Reflection on Superheroes

I would definitely have to say Wonder Woman. Batman and Superman are the two superheroes that everyone knows about. You'd have to be living under a rock to not know them and their origin stories. I had absolutely no idea about anything that had to do with Wonder Woman and I was really intrigued by her origin story. The influence of the Greeks on the creators of Wonder Woman are part of what inspired my superhero alter-ego for my portfolio. I feel like I could hold a conversation with a superhero enthusiast now, about Wonder Woman's powers, her origin story, and what she stands for.

I think my views on Batman changed a little. I've always considered him my favorite superhero, but I never realized how much of a dark side there really is to him. I knew that he had a dark past and that his life had been hard and scarred him to the point of him prowling the streets of Gotham looking for crime, but I never knew how much of a twisted approach some comic authors took to his story. It was slightly surprising, but it didn't really change my opinion of him. He's still a total badass.

After reading the short story about Moisture Man, it really solidified for me how I see myself. I would never give up something I believe to be right, just to become better at something I'm not meant to be good at. I firmly believe that there are some things certain people just aren't meant for. I took ballet forever growing up and only stopped my freshman year of high school. I enjoyed it and I wasn't terrible, but I was obviously not cut out to be a ballerina. As much as I enjoyed ballet though, I would never trade in another quality of myself to be the perfect dancer. There are other aspects of my personality and things I'm good at that make me happy to be me. Moisture Man was not happy with himself and was willing to trade anything, at any cost to make himself a better superhero. He made the wrong choice. He should have been content with himself and the fact that he was a reasonably good person. That should be enough.

I was really intrigued by our discussions of the representation of women in comics and we spent a good deal of time on that, so I think I was happy with that. Comics just remind me a lot of movie stars. Graphic novels portray men and women with impossible bodies and people idolize celebrities for their unattainable muscles and fitness. We spent two, maybe even three (I can't remember anymore, my brain is mush) days on The Watchmen, but I would have been content to discuss them for half the semester. The novel just had so much going on and there were so many themes that we could have gotten into farther if we had more time.

This class is called Reflections, and it has made me reflect a lot on the person I am and the person I want to be. I think superheroes as a Reflections course topic is the best way to make people reflect on themselves because we've been presented with beings who are godly and supposedly perfect and have compared ourselves to them. Just because I don't have superpowers and I can't fly doesn't mean I can't accomplish as many good things as Superman. I can. As far as the superhero who makes the best citizen, I would have to say Captain America. After learning about him and seeing the movie, he is an all around good person, which is why he is chosen to be Captain America in the first place. He is a model for everyone else and he just happens to have nice muscles and super strength. He always does the right thing and he is perfect example of how Americans expect our soldiers to act. He is a model citizen.

Life's Winding Path

In the novel Hero, Thom's basketball coach tells him that he is no longer allowed to be on the team because of his medical problem with seizures. The real reason behind Thom's exclusion from the team though is the fact that he's gay and this frightens his coach for whatever reason. I would have handled it a lot less diplomatically than Thom because in situations like that I tend to be a hot-head. I may or may not have thrown something. If I had to go home and tell my parents about that, they would probably be flabbergasted. They would understand that my coach was looking out for my medical well being (supposedly), but they would expect him to allow me to still be on the team and just ride the bench and support my teammates. Everyone in my family is an athlete and my parents coached sports as well and that's what they would do, so they would expect that fairness of every other coach.

When Ruth gives her speech to Thom, she's saying that maybe this is all there is. Maybe life doesn't get better and maybe it will always be mediocre. She's telling him to live in the moment and appreciate everything he has because that may be all he will get in life. There's no use wishing for things that you don't have and may never happen. Sometimes you just need to be happy with what you currently have. If I had been asked a year ago if I was waiting for something to make me happy, I would have said yes. But now I'm not. Everything that I have been able to do and experience in the last year has made me realize how lucky I am and I have been consistently happy since that realization. I love where I am in my life and what I'm doing with it and I just take everything day by day. I am in charge of my own happiness because I decided to be and I decided that I wasn't going to let anyone else control it.

I think in one way or another most people get cheered on and are the center of attention in some way during their life. It doesn't have to be because you saved the day or something, it can be from getting a well deserved promotion at work. I love my major (history) and I think the best way that this could happen for me is if I was recognized for some really great research I did or some fabulous ground-breaking historical paper I wrote. What I would mostly gain from it is pride in myself and the things I can accomplish.

