Super heroes have been
around for generations, and have always been popular, but as the VFX industry
grows, and allows more films of this new genre to be made, the audience is rapidly
growing, but how have they been around for so long? And remained popular?
Perhaps it is to do with the ideals they represent, and how that relates to the
audience.
‘Over roughly half a century
these heroes have watched over America, but their adventures have attracted a
following among people around the world who see themselves and values and
dreams these heroes personify.’ (Spider-man Once upon a time the superheroes, 2002, 2:08
– 2:25)
But what does being a hero mean now? Is it fighting for the
right cause? Bauman states ‘The modern reincarnation of the ‘hero’ – a person
who dies to assure the survival of the nation.’ (Bauman, 2008, p.43) but does
one have to die in order to be a hero? Or can it just mean being prepared to? However,
Bauman also asks how we perceive this in the west, after saying one must die in
order to become a hero, he also states this:
‘In our part of the world
(whatever we mean by that ‘our’) we now find it difficult, perhaps even
impossible, to understand how people in other parts of the world can sacrifice
their lives for a cause.’ (Bauman, 2008, p.39)
By his definition, are ‘religious extremists’ and ‘suicide
bombers’ who set out deliberately to die for their nation heroes? Does seeing a
hero merely mean a matter of perspective? As in the west we simply see
soldier’s going to war being prepared to die for their nation. And should they
not be considered heroes until death? Perhaps he meant being prepared to die
for your nation. Or was thinking about more historical influential heroes such
as Jesus Christ. However in war we see these traits being displayed, proving
that heroes do exist in the masses in our modern society, which may have been
hard for early civilizations to imagine.
‘The world that
genuflected before martyrs and was in awe of their self- immolation could
hardly imagine a world that would venerate a brave new era of modern heroes.’
(Bauman, 2008, p.51)
With the definition
of a hero proven, it is safe to take the term ‘Super’ literally, they have
super-powers, being able to do extraordinary things, which is no way a new
idea. Ancient civilizations talked of gods in a very similar way we perceive
super-heroes now.
‘Maybe even related to the Greeks
and early civilizations would talk about the
gods, people who had human forms but were in every way superior to human
beings.’ (Dave Gibbons, Spider-man Once upon a time the superheroes, 2002, 2:57 - 3:10)
However modern superheroes
are created in our image, with personalities and background stories that
reflect the audience’s emotions, making the characters relatable to the target
audience of the time. Super-man for example, created in 1933, and sold to DC
comics in 1938, created by two Jewish boys living in Ohio.
‘There is an aspect of Superman
that does seem to come from the Jewish background of the creators, he is an
illegal immigrant, he comes from a very foreign place, he s very much a
stranger in a strange land, he comes from a planet were everyone is supposed to
be super intelligent, he changes his name when he arrives here, he starts on a
farm, and then he moves to the big city, it’s the classic, the assimilationist,
urbanisation pattern.’ (Harry Brod, Spider-man Once upon a time the superheroes, 2002,
23:58 – 24:29)
Not only did the creators deliberately do this to target an
audience, but also to reflect themselves, to hope that they themselves could be
so much more than they thought they could be, and ironically did this through
creating a symbol of hope.
‘Remember that Superman was
created by two Jewish boys in Ohio, to whom a hero like Superman, from another
planet, from another culture, could achieve. How much more to Jewish boys in
Cleveland, Ohio is that an ideal to strive towards.’ (Neil Adams, Spider-man Once upon a
time the superheroes, 2002, 25:14 – 25:37)
Superman’s creation was in the same period as Adolf Hitler came to power, and the rise of Nazism and persecution of Jews, creating this icon from two Jewish boys is a clear symbol of hope or the future. Superheroes were soon to flourish, becoming more and more popular, and more influential, when Captain America was released, they made Adolf Hitler the main villain, targeting the character at children who were not old enough to go to war, but had families who were all involved, they made Captain America a skinny young boy who was too small and unhealthy to go to war, but had all the motivation and personality to win it, so after an experiment he became super-strong, super-fast, and super-intelligent. Cleverly using the character to really hit home with many families.
