0
The Emerging Class of Superhumans
Posted by GregOlsen
on
5:01 PM
In the last ten years, the movie and book industry have seen an influx of material concerning characters of superhuman qualities. Vampires, werewolves, superheroes, and wizards have dominated the big screen, and the supply of such characters appears to be limitless. So what is our fascination with these archetypes, and why have they become so dominant today?
Perhaps the most obvious answer is that these superhumans dwell outside the constructs of government-run society. They live lives where laws and regulations don’t affect them. Taxes for psychic abilities never make it into the screenplay. Immortals never deal with the difficulties of collecting their social security checks. Their world lies beyond government control and within a simpler societal construct: kill or be killed. Theirs is a construct of survival where good against evil takes precedent over the worries about immigration, oil spills, and government bailouts.
The alluring aspect to this construct is that both the good and the evil have power over their societal influence. Both have the ability to choose in what capacity they can fight for what matters to them. This is a choice which only the superhuman may possess. To be an ordinary human, in most cases, is an inability of making change beyond the familial unit. Our American government has become too big for an individual, or a small, collective group to change its current structure. When citizens united to protest bailouts and continued government spending, propelling our national debt into unfathomable levels, their voices became whispers compared to the screams of high-ranking and long-term government officials who demanded the continuation of a structure which grants them more power. As the citizens of Arizona stand up to illegal immigration, their efforts are met with scorn and threats of lawsuits which overshadow the real issue of better border security. Money and system control has become more powerful than the strongest human, but superhumans discard money and government dependency as a useless part of survival.
Vampires and wizards are beyond such worries because their need for survival offers them the ultimate independence against the will of others. These characters have become popular because they have been able to shed their need to be a collective that is reliant upon a handful of leaders to guide them. The villains can force their individual will, and the heroes can bypass regulation to enforce justice. Both sides have the strength and ability to fight for whatever passions and desires fall within their code of morals.
Today as we see the new legislature desiring to limit our ability to protect ourselves with handguns, limit our ability to compete in manufacturing and production, and limit our independence from foreign dependency, we may well begin to imagine the new versions of superhumans to emerge.
--Greg
|
Perhaps the most obvious answer is that these superhumans dwell outside the constructs of government-run society. They live lives where laws and regulations don’t affect them. Taxes for psychic abilities never make it into the screenplay. Immortals never deal with the difficulties of collecting their social security checks. Their world lies beyond government control and within a simpler societal construct: kill or be killed. Theirs is a construct of survival where good against evil takes precedent over the worries about immigration, oil spills, and government bailouts.
The alluring aspect to this construct is that both the good and the evil have power over their societal influence. Both have the ability to choose in what capacity they can fight for what matters to them. This is a choice which only the superhuman may possess. To be an ordinary human, in most cases, is an inability of making change beyond the familial unit. Our American government has become too big for an individual, or a small, collective group to change its current structure. When citizens united to protest bailouts and continued government spending, propelling our national debt into unfathomable levels, their voices became whispers compared to the screams of high-ranking and long-term government officials who demanded the continuation of a structure which grants them more power. As the citizens of Arizona stand up to illegal immigration, their efforts are met with scorn and threats of lawsuits which overshadow the real issue of better border security. Money and system control has become more powerful than the strongest human, but superhumans discard money and government dependency as a useless part of survival.
Vampires and wizards are beyond such worries because their need for survival offers them the ultimate independence against the will of others. These characters have become popular because they have been able to shed their need to be a collective that is reliant upon a handful of leaders to guide them. The villains can force their individual will, and the heroes can bypass regulation to enforce justice. Both sides have the strength and ability to fight for whatever passions and desires fall within their code of morals.
Today as we see the new legislature desiring to limit our ability to protect ourselves with handguns, limit our ability to compete in manufacturing and production, and limit our independence from foreign dependency, we may well begin to imagine the new versions of superhumans to emerge.
--Greg
|
Post a Comment