What superheroes really mean
Almost every society that has
ever existed has had heroes; figures, sometimes mythical and sometimes
historic, who inspire the people to live better, to strive for a greater good
in their lives. The ancient Greeks had
Hercules, the British have King Arthur and his knights, the Chinese have Hua
Mulan. When Americans think of folk
heroes, the figures who come to mind most often are Johnny Appleseed and Paul
Bunyan. But when the bards sing of
America and her heroes, they should sing of different individuals: Clark Kent, Steve Rogers, and Peter
Parker.
Clark Kent, most commonly known
as Superman, exemplifies numerous ideals, a feature which makes him such an
enduring and timeless character. While he
represents a physical ideal—strong jaw, muscular definition, bright blue
eyes—what matters most is the moral ideal which he embodies, one which all
people should strive to meet, Americans or otherwise.
Truth, justice and the American Way. The first two are pretty self-explanatory,
but “the American way” is a little vaguer.
What exactly does Superman represent in terms of the American way? There is a lot of negativity and jadedness in
our culture today, as well as a sense of entitlement. The media, both domestic and abroad,
frequently discusses how America has become a country of fat, spoiled, ignorant
people. But Superman is a constant
reminder of what we could, and should, be as a society.
Superman protects people. He puts all differences aside, ignores race,
religion, ethnicity, political views, anything that separates us as people, and
he puts himself in harm’s way to protect life.
Superman does not kill even though he could; he is powerful enough to
destroy everything humanity has ever known.
But that is not who he is, he uses his unbelievable power for
unadulterated good.
Clark is the consummate American in
all senses, a principle member of the American Dream. He came to the country as an outsider, a
literal alien from another world. He
learned our values of life, liberty, and self-sacrifice and champions them as a
protector of all mankind. He is pure,
altruistic, never lies, puts himself in danger to protect others, and he stands
for something bigger then himself.
He is a perfect ideal, one that
nobody could realistically match in our world.
But that is exactly why we need him.
We can never be that good, we need Superman to show us that level and to
show us the way to be better. We as
individuals cannot fly, we cannot deflect bullets with our chests; but what we
can do is try, always try, to do the right thing.
With his iconic costume and
physical perfection, Superman is one of America's most recognizable icons. He
stands as a symbol himself, one of hope in an ever-darkening world. Whatever
threats he faces, whatever challenges present themselves, when we see the red
and blue, we know he is going to triumph. DC comics use Superman as a tool to show us that
even in the direst of circumstances righteousness, virtue, good—or to put it in
other words—the American Way, will always be victorious.
But Clark’s American Way is not
the American Way of today. Life,
liberty, and happiness are lost in modern America. Life, by the propagation of gun violence
killing defenseless Americans like a plague as well as by the wanton
destruction inflicted upon nations by drone strikes; liberty, by the indefinite
detentions inflicted upon those suspected of terrorist activity—a crime which
the government has deemed special enough to destroy due process on behalf
of—and by the assaults on the right to worship of Muslim citizens; happiness,
by our refusal to take meaningful actions to alleviate poverty both abroad and
at home as well as the greed so imbedded in the wealthiest subsection of
America which exploits the nation for its own benefit.
Captain America, like Superman,
represents all of the good in American culture; our ideals given human
form. Steve Rogers wanted to join the
war effort, not out of a desire to win honor, or to kill bad guys, but to
protect those who could not protect themselves.
He wanted to serve so desperately that he was willing to subject himself
to a dangerous, unproven experiment to facilitate his protective nature. Even when the experiment proved successful
and Steve became a literal super-soldier, he was still more committed to saving
innocents than defeating enemies.
He literally wears the flag on
his chest, but he does not represent the country; rather the idea of the
country, the values upon which our nation was founded. A perfect example is his weapon of
choice. Cap wields an indestructible
shield, by definition a weapon of defense, emblazed with the American
colors. It is true that he throws and hits
people with it, but most of all he uses it to protect people. It is a symbol that America should operate as
a protective force, defending the lives and rights of citizens not only in
America but all across the earth.
