ideas of western society. The super heros just sat back and let other countries rule their lives and worried about their own back yard. Maybe there was even a sort of agreement in that western super heros didnt bother with eastern world life and left that up to the eastern super heros and the eastern superheros left the west up to the western super heros.
Which leads me to accept that fact that not only do I not have super powers, but it is a good thing that I dont. Even with the power and ability to turn them on and off at will, the pull to use them to change the world as I see fit would be something to great of a responsibility for me to have. I know that if I had the power to stop something, even though I see it as a necesary evil, I dont think I could sit by and let it happen if I thought it to be wrong. Perhaps that is what makes a super hero a super villian. A person with the powers and abilities but without the responsibility and maturity to sit back and say "I have this power but I wont deal with controversial issues but instead stick to the safe and clean issues of black and white". Super villians want to deal in grey, super heros want to deal in black and white because, in the end, only black and white makes for a safe and peaceful world. Grey areas just cloud it all up to the point where there is chaos. Get rid of the grey and stay black or white and the world is a much neater, cleaner and easier controled place to live.
Now, I know that Archie and the gang never had to deal with controversial issues. There were a few moments when they did the 'its a wonderful life' thing during the xmas season or perhaps dealt with homelessness and the poor when Veronica was decided to have grown to big for her britches and was getting...well, too materialistic and bitchy. Then it was always Archie or Betty with the help of Jughead that would help Reggie or Veronica see the other side of life. I cant recall a single issue or segment where Archie was discovered to be high on crack or Jughead moved his addiction up from hamburgers and fries to a hooker with a line of cocaine on the side.
But, I wonder if Superman, Spiderman, Batman or any of the other bands of superheros ever had to deal with something as dastardly as the smaller things like homelessness, drug addiction, prostitution or other issues of international controversy? Could you imagine Batman opening the papers, reading about the problems in North Korea and the nuclear testing and suddenly jumping in the batwing, flying over there and jumping down into the thick of things to stop the plans of the North Koreans? or perhaps Superman reading about the bombings going on in Ireland of old when the religous (what were/are they called? the IRA? NRA? PIA?) where blowing things up left right and centre? or, even for that matter not just them but reading that in some country there has been suicide bombers and then going to that area and stopping the bombings from happening, or finding the 'evil' doers and putting an end to their reign?
Why is it that with all the super powers that the comic book super heros had, they always stuck with 'safe' issues of crime? gang holds up a jewelary store and walks away with $100,000 in diamonds is a bad thing since theft in any country is bad...Spiderman swings in and saves the day. Group of terrorists plant a bomb in the Eiffel tower with plans to scare the world into giving them their demands, the bomb is triggered and will kill hundreds of innocents, which again in any country is a bad thing..Superman flies into action and throws the elevator and bomb into deep space to save the people (which causes more problems for good old Supe, if you ask me.) About the only super hero that ever stuck to really international issues would have been Captain Planet who had his band of 4 do-gooders that would go around the USA stopping pollutors and 'killers of Mother Earth'.
Would this be because the super heros realized that, to quote Peter Parker's Uncle in Spiderman: The Movie, "along with great power comes great responsibility". In that line of thinking, they couldn't enforce their views on the world. Granted, Superman might think that killing 1,000 of a countries poor with nerve gas to test out the gas or perhaps because the poor were just 'useless' people in society and therefore should be eradicated for the good of the society. Therefore, Superman kept to his own city dealing with crimes the he knew was wrong and didn't enforce his idea of human worth on other countries. Perhaps these great super heros were wise enough to realize that even though an evil dictator might have a country by the balls and be ruling the people like children the tyrants should not be stopped because their style of rule did not fit cleanly with the ideas of western society. The super heros just sat back and let other countries rule their lives and worried about their own back yard. Maybe there was even a sort of agreement in that western super heros didnt bother with eastern world life and left that up to the eastern super heros and the eastern superheros left the west up to the western super heros.
Which leads me to accept that fact that not only do I not have super powers, but it is a good thing that I dont. Even with the power and ability to turn them on and off at will, the pull to use them to change the world as I see fit would be something to great of a responsibility for me to have. I know that if I had the power to stop something, even though I see it as a necesary evil, I dont think I could sit by and let it happen if I thought it to be wrong. Perhaps that is what makes a super hero a super villian. A person with the powers and abilities but without the responsibility and maturity to sit back and say "I have this power but I wont deal with controversial issues but instead stick to the safe and clean issues of black and white". Super villians want to deal in grey, super heros want to deal in black and white because, in the end, only black and white makes for a safe and peaceful world. Grey areas just cloud it all up to the point where there is chaos. Get rid of the grey and stay black or white and the world is a much neater, cleaner and easier controled place to live.
posted by Capt_Canuck at 2:36 PM
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