Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The Lives of Others: Vulnerability in Post-9/ 11 American Cinema
- 2 Boots on the Ground: The New Millennial Combat Film as Cultural Artefact
- 3 ‘Masters of our own Security’: Redemption through Violence in the Post-9/ 11 Action Genre
- 4 Turning to the Dark Side: Challenging American Mythology in the Superhero Genre
- 5 Remaking 9/11: Imagining the Unimaginable in the Alien- invasion Film
- 6 Decade of the Dead: Zombie Films as Allegory of National Trauma
- 7 The Rise and Fall of Empires: The ‘War on Terror’ as Allegorical Moment in Historical Film
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Select Filmography
- Index
4 - Turning to the Dark Side: Challenging American Mythology in the Superhero Genre
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2016
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The Lives of Others: Vulnerability in Post-9/ 11 American Cinema
- 2 Boots on the Ground: The New Millennial Combat Film as Cultural Artefact
- 3 ‘Masters of our own Security’: Redemption through Violence in the Post-9/ 11 Action Genre
- 4 Turning to the Dark Side: Challenging American Mythology in the Superhero Genre
- 5 Remaking 9/11: Imagining the Unimaginable in the Alien- invasion Film
- 6 Decade of the Dead: Zombie Films as Allegory of National Trauma
- 7 The Rise and Fall of Empires: The ‘War on Terror’ as Allegorical Moment in Historical Film
- Conclusion
- Bibliography
- Select Filmography
- Index
Summary
We of the twenty-first century, although unable to believe in the literal reality of such heroes, nevertheless still dream our myths onward, clothing them in modern dress … We dream them onward, give them colorful costumes, and pseudoscientific origins, but we no longer consider them real. Or do we?
Don LoCicero, Superheroes and Gods: A Comparative Study from Babylonia to BatmanWe also have to work, though, sort of the dark side, if you will. We've got to spend time in the shadows in the intelligence world. A lot of what needs to be done here will have to be done quietly, without any discussion, using sources and methods that are available to our intelligence agencies, if we're going to be successful. That's the world these folks operate in, and so it's going to be vital for us to use any means at our disposal, basically, to achieve our objective.
Dick Cheney, appearance on NBC's Meet the PressIt is possible to discern a great deal about a society from its heroic mythology. Just as the Ancient Greeks had tales of Hercules, Achilles and Theseus, late nineteenth-century America turned to mythologised stories of Wyatt Earp, Davy Crockett and Jesse James. In the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, contemporary Western culture found its heroic ideals embodied in comic-book heroes like Superman, Batman and Spider-Man. These icons authenticate and endorse prevailing social values and behaviours in texts that both reflect and influence the cultures in which they are produced. As Richard Slotkin observed, ‘The mythology of a nation is the intelligible mask of that enigma called the “national character”. Through myths the psychology and world view of our cultural ancestors are transmitted to modern descendants, in such a way and with such power that our perception of contemporary reality and our ability to function in the world are directly, often tragically affected’ (1973: 3). Slotkin's use of the term ‘tragically’ indicates an awareness of the power that mythology, in its disparate forms, has over society. In this chapter we consider perhaps the most explicit manifestations of contemporary mythology – the superhero film. Indeed, the first decade of the new millennium saw itself described as the ‘superhero decade’ due to the sheer number and influence of these narratives (Gray and Kaklamanidou 2011: 1).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The 'War on Terror' and American Film9/11 Frames Per Second, pp. 111 - 134Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2014