I am no Lois Lane. And this is no Metropolis. So this is not going to get me the coveted Pulitzer! But I had to say this. I owe this much to my childhood (and adulthood) superhero.
Isn’t that the best part of the Internet? You can be anyone online. You can write anything you want. Blogging is more like talking to ourselves. Atleast for me, it is. So I can write whatever I want; because as far as I know, I will be the only one reading it. Aha!!!
Each one of us has a hero! We always have had one. Maybe it has not been a single character – it has changed over years. My hero is always my Dad and will be, but let us face it; he is no Superman (well, if he is, he has kept his identity a secret from me successfully for 25 years).
So why does the world need a superhero? We have survived so long without one, have we not? Lois Lane said that there were everyday superheroes among us who are teachers, doctors, cops etc. But isn’t there a limit to what they can achieve? Superheroes have limits too, isn’t it? And aren’t there a lot of superheroes out there? Why Superman?
Firstly,
Batman is Bruce Wayne – No powers! He built them to help him!
Spiderman is Peter Parker – No powers! Got bit by a radioactive spider to get spider-instincts!
I could go on and on about such examples. But, the point I am trying to make is, Superman came to Earth as Superman. Clark Kent is his cover. Superman is who he actually is. Not a farm boy from Smallville. But an alien from a far-off planet called Krypton.
Secondly,
There is a limit to whatever any superhero can do. But none have so many powers as Superman; the biggest being that – he punishes, but never takes a life. That is a very difficult thing for a superhero with these many powers to do. Cheers to the superb self-control. Haha!!
So again, why the hell does the world need Superman? For hope! As much as we say that we do not like comics or that we have no heroes, the truth is that at some part of your grown-up life you did or will wish that you had the power to simply spin the Earth backwards on its axis, so that you could redo things properly or correct past mistakes. Superman is the embodiment of this hope. Life is all about faith and hope. Faith in ourselves and in god that we will never do something that we will regret later. Hope that even if we did something bad, either nobody will know about it or that somebody will show us a way to correct it.
This is the reason for Superman being alive and young and the best superhero ever in all our minds for so many years. This is why people spend hours watching movies and series on how Superman always saves the day (even through all the difficult choices that he takes). This is why you still see grown-ass men proudly wearing T-shirts with his logo printed on it. And this is why the world will always need Superman.
P.S. Now can someone make sure this reaches the Pulitzer Board A.S.A.P.? Thank you!
P.P.S. – Can someone also please ask the people releasing episode after episode of Smallville, to wrap the damn thing up! I am fed up of waiting for each new episode every week.
Post your Hush post, now I must say you've got to read All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison/Frank Quitely.
ReplyDeleteSuperman is the ideal hero and that's one reason he's loved so much and has been around for so long since his inception. There are, however, different takes on the character, like Superman: Red Son is a 'what if he ended up in Russia'. We have this tendency to look up to heroes, and we have had heroes and we've been let down more times than been redeemed, blame it on our moral awkwardness. Not tending to be off topic (but I'm am I not), now imagine the catastrophe of a superhero going wrong. Well, it's all been imagined and out there for us to read!
Aren't superheroes gone wrong called supervillains??? lol... Jus kidding.. Will read All-Star Superman soon... Thanks a lot for stopping by and taking the time to read... :)
ReplyDeleteYup, that's one way of putting it. What I was driving at is: There's only one superhero (we can't have too many of them, can we) and he goes all...wrong! Like Ellis puts it in his Supergod: 'Praying to be saved by a man who can fly will get you killed' obviously because he'd have highly 'evolved ethics' which to us mere mortals would seem 'devolved'. While you're at it, give Red Son a shot as well. It's lotta fun, too, and not all that 'evil', in case I sounded it to be just that.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure!
Evil is good.. It is needed to make u realise what "good" is... So bring on the evil... Luv tat quote from Supergod!!! Hunting red Son soon... :)
ReplyDelete