blunderbuss (![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small} blunderbuss) wrote in ![[community profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small} scans_daily, |
I'd agree that it's Tall Poppy Syndrome, but I also think that it's something else too - the apparent elitism of superheroes. These are people who, whether anyone likes it or not, are responsible for keeping the world and the people safe. But an ordinary MU citizen can't become a superhero, either because they didn't get powers or have the ability to make their own substitute, making them powerless to do anything but place their lives in a bunch of people who were never trained or elected for the position they have. That's why they made things like the sentintels; to give humans some morsel of power over these people.
I mean, imagine living in a world where the entire police force/army was made of people who were born into the position and it was nearly impossible for an average person to join or even oppose these people. Wouldn't that be really unnerving, having to hope that these people will be good people or you're totally screwed? Wouldn't it be really irritating, having a class of people stationed so far above you that you could never touch them? But you have to tolerate it, because you need them.
That's what I think it is, really, a form of class warfare. When you have an untouchable super-class, people resent them real quick. Add in the fact that most of them have flashy costumes, masks, and neat toys and they're totally unrelateable. They are to us, the reader, because we see inside their lives, but to the average MU citizen they have no idea of knowing if Spidey isn't some asshole glory hound.
See, this is what Civil War should have been about for the pro-regs; unmasking heroes to make them seem like normal, relateable people who are trained and hired by the government just like anyone else.
It's also very similar to how real-life people who want their superheroes to be amoral assholes because it's "realistic", even though the genre is "superhero" not "superasshole" or even "superperson".
While the genre is 'superhero', I disagree with the idea that this means all super people must be heroic/good people. After all, the term has been around for a very long time to cover a pretty big genre, and Superman did a lot of dickery back when he was the superhero.
I mean, imagine living in a world where the entire police force/army was made of people who were born into the position and it was nearly impossible for an average person to join or even oppose these people. Wouldn't that be really unnerving, having to hope that these people will be good people or you're totally screwed? Wouldn't it be really irritating, having a class of people stationed so far above you that you could never touch them? But you have to tolerate it, because you need them.
That's what I think it is, really, a form of class warfare. When you have an untouchable super-class, people resent them real quick. Add in the fact that most of them have flashy costumes, masks, and neat toys and they're totally unrelateable. They are to us, the reader, because we see inside their lives, but to the average MU citizen they have no idea of knowing if Spidey isn't some asshole glory hound.
See, this is what Civil War should have been about for the pro-regs; unmasking heroes to make them seem like normal, relateable people who are trained and hired by the government just like anyone else.
It's also very similar to how real-life people who want their superheroes to be amoral assholes because it's "realistic", even though the genre is "superhero" not "superasshole" or even "superperson".
While the genre is 'superhero', I disagree with the idea that this means all super people must be heroic/good people. After all, the term has been around for a very long time to cover a pretty big genre, and Superman did a lot of dickery back when he was the superhero.
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