This ideal is lost on the
leadership of our nation today. While
some politicians believe that America uses its military as a global policeman,
we only truly employ military force when it suits our strategic interest. The United States has fallen short of Captain
America’s legacy in our failure to protect the Rwandans, Syrians, Palestinians,
Tibetans, and countless other peoples.
The interventions in defense of these at-risk groups did not need to be
blunt military force, but it should have been something.
Captain America, upon his
entrance into modern society, never uses a gun.
He is a product of war, it would be natural for him to use firearms; but
he is not in a war anymore so guns have no place in his mission. Humanity invented guns for no purpose other
than to make killing easier. By their
very nature, they are a tool to hurt, to kill.
It is possible for guns to protect people, but only by equalizing the
danger level by threatening the life of the shooters; Captain America’s shield
negates danger.
Steve Rogers is America, an
America in the mold which the Founders would fully support if they were around
to see him. This America is not the one
we live in. While it may sound like a
contradictory idea, his actions during Marvel’s Civil War enlighten the
comparison. The Civil War stemmed from a
tragedy in which over six hundred children lost their lives, resulting in a
superhero registration act, requiring all superhero-vigilantes to register
their identities with the federal government.
Steve stood against the government’s wishes to defend the civil
liberties of his comrades, despite the high personal price it cost him. He chose freedom, the right of superheroes to
protect their secret identities, over the law.
Our world is a dark
world, a sad world, where men take guns into malls, theaters, and schools,
costing innocent men, women, and children their lives. But here are two men who stand up against
wrong, no matter the perpetrator, and fight for what is right. In our age of perpetual dusk, they give us
hope that someday we will rise see the dawn and return to a brighter
world. To quote Martin Luther King, Jr.,
“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to
a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that.” Superman and Captain America serve as that
light, guiding us through the darkness by the principles and values which they
stand for, inspiring us to live our lives differently.
Superman and
Captain America represent the things we should be and should want to be, but
another hero more accurately portrays who we actually are. Peter Parker, or Spider-Man, is a flawed hero
from the start. His first act after
getting his powers is to use them for fame and fortune, a path which many of us
would likely follow as well. But when
this selfishness leads to his Uncle Ben’s death—the death of Peter’s father
figure—Peter vows that this will never happen again and chooses to use his
abilities for good.
If the
ultimate lesson of Superman is that we can be better and we should be better,
then the ultimate lesson from Spider-Man is that we are going to fail in that
pursuit. Nobody is perfect, and we as individuals are weak. But the mark of a true hero, of a truly
righteous person, is in always getting back up. His failures define Spider-Man more than his
successes. He could not save his uncle, he could not save Captain Stacy—the
father of his first love—and he could not save Gwen Stacy, that first
love. He never deflects the blame for
these shortcomings, instead racking them onto his back like a modern day Atlas,
unable to give himself the benefit of the doubt. Spider-Man teaches us that no matter how hard
we try, no matter how good or virtuous we are, we will fail sometimes, but that
we can never give up in the face of those failures.
Peter’s motto,
handed down to him from his Uncle Ben, is the oft-repeated “With great power
comes great responsibility.” Great power
is not something many people have, but as a nation America unquestionably
does. But have we lived up to the great
responsibilities which accompany it? To
a degree we have, but we have also failed numerous times. But those failures must not prevent us from
continuing to try to help the downtrodden no matter their nationality,
religion, gender, ethnicity, or creed. On
the individual level, very few people possess great power in the sense of a
superhero, but instead bear a variant.
Our “great power” is the gift of life itself; it is our responsibility
to use this power to live well and help others, to follow in the footsteps of
Peter Parker. Since we all live, this great responsibility is inherent on all
people. We must always strive to help
others, no matter the personal cost.
From time to
time, it is going to feel like the universe is against us, but we must never
give up. We will fail, it is a fact of
life; but surrender to failure is a choice which we must never make. Success and failure both spawn different
breeds of greatness, but failure creates the better of the two; by refusing to
let that failure define us. Steve Rogers
and Clark Kent are the lights guiding us through the darkness, but when we
inevitably fall, Peter Parker picks us up and reminds us to never stop, to never
quit, until we finally break through the night and reach morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment