Dec Talking Meme - oops, should have posted this yesterday
Dec 15, dragonofmemory wants me to talk about: superheroes, what makes them super
I've liked superheroes for quite a while now, and I think I'll never stop liking the genre. Here are some reasons why:
1) Superheroes are always good for secrets and reveals. Superheroes without secret identities or double lives can be interesting, sure. Marvel is currently my favourite, and they don't do secret identities as much as DC, but even there I like stories where for example Tony Stark doesn't do the early Iron Man reveal.
2) Superheroes are the modern equivalent of a number of older genres, all of which I like - mythology, the classic and medieval epic, folk hero stories, Arthurian romance and Gothic, just to name a few. Sometimes you recognize the old in the new, and that gives me a particular kind of pleasure. It's like there's a particular mode to literature that all these genres belong to: stories that are popular and to some extent archetypal, with heroes that are larger than life, set in developing and expandable universes.
3) And since I'm talking of universes already: both Marvel and DC have been creating their mythologies for decades. They've grown to a size and complexity that single-creator stories, one-shot movies or TV series that only last for a couple of years rarely reach. In a way it's a lot like fanfic: there may or may not be a single original text, but people keep adapting, appropriating and expanding this text. Star Trek or Doctor Who are other examples of this phenomenon, and as you know, I also love them.
5) Superpowers are fun, because they cause unique problems and opportunities. They're wish fulfilment fantasies and metaphors for everyday issues, and they allow you to write stories where fantasy and sci-fi, detective and spy fiction and all sorts of other genres intersect. This mix of genres is another thing I like, see X-Files or Buffy (arguably, "superhero" is Buffy's genre).
6) Iconicity - most superheroes can be boiled down to a few bare essentials, a handful of key images and themes. Usually, these key images all come from the hero's origin story. And then it's just a matter of variations on a theme, of using the same basic structure and tweaking it a little. A lot of the pleasure of superheroes lies in repetition and in the way a savvy fan can always say "I see what you did there". This is also great for AUs (both Marvel and DC have been doing "canonical" AUs for ages) and for subversions of the theme.
7) I like the visual aesthetics of superheroes - bright and fantastic costumes, breath-taking fights, attractive people. It's got the same appeal as figure-skating or circus acrobats.
I've liked superheroes for quite a while now, and I think I'll never stop liking the genre. Here are some reasons why:
1) Superheroes are always good for secrets and reveals. Superheroes without secret identities or double lives can be interesting, sure. Marvel is currently my favourite, and they don't do secret identities as much as DC, but even there I like stories where for example Tony Stark doesn't do the early Iron Man reveal.
2) Superheroes are the modern equivalent of a number of older genres, all of which I like - mythology, the classic and medieval epic, folk hero stories, Arthurian romance and Gothic, just to name a few. Sometimes you recognize the old in the new, and that gives me a particular kind of pleasure. It's like there's a particular mode to literature that all these genres belong to: stories that are popular and to some extent archetypal, with heroes that are larger than life, set in developing and expandable universes.
3) And since I'm talking of universes already: both Marvel and DC have been creating their mythologies for decades. They've grown to a size and complexity that single-creator stories, one-shot movies or TV series that only last for a couple of years rarely reach. In a way it's a lot like fanfic: there may or may not be a single original text, but people keep adapting, appropriating and expanding this text. Star Trek or Doctor Who are other examples of this phenomenon, and as you know, I also love them.
5) Superpowers are fun, because they cause unique problems and opportunities. They're wish fulfilment fantasies and metaphors for everyday issues, and they allow you to write stories where fantasy and sci-fi, detective and spy fiction and all sorts of other genres intersect. This mix of genres is another thing I like, see X-Files or Buffy (arguably, "superhero" is Buffy's genre).
6) Iconicity - most superheroes can be boiled down to a few bare essentials, a handful of key images and themes. Usually, these key images all come from the hero's origin story. And then it's just a matter of variations on a theme, of using the same basic structure and tweaking it a little. A lot of the pleasure of superheroes lies in repetition and in the way a savvy fan can always say "I see what you did there". This is also great for AUs (both Marvel and DC have been doing "canonical" AUs for ages) and for subversions of the theme.
7) I like the visual aesthetics of superheroes - bright and fantastic costumes, breath-taking fights, attractive people. It's got the same appeal as figure-skating or circus acrobats.