I think the perfect first kiss would be one when you're least expecting it, from someone you would never expect to get a kiss from. I don't know if the perfect first kiss is attainable or achievable. If I could re-do my first kiss with the last guy I dated, I would because it was so impersonal! Nothing in life is ever perfect, so who's to say that you can have a "perfect" first kiss? I don't think I've ever had a true crush on a famous figure. Thom's crush on Uberman was ridiculous. I think that famous actors, singers, what have you are attractive constantly, but I've never really had a crush on them because I know how incredibly unrealistic it is. I think people have crushes on celebrities because we need to have some element of fantasy in our lives. People think that celebrities are utterly glamorous, so if you have a crush on one, you can think about how amazing your life would be and how you wouldn't be relegated to a cubicle anymore. Sometimes it's good to fantasize about what it would be like to date certain people, but fantasizing about dating a celebrity is boring. I would rather dream about dating someone I know because it has a distinct possibility of happening.

The Watchmen

So far I have enjoyed all the readings and everything about this class, but there was something about The Watchmen that I just really loved. While I was reading the novel, I never wanted to put it down and I would find myself reading it over Easter Break, starting at 11pm and then look up and all of the sudden it would be 3am! I lost myself completely in the reading and felt like I really entered the world of The Watchmen. I had that whole feeling when I put the book down that I was in their world and then it would take me a second to snap back to reality and realize I was sitting in my living room in Monmouth, reading a comic book. It was kind of a letdown. Just like it was a letdown when I finished the novel. The nice thing though, was that unlike when you really get into a book that you're reading and then you finish and have no one to talk about it with, this was for class, so I got to talk about it all last week! That really made my life. I was so jazzed whenever I got to Reflections last week because I was so excited about The Watchmen and liked reading it so much.

I'm not even really sure what it was about the book that I liked so much. Yeah, the art was good, but I think it was the writing that captivated me. It wasn't a mindless read, you had to think while you were reading it and look for what the authors had included, but had not made blatantly obvious. The parallel story with the pirate comic was really interesting and their use of imagery at the beginning of every chapter with time and the blood was great. The characters made me like it as well because they weren't one dimensional as characters in books, movies, etc. can be. They had multiple problems, they changed as they aged, they had real emotions, and they struggled with inner demons and issues like they were real people and not characters on a page. Everything about The Watchmen was AWESOME. I saw the movie last semester and I had no idea what was going on and kind of hated it, so I didn't think I would like the book at all. Now that I've read it though, and liked it so much, I think I'll re-watch that movie and see what I think.

The Costume Says It All

If I was going to become a costumed vigilante, I would most obviously choose the material they make swimsuit with to construct my costume. It is form-fitting and would be the material that is easiest to move in. Plus, I'm pretty sure they sell it in bulk at Jo-Ann's. I would definitely wear a mask, most likely a full face one. Those silly ones that cover your eyes only do absolutely nothing. I'm not quite sure what else I would use...I would probably carry a pocketknife and a length of rope. It would probably also be worthwhile to have a some sort of hook that I could shoot out, possibly try to swing from building to building. It sounds completely ridiculous, but you never know. It's realistically possible.

In my hometown, I think the biggest problems are gangs. So if I picked up being a masked vigilante, it would be to fight the influence of gangs. I saw what it did to people when I was in high school and it totally ruined some people's lives. From the documentary, I think I most identified with was Master Legend because although he was excessively eccentric and an alcoholic, he was in it for the right reasons. Maybe from him, we can all learn to ride around in vans and carry air conditioners around for the less fortunate. He was working from his heart and doing it because he was a good person. And that's why I would do it as well.

Mutants

The difference in experiences between the internal and external mutants is that the internal mutant is accepted into society because they can blend in and the external mutant is not accepted and is ridiculed and even made a spectacle of. Really the only similarity that I see is that they are both mutants. The X-Men movie we watched did a very good job of highlighting how seperate external mutants like Rogue felt from internal mutants like Iceman or Wolverine. Groups in society that I can think of that might identify with this are homosexuals and nerds. Homosexuals, not so much anymore, but in the twentieth century, they were treated like mutants, like they had an illness and something was wrong with them that had to be fixed (which is not the case at all). Nerds probably always will identify with the stigma of the mutants because the things they are interested in are considered to be things that the rest of society isn't interested in. They don't live what is considered to be the "normal" social life. Here on campus we have examples of that. While all the "normal" people party on the weekends and go out to the bars, nerds stay in and play video games or socialize with each other, setting themselves apart from everyone else and putting themselves in that mutant category. And when they do try and socialize with other "normal" people, they are often made fun of and ridiculed because they're not interested in sports or whatever is popular that hour. X-Men films and comics might help these groups understand that even if they don't fit into "normal" society that they're still an integral part of it. Because they are.

