Commentary
Jake Zweber
English 120
Audience: I am writing to Americans. More specifically, I am writing to people aged 16-25 because they are around the age group that is the most likely to be exposed and/or interested in superheroes.
Purpose: I hope to bring Joseph Campbell’s theory to light with the younger population and explain why superheroes have become so popular by explaining that cultures that lack a specific rite of passage into adulthood reach their maturity through myths.
Publication: I would hope to publish my commentary on Thought Catalogue. Thought Catalogue is an online magazine that encourages different viewpoints and ideas. It would be nice because there are probably very few commentaries out there that deal with the same topic as mine.
Super hype over Superheroes
When we hear the word myth we generally think of the tales of the ancient Greek and Roman deities ruling over their human subjects with divine power. We think of big foot, UFOs, and leprechauns hiding their gold at the end of rainbows. But most commonly, we think of superheroes. The term superhero usually refers to humans who have been gifted with some sort of supernatural power which they use to fight against the never-ending armies of evil.
Superheroes represent our modern day interpretation of myth. In ancient cultures, myths usually portrayed some sort of divine being or human gifted with special powers. They are sent on a quest to save their civilization from disaster or even to save the entire world.
It is argued that people need these stories in their lives. While we don’t hear many tales of ancient beings sent off on epic journeys, we do have something strikingly similar. We have created our own versions of these myths and we call them superheroes.
Superheroes share almost all of the same qualities of these heroes in ancient tales with one key difference; they live in our modern world. Superman, Spiderman, Batman etc. are all powerful beings that live and work in disguise in our world.
Superheroes have become incredibly popular, especially in the last decade. They have appeared in movies, television shows, comic books, advertisements, and a ridiculous amount of cheap merchandise. They have become so popular that the 2012 film Marvel’s the Avengers became the 4th highest grossing film of all time. We obsess over these fictional stories to the point where we feel it is necessary to dress up as them for Halloween or spend a whopping $36,000 dollars on a mint condition Spiderman Issue #1.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m as big a superhero fan you will find out there, I even attended the midnight premier of Marvel’s The Avengers, but when we take a look at how prevalent these superheroes are in our culture, we have to ask ourselves, why do we cling to these fictional stories so heavily?
The Necessity of Myth
Joseph Campbell was a well respected mythologist who wrote many books on comparative mythology and comparative religion. His book, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, has laid the framework for many popular movies such as Star Wars and The Matrix. In his book, he claims that we as humans have a psychological need for myth. He also suggests that these myths act as blueprints for our lives. Although they are often exaggerated for the sake of entertainment (no one wants to listen to a boring story), almost all myths follow a cycle which Campbell calls the “Monomyth cycle”. The cycle consists of a series of rituals that are undergone by the hero. These rituals help the hero to mature and after he has completed these rituals he finally has the knowledge and the confidence to do what is necessary to defeat his enemies.
The rituals that Campbell wrote about in his “Monomyth Cycle” can be applied to people’s lives as well. In many cultures around the world, a coming of age ritual is required in order to be recognized as an adult by your society. For example, the Satere Mawé tribe of the Brazilian Amazon require boys as young as 12 to undergo a very painful initiation ritual. These boys are required to wear gloves filled with bullet ants. This ordeal is extremely painful because the bullet ants emit a neurotoxin that feels like being stung by 30 wasps at once. After 200 excruciating minutes, the boys are allowed to remove the gloves and are officially considered adults by the rest of their tribe. They are now expected to be responsible and contributing members of the tribe.
As Americans, we lack a traumatic experience that signifies our entrance into adulthood and as a result, we tend to cling to these fictional stories of superheroes that do have to face these trials. We look up to these incorrigible symbols of justice and hope that we too can achieve greatness in our own lives.
The Heroes Journey
If we take a closer look at many of these superhero movies we will notice a lot of Joseph Campbell’s ideas represented. For example, if we examine The Dark Knight Rises, we can see an almost perfect representation of the monomyth cycle laid out. When Batman comes out of hiding we see the first part of the cycle come forth. When he fights Bane and is utterly destroyed and taken prisoner, we see the second part of the cycle. And finally, when he escapes and finally defeats Bane, the third part of the cycle is fulfilled.
