ABSTRACT 1.0

 

Why Do We Need to Study Superheroes?

They Teach Us What is to Be Human

 

Why do we need superheroes? What purpose or reason would we wish to create fictional worlds (ones filled with cities and people liken to those in the real world) and populate them not just with ordinary heroes, but with “superheroes.” What is our fascination with this? Why does Shakespeare fascinate us? In his own time his works were considered “trash.” We love Shakespeare because his plays and words have and continue to inspire. Some say that comic books are trash, but in reality they are more akin to our own modern mythology, our ability to tell stories that inspire us. They are a medium that has an ability to draw upon every kind of genre, form, idea, etc. – to explore whatever facet of the human condition any writer, artist, or fanboy could want. Superheroes exist as our own creations, as mirror upon the real world. Studying superheroes, like any other discipline, requires humanity to look at itself. To study superheroes is to study the ideas and archetypes that form the core of human hopes, aspirations, and ideas that inspire us to look for and create a better “real” world.

 

 

ABSTRACT 1.1

 

True Inspiration: The Rhetoric of Comic Book Superheroes”

 

Why do we need superheroes? What purpose or reason would we wish to create fictional worlds (ones filled with cities and people liken to those in the real world) and populate them not just with ordinary heroes, but with “superheroes.” What is our fascination with this? Why does Shakespeare fascinate us? In his own time his works were considered “trash.” We love Shakespeare because his plays and words have and continue to inspire. Some say that comic books are trash, but in reality they are more akin to our own modern mythology, our ability to tell stories that inspire us. They are a medium that has an ability to draw upon every kind of genre, form, idea, etc. – to explore whatever facet of the human condition any writer, artist, or fanboy/fangirl could want. Superheroes exist as our own creations, as mirror upon the real world. Studying superheroes, like any other discipline, requires humanity to look at itself. To study superheroes is to study the ideas and archetypes that form the core of human hopes, aspirations, and ideas that inspire us to look for and create a better “real” world.

 

 

ABSTRACT 2.0

 

True Inspiration: The Rhetoric of Comic Book Superheroes”

 

The Ancient Greeks had a term, skandalon. This term, in one of its definitions is defined as a kind of “stumbling block” or something that may be around you, in the every day, that one day you “stumble” while walking past and that forces you to take a much closer look at it. Comic books are evolving into just that kind of skandalon in our world today. With the advent and popularity of movies and films based on comic books and comic book superheroes, why is it impossible to think that such things as comic books superheroes should not be studied, not be taken seriously? Superheroes are a mirror upon the real world. Studying superheroes, like any other discipline, requires humanity to look at itself – like the plays of Shakespeare (that were themselves just “popular” entertainment in his time). To study superheroes is to study the ideas and archetypes that form the core of human hopes, aspirations, and ideas that inspire us to look for and create a better “real” world. Comic book superheroes represent a rhetorical opportunity to self-examine and explore humanity, like any other piece of literature, in order to discover what inspires us to create a better world.