I think the X-Men I identify the most with is Wolverine and it's not just because Hugh Jackman is sexy. I think I identify with Wolverine because he does the right thing, but he does it the way he thinks it needs to be done. He is a part of the X-Men, but he is still an individual and his own person, with his own thoughts, who takes responsiblity for his own actions if others don't agree with them.

Super Friends

Being a college student, my friends are the core of my life, the essence of my being. Without my friends, I would be in the library every night and never out doing anything social. To quote Jerry Maguire, they complete me. There are a handful of people I would consider my actual friends and many, many more that I would consider to be just acquaintances. One of my roommates are so close that what Aristotle says about no longer choosing to live would be true. She and I study together, work out together, talk about our problems, and are just always there for each other. She is my friend soulmate. I could imagine my friendship with her ascending to the level of Friendship of Virtue. I think if we stay as close of friends as we are now for the next few years after college, then a Friendship of Virtue will be accomplished. We've helped each other through a lot so far and if we're with each other through getting our first jobs, getting married, and having children, then the friendship will be complete. I never imagined becoming such good friends with someone in college, but I am so happy that it happened.

What I have found interesting about college is that it is just an extension of high school. People are still immature and mean and make fun of people who they consider "unpopular." I am by nature a friendly person. I strongly believe in only being rude or dismissive to someone if they truly deserve it and have something to be rude or dismissive to me or someone I care about. And even then, I sometimes hate that I can become rude because I don't want to sink to their level. Either way, over the course of my college career I have been present when several people are being picked on. The place I have noticed it the most is in the caf, when everyone is there. Some of my friends like to point out people who dress differently or are socially awkward and sit by themselves at lunch. They have slowly learned over time that if they start to make fun of those people, I will get pissed and usually end up leaving the table. When a person has done nothing wrong to you, there is absolutely no reason to make fun of who they are. They can't help it. Everyone is different and there's nothing wrong with that. I have a very short temper and like Kyle, I have reacted to situations emotionally several times before. Not the situations I was discussing above, but other ones, like when my friends are called names or spoken about rudely. I have absolutely no patience for it and I have lost my cool several times. Sometimes I have had to be taken away from the situation before it is made worse. Most of the time though, I've just felt bad about myself for having sunk to a lower level just because my buttons were pushed. It's definitely something I need to work on.

Using Your Imagination

As I've said in previous blogs, as a child, I was a Barbie girl, all the way. I even have collectible Barbies that I couldn't play with and that I just had on pedestals on my bookshelves. No joke. But when I played with my Barbies was when my imagine ran wild. I didn't play with only my Barbies. Oh no. Like many other little girls, I was also obsessed with horses. I took horseback riding lessons my entire childhood and still love it to this day. So when I played with my Barbies, I also played with my toy horses. Did you know that the two go perfectly together? Barbies fit perfectly on plastic horses. There was one Barbie in particular who always got to ride a horse because she was a ballerina Barbie, so her knees were bendable, making it easier for me to make her ride a horse. At my childhood peak, I probably had as many horses as I did Barbies. Which is a lot. My horses and Barbies had all kinds of adventures together. Sometimes I would send them back in time and pretend my Barbies were the Tudors and of course, my horses would play a huge part in their royal processions. And, as any good child would, I made my horses talk. Not to the Barbies, but to each other. And just because I was playing with one didn't mean I had to play with the other. Sometimes I just played horses, sometimes I just played Barbies. But those hours of my childhood were definitely some of the most imaginative and creative.

