Superheroes
are at the forefront of popular culture and have been for several
years. The genre is a cultural phenomenon that shows no signs of
fading. The premise of Superhero Ethics is that we should
take this phenomenon seriously. These comic book stories are more
than popcorn amusements. Read as metaphors, they can illuminate
various approaches to forging our characters, directing our lives,
relating to others, and promoting the common good.
As the audience response to this year’s Avengers: Infinity Warshows,
millions of people around the world are heavily invested in the
motivations, decisions, and destinies of their favorite superheroes.
These characters speak to people in profound ways that are often
underappreciated. In Superhero Ethics, Travis Smith
investigates what they are saying—what messages about life they’re
communicating.
Throughout the book, Smith frames his analysis around a single
question: Which superhero embodies the kind of ethical character we
should strive to emulate in today’s society? He arrives at his
choice by structuring the book as a contest. He takes ten top
superheroes and pits them one against another, chapter by chapter.
The hero who better exemplifies how we ought to live advances to the
final round. By the end of the book, a single superhero emerges
victorious and is crowned most exemplary for our times.
Among the timeless questions Smith explores are:
- How can we
overcome our beastly nature and preserve our humanity? (The Hulk
vs. Wolverine)
- How far can we rely on our willpower and imagination to
improve the human condition? (Iron Man vs. Green Lantern)
- What limits must we observe when protecting our neighborhood
from crime and corruption? (Batman vs. Spider-Man)
- Will the pursuit of an active life or a contemplative life
bring us true fulfillment? (Captain America vs. Mr. Fantastic)
- Should we put our faith in proven tradition or in modern
progress to achieve a harmonious society? (Thor vs. Superman)
Superhero Ethics is a fun and edifying read—one that will
appeal to anyone concerned with popular and political culture in
modern America.
Can Superheroes Save American
Freedom?
http://dailycaller.com/2018/06/23/can-superheroes-save-american-freedom/
By Travis Smith
Superhero stories are not just
the amusements of a misspent youth; they have serious moral
significance and can teach us important lessons about the happiness
of individuals and the well-being of a free society that depends on
people behaving responsibly. Could superheroes even serve as role
models that can save American freedom?
Too many forces in our liberal
democratic society today already inculcate irresponsibility,
promote narrow self-interest and hedonistic indulgence, and foster
sentimentality and wishful thinking. Our society too often
sanctions timid passivity and outsized outrage—all in the name of
compassion or justice. We either discourage or downplay everyday
bravery, moderation, restraint, resilience, generosity, gratitude,
decency, sociability, sacrifice, and the exercise of good
judgment—all of the efforts that generate and constitute
responsibility toward oneself and one’s community.
Freedom well used ought to spark
some virtue, some relative excellence of character. So if
superheroes can encourage some everyday ethical behavior—inspiring
responsibility and integrity, living with resolve rather than
resignation—while exposing some of our worst tendencies and
misguided aspirations, then it is worth thinking about them
critically. Because free societies require individual and
interpersonal responsibility, and human beings need good role
models.
There are three main types of
superhero movies: those in which colossal battles are fought on a
cosmic scale to save the world or guard the galaxy; those featuring
admittedly fanciful characters with extraordinary talents and
abilities on unusual adventures but depicted on a more humanly
relatable scale; and those which cynically satirize heroism. The
third type, such as the popular Deadpool films, can be
amusing, but let’s not regard them as anything to learn something
meaningful from. They don’t even pretend to want us to take them
seriously.
Still, we might wonder what the
first two types of superhero movies have to say about who we are or
who we want to be. They correspond to two different attitudes
toward social and political life, regarding how we should perceive
and approach the problems we face.
In recent years, the best
superhero movies, such as Logan, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Black
Panther, are of the second variety. Their stories still abound
with fantastical elements, but they speak to ethical issues
recognizable to us: Who do we owe obligations to and to what
extent? What is asked of us personally to meet those
responsibilities directly? What kind of person does someone need to
be to successfully fulfill their obligations? The ways in which
these heroes face challenges like these is what makes them worthy of
admiration and emulation. All it takes is a little imagination to
render their stories applicable to us in our ordinary lives, with
respect to how we should treat each other. Here the super-ness,
even the heroism, of superheroes, may be read as metaphorical for
qualities we all could and should exhibit—even though we don’t have
metal bones, web-shooters, or heart-shaped herbs. |