(no subject)

[earthscorch]

I think that the attitude of everyone being a winner (giving all teams trophies in Little League, etc.) and taking all challenge and effort out of life have created a widespread attitude that anyone better than you is to be despised. Maybe this is why even superheroes are all unlikeable douchebags nowadays... You know, the attitude that Superman isn't likeable if he's a "boy scout." I see a lot of this sentiment that infallible types are bad. Characters with flaws are good and relateable, but do we need to relate to Bugs Bunny, for instance, who always lands on his feet -- that's just his gag. Superheroes and wrestling seem to go hand-in-hand, since the 80's, and the trend of the "faces" disappearing from comics seems to be mirrored in wrestling. Are there any real good guy-good guy wrestlers anymore, or just the lesser of two evils? It's like the old DC comic Kingdom Come predicted, where good vs. evil devolved into little more than gang violence. Things like the casual killing by superheroes in the Avengers -- even Captain America! -- troubles me greatly. Are we so desensitized to violence that killing people in movies means no more to us than killing a random dude in Contra?

What happened to people we can look up to? Part of the reason I'm the way I am is doubtless because I had good role models in my entertainment as a kid: the virtues of Ultima, Quest for Glory, superheroes, etc. Even the cheesiest Saturday morning cartoons paid at least lip service to doing the right thing, as I recall. The good guys aren't to be despised for being better than us: they are to be admired, and their standard is for us to aspire to.