How can anyone relate to this world of ours without an understanding of violence in our society? Without a knowledge of violence in the media, how can we even begin to comprehend some of the greatest works of art in existence? That is a feeling only strengthened amongst girls from ethnic minority communities. Showering him with the costumes and accessories that only help fuel his obsession. I doubt this is the only type of film he watches, anyway.
Ultimately, any superhero film we watch is but one part of the varied experiences we have daily. Truth, honour and sticking up for the downtrodden.
Rather extreme, right? Sci-fi can hold a mirror up to our society, and not only reflect our fears, but offer up suggested solutions. Role models, to put it simply, are supposed to model roles.
Neil Armstrong would be, under this stricter definition, a good role model for test pilots looking to get in the space game but a fairly nonsensical role model for a heavyset latchkey kid who spent all day eating Oreos, playing video games , and trying to steer clear of his violent father. They were suggesting heroes. In other words, role modelling was so critical that it impacted how we behave in public and private, and was actually stitched into the fabric of our being through endless repetition and observation — which only underscored the importance of selecting proper roles models as soon as we become aware of the critical need for them.
And I certainly imitated the habits of peers and authority figures, developing a hair-trigger temper emulating my coaches and a disdain for 9-to-5 work that made my layabout relatives proud. Years passed without me identifying a role model that made any real sense. I had heroes — supersized wrestling and mixed-martial arts superstars such as Gary Goodridge , Big Van Vader , Butterbean — but not relevant role models.
I was certainly not the only kid advised to look up to athletic and pop culture heroes with whom he had little in common. My uncle had read the book while serving in the Peace Corps and though the particulars of it eluded him, he explained to me that the work was interesting because Plutarch would conclude his paired biographical sketches of Greek and Roman figures with a short comparative sections in which he evaluated the ethical strengths and shortcomings of his subjects.
In other words, my uncle taught me how to look up to people in a critical manner. They thwart dastardly supervillains and have saved the world countless times over but macho superheroes now face a determined new foe in the guise of a mild-mannered child psychologist.
Professor Sharon Lamb, from the University of Massachusetts in Boston, accuses the new generation of superheroes, exemplified by Robert Downey Junior's playboy millionnaire Iron Man, of being bad role models for young boys. Unlike conventional superheroes such as Superman, who stood for justice, fairness and decency, the modern macho superheroes portray a negative masculinity, characterised by mindless aggression and rampant sexism.
Even so, I was relieved when he exited the Batman phase and turned, at five, to Spider-Man , the geeky teenager who spurts white matter everywhere what a metaphor! He has a Spider-Man jumper with a hood that closes over his face, so his superpower is, effectively, blindness. When he wears it, I have to hold his hand to stop him banging into lamp-posts. Then came Captain America, alongside an interest in American history, which is ill-served by Captain America books because they rub out all the bad stuff; then Iron Man.
His Iron Man costume has a light you can turn on and off, like the inside of a car. What is gamma radiation? Even non-related subjects are seconded to superheroism. Will presents be brought by Captain Birthday? At one point he created a character called Captain Fuck. When you believe that hope is lost, up pops an ideal so masculine, it can wear a cape and be admired. Superman came in , a response to the Great Depression; Batman in , with the beginnings of the second world war.
That the superhero canon was created, almost entirely, by Jewish immigrants — Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster , Bob Kane and Bill Finger — is more a matter for psychologists than hacks, but I suspect they just wanted to be taller and to smash things, like my son. Superheroes change, decade to decade, depending on what is required of them.
You made a Superman. No boots? My son cannot possibly know all this, though he knows deeper truths and his own needs. It is his reach for magic and the divine; superheroism is his religion.
I am bringing him up as Jewish, but there is no affiliated Lego set for that, or pyjamas, and there is no superhero.
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