This Is A World Without Superheroes Part 1
by Chris Kamalski
“THIS IS A WORLD WITHOUT SUPERHEROES,” remarked Christopher Nolan, Director of The Dark Knight Trilogy, in response to a press query as to why he created such a flawed Batman in the recent re-envisioning the classic mythological tale. Whether a crippled, fear-ridden Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Trilogy, a bloodied, beaten Tony Stark in the Iron Man films, or a drifting, disheveled Clark Kent in Man of Steel, superheroes have never been as flawed, as human, as they are currently portrayed on the silver screen.
Call it “The Nolanization of Cinema” (Urban Dictionary even has an entry for “nolanizing” something!), file it away as a massive case of Hollywood movie studio group think, or dismiss it as the copycat imitation of a successful comic book franchise, but it remains fascinating nonetheless. Why do we simultaneously revere and loathe the hero in pop culture? Is this an example of art imitating life, or a random coincidence? One need look no further than the covers of the gossip rags filling the checkout aisles of the grocery stores of the world to know that likely the former is so. During the most recent MTV Video Music Awards, an annual scripted environment to display the “baddest” of those on pop culture’s throne, it was fascinating to see Taylor Swift, of squeaky-clean country-pop fame, plug her coming “pop album maturation” by deliberately embracing her darker side, while in contrast, Miley Cyrus, the villified starlet of 2013, embracing goodness by inviting a homeless young man to accept her award for Song of the Year, using her acceptance speech to increase awareness of the plight of runaway adolescents in the greater Los Angeles area. One young woman embracing her dark side while another moves towards redemption in the light? This sounds like the premise of a new TV serial, not real life itself!
Unless, all these incidental anecdotes support an underlying truth that only seems to be growing in strength over time. What if the humanization, hypocrisy, “dark/light” struggle that currently plays out across our cinema screens is a deliberate attempt to embrace the flawed nature of humanity itself–that in a real sense, we are our own heroes and villians in every environment of our daily lives, wandering around like a bunch of disheveled Clark Kents?
This duality of mind is echoed all throughout the Scriptures, by the way. Paul captures this thought with chilling accuracy in Romans 7, writing “The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate...I want to do what is good, but I can’t” (Romans 7:14-15, 18b, NLT). Although restored as a new creation in Jesus, Paul was aware of the continued division of his heart, mind, and habits. In other words, he accepted his humanity, the intrinsic glory and residual brokenness present within us all.
Maybe the deconstruction of the Superhero myth, and the immense popularity of the Antihero, actually belies this deep truth: We all can don the cape, yet often remain stuck behind the horned-rim glasses of a bumbling news reporter.