Assignment 1: Exploratory Study : Superheroes
Essay:
Superheroes. Superheroes are one of the things that most people get excited and fanatic when they hear about it. A superhero defines as a hero, especially in comic books such as DC and Marvel Comics. A character in television cartoons or movies. A benevolent fictional character with superhuman powers, such as Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and much more. Stan Lee, who was one of the creators of the modern superhero template. His early comics featuring Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Hulk, Thor, and The Avengers led Marvel to success. These characters are one of the well-known superheroes for decades that many people find it as their favourites. In this essay, we are supposed to talk about what my favourite superhero is. Unfortunately, I do not have any favourite superheroes.
I ask myself a few times why I'm not interested in superheroes and just like anyone else besides me. I am that kind of person who grew up with a different kind background than any other kids and I did not have any interests on any superhero characters. I grew up with watching less movies due to some complicated personal reasons. If you ask me questions about superheroes, I would not be able to respond in the way you would expect.
To be honest, despite for not having any favourite superhero; I really admire how some fictional superhero characters can give a good role model and positive attribute for people to look up to. How Superheroes can tell them about the possibilities before they have to decide. Although some of the modern films may carry age restrictions for their fight scenes being too violent for young audiences, the core values across all Superhero stories are good. Stories that are simple and strong and a lesson is usually learned. The positive message that are helping and protecting one another. Efforts are rewarded and good eventually overcomes evil. Superheroes are in any many ways the modern equivalent of ancient mythology. As for the good qualities that most superheroes exhibit that you might hope rub off on your children, expect a powerful sense of responsibility for your own actions, overriding hope for the future, and the impulse to sacrifice for others. And as such, they are a perfect definition of role models, in that they embody various different qualities that we (readers, children, consumers of superhero stories, etc.) benefit greatly from understanding
For example, someone like Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is already unique among movies as the first female-led superhero film since Marvel released the superhero boom with Iron Man, without the need to turn the woman into a damsel in distress. As a woman, I see characters like Wonder Woman can break the stereotype and people thoughts and perspective about women on how women can play variety of significant roles in our society. That character shows that a woman can be strong and independent just like how men can be and it gives hope to young girls that they can be anything that they want to be when they grow up. According to an actress Gal Gadot; who acted as the superhero in the Wonder Woman film told that Wonder Woman is a real role model for young girls. She said "For girls, it was always the princess being saved. Now we have Wonder Woman – she's fearless, proactive, she believes in herself and she believes she can do everything. That's a true woman for me."
In addition, I believe that superheroes are good for children as it is important for kids to have creativeness. Without imagination and creativity, creative thinking and problem solving would not exist. I like the idea on how superheroes can bring inspiration in confidence. I believe that some of us are, or develop into, introverts and others extroverts, with all the shades of varieties in between. Gaining confidence in the most naturally introverted children that may make a difference for the world. Some characters like Clark Kent, Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker provide wonderful examples of introverts with inner confidence that allows them to become Superman, Batman and Spiderman. Super cool role models delivering good subliminal messaging.
Besides of all of the superheroes from DC and Marvel, I believe that superheroes who give good values and lessons to be learn can also be found in cartoons like Steven Universe. I know Steven Universe isn’t officially counted as a superhero but from my perspective he seems to look like one. It is a story about a little boy who has a mission to protect the planet Earth humanity from monsters and other threats along with Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl (who are the warriors from the Crystal Gems). The main character itself (Steven Universe) who is a half human being and a half alien-gem who was destined to take his mother’s place to take over as a leader of the Crystal Gems. The first episode started off with Steven being an innocent little boy singing a song about his favourite ice cream sandwich until he found out he has powers after his gem was able to summon a shield that was owned by his late mother. Throughout the following episodes, I noticed that Steven has grown up from a scared little boy who know less about fighting skills to a brave young boy who is ready to protect the evil villains. The lessons and values that I have learned from this cartoon is that love from friends and family is important and with a little hard work, braveness and confidence, you can fight your fears. Just like how Steven never gave up on trying to save his family from kidnapped by the Homeworld Gems.
In conclusion, I am impress on how amazing superheroes can be. How each of them has their own personal interesting background stories before they became a superhero. How they able to prove that there is good in this cruel world. How they can attract many people from many generations and how creative can people be with creating superheroes.