‘That was not so much to save the world as it
was patriotism, we were in a war, the army and the navy were involved, boys and
sons and daughters and fathers were all
involved in this, and so putting a
superhero into these stories meant that we would be saving not the world but
saving our own.’ (Joe Kubert, Spider-man Once upon a time the superheroes, 2002, 37:
17 - 37:42)
They used the Captain America comics as a link to current
events, and to inflict hope and patriotism into the nation, using not just
Captain America but many heroes to promote war-bonds, so in a way he was
literally fighting for the country, doing his part.
‘Selling war bonds actually, they
used the characters for that purpose, that I defiantly knew they did that, and
apparently it was successful because they did quite a bit of that ….. they did
a lot of work for the government.’ (Carmine Infantino, Spider-man Once upon a time the superheroes, 2002,
35:35 - 35:54)
The comics were so successful at the time they succeeded in
this and became more than just comic books for children, but inspiration and a
whole lot of hope for many people. ‘Captain America was more than a hero, he
was to become a symbol, the incarnation of a whole nation.’ (Spider-man Once upon a
time the superheroes, 2002, 31:19 – 31:26). Superheroes would continue to be popular
through the early 50’s during the post war period and into the beginning of the
cold war, remaining as a great symbol of hope. However the comic industry was
soon to plummet, nearly being destroyed by a senator, after the success they
had there deemed inappropriate for a young audience, and silly for adults.
Comic books and Super-heroes were being targeted from all medias, and the
parents were picking up on it, and worse the publishers were.
‘There was a senator here named
Keith Aulthor, who wanted to be president and he needed a theme to jump off
from, and he picked on comics, they way they are picking on films today,
violence, violence hurting children you know, and they blamed all the comics
for the problem, we were attacked all over, radio, papers, newspapers, everyone
was attacking us, and this guy Keith Aulthor was saying children are being
killed by comic books, and so on and so forth, so it was a really desperate time….
And we didn’t think the business was going to survive anymore, so the
publishers at that point got together, and they decided to build a code, a self
controlling code.’ (Carmine Infantino, Spider-man Once upon a time the superheroes, 2002, 40:25
– 42:15)
After creating this
code, only the clean superheroes were to be published, Catwoman, who at the
time wore a purple dress and a cape but used a whip as a weapon was banned from
being published. The comic industry tried comedy, westerns, all trying to come
up with the next big thing. But it was after the code that superheroes were
starting to get noticed again.
‘At that time the comic books
were so set upon, so attacked for the material that they were doing, right or
wrong, they were attacked for that kind of material, that it effected everyone,
it effected the publishers, it effected the distributors, it effected everyone
up and down the line, and so if that comic code emblem was not on the book, the
book would not get distributed. (Joe Kubert, Spider-man Once upon a time the superheroes, 2002,
42:40 – 43:03)
After the code was made Marvel comics was created, creating
cleaner super-heroes, who had more personality, and more focus on their
personal lives a well as their adventures, so they could be more human, more
relatable, more honest and child-friendly. Whilst still remaining close and
relatable to their audience.
‘A new mastermind by
editor-writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby; between them, they decided that
an interesting new direction would be to
make the personalities of the heroes more of a focus than the plots. Thus, in
contrast to the old formulas, the Marvel superheroes would be humanized,
troubled characters ambivalent about their powers.’
