Quite frankly, I don't get it. I'm not sure why I should want these people to succeed, or how I am supposed to relate to them, especially when - as in the case with a lot of these stories - the actions of these characters greatly damage (or end) the lives of innocents, minus any semblance of guilt or remorse.
The most common version of this story can be seen in the many vampire themed shows/films/books still being released. Vampires are supposed to be monsters. Or poor souls who are cursed. Vampirism is not meant to be a gift, and yet that's exactly what it is in pop-vamp stories. Where's the story in which vampires have to actually fear death at the hands of someone greater than them? I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm starting to miss Buffy.
Another example is the popular anime Baccano, which is also about immortals, many of which who are mobsters in 1920's New York. Again, am I supposed to be rooting for a bunch of murderous assholes who manage to cheat death time after time? I watched the first episode, and I couldn't go any farther.
Most recently, I've been a bit bothered by the "found footage" film Chronicle. A bunch of teens gain superpowers, and use them exactly how a teenager would - to get their kicks without regard to how their actions effect others, even if that means that people die. The film is based around all sorts of cliched themes - the "main" main character is an emo kid with a bad family who decides to lash out the most once he's stronger than anyone else. Chronicle takes overplayed themes like "person gains power, decides everyone else is now suddenly beneath them", and "deep down inside, we're all terrible creatures", and like everything else, presents them as new revelations which no one has ever pondered before.
Look, I'm not denying that human beings might be miserable and awful by nature. But dammit, I still want to have hope. Hope that not everyone would act terrible if given the chance to break the rules without consequence. Hope that if some weird supernatural occurrence did take place in reality, I wouldn't be dead on arrival. I'm not trying to hide from reality — I just don't need constant reminders of how shitty people can be when I turn to a piece of entertainment.
Furthermore, I'm disheartened when reviewers claim that the traditional superhero creed "with great power comes great responsibility" is hokey and unrealistic. The point of the saying (at least in regards to Spiderman) is not to define how everyone will handle power, but how we should. Because with nothing more than a gun, a criminal was able to bring Peter Parker's life down around him. And it didn't take many neurons for Peter to realize that with his powers, he could do far more damage to far more people. But after the loss of Uncle Ben, he knew there was no way he would want to put good people through anything like he felt. That's why he became a superhero. The saying, to me, is merely trying to encourage us to act the right way. Calling it hokey is missing the point entirely.
I think that leads to the flip side of these stories — as much as they try to paint a bleak, realistic picture of how the supernatural would fit into our world, in another way they're a complete denial of real life. For example, I'm not actually surprised to see a book such as Twilight portray vampirism as a free ticket to eternal life with lots of money and pretty people. Young people tend to think they're invincible, and effectively immortal. When they begin to get a bit older, and first start to ponder their inevitable end, you can expect a little bit of denial, in the form of some fiction that says that maybe, just maybe, they can escape it. Or if they are younger, something that reinforces their beliefs.
However, when this kind of storytelling becomes popular with adults, and begins to proliferate to every corner of pop culture, I start to get worried. It suggests that people refuse to shed their adolescent mentality, and accept and deal with the consequences and responsibilities that come with being an adult.
As for power fantasies like Chronicle, I wonder whether the point is to show what kids would do with superpowers, or to justify the natural (but unsustainable) feelings of isolation, rebellion and misguided superiority felt by (1st world) teens. Kids are going to act like jerks for all the wrong reasons, but sooner or later they're supposed to grow out of it. But in a world where the Internet lets us isolate ourselves from reality in the name of propping up the fantasy in our heads, you wind up with folks who will act like brats well into their mid 20's. Read a certain way, a film like Chronicle says "do you know how feel like you have it all figured out, and all those grown ups are in the wrong? That if you only were given the chance, you'd show them who's boss? Well guess what? You're totally right. And if really given the chance, you'd be fucking awesome. No one could stop you. And everyone else? Their lives and hopes and dreams? You were right about those too - none of it matters. After all, you're the only one who isn't a sheep."
I don't need any of this. Truth be told, I'm quite afraid of death, to this very day. But I can't deny its existence, nor its inevitability. And often times I do feel overwhelmed with the pressures of adult life. My response to this is to simply do the best I can to get through it all. Running away from it simply isn't acceptable, at least not for a sustainable period of time.
Fantasy is good as a source of escape, but there's a difference between escape, and fueling your belief that you aren't just another guy or gal trying to get through the day.
To put it another way, I wish for a day when "just getting through the day" isn't considered a failure state in life.
However, when this kind of storytelling becomes popular with adults, and begins to proliferate to every corner of pop culture, I start to get worried. It suggests that people refuse to shed their adolescent mentality, and accept and deal with the consequences and responsibilities that come with being an adult.
As for power fantasies like Chronicle, I wonder whether the point is to show what kids would do with superpowers, or to justify the natural (but unsustainable) feelings of isolation, rebellion and misguided superiority felt by (1st world) teens. Kids are going to act like jerks for all the wrong reasons, but sooner or later they're supposed to grow out of it. But in a world where the Internet lets us isolate ourselves from reality in the name of propping up the fantasy in our heads, you wind up with folks who will act like brats well into their mid 20's. Read a certain way, a film like Chronicle says "do you know how feel like you have it all figured out, and all those grown ups are in the wrong? That if you only were given the chance, you'd show them who's boss? Well guess what? You're totally right. And if really given the chance, you'd be fucking awesome. No one could stop you. And everyone else? Their lives and hopes and dreams? You were right about those too - none of it matters. After all, you're the only one who isn't a sheep."
I don't need any of this. Truth be told, I'm quite afraid of death, to this very day. But I can't deny its existence, nor its inevitability. And often times I do feel overwhelmed with the pressures of adult life. My response to this is to simply do the best I can to get through it all. Running away from it simply isn't acceptable, at least not for a sustainable period of time.
Fantasy is good as a source of escape, but there's a difference between escape, and fueling your belief that you aren't just another guy or gal trying to get through the day.
To put it another way, I wish for a day when "just getting through the day" isn't considered a failure state in life.
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