I've been sitting here for about 15 minutes trying to come up with how I have creatively solved a problem in the recent past. The only thing that is coming to mind happened last week, and it's not especially creative, but it worked. I have a tendency to always be the person who does dishes in my apartment just because I hate to see them sitting around and taking up the sink. However, this doesn't mean that I should always be the one to do the dishes, especially when they're not mine. So I didn't do the dishes last week. I let them accumulate and as they did, I would put coffe grounds in some of the cups that were soaking. I even added a little vinegar and some other stuff I found in the fridge to the mix. When my roommates smelled the dishes that had been sitting there for almost a WEEK and saw all the stuff in/on them, they totally freaked out. They thought the dishes were getting moldy and they HATED the smell. The dishes were immeidately done. And now they do their own dishes more. A little conniving, I know, but also creative. And it got the job done.

The first thing that came to mind of a superhero thinking on their feet was an example from the "Superman: Earth One" that we read. The villain lets slip that the only thing that can harm his almsot indestructible ship is Kryptonian metal. When the spaceship that Superman crash landed in as a baby comes to his aide soon after, he realizes what it is made of, and commands it to go through the enemy ship. It punctures a hole through one side of the larger ship and zips out the other side of the ship with barely a scratch. This ultimately leads to Superman defeating the villian, of course. But he thought on his feet and used his aircraft the way it could best serve him. Of course Superman is always going to win the day, but it's more fun to read when he does it in a quirky or interesting way.

Fiction Suits & Friendship

As I was walking along on my merry way one beautiful fall afternoon, I spied a little boy who was about to ride his bike into dense traffic on Broadway. Just as I began to yell and run for him, a blur zoomed across the street and in less than half a second the boy was safely on the opposite sidewalk, with no other than the Flash standing next to him. I hurried across the street to ask the little boy if he knew where he lived so I could walk him home, but was abrutly stopped by the Flash. He angrily inquired if I was in charge of the boy and before I could respond, launched into a lecture on responsibility! I let him finish and then told him that I was only a passerby, as outraged as he to see such a small child trying to cross such a busy street on his own. The Flash profusely apologized for assuming the worst of me and I told him that in his line of work, it was understandable. He had a pained look on his face as he told me how he wished he didn't always have to assume the worst, and how there was a time when he didn't. He remarked that society and the world had changed much since his creation and that he didn't know if it was for the better. Then he seemed to come out of his thoughtfulness and told me that no matter what, he would always be around to help protect the world. I told him that every small act countss for something. He smiled and bent down to give the little boy a quick lecture in road safety and then he was gone. I walked the little boy back to his house and made my way back to campus, wondering who the Flash was busy saving now.

After class on Friday, I went back to my apartment and my roommate Ashley was there. She is one of my closest friends on campus and she made moving back to Monmouth this semester a lot easier for me. I had a rough couple weeks when this semester first started because after studying abroad in Italy last semester, Monmouth seemed like a joke. But I pushed through and I owe a lot to Ashley. She kept me entertained and laughing all the time. I can never be in the same room with her without being ridiuclous and constantly laughing. So after class on Friday when she was in our apartment, I sat down and told her about class and thanked her for being there for me during my transition period. She will never know how truly grateful I am, but I expressed it as best as I could. She was really surprised at my thanking her and expressing how much I love and appreciate her friendship because in her mind, she was doing what any good, normal friend should do. It made me feel amazing to actually sit down with her and tell her all those things because our friendship is the farthest thing from serious as you can get. We went to Moline together on Friday afternoon and I treated her to Starbucks, to make my thanks that much more succint. It was a good day.

Superheroes in Pop Culture

Growing up, I never really paid any attention to superheroes. I was involved in my own world of Barbies, everything and anything that was pink and wearing dresses 24/7. I had no siblings, male or female, to lure me into the world of superheroes and my parents aren't big into them either. Sure, I noticed when boys on the playground and later in junior high and such were wearing superhero apparel, but I never gave it a second thought. Now that I'm older I realize how HUGE superheroes are in today's culture.

I had been noticing more and more, but what really hit the fact home was something I saw this weekend. I was with my roommates at Shopko and we were perusing the Valentine's section for fun and I picked up some of the bulk Valentine's that you used to buy in elementary school and distribute to everyone in your class. What was different about these was that they were Captain America themed. And right next to them were Spiderman ones. And next to them Ironman and Batman. And so on. There were nearly as many superhero Valentine options as there were pink princess options. And it hit me. Superheroes are a BIG deal. This class has made me begin to realize that more and more too, but now everywhere I go, I see superheroes in our popular culture. People get superhero tattoos, wear superhero shirts, name their children after superheroes (Nicholas Cage), and write songs about them. Look anywhere and there are bound to be references to superheroes. It just never fails to amaze me how our culture has latched onto the idea of superheroes and has never let go. The past ten years have seen at least a dozen new superhero movies. They have lasted for over seven decades and I'm curious to see what the future holds for them and how much longer they will be such a driving force behind pop culture.

