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Supermen

July 5th, 2008
By JAZZ SHAW, Assistant Editor

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hancock.jpgWill Smith’s long awaited movie Hancock opened this week as a box office dollar bonanza, but was received by critics with a disappointed sigh. The film was as bold in its initial concept as it was flawed in execution, but I believe it still merits a look from any true movie fan. The film’s intriguing plot, though, has sent my mind on another of those dangerous flights of fancy. What does society do with a super hero who utterly fails to live up to some chivalric standard as a defender of a perfect society? What should we make of a mythic figure who loses interest in tracking down criminals and, instead, spends his time seeking out the best sale prices on cheap wine? What is there to say when our epic guardian stops using his x-ray vision to ferret out thieves in the bank vault and chooses instead to peer inside the ladies’ changing room at the department store? Perhaps we’re better off fighting our own battles. I suspect that Richard O’Brien had such a scenario in mind when he penned the lyrics for “Super Heroes” from his classic 1975 film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

And Super Heroes come to feast
To taste the flesh not yet deceased
And all I know is still the beast is feeding.

And crawling on the planet’s face,
Some insects called the human race
Lost in time and lost in space, and meaning.

The other problem you get with super heroes, of course, is the need for an adequate supply of super villains. When your omnipotent knight is indestructible and possesses powers of which mortal man can only dream, normal thugs, bullies and brigands simply don’t represent a challenge for him. And in the real world, those aren’t the sorts of problems he would be called upon to deal with anyway. Suppose that a world leader launched a war which nearly everyone opposed and did so on a faulty basis. “Help us, Hancock,” we would cry out plaintively. “Go stop the war!”

But what is Hancock to do? Short of flying over there and killing everyone on both sides, the options seem limited. Brute force isn’t a very useful tool when trying to wrestle with an ethereal concept like peace. You’d have better luck trying to catch smoke with a butterfly net. Economy in a slump and the housing market taking a dive? No need to call Hancock. Aside from possibly providing a brief spike in the sales of alcoholic beverages, it doesn’t seem like he would be much help.

As for the energy crisis, I suppose we could ask him to go crashing through the Earth’s crust to locate and open up some new petroleum reserves. Given his track record in the film, however, he would probably just activate a slew of tectonic fault lines and level half the nation in a rash of earthquakes.

And Hancock wouldn’t dare dip a toe in national politics to try solving any problems. No matter which party he chose to join, the opposition would immediately point out all of the destruction he had previously caused, note how he had never joined the military and probably say he was a Muslim. (And did I mention he’s black?)

No, friends, I fear that we have no room for super heroes in our modern world. They simply don’t fit in with the rest of the picture. We’re stuck here in our lifeboat with naught but our own wits and limited resources to carry the day. And perhaps that’s for the best. I certainly don’t need anyone tossing a stranded whale on top of my sailboat, thank you very much.



This entry was posted on Saturday, July 5th, 2008 at 8:32 am and is filed under Movies, Entertainment. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Viewing 14 Comments

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    It isn't just the modern world that resorted to media distractions to keep us from having time to factually and practically solve our problems in a non-superhuman way. In ancient Rome when times were tough, to keep the citizens from revolting, extra animals and slaves were sacraficed in the Colloseum in ever-increasingly sophisitcated spectacles to keep them from noticing food shortages and various problems, including tyranny from their leaders.

    Look over here where the glove is pointing so that you won't know just off camera that your candidate is failing, that you could nominate another one that would win. Look at the lion jumping through the flaming hoop or the man stopping the train with one hand so that you won't notice BigOil trying to drill in your Wilderness Areas. Watch the shiny wand to keep from pressuring Congress to force BigOil to implement site-specific safe and renewable alternative energy generation.

    As long as we stay dumb, distracted and occupied we won't notice we have the superpower at our own fingertips to exact real and potent change.
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    Ah yes, the bread and circuses angle. I probably should have worked that into the essay somewhere. My bad.
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    Jazz's post is very significant and timely, I would argue...reflecting changes in the zeitgeist.

