Superheroes

*No spoilers here*

I went to see The Amazing Spider-man 2 last night. The last film I watched at the cinema was Captain America 2. I recently re-watched Thor 2. You may be seeing a trend here (not that they’re all sequels, I’ll talk about that another time). I like superheroes. 

I probably own all of the superhero films from the past 10-15 years on Bluray or DVD (except Daredevil; Ben Affleck, you and I need to have words). I’ve likely watched them more than once. I can probably go toe-to-toe with anyone when discussing these films, and most people that have gotten into discussions with me about them now tend to wish they had the power of invisibility when I start holding court.

I’m a geek (and a nerd, it’s nothing to be ashamed of, people) in that I follow the movies, read about the movies, sometimes look things up about the characters in the comic book mythology, but I am not a full-blown, underpants-over-my-trousers, fighting-over-a-comic-book-so-I can-keep-it-in-a-plastic-sleeve geek. I collect the films but I only own a few graphic novels. I appreciate the genre and I feel that it has a role to play in my life, but I don’t need it to become my life.

Why do I like superheroes? A simple question with many answers. I guess the first and foremost one is that they are role models, beings to look up to. I know that there are those among you that think that’s ridiculous, that I should have role models that are real, but I have those too - one does not preclude the other. The difference here is that we can watch the journey of the superhero, right from the beginning, and see the choices that they make that turn them into that role model in the first place. In the real world we can admire people and even get a back story, but for the most part we are in awe of their achievements and have little concept of what they have overcome to get where they are. In the comic book world it is all about the journey and we are shown that explicitly.

Another reason for enjoying the genre is that everything is larger than life. We aren’t meant to take these things literally. I don’t for a moment believe that there’s a giant green rage monster inside of us all, just waiting to be released by a burst of gamma rays (although, if you happen to wander past any of the clubs in Southampton in the early hours you’d be forgiven for looking for the smoking radiation gun), but I do believe that these characters allow us to investigate certain aspects of life on a bigger scale. For example, in The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble, depending on your location) we are shown by the Hulk that it is better to control rage than let it control you (and how to deal with a cocky demigod that’s a bit big for his britches). 

By giving us a much exaggerated scenario in which to play it out we can look at motivations, conflict, emotions, responsibility and resolution, to name but a few. We don’t on a daily basis have conflict on the order of explosions and long, protracted hand-to-hand fights with the woman behind the counter at the Post Office, but we do need to learn to stand up for the things that we believe in. We do need to learn that to make a difference we have to be willing to act, not just wait for someone else to do it. We do need to learn that if we do act, those actions could have consequences and that we must take responsibility for them. The scenes that we watch in these movies may all be huge and far-fetched, but that does not mean that we can’t take away any moral learnings from them.

For me, dwelling for a time in the comic book world is also about escapism. I can forget my day, my work, my worries about money, and just be told a story. There is usually some conflict, a villain, some angst, possibly even some emotional turmoil, then good triumphs over evil and we all go home to kittens and ice cream. 

Most of the time I don’t want an emotional drama that’s going to leave me a blubbering wreck afterwards, unable to see past my snot-sodden tissues while I’m making a cup of tea (it happens, all too frequently). I don’t want a period piece where nobody says what they mean and they can’t even move properly due to the amount of starch in the high collars. I want some explosions, the bad guys being shown the error of their ways and a rather heavy-handed moral lesson.

I love a good story. I can escape into a book (I do, frequently) but here I have a self-contained story that I can experience in a couple of hours, start to finish and I don’t have to use my brain too much. I don’t have to imagine a world, I don’t have to furnish the characters with clothing, or hair, as that’s all done for me. It’s not as fulfilling as a book (see my blog post http://jmeveesbrain.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/whats-in-book.html) but it’s a quick fix and then I can get back to the business of living.

Lastly, superheroes engage our imagination. We can for a moment forget the real world and wonder what it might be like to fly, or to be invulnerable, just like we did when we were children. Back then nothing was impossible and the future was whatever we wanted it to be. It wasn’t about hope because we had no concept of that; what was coming was going to be amazing, no question. We were only limited by the scope of our imagination and superheroes helped us to spread our wings, look beyond what the world held to be true.

Comic book superheroes don’t make me feel young again, I am young again. My imagination is unshackled and I can be whatever I want to be. The future is amazing, it is wondrous. Now please excuse me, I have a single bound and a tall building to aim it at.