First... My bona fides. Born in 1976. Saw Chris Reeves as Superman at age three. Grew up in a house with old comics and started collecting them at around 8-9. I remember when as a child all the old toons from the 60's Marvel toons, Superfriends and original Spidey toon were staples in syndication on the local stations along with West's Batman, George Reeves Supes, Carter's Wonder Woman and remember seeing the Bixby Hulk first run. Worked in a comic book shop through my teen years. I went to Catholic School but in my twenties fell from the faith but realized I was more of a steadfast "worshiper" of super heroes than anything else.
This was... This was a big realization for myself. This fiction was so deeply rooted in my psyche that it had primacy over the faith I was raised in. I came to realize just how much an affect these mere stories could have on me and since I'm not special, how that could easily translate to other people falling into that same ballpark. It made clear why the arguments and borderline fanaticism fans would get into in real life would happen and then when I started to go online it crystalized even more how ingrained into people's lives these things were. For good or ill.
And the way fans are expressing themselves these days in regards to this material is starting to feel worrisome to me as both an observer but as a fellow fan who does think deeply about these characters and worlds and does know first hand the meanings and values they can provide and the emotional attachments that they are wrapped up in. They are a mythology of the Post World War II world and that goes beyond merely a collection of stories in the way our minds react and interact with these corporate controlled intellectual properties. We forget, what we refer to academically as "mythology" today for thousands of years was the default RELIGION of untold cultures. And if I'm even partially correct in looking at them as I do, these worlds of super heroes, supported by big media companies with a variety of current day products across a wide range, are getting much more enmeshed within the psyches of a lot of fans. Unlike just 30-40 years ago people are now capable of practically living with these fictional worlds on a daily basis. You can literally become ensconced within your fandom of what ever franchise entertainment product you wish to. Your home can be decorated with visual reminders, talismans if you will of your characters or fictional universe of your choice. You can play out the varying scenarios you want in video games or experience them in highly detailed multi million dollar films created by top talent from the world of film making. Socially it's now become a thing to regularly dress up or "cosplay" as the characters on a fairly regular basis in settings that attract the rest of the faithful. People now find online communities that cater to them and accept actions that not long ago relatively speaking might come off as generally obsessive, like the writing of fan fiction or daily analysis of these fantasies which indeed do use rather terms that used to be reserved for academic discussions like canon or indeed, mythology.
And I'm not markedly different. I do a lot of thinking, and FEELING, about these things. My mother often says about this that, "It could be worse... It could be drinking or drugs or gambling" or a host of other behaviors which easily lead to self destruction. As I revealed I came to look at myself and understand that the very lens I looked the world through was highly influenced by the fantasy worlds or comic book super heroes. But... I didn't look at that as some unalloyed good for whatever reason. Having certain perspective was for me, just healthy. I don't think it's any different than understanding the arbitrary nature and mirrored fanaticism we see in sports fans. Or... Religious and Political extremism.
What I'm getting at in this ramble is this... We NEED to have perspective. Point blank. Where is the self control? Where is the self examination? Where is the understanding of limitations? Where is maturity of the psyche? In other words... Where is there the expression of the very meanings and values we are claiming to be learning from super heroes (or most fictional stories about "good guys vs bad guys" taking place in highly textured fictional worlds like Harry Potter, or LoTR etc.) ?
We are giving this mythology such primacy and claiming we cherish it for it's lessons and inspiration, often giving us something we think is lacking in our real lives. I get that. But... Are we losing sight of real mature perspective along the way? I mean, I have absolutely cried or felt an emotional rush watching many a comic book based film or TV show. I have relished being able to so regularly trade words and ideas with other fans just as enthusiastic as I am for this stuff. But getting to the subject of this thread directly.... "Feeling empty"? Being so emotionally attached to these pop culture creations that the affect is profound enough that I even approach using those words, that kind of language? I don't know... With so many of us expressing ourselves in such extreme ways without irony or detachment, is it perhaps time for some of us to reevaluate our relationship with this material?
This goes beyond this thread to what I have gleaned from being on the Hype forums six years now. It might just be an age thing. I was pretty much an adult when the MCU and the Nolan trilogy hit and I was high school age when some other things like Batman the animated series hit so maybe I wasn't at an age to be as imprinted by these other products based on super heroes to be so shaped by them. Regardless... I think the impression I get online too often is that of a lot of people younger than I that are lacking in perspective and on top of that now have an environment that helps to or at least contributes to stopping a person from achieving perspective. When you grow up in a post TDKT and MCU world where it seems like so much of the world is obsessed with this stuff, no wonder perspective can be skewed.
Which is odd as I already stated, this is all mythology and mythology isn't just fun stories. It is something that should do more than just help to comfort, it should help us confront things in our lives. It should help us with coping. It should do a lot. And it does need to be something we connect with on a deep and visceral level to do that... But if it's not giving us a healthy perspective or we reject a healthy perspective I think it can easily slide into a category where it's not a positive influence but one which corrodes ourselves and our potential. If all knowledge is truly self knowledge well what are we saying about ourselves when so many, not just the OP because what I'm bringing up here is bigger than just this thread, cannot control their own emotional well being, actually get depressed or close to it, because a corporate entertainment is in a transitional phase and did a story that closed a chapter on some characters and concepts?
Comic book based entertainments are now bigger than ever (ironically as the comic books themselves are dying a slow death) and they are having a cultural resonance and effect. And as we can see this is manifesting itself beyond anything ever before. Not just on the personal level of emotional well being but look at how recently politics and cultural divides is now being roped in as well. And I'm not making an argument that we can or should exile these things from super heroes, and I'm not saying that it's bad that these things evoke strong emotions or that they have influences on us on both a conscious or unconscious level. What I am saying is we need self awareness about these pop cultural products and their affect on us and how we are reacting to them. And that means having a discussion with our own selves and with other fans not just about how much we love these things and how "awesome" they are but maybe if we are doing all this also try and figure out how we can minimize their negative affects and maximize the positives and perhaps, just perhaps that means our starting point would be fully grapple with their nature as fiction and not get swept up in the emotions of it all to the point where our state of mind can be so easily affected.