    While "Hancock" was shopped around for ages as a much-talked about property, the underlying idea is suggestive of our modern era.

    After all...Marvel Comics killed Captain America - that American icon since WW II - only a few months ago.

    (Yes, he will almost certainly be resurrected...but the significance of killing him at this time goes to Jazz's main thesis).

    It must be said that pop culture/comics have explored some of Jazz's points. The brilliant "Kingdom Come" of a few years back applied a "real world" analysis to the world of supermen (Superman cynical and retired after LoisLane's murder; Batman crippled; Green Arrow an amputee; Captain Marvel insane) looking at these heroes from an "average joe" POV.

    http://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Come-Mark-Waid/dp...

    That said...I would disagree with Silhouette in that symbols are not always distractions from reality. After all, Old Glory flew over a "slave nation" a century and a half ago...a Slave Nation with much the same Constitution that it possesses today.

    Symbols are figures of aspiration. Consider: Both Captain America and Superman were created by young Jewish kids. Granted Jack Kirby had a longer career than Supes' creators ... but he was exploited by corporations just the same.

    But Kirby believed in America...and created symbols incarnating that belief...even when he was shafted by its corporations.

    My two cents...
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    Check out a series of books in a shared world called Wild Cards, created and edited by George R.R. Martin. The series consists of a mixture of novels, novellas and novelettes written by Martin and a number of other writers all set in a world in which a virus released on Earth in 1946 killed most of those infected, horribly mutilated the majority of the survivors but in a very tiny minority gave them special abilities.
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    While every hand on board needs to do his part, every ship needs a captain.
    In America, we elect the captain,

    Should the captain be a super hero, heave the ship on his shoulders and carry it to port? NO.
    Should he be hero enough to inspire the crew to row their best? YES.
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    I think you nailed it Silhouette. Reminds me of some of the lyrics of an old John Lennon song, Working Class Hero:

    "A working class hero is something to be.
    Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV,
    And you think you're so clever and classless and free"

    Yah, it's hard to get people to understand their own power unless their backs are against the wall, and by then it may be either too late, or they've already become too cynical to care.

    Jazz, these words of yours:

    "I fear that we have no room for super heroes in our modern world. They simply don’t fit in with the rest of the picture. We’re stuck here in our lifeboat with naught but our own wits and limited resources to carry the day."

    When I read that I can't help but think of religion in America (and the world) and how so many are convinced there is a god watching everything, and that if a person plays the game right, then "god" will rescue them in the end, independent of whether or not said rescuee has made any personal sacrifices to help "carry the day" in the real world. To me the dynamic is much the same as hoping for a superhero to bail us out of the problems we create. Better we face life with a greater appreciation of how our own "wits and limited resources" are most likely going to have to be enough.
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    Runasim said: "While every hand on board needs to do his part, every ship needs a captain. In America, we elect the captain..."

    That reminded me...here is a great picture of Senator Obama posing in front of a Superman statue!
    I really like this picture...I think it subverts the cliche that Obama has no sense of humor.

    http://obama.senate.gov/photo/001122.html
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    Actually, JSpencer, that's rather on track with what I was trying to convey, though perhaps not as clearly as I'd hoped.
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    Thanks, Marlowecan.
    That's a funny picture. I bet his daughters get a kick out of it.
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    Runasim said: "Thanks, Marlowecan. That's a funny picture. I bet his daughters get a kick out of it."

    You're welcome. You know, I think that picture shows that Sen. Obama is a VERY different politician than the media-managed ones we tend to see.

    After all, ,most publicists and media managers would have kittens at the thought of a national politician making such a pose.

    Obama instead decides to have some fun. How can one not like him for that?

    You see his subtle sense of humor come out in numerous other cases too. Folks say he is stiff and cold . . . but I know people like him. It is a subdued smart humor