Superheroes = Role Models
Let me begin by first stating I am probably the biggest nerd in the known universe. I have thousands of comic books, video games, books and movies. I can tell you the origin of every Spider-man supervillain and tell you which issue they first appeared. My typical Friday night in high school was reading comics books and playing role playing games until I fell asleep. I was the polar opposite of cool.
I have always thought comic books and media were our modern mythologies. These characters are our society’s Zeus, Hera, Hercules, Achilles, and Odysseus. Besides giving us hours of entertainment, the heroes in our media also provide us with role models. The heroes of these stories display traits that we as a society respect such as determination, self-sacrifice, leadership, humility and so forth. Their counter parts, the villains, display traits that we tend to despise as a society such as cunning, hubris, megalomania, selfishness, and other ugly words.
Superheroes make the decisions that no one else wants to make for the greater good of mankind. Superheroes put themselves on the line and stand up for what is right and just. Superheroes never give up and strive forward in their quest to show the world that one man can make a difference. Nerds follow the adventures of these superheroes to an almost religious compulsion but something went horribly wrong.
Most of the nerds I ever met are the last people to display the traits of the superhero even though the superhero has been their role model throughout their entire lives. Nerds are the first ones to lie and blame others so they don’t get in trouble. Nerds are the first ones to back down from situations or turn the other cheek when someone needs help. Nerds are the first ones to stab you in the back in order to get a better footing in life and then ignore you and pretend you don’t exist.
These traits are the polar opposite of their heroes. In fact, these traits are more like the super villains they’ve been raised to despise. Something went terribly wrong.
Growing up I was a huge Spider-man fan. I have collected every issue of Spider-man comic books (Amazing Spider-man, Peter Parker: Spider-man, Spectacular Spider-man, Web of Spider-man, Sensational Spider-man, and Spider-man Unlimited) from 1981 to when I stopped collecting in 2000. I always loved Spider-man because out of all the superheroes, he was the most like me. He was nerdy and came from a broken home. He was blue collar and had to constantly worry about making ends meet. He had an interest in science and was shunned by others because of it. He had encounters with potential loves but was usually left with a broken heart. He lived a ho-hum existence by day but lived the life of the adventurer by night. And the trait he and I shared the most was that he was flawed.
The first thing Peter Parker did when he acquired his powers was tried to get rich off of them. It wasn’t until he lost a loved one through his negligence that he decided to become a hero. I would have done the same exact thing if a radioactive spider bit me.
Spider-man was a great role model for me because even though he made mistakes, he would always fight with everything in his heart to set the wrong right again. He wasn’t perfect like so many of the other superheroes. He was someone I can be like. Someone like me.
I remember there was this occurrence I never forget. I was living in my crappy studio apartment in the ghetto during that time. While at the laundry mat waiting for my clothes to dry, I was cramming as much studying as possible because I had a test the next morning. An older woman came into the Laundromat barely able to hold up her load of clothes. All of the people ignored her and wouldn’t move their things out of the way. I put down all of my books and came to her aid. She was very old and handicapped. I washed and dried all of her clothes for her and stayed with her until she was ready to leave. She told me that I was a beautiful man and people don’t do these types of things anymore. Here is the part that will stay with me forever, after I put her clothes in her trunk she stated she was Polish and lifted up her sleeve. There I saw green faded tattooed numbers on her forearm.
As you can imagine, I didn’t study that night. I got home and threw my clean clothes onto the floor and passed out. I woke up that next morning and somehow still managed to get an A on the test. It must have been my nerd powers!
Sadly the day in the Laundromat wasn’t the only day in my life where I took action because no one else would. There was this one time I was at Target. A woman with way too many kids was trying to buy baby formula with a gift card. The gift card was maxed out and kept declining. The people waiting in line behind her grew restless and agitated. The woman looked right to left in embarrassment and I saw the sadness on her face. I pulled a wad of cash out of my wallet and gave it to the cashier. I couldn’t hear her but the woman was mouthing “thank you” as I walked away. The look of gratitude on her face was worth more than anything the dollars I gave the cashier could ever buy me.
Superhero films are big time blockbuster movies. These high budget special effects extravaganzas rake in so much money it’s ridiculous. In order for these films to take in this much cash means there has to be a demographic out there for them. A huge demographic of people who, like me, are captivated by watching heroes do what they have to do to save the day in others’ lives. So why do I feel like I’m the only person trying to emulate the heroes?
Somewhere along the way people learned to turn the other cheek and be selfish. People learned that you get what you want faster if you emulate the villain and lie, cheat, blame others, use people, manipulate, and only look out for yourself. Yet for some reason, they still feel captivated by the hero and like to go on his adventure with him for two hours at a time.
Not me. I have related with and gone on the hero’s adventure for 28 years thus far. I have listened to the lessons he has taught me and done everything in my power to stand by them. Sure, I’m not perfect and make mistakes, but I’ll always do my best to do what is right. Maybe in an alternate world a young Peter Parker is reading an issue of The Amazing Victor Phan and saying to himself, “This is someone I can be like. Someone like me.”
Victor Phan & Clark Jones
Torture Chamber Productions
January 27, 2010