We can look at another example that is a lot more complex and confusing and still relate Campbell’s monomyth cycle to it. Marvel’s The Avengers is a unique story because it incorporates several already established and well known superheroes and brings them together to fight evil side by side. While it is difficult to apply the cycle to each individual hero in this situation, if we look at the bigger picture, it fits the movie very well. Towards the beginning of the film when all the heroes are assembled for the first time, there is a lot of tension between them and they have a difficult time sharing the spotlight. This can represent the beginning of the monomyth cycle because the heroes’ egos get in the way of their ability to work together effectively. Following this, the second part of the cycle is realized when the heroes are called away onto the S.H.I.E.L.D. cruiser and are forced to defend themselves and work together to protect the ship. Finally, now that the heroes are comfortable with each other, they must go back to stop the alien invasion in New York.
Down With the Caped Crusaders!
While superheroes remain popular, some people believe that they are hurting people more than they are actually helping. Caleb T. Maupin explains in his commentary “We Don’t Need Superheroes” that the film “Dark Knight Rises” provides a distorted view of the world. He explains that the film shows the upper class elites as powerless and suppressed by the lower classes when in reality it is the other way around. He believes that instead of looking up to a superhero, people need to rally together in order to bring down the 1%. Caleb’s argument, while accurate to some degree, attempts to promote a sense of anarchism among his readers and while he may have a point about the distorted portrayal of Gotham City, he will certainly need to write more than a two page rant on why superheroes are bad to convince people to take to the streets.
What’s next?
While superheroes remain one of the most popular modern myths, we have to ask ourselves, what’s next? What else can we create to sate the constant hunger that is the human appetite for myth?
Only time will tell.
Works Cited
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1968. Print.
Gabriel, Paulo. "The Avengers Kickass Wallpapers." Abduzeedo Design Inspiration. N.p., 04 June 2012. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
Maupin, Caleb T. "We Don't Need Superheroes." Web log post. Workers World. N.p., 6 Aug. 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
"MOVIE MUSIC UK." MOVIE MUSIC UK. N.p., 1 May 2009. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
Santoso, Alex. "6 Strangest Coming of Age Rituals in the World." Neatorama. N.p., 15 Sept. 2009. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
English 120
Audience: I am writing to Americans. More specifically, I am writing to people aged 16-25 because they are around the age group that is the most likely to be exposed and/or interested in superheroes.
Purpose: I hope to bring Joseph Campbell’s theory to light with the younger population and explain why superheroes have become so popular by explaining that cultures that lack a specific rite of passage into adulthood reach their maturity through myths.
Publication: I would hope to publish my commentary on Thought Catalogue. Thought Catalogue is an online magazine that encourages different viewpoints and ideas. It would be nice because there are probably very few commentaries out there that deal with the same topic as mine.
Super hype over Superheroes
When we hear the word myth we generally think of the tales of the ancient Greek and Roman deities ruling over their human subjects with divine power. We think of big foot, UFOs, and leprechauns hiding their gold at the end of rainbows. But most commonly, we think of superheroes. The term superhero usually refers to humans who have been gifted with some sort of supernatural power which they use to fight against the never-ending armies of evil.
Superheroes represent our modern day interpretation of myth. In ancient cultures, myths usually portrayed some sort of divine being or human gifted with special powers. They are sent on a quest to save their civilization from disaster or even to save the entire world.
It is argued that people need these stories in their lives. While we don’t hear many tales of ancient beings sent off on epic journeys, we do have something strikingly similar. We have created our own versions of these myths and we call them superheroes.
Superheroes share almost all of the same qualities of these heroes in ancient tales with one key difference; they live in our modern world. Superman, Spiderman, Batman etc. are all powerful beings that live and work in disguise in our world.
Superheroes have become incredibly popular, especially in the last decade. They have appeared in movies, television shows, comic books, advertisements, and a ridiculous amount of cheap merchandise. They have become so popular that the 2012 film Marvel’s the Avengers became the 4th highest grossing film of all time. We obsess over these fictional stories to the point where we feel it is necessary to dress up as them for Halloween or spend a whopping $36,000 dollars on a mint condition Spiderman Issue #1.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m as big a superhero fan you will find out there, I even attended the midnight premier of Marvel’s The Avengers, but when we take a look at how prevalent these superheroes are in our culture, we have to ask ourselves, why do we cling to these fictional stories so heavily?
