Superheroes. What can I say about them? One in a million, over the top, super-brains or super-strengths with a super-big heart of gold and a mission to save the world. These human wonders – from Superman to Batman to Ironman, Hulk, Captain America, and so on – have encaptured our hearts time with their stories of bravery and selflessness. We’ve heard so many stories of brave men and their adventures, and yet, none of them are as compelling as the ones about these super “big boys”.
One theory that I have formulated relates to the sensationalism in the packaging of the entire deal. The idea of a vigilante working their way through the city, fighting crime for a better tomorrow, executed with slickness, is just too irresistible to our senses. We swoon and gape in awe and wonder, wishing, wanting to be a part of their legendary worlds somehow and lose ourselves in the fictitious realm of the super-awesome.
Another theory for our everlong obsession with these super-beings is the whimsical nature of us, humans. No matter how much of a realist or pessimist or idealist we are, the idea of good-always-triumphs-over-evil appeals to the romantic in all of us – the romanticism is something I think is embedded inside every one of us; possibly as a genetic trait. All of us are absolute suckers for the good guys emerging victorious after a bloody battle, eliminating all lingering evil from the world – even if temporarily.
Whatever the reason for appeal, I think superheroes form an idea in our minds – an idea which serves as a beacon of hope to our thinking – telling us that hope is never lost; and no matter what the situation, the dark and evil will be brought to an end. Superheroes, to me (even though I’m a girl and I’m perfectly aware of their fictitious nature), are just more than an obsession – they are an inspiration, proving to me, intermittently, that there is always a choice for the right thing to be done, however hard or improbable it may seem. In the entire mass of superhero based cartoons, serials, movies, comics I’ve seen/read, I’ve discovered hidden life lessons – messages that are woven subtly into the larger-than-life storyline – and seen if inspected just a little more closely.
After all that’s said and done, the romantic in me still prays, hopes, wishes, dreams that I somehow, someday, somewhere can be a part of some superhero mission; the whole experience for real (now wouldn’t that be awesome). The realist in me has found its Kryptonite.
By Mugdha Sunil Polimera
