Cultural Characteristics Of Super Hero Movies

In our day and age pop culture has grasped strongly on the superhero franchise, with several movies and comics being produced every year. As everyone knows, for every superhero, there must also be an equivalent villain. In the film Unbreakable, David Dunn is our hero while Elijah Price plays the role of the villain. Through these two characters and the thoughts of others the films director portrays their ideal hero and villain. While the hero is depicted as a being with supernatural abilities used for good, the villain is enacted as cunning and intuitive, working acts of evil. These portrayals are demonstrated by the thoughts and actions of David Dunn, Joseph Dunn, and Elijah Price.

Superheroes can be defined in many ways by many experts. Clare Pitkethly’s academic background consists of comparative literature, culture and communication as she also speaks and writes comic books and superhero, defines a superhero to be different. In Pitkethly’s article “Straddling a Boundary: The Superhero and the Incorporation of Difference,” talks about

It puts the viewer of the movie in the position to think that they too can be a superhero and fly, but like postrel says only if you are in love with it and allow it to take over the reader or viewers everyday life.

The concept of a hero has been around for many generations, and the meaning of a hero is defined in ways people grasp its idea. A hero can be a person who has a superpower and is willing to make a personal sacrifice for the benefit of others or can be an ordinary everyday person who just wants to help people out of his or her own heart. Linda Seger’s article, “Creating the Myth,” tackles the idea of a “Hero 's Myth,” and shows the ten steps of how heroes are transformed from an ordinary person to the Savior. On the other hand, Robert B. Ray piece titled, “The Thematic Paradigm,” emphasizes that in modern films, it is either having an “Outlaw Hero or an Official Hero,” which he uses three stages to demonstrates how they are different each other in the way they perform in the society. Further, the article, “Out of Character: Wonder Woman’s Strength Is Her Compassion - What Happened?” by Stevie St. John, explains how Wonder Woman was viewed as a compassionate woman in the 1940s and 1950s, and in the 2000s she changes into a more violent person. In this essay, I argue that a hero is subjective, and is defined by the villain or event that they had to adapt to suddenly.

I believe we as a society are intrigued with shows like Dexter because they allow us a temporary escape from reality. A reality in which we witness injustices occur in our court systems such as a legal loop hole allowing a guilty person to essentially walk free and justice not being served for the victim. I will attempt to explain why these characters are thriving as pop culture icons.

The portrayal of superheroes in films has changed in terms of their character, appearance, style and strength. Superheroes has been a popular theme in hollywood films since its inception. They are what peoples imagination can only think of. A perfect human being who saves the world .The first time superhero appeared on T.V was “The Adventures of Captain Marvel” in 1941. Superheroes was on the rise within popular comic books in 1930′s to the 1940’s as well in which they were considered the ‘Golden Age of Comic Books’ . Comic books became widespread and popular which translated into making films about them.

Superhero movies have been on the rise lately. These movies are often looked at as entertainment for people who play Dungeons and Dragons and are simply mindless pleasure; however, this is not the case. The reason behind the popularity of superhero movies is more than just the want of the common comic book reader. The superhero movie industry has made a sharp incline in popularity; in fact there are more superhero movies now than ever before. A website called Fights, Tights and Movie Nights listed all of the superhero movies made since the 1980’s by year and these were their findings. In the 1980’s an average of three to four super movies came out a year. In the 1990’s these movies were made on average five to six times per year. In the 2000’s the movies doubled to 12-13 produced on average each year. Today, 2010’s, the average number of superhero movies has again doubled in size with it now resting at twenty-two to twenty-three superhero movies made on average each year. The drastic increase of the number of superhero movies leaves the average movie attendee wondering why they are seeing this spike of superhero movies. The increase of superhero movies can be contributed to a few key factors: the advances of technology in the movie industry, the movie genre’s adaption to be socially relevant, and the characters now possessing more humanistic qualities (Fights…).

