What is it about a superhero, that keeps us humans, so rational and logical at all times forsake those and feel awed at the glaring impossibility of the subject. Yet it pervades all cultures and transcends all civilizations across the eons of time itself. From Gilgamesh to our homemade Ramayana and Mahabharata, from the Nordic tales of Valhalla to the strange chalk paintings of the Australian aborigines, mankind sure loves a hero.
Apart from extolling the virtues that half of mankind surreptitiously chooses to turn a blind eye to, superheroes are an idea of perfection. Something that is meant to be aimed at, while being impossible to attain at the same time. A classic paradox. Yet every superhero has an alter-ego, and more often than not, a very nondescript character who doesn't attract a sideways glance. While it was a matter for deep consternation within me, the reason behind the mask, it was much later that I understood no superhero could have endured the ugliness and vacillations of mankind without a mask. It doesn't take long for the capricious mob to turn a hero into a villain.
And my vote goes for the Batman. The cape, the Batmobile, that batcave, the mansion, the riches, the playboy alter-ego, the utility belt,the Libran sense of justice and the greatest arch-enemy of them all-the Joker. Thats enough in my book any day.
Apart from extolling the virtues that half of mankind surreptitiously chooses to turn a blind eye to, superheroes are an idea of perfection. Something that is meant to be aimed at, while being impossible to attain at the same time. A classic paradox. Yet every superhero has an alter-ego, and more often than not, a very nondescript character who doesn't attract a sideways glance. While it was a matter for deep consternation within me, the reason behind the mask, it was much later that I understood no superhero could have endured the ugliness and vacillations of mankind without a mask. It doesn't take long for the capricious mob to turn a hero into a villain.
And my vote goes for the Batman. The cape, the Batmobile, that batcave, the mansion, the riches, the playboy alter-ego, the utility belt,the Libran sense of justice and the greatest arch-enemy of them all-the Joker. Thats enough in my book any day.
5 comments:
Batman.. I like him too.. btw.. do u know how he became BatMan.. Did a radioactive Bat bite him?
Naah coz he had a morbid fear of bats..By donning that costume he banished that fear...And if u meant that as a joke it was lame :P
:P How was that lame.. Waise I didn't really know the answer.. So thanks for the info :P
Beautiful article, the way it was done and the elegance of reasons given.
Yes we all love a superhero, and everyone would want to be one.
There was an animation movie on Justice League, in which their opponent could clone every superpower they possessed. It was in that movie that I realized, that Batman, has no superpowers, (none physical). That makes him admirably human and a person worth following.
Very interesting article.
Cheers,
Blasphemous Aesthete
@ Blasphemous Aesthete:
Thanks for visiting..
Yeah have watched the JLA movie too..Thats the brilliance of Batman..Somehow he is the one superhero who I feel is the closest to reality..
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