(Sabin, 1996, p.69)
‘Daredevil, Spider-man, Dr
Strange, Iron Man, there seemed to be no limit to the new series, Stan Lee
tailored the scenarios to fit the world of his young readers, and very soon,
the team of the 60’s began to feel involved in the problems of identity, or
integration into society, encountered by these heroes who were so different. ’ (Spider-man Once upon
a time the superheroes, 2002, 53:00 - 53:23)’
With this Stan Lee
created his own universe, by creating characters that crossed over into each
others comics, with team ups and stories that collaborated heroes together he
created a scenario where if you bought one issue, it would lead to the next,
and you’d have to get the series, and with so many characters appearing you’d
have to get those series’ too. This giant marketing campaign created a
fictional universe, and this quickly became known as the Marvel Universe. In
this became a wide audience that all talked with each other about it, shared
their ideas and thought, which has grown to this day in the films (Marvel
Cinematic Universe) for the first time in movie history characters from
different films are seen in team ups, and there are many pages where fans get
together and discuss what they want to see, what they liked, and Stan Lee is
worshiped for creating such an amazing universe. He successfully created his
own community.
‘More than this, the comics were
designed to be collected: buy one and you had to buy the series (and ideally
all the other series as well). Characters would appear in each others comics,
thus introducing fans of one to all the others, while simultaneously creating a
richly populated cosmos that would later become known as the “Marvel universe”.
In this way Lee managed to convince readers that they were part of a club of
connoisseurs, and so initiated what has become known as comics fandom “I think
I really treated the whole line as a gigantic advertising campaign”, he later
confessed. “I wanted the readers to feel that we were all part of an “in” thing
that the outside world wasn’t aware of”.’
(Sabin, 1996, p. 74.)
The community Stan Lee created is one of fandom, people who
share a desire for a common thing, its full of life and love, many people
deemed superheroes nerdy and uncool, however now they have hit a mainstream
audience in cinema they seem to be more popular than ever, but before the days
of popular Superhero movies, Superhero fans had a hard time appreciating what
they loved as society seemed to think it was silly, or inappropriate for a
modern culture.
‘There is a price to
be paid for the privilege of ‘being in a community’ – and it is in offensive or
even invisible only as long as the community stays in the dream. The price is
paid in that of freedom, variously called ‘autonomy’, ‘right self-assertion’,
‘right to be yourself’.’
(Bauman, 2000, p.4)
This was realised by Marvel, when they brought in the
‘X-men’ a group of mutants who are prejudiced against from society, feared and
disrespected because of who they are, this reflects many modern issues the
audience deals with, racism, sexism, homophobia, all at the same time, by
creating characters that were looked down upon by society Marvel connected with
their community by reflecting their fan base, who were often seen as immature
and seen as outcasts.
‘Mutants, X-men are outsides and
very much misunderstood, its all about prejudice, yes, X-men, the world fears
and hates them, so there’s an accessibility to these characters.’ (Lauren
Shuler Donner, Spider-man
Once upon a time the superheroes, 2002, 1:24:20 - 1:24:32)
Since their revival
comic books have become a mainstream media, they have come so far they even
seem to be leaving the comic code behind them. With Catwoman back twenty years
later, and in a tight black leather outfit, and arcs about sex, rape, drugs,
violence and war. It is no secret the code has been left behind, or at least
made into basic guidelines, with good reason too, restricting creativity in such
a way only means we will be re-telling the same stories again and again. If the
code was not fading, our superheroes would probably not still be with us, and
often it is good to display these parts of life, without glorifying it, but
perhaps teaching young people the dangers of subjects like this, if they saw
they risk involved first hand, and see their heroes disapprove of such things,
it may stop them doing it altogether.
‘I received a letter from
Washington DC, from the office of health education and welfare, and they said,
because of the big problem with drugs in the county, they would appreciate it
if I could do some sort of story in the Spider-man book to mention to the
readers the dangers of drug addiction, I don’t ever like to lecture, but I had
a little sequence in the story were a friend of Spider-mans had taken, I don’t
know to much about drugs myself, but he took something and it made him think he
was a bird and that he could fly, and he was up on top of the roof and
Spider-man tried to talk him down, and
that was it, but when we sent that book
to the code they sent it back and said you cant print that, and said why? They
said your not allowed to use drugs, I said the story is anti-drug, its to teach
youngsters that taking drugs is dangerous, no we’re sorry you cant do it, but I
was asked to it by a branch of the united states government, we’re sorry you
cant to it, so I figured the hell with it and I printed the books anyway.’
