The Truth About Biological Determinism

[neo_prodigy]

Hat tip to my boy box_in_the_box who finally put into words something that has disturbed me for years about the biological determinism (this [white] character is innately superior because he comes from an innately superior family) trope we see too often not only in comics but in movies, tv shows, novels and other media:

"It's all the Child of Destiny bullshit.

Comments

[leoprincess]

Reminds me of the days when monarchs and their successors claimed to be God-Annointed. Just check out Henry the 8th, for one example. You think he could have gotten away with beheading wives and just about anyone who pissed him off if he was regular ol' Henry the Door Maker?

Belief in a birthright destiny is one helluva drug.

[underlankers]

And this is why I've made the analogy that there is a lot that is fascistic about the superhero genre. A good writer can, does, and should transcend this to write stirring tales of the fantastic, but in the hands of a bad writer, we get what we have in the modern superhero genre, a great deal of bad stories with bad writing amounting to butthurt by writers who don't respect either their genre or their readers