Secret Identities vs. Real Identities

Although we view superheroes as inhuman, nothing could be more human than the idea of a secret identity. All people act a different way depending on the situations they are in, myself included. While superheroes put on a mask or a costume to hide their true identities, we make hide certain facets or quirks of our personality too not appear in a bad light or to not give too much about our character away. There are any number of reasons why people have a secret identity and everyone has different reasons for having a secret identity.

In my own case, there are many situations I am placed in where I have to play down my personality. I am an extremely outgoing, loud, and blunt person. I've learned over the years that this can be intimidating and a little too overpowering for people when they first meet me, so when I meet a person for the first time, I am somewhat reserved and quiet. Only when I am comfortable around a person and know that I'm not going to scare them can I be my excessively honest, sarcastic self. In some ways you could say that humans have multiple secret identities because that is how I act when I meet someone new, but in a different situation, I may act differently. I have absolutely no problem speaking my mind and disagreeing with someone, but around my family, I have to put this in check. Not at all with my parents, but definitely with my grandparents. One set of my grandparents are extremely religious and if they ever heard half the things that came out of my mouth, they would be mortified. There is also a level of respect that comes into play when I am around because I may disagree with them on something, but I might not say so just because it would be rude or they wouldn't approve of it. I wish I could be more of myself around my grandparents sometimes, but they are from a different time and hole different beliefs, so I've always understood that I need to whip out my secret identity when I am visiting them.

Superheroes hide their real identities to protect themselves and the ones they love. In the case of average people, they do it for the same reasons. People never want to reveal too much of themselves, for fear of getting hurt, so by putting on a secret identity, they protect themselves from ridicule and other things. Humans also protect their loved ones by putting on secret identities, from seeing a part of themselves that their relatives wouldn't like or from discovering a secret habit. No matter what the case, everyone has a secret identity.

Batman & Me

           Being new to the world of superheroes, I do not know if I am quite ready to claim any of them as a favorite yet. If I had to pick one, even though Superman is the dominating character in the comic’s world to non-comic readers, it would be Batman. I have always admired him for his ability to be considered a superhero and to do everything he does, all without having any actual powers. Sure, he is trained for combat and has enough money to fund any kind of gadget he could ever want or need. Nevertheless, he is without superpowers and in my mind as a child, I believed that this made him better than all other superheroes. I still think that.           The first time I remember realizing that Batman did not have any true super powers, I was watching a football game with my parents. Now, when I say watching, I mean screaming at the TV, throwing chips, the whole deal. We are diehard Green Bay Packers fans in my family and I’m sure the people in our neighborhood think we’re absolutely nuts. I’ve just come to accept it. When I was in elementary school, the Packers had a player with many tattoos, who on this particular Sunday was being asked by the ESPN commentator why he had one of the Batman symbol. He was a receiver and he explained that he idolized Batman because he was a superhero with no superpowers and that he identified with that because he had no superpowers, but was able to make amazing plays every week on the football field. Before I heard him say that, I had never given Batman a second thought. Superheroes had little influence in my world, which was full of ballet class and Barbie dolls, but my little kid self agreed with the football player. How cool was it that Batman had no powers, but still kicked butt all over Gotham? So cool! Then when I was older and the Christian Bale Batman movies started being released, I started liking Batman even more. Now he was attractive too? I was all in. Now that I’m older and have seen all the Batman movies, I realize that while some of his methods are unconventional, that Batman always does the right thing. I try to live my life like this. I may not always come off as the nicest person or Miss Congeniality, but I always try to do the right thing. Sometimes doing the right thing means hurting someone’s feelings or being brutally honest. In all issues that have arisen in my adult life so far though, I have always tried to do the right thing, not just for me, but for the people involved as well. That is something I strongly associate with Batman.
            I know next to nothing about superheroes, which is part of the reason why I took this class. By the end of it, I can even see having a new favorite superhero. But Batman taught me a good life lesson and I have a personal connection with him and a good memory from my childhood. I will always love Batman.