Why Superheroes? Here's Why

Why superheroes? Why have fictional characters who cannot possibly exist in real life?

It always amazes me that some people seem to think that good works can somehow magically appear in a corrupt world without idealism and dreams of courage and daring.

In fact, superheroes are metaphors about the soaring human spirit, born of necessity in times of powerlessness and despair like the Great Depression. Their function is the same as the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movies from that era — to enable the downtrodden to fantasize about defying gravity in fancy duds.

Our “heroes” now slaughter lots of people, because an evil society tells itself evil stories.

Superhero comics are born with an inherent optimism — colorfully costumed exuberant rescue fantasies. It’s no surprise that they’d be “out of step” in an era where nihilism, greed and even torture are celebrated.

Superheroes represent enduring moral values required by the human condition, among them courage, honesty, decency, wisdom and compassion. Those don’t “evolve.” They merely become clarified or confused, depending on whether our society advances or erodes.

Superheroes are those who, when something horrible is about to happen, step in to stop it. They transform themselves, sacrificing their ordinariness. They are the people Mr. Rogers called “the helpers,” writ large.

“If one takes away the violence of superheroes and strips them of the modern perception of their obsessive vigilantism and unwavering punishment of evildoers, what’s left?” asked wrote Alex S. Romagnoli and Gian S. Pagnucci in Enter the Superheroes: American Values, Culture and the Canon of Superhero Literature. “What’s left is a character that represents the best qualities of humanity: altruism, self-sacrifice, perseverance and responsibility. Superheroes fight because they have to, but their messages still resound without the violence and without the hard-edged personas.”

Superheroes are mysterious figures who suddenly appear to inspire humanity, then vanish until they are needed again.

What are you waiting for? Shine the signal.

When Roles Reverse

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“Sooner or later in life, we will all take our own turn being in the position we once had someone else in.”

― Ashly Lorenzana

Agnes Moorehead and the Invaders

1961’s The Invaders is one of the best-remembered Twilight Zone episodes, with an ending like one of those five-page Marvel Comics science fiction tales. 

This fantastic story is sold by Agnes Moorehead’s silent performance as a woman Richard Matheson’s script describes as having “…been alone for many years; a strong, simple person whose existence is primitive and whose only problem is acquiring enough food to eat.”

Director Douglas Heyes recalled, “The reason I suggested her was that she had done a radio show called Sorry, Wrong Number which was a half-hour tour de force where she used nothing but her voice, and I said, ‘Here’s a half-hour tour de force where the woman doesn’t use her voice at all!”

The Simple Things

"The real drawback to the simple life is that it is not simple. If you are living it, you positively can do nothing else. There is not time."

— Katharine Elizabeth Fullerton Gerould

Not Your Job

One of My Favorite Poems

The Warmonger and the Sparrow

Ahimsa is an ancient Indian principle meaning "non-violence" or "non-injury" to all living beings. Derived from Sanskrit, it means not causing harm through physical actions, words, or even thoughts. It is a foundational ethical concept in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and forms the first ethical guideline of yoga. — Ai summary