Superheroes in American psyche.

Shawn February 15, 2019 at 19:05 7225 views 15 comments

Anyone who knows a little about American culture is aware of the impact of superheroes and villains. Be it Batman, Superman, or whoever else, these are names that are deeply embedded in the collective consciousness of the American psyche.

I seem to understand that the concept of hero's or superheroes is a response to perceived threats. I'm not that great in psychoanalysis; but, it seems to me that having heroes solve the problem of evil is something that is highly appealing to anyone who has faced frustration over a perceived injustice, powerlessness, and impotence or even a desire for fame or martyrdom. We all desire (almost all) that we are respected or treated fairly, and when this doesn't come about by some person with sociopathic traits or criminal intent, then our super-ego kicks in and we derive psychic energy from the superhero archetype.

I don't want to ramble too much here; but, was interested in what others think about why superheroes are such a prominent feature present in the American psyche.

Comments (15)

Pussycat February 15, 2019 at 19:39 #256303 0 likes

It's because you crazy yankees like to play heroes, being a superpower. Saving the world, rescuing the girl and all. Take for example Captain America, I mean, what sort of name is that for a super hero, huh?? Could it be more obvious? But you are all a bunch of fools, if you don't mind me saying so! :razz:

Baden February 15, 2019 at 19:46 #256305 0 likes

Reply to Wallows

Interesting. It always struck me that a good intro into the differences between American and British culture would be to contrast Captain America with Dennis the Menace.

Shawn February 15, 2019 at 19:51 #256307 0 likes

Reply to Pussycat

Well, it's more than that. Justice is delivered by some ubermensch (read Superman), and everyone gets to enjoy a happy ending. The more you think about it, the whole concept is nuts.

Pussycat February 15, 2019 at 20:48 #256317 0 likes

Reply to Wallows I am not an expert in comics, but I think that we should have a look at how the concept of superheroes has been developed since the beginning. At first I think it was for political reasons, american propaganda, communist danger and the cold war, well maybe even before that to give hope to people during a dark age - the world wars, so their image was impeccable and perfect. But nowadays I think that the current has changed, in that superheroes are beginning to be portrayed as mentally unstable people. What do you think?

Pussycat February 15, 2019 at 20:52 #256319 0 likes

Reply to Baden Is Dennis the Menace a superhero? Or some spoiled brat? At least Captain America is well nurtured!

Shawn February 15, 2019 at 20:52 #256320 0 likes

Quoting Pussycat

But nowadays I think that the current has changed, in that superheroes are beginning to be portrayed as mentally unstable people. What do you think?

Haha, I think that is spot on. One of the most prominent themes in comic books is of power and responsibility, along with the dictum that power corrupts absolutely.

Pussycat February 15, 2019 at 21:01 #256321 0 likes

Reply to Wallows Yes, so you have comic writers warn:

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Avro February 27, 2019 at 23:47 #259967 0 likes

Reply to Wallows I think SH vs SV is a reflection of how society feels about the political discourse. In the news we see billionaires battle it out over money, fame, greed, power etc... Then to take a brake from that we go to the movies to see billionaires battle it out over, money, fame, gree, power...the difference is that at the movies we can maybe see how one billionaire gets punched in the face by another... In the real life they don't do that yet.

Marchesk February 28, 2019 at 04:34 #260017 0 likes

Reply to Baden You do have 007, who's kind of like Batman in that although he has no actual superpowers, he does super heroic things backed by all the technical gadgetry, money and women that he needs.

Marchesk February 28, 2019 at 04:35 #260019 0 likes

Reply to Wallows So how do you interpret Thanos form the Avengers: Infinity War where his goal was to solve the perceived threat of overpopulation with genocide in order to prevent the eventual extinction of life?

Marchesk February 28, 2019 at 04:38 #260022 0 likes

Reply to Pussycat There is Black Panther, who leads a fictional African nation in Wakanda that's more advanced than the rest of the world. He ends up giving refuge to Captain America's friend who was a fugitive from the other world governments, and the Avengers like Iron Man who were ready to agree to government oversight in the movie, which Captain America, being the good libertarian that he had become, was adamantly against.

TheMadFool February 28, 2019 at 04:50 #260025 0 likes

Reply to Wallows Superheroes aren't exclusively American. What about Greek heroes? Weren't they demi-gods with super-abilities? Also many mythologies across cultures have characters (heroes and villains) with super-abilities.

America simply provided a new packaging to an old theme using science, magic and mythology. Americans are excellent at business.

As for the idea of a superhero I find that it reveals a belief that the world can't be saved by people like puny Bruce Banner . We need the Hulk to do that. Unfortunately there are no Hulks in reality.

Perhaps it's a form of escapism. We want to live in a world of superheroes even if it's just imaginary because the real world is so full of shit.

Marchesk February 28, 2019 at 05:00 #260027 0 likes

Quoting TheMadFool

America simply provided a new packaging to an old theme using science, magic and mythology. Americans are excellent at business.

Yeah, America had a big market for comic books at one point which hasn't gone entirely away and a lot of the characters and stories have made it into movies, which now have big international audiences.

The stories and characters evolve a lot over time. They're not all about the heroic American saving the world from evil communist or Nazis plots. There's even alternative versions where you have a bad Superman who terrorizes the planet. A movie is coming out based on the idea of what if the Clark Kent-like character had dark tendencies as a child?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6eB0JT1DI4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6eB0JT1DI4

ZhouBoTong March 01, 2019 at 01:25 #260356 0 likes

Quoting TheMadFool

America simply provided a new packaging to an old theme using science, magic and mythology. Americans are excellent at business.

Nailed it. While America is pretty amazing, we should not give it credit for everything, hehe.

Older superheroes from around the world (a mix of purely fictional and mythologized real people):

Gilgamesh, Beowulf, King Arthur, Achilles, Hercules, Guan Yu, Chin Shi Huangdi, and I am sure there are many more.

Just to give one more reason that superheroes are popular (probably hinted at by someone already): Don't we all like to think we are entirely in control of our own fate? (a bit of poetic language, but hopefully clear enough) Yet, we all realize we have limited control over our own lives. Superheroes have the power to carry out their will (more so than we typically do). Don't we all know how to solve all of the world's problems if everyone just did what we said? (I get on a philosophy we are more apt to understand that is just our ego, but it is always lingering in the background)...or maybe I am just way too American?

LogoPathos March 01, 2019 at 09:35 #260451 0 likes

I also think there is an internal dilemma in the consumption of heroic myths. A vast amount of people struggle with the best and worst versions of themselves. Thus the plight of superheros can act as stage where we see various aspects of our own demons slayed for example greed, machiavellianism, destructive urges, etc...

We revel in the explosions and the vast levels of chaos that ensue in these types of movies and at the end the hero allows us to reconcile with these thoughts. So that we essentially watch the world burn and then restored and thus we flex the muscles of our deviant thoughts and our ethical frameworks.