Historically American film have been centered on heroes. In Ray’s “The Thematic Paradigm” he states that heroes as have two preset archetypes with certain characteristics. These two archetypes are the family orientated “official hero” and the loner “outlaw hero.” In Segar’s “Creating the Myth” she states that heroes are made by the steps or events that they go through on their way to becoming a hero. This means that to Seger the heroes do not start out as heroes, but as normal people. However, Ray and Seger suggest different ways in which Americans relate to film heroes, they both agree heroes are popular through common experience and relatability.

An Exploration into the Common Traits of Fictitious Heroes through the Analysis of J.K. Rowling 's Harry Potter and the Philosopher 's Stone

It seems that children seek to have an ideal of a perfect hero to whom they can admire. Superhero comics deserve their own part in the history of comics, since most comics are only about superheroes, and Captain America, is in fact a superhero. What are the roles of a hero in defining the values of a culture? A man on the street might tell you, a superhero is someone with extraordinary abilities and powers who saves the day. Superheroes could be characterized as having super strength, the ability to fly, or magical capabilities that utilizes the elements. Most would probably say superheroes are usually attractive white men, who have a super strength,

America’s current socio-political events and values are reflected through the film industry’s portrayal of superheroes. Annika Hagley writes a very convincing argument regarding this theory in her article “America’s need for superheroes has lead to the rise of Donald Trump.” Post 9/11, it has become increasing clear that the issues and values held dear to most Americans are now being portrayed on the big screen. Fighting back at the “enemy” and uniting as one are some of the messages in the background of superhero films released after the attacks on the twin towers. Today, the USA is more divided; just like the superheroes that have been on the silver screen in recent months. In continuation, America’s allowances for overly violent superheroes and everything said superheroes stand for, are simply just reflections of their own socio-political views and values. It is this allowance that has lead to the rise of Donald Trump.

The superhero genre is so popular and influential that many studies have been done on its depictions of the groups and the impact it has on a large part of society how it has “become a staple on film, television, and in video games” (Darowski). The genre is so influential in fact, that it dates back all the way to the Ancient Greeks, and possibly even further (Haynes). Every group in history has had their mythologies and epic tales of crime fighters, they just did not call them superheroes. For example, Achilles only had one weakness (his heel) and was by the Greeks definition, considered a hero (greek-gods.org). The same goes for heroes like Perseus, Theseus, and even Heracles. Back then though instead of being changed into a super soldier in a lab by a German scientist or creating a flying metal suit in the desert, these heroes were part god which explained their extra-ordinary abilities. Super crime fighters have always existed, but when comic books began in the 19th century a new set of rules was created to guide their content to be more appropriate than the Greek tales (Coville).

Being gifted with the term of "being a hero" holds tremendous power in our culture; children write cute assignments on who they look up to, adolescents watch and read about heroes in their entertainment, and even adults have personal or fictional heroes they will never get too old to stop idolizing. In our society, we 've been raised to associate this word, "Hero", to a perfect being; however, the evolving times and entertainment industry has made the "hero" a more complex and multifaceted character. From Jerry Siegle 's kid friendly "Superman", to Frank Miller 's night-dwelling "Batman", and lastly to our topic of discussion, Alan Moore 's "Watchmen" with its conflicted depiction of characters blurring the line between being a hero or a

Through my analyzation of these values, I have assessed the relevance of superheroes in cinema through the impact of American popular culture, the contrast of gender roles, and their impact on children. As a result, society should be gracious toward the immense popularity of superhero films, as they bolster American popular culture and positively impact children from a young age. Although the gender roles might be a bit skewed, many film companies are taking steps to include women in more empowering roles such as Wonder Woman in the DC cinematic universe. Therefore, superheroes in cinema tend to only create and preserve positive characteristics within society, which is glorious in the future of mankind. In closing, I end with the question, “Which superhero best depicts

The changes thorough media have led to the decline of the traditional hero archetype. To relate to society throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, television shows and film have had to conform to new standards. In the beginning, any film was