Superheroes a 'cultural catastrophe', says comics guru Alan Moore [2014]
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Re: Superheroes a 'cultural catastrophe', says comics guru Alan Moore [2014]
#2[deleted]
Re: Superheroes a 'cultural catastrophe', says comics guru Alan Moore [2014]
#3It sounds like Alan Moore has had enough of the media and journalists. Well meaning that they may be individually they are collectively like a passive-aggressive narcissist eager to latch on to the slightest thing to bring the man down. It sounds to me that he just wants to get out of this abusive relationship and get on with his life.
The point of the article - that there is something weird about grown adults and their willingness to live in the comicbook rather than real world - is a fair point.
At some stage we crossed over from only seeing 'comic' based movies as kids where adults would only go to escort their children to what we have now. Now grown ups with no children of their own or signs of learning disabilities can go and watch this comic-superhero rewrites on the big screen and talk about how great the acting, story and everything else was, as if it was serious art that they had seen.
There have been too many occasions over the last few years where it has been much too easy to hide away and watch these comic super-hero movies than endure what has been going on in the world. Times like when Iraq was being bombed to pieces, why engage with that when you can spend all week thinking about some make-believe movie?
This is not to dismiss the craft, dedication, skill and effort that goes into these movies or to deny the pleasure that they do bring to people. However, how did it happen that movies for kids became movies for grown ups?
Re: Superheroes a 'cultural catastrophe', says comics guru Alan Moore [2014]
#4From 2014.
Re: Superheroes a 'cultural catastrophe', says comics guru Alan Moore [2014]
#5It sounds like Alan Moore has had enough of the media and journalists. Well meaning that they may be individually they are collectively like a passive-aggressive narcissist eager to latch on to the slightest thing to bring the man down. It sounds to me that he just wants to get out of this abusive relationship and get on with his life. The point of the article - that there is something weird about grown adults and th…
Could it be because the kids who these stories were initially aimed at, grew up and became adults, DC/Marvel realised they could “adultify” the plots and appeal to the same audience now 20-30 years older to expand their demographic leveraging nostalgia and thus make more money?
Re: Superheroes a 'cultural catastrophe', says comics guru Alan Moore [2014]
#6It sounds like Alan Moore has had enough of the media and journalists. Well meaning that they may be individually they are collectively like a passive-aggressive narcissist eager to latch on to the slightest thing to bring the man down. It sounds to me that he just wants to get out of this abusive relationship and get on with his life. The point of the article - that there is something weird about grown adults and th…
Bread and circuses.
Think about who can partake in Fandom. What an elevated position they're in, globally. What a luxury such indulgence is.
Re: Superheroes a 'cultural catastrophe', says comics guru Alan Moore [2014]
#7It sounds like Alan Moore has had enough of the media and journalists. Well meaning that they may be individually they are collectively like a passive-aggressive narcissist eager to latch on to the slightest thing to bring the man down. It sounds to me that he just wants to get out of this abusive relationship and get on with his life. The point of the article - that there is something weird about grown adults and th…
"Now grown ups ... can go and watch this comic-superhero rewrites on the big screen and talk about how great the acting, story and everything else was, as if it was serious art that they had seen."
How is this any different from e.g. Kyrgyz nomads listening to a bard recite the Manas, in which the eponymous hero shows veritably superheroic strength in battle? Indeed, if you are an ordinary man barely making ends meet and the politics of the world are rough, the make-believe of an epic tale where your people are depicted as great and once capable of great deeds, can be a great consolation.
Now, the reason that the Manas and similar folk epics have been acclaimed as masterpieces of intangible culture is that the bard is expected to improvise much of it, and Western superhero stories might not show that particular kind of skill. But in terms of the subject matter, the contemporary superhero obsession isn’t all that different from previous genres worldwide.
Re: Superheroes a 'cultural catastrophe', says comics guru Alan Moore [2014]
#8From 2014.
thank you, I edited the title to include the date.
Re: Superheroes a 'cultural catastrophe', says comics guru Alan Moore [2014]
#9I think he's overstating Marvel/DC's cultural significance. The new generation of viewers have a very different moral sensibility. The evil is much more shockingly evil, but the good is less cartoonish and more relatable, and therefore more vulnerable.
I just finished watching the new Stranger Things season. One of the things I love about that show is that it juxtaposes the 1980s kids' sci-fi genre with a storyline that would have been totally intolerable to the consumers of that genre back then. The tone that results is kind of this weird combination of nostalgia and tragedy.
Re: Superheroes a 'cultural catastrophe', says comics guru Alan Moore [2014]
#10It sounds like Alan Moore has had enough of the media and journalists. Well meaning that they may be individually they are collectively like a passive-aggressive narcissist eager to latch on to the slightest thing to bring the man down. It sounds to me that he just wants to get out of this abusive relationship and get on with his life. The point of the article - that there is something weird about grown adults and th…
I agree with your points. Our modern society is so complex that for a lot of people it is easier to use escapism as a form of relief.
While I agree that all people should be learning and growing I would have to argue that if someone is truly motivated by hiding away I say let them.
The people who do this do not have the capacity to expose themselves to reality IMO. Being forced to do it is just like when you were forced to do something you didn't want to as a child (fitting that we're talking about super heroes).
Later on they might look up and decide to change. I know I did. Until then you just have to let them make their own decisions.