The Necessity of Myth
Joseph Campbell was a well respected mythologist who wrote many books on comparative mythology and comparative religion. His book, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, has laid the framework for many popular movies such as Star Wars and The Matrix. In his book, he claims that we as humans have a psychological need for myth. He also suggests that these myths act as blueprints for our lives. Although they are often exaggerated for the sake of entertainment (no one wants to listen to a boring story), almost all myths follow a cycle which Campbell calls the “Monomyth cycle”. The cycle consists of a series of rituals that are undergone by the hero. These rituals help the hero to mature and after he has completed these rituals he finally has the knowledge and the confidence to do what is necessary to defeat his enemies.
The rituals that Campbell wrote about in his “Monomyth Cycle” can be applied to people’s lives as well. In many cultures around the world, a coming of age ritual is required in order to be recognized as an adult by your society. For example, the Satere Mawé tribe of the Brazilian Amazon require boys as young as 12 to undergo a very painful initiation ritual. These boys are required to wear gloves filled with bullet ants. This ordeal is extremely painful because the bullet ants emit a neurotoxin that feels like being stung by 30 wasps at once. After 200 excruciating minutes, the boys are allowed to remove the gloves and are officially considered adults by the rest of their tribe. They are now expected to be responsible and contributing members of the tribe.
As Americans, we lack a traumatic experience that signifies our entrance into adulthood and as a result, we tend to cling to these fictional stories of superheroes that do have to face these trials. We look up to these incorrigible symbols of justice and hope that we too can achieve greatness in our own lives.
The Heroes Journey
If we take a closer look at many of these superhero movies we will notice a lot of Joseph Campbell’s ideas represented. For example, if we examine The Dark Knight Rises, we can see an almost perfect representation of the monomyth cycle laid out. When Batman comes out of hiding we see the first part of the cycle come forth. When he fights Bane and is utterly destroyed and taken prisoner, we see the second part of the cycle. And finally, when he escapes and finally defeats Bane, the third part of the cycle is fulfilled.
We can look at another example that is a lot more complex and confusing and still relate Campbell’s monomyth cycle to it. Marvel’s The Avengers is a unique story because it incorporates several already established and well known superheroes and brings them together to fight evil side by side. While it is difficult to apply the cycle to each individual hero in this situation, if we look at the bigger picture, it fits the movie very well. Towards the beginning of the film when all the heroes are assembled for the first time, there is a lot of tension between them and they have a difficult time sharing the spotlight. This can represent the beginning of the monomyth cycle because the heroes’ egos get in the way of their ability to work together effectively. Following this, the second part of the cycle is realized when the heroes are called away onto the S.H.I.E.L.D. cruiser and are forced to defend themselves and work together to protect the ship. Finally, now that the heroes are comfortable with each other, they must go back to stop the alien invasion in New York.
Down With the Caped Crusaders!
While superheroes remain popular, some people believe that they are hurting people more than they are actually helping. Caleb T. Maupin explains in his commentary “We Don’t Need Superheroes” that the film “Dark Knight Rises” provides a distorted view of the world. He explains that the film shows the upper class elites as powerless and suppressed by the lower classes when in reality it is the other way around. He believes that instead of looking up to a superhero, people need to rally together in order to bring down the 1%. Caleb’s argument, while accurate to some degree, attempts to promote a sense of anarchism among his readers and while he may have a point about the distorted portrayal of Gotham City, he will certainly need to write more than a two page rant on why superheroes are bad to convince people to take to the streets.
What’s next?
While superheroes remain one of the most popular modern myths, we have to ask ourselves, what’s next? What else can we create to sate the constant hunger that is the human appetite for myth?
Only time will tell.
Works Cited
Campbell, Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1968. Print.
Gabriel, Paulo. "The Avengers Kickass Wallpapers." Abduzeedo Design Inspiration. N.p., 04 June 2012. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
Maupin, Caleb T. "We Don't Need Superheroes." Web log post. Workers World. N.p., 6 Aug. 2012. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.
"MOVIE MUSIC UK." MOVIE MUSIC UK. N.p., 1 May 2009. Web. 03 Dec. 2013.
Santoso, Alex. "6 Strangest Coming of Age Rituals in the World." Neatorama. N.p., 15 Sept. 2009. Web. 3 Dec. 2013.