(Stan Lee, Spider-man
Once upon a time the superheroes, 2002, 1:00:14 - 1:00:44)
Superheroes as we know now are
constantly re-invented, re-imagined and re-defined. This is how they have
remained popular for decades, using the ever changing world to define the
universe they live in, and relate to the modern audience, for example the
Mandarin in the original comics is a Chinese dictator, however the newest
interpretation defines him as a religious extremist terrorist.
A lot of characters are now displayed in a
much darker, more realistic tone, each time they are re-invented they take it
back the origin of the character to re-evaluate what he may be like in this new
vision.
‘The comic book heroes have
stayed around so long because they continually reinvent themselves, that’s part
of them having tined mythological status, myths keep changing, and part of the
way they keep changing is they keep being reinvented, every so and so often the
reinvention is really going back to the beginning, they become new by going
back to their origin.’ (Harry Brod, Spider-man Once upon a time the superheroes, 2002,
1:14:28 - 1:14:50)
These new visions of characters
are not made of thin air however, all aspects of the character and their
history are considered before making such a dramatic change to a much-loved
character. Superheroes will always be an important part of our culture as we
see all the right and wrong things in them to the extremes, they deliberately
act upon our emotions and what we go through as people, paying extreme detail
to their dedicated fan base.
‘There’s a respect I have, of
knowing what the original creators indented when they conceived these
characters, and I always want to pay special tribute to what those people had
done before I’ve re-examined them to the point of bringing out the original
artists works, and I want that to infect my mind before I do my
re-interpretation. (Alex Ross, Spider-man Once upon a time the superheroes, 2002,
1:13:52 - 1:14:18)
Superheroes are a very American concept, the idea and the
society shapes them, but what of British superheroes? Does our society shape
them in the same way, and them us? Characters like Judge Dredd and Tank Girl prove
that our society’s heroes are less perfect, and the stories evolve around
routing for the underdog, linking back to historical figures like William Wallace,
Oliver Cornwell in the beginning, Francis Drake vs. the Spanish Armada and
fictional ones like Robin Hood.
Superheroes have changed dramatically from their first
appearance, they are not as camp nor as bright, just look at the comparison
between Adam West’s Batman and Christian
Bales, the difference in style, atmosphere and audience is totally different.
The vision of style and what is in as cool is always changing, with everything,
and superheroes are able to adapt to that change easily, therefore are well
suited for generations, they drastically evolve to suit the times we live in.
‘The superhero genre has changed,
the violence is more explicit, and the hero has become an anti-hero, battling
in a sometimes bloody universe, the genre now reflects a world in which the
very perception of good and evil has changed considerably. (Spider-man Once upon
a time the superheroes, 2002,1:30:00 – 1:30:21)
As the times change so do our heroes, they adapt and are
continuously re-invented to be the ideals we should strive to be, always
remaining true to their original creation, they seem to easily change with us.
‘I think our heroes question
ourselves, I think what’s very American about these characters is they change
as the country does, they move with us, and they move us.’ (Joe Quesada, Spider-man Once upon a
time the superheroes, 2002, 1:30:32 – 1:30:52)
Bibliography
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seeking safety in an insecure world.’, Oxford: Blackwell.
Bauman, Z. (2004) ‘Identity’
Cambridge: Polity Press.
Bauman, Z. (2008) ‘Liquid
Life’, Oxford: Blackwell
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Millar, M. and Hitch, B. (2010) ‘The Ultimates 2,’ New York: Marvel.
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of Steel’, New York: DC
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Commix and Graphic Novels’ London: Phaidon.
Withrow, S. and Danner, D. A. (2007) ‘Character Design for Graphic Novels’ Sussex: RotoVision
‘Spider-man Once upon
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Rosenberg, R. (2008) ‘The
Psychology of Superheroes’, Dallas: BenBella Books.
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Johns, G., Lee, J. and Williams, S. (2013) ‘Justice League Volume 1: Origin’, New
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Surrel, J. (2012) ‘The
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