reading response 4: the fate of heroism

Prior to doing any 2-3 page Reading Response, please read the following: Readings for this Class.

Pick a group (3 to 4 people in each group)

Discussion Questions that Might be relevant; for your Reading Response, you may want to answer any 4 questions:

As much as possible, try to perform old-school analysis by utilizing strong evidence incorporation; additionally play with new-school analysis by potentially conducting external research (especially including personal opinion)

A. Spider-Man

1. What are the struggles that Peter Parker endures that particularly resonate with an adolescent or college-aged audience? How is the fact that many people DON'T like Spider-Man, including his own boss, different from other vantage points in the Superhero universe? (e.g. how Superman is largely respected?)

2. Consider the lessons you were taught about being "successful," even as early as childhood. What were those lessons, and who imparted those lessons? Given the utilitarian stance on page 181, do those early elements of "success" mesh well with your current gauge of "success?" Are they different or the same? Why?

3. What is the didactic purpose behind the author's discussion of whether or not Jean Grey should save the passengers on a bus thrown by Juggernaut at the cost of her own personal health? What is the potential personal lesson that can be discerned from this section (pages 182-83)? Are you engaged in a similar situation in which you have divided sensibilities in terms of your obligations to yourself/others?

4. Describe Kant's categorical imperative in your own terms (184-85) after getting a sense of what it means to the author. Then discuss the applicability of this imperative in your own life and your conduct towards other people.

5. In the last section of the article, there is a strong discussion of the obstacles which superheroes face in cultivating and maintaining relationships. Imagine that you have some super-powers. How do these super-powers affect, if not impede your relationships with a girlfriend or boyfriend, wife or husband?

B. Secret-Identities

1. Discuss the various masks you wear in different contexts, if at all. For example, when you are at work, what mask do you wear? When you are at home, what mask is it? When you meet new people? What is the utility of the masks that you don at every different context in your life?

2. Discuss the utility and design of the costume that is worn for 2 fictional male heroes. How does the form (design) of the costume increase or influence the function (purpose)? (For example, in most cases, as discussed in the animated film, The Incredibles, shouldn't a cape be seen as a major impediment towards fighting crime?)

3. Explain how gender plays a role in costuming. For example, using the 2 male heroes depicted above, discuss how their costuming choices are largely difference when compared to two female heroes/villains. In essence how did the costuming decisions change or shift due to the genders of the characters?

4. How might you relate the cultivation of a secret identity to the lives of celebrities involved in papparazzi culture? In other words, why do celebrities wear baseball caps and sunglasses and all sorts of "bad fashions" so as to cultivate an entirely different ethos? Why is "Clark Kent" an effective secret identity for a celebrity like Superman?

5. Citing textual evidence, how are Batman and Superman a seeming yin-yang amongst superheroes? Who or what is your yin or your yang? Why?

C. Watchmen/Dark-Knight

1. When Frank Miller wrote The Dark Knight Returns, traditionalist fanboys were outraged. When movies like Harry Potter do not conform to the readers' expectations of how Harry should look or behave, readers get outraged. How is superhero revisionism subject to the whims of the audience? How does revisionism affect reader response to CHANGES in the text?

2. On page 35 of the article, the author cites Nietsche's quote: "Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you" (qtd. in Skoble 35). How is this particular quote applicable to a police officer? Batman? A character in The Watchmen? How is the quote potentially applicable to any individual?

3. In The Watchmen, Ozymandias is a highly compelling character in that he acts in a utilitarian manner to achieve a seemingly utopian goal. What makes Ozymandias flawed? What makes him famous? What makes him a hero?

4. The author raises a fantastic question on page 38 about whether any one entity, person, group, or nation, should serve as a watchman or overseer: "Could anyone ever be trusted to occupy the position of a watchman over the world?" What do you think?

5. There are many modern analogues regarding people needing to become monsters in order to combat monstrosity, especially in an age of global terrorism. What is your stance? Do we need to fight fire with fire, carve out an alternate path, such as diplomacy—if you were a member of a blog or message board advocating how to deal with terrorism in the world, what would you advocate?