Super Hero Ethics!

[lettered]

On my interest list on LJ, I've had a lone little interest no one else shares, probably because I just don't know what else to call it: super hero ethics.

Probably three years ago now, I started writing meta about it which I've since lost. It started with a question raised by Cordelia Chase in an early episode of Buffy:

CORDELIA: I don't get it. Buffy's the Slayer. Shouldn't she have...

XANDER: What, a license to kill?

CORDELIA: Well, not for fun. But she's like this superman. Shouldn't there be different rules for her?

WILLOW: Sure, in a fascist society.

CORDELIA: Right! Why can't we have one of those?

I've thought a lot about those lines since I first heard them. It's an interesting question. Buffy is superman, whom Nietzsche said should get to obey different laws. Can we? Should she? What will become of us if she doesn't, and if she does?

These are questions I'm always looking for superhero stories to address. The big budget blockbuster superhero movies never do.

I'd say more, but lots of my thoughts are really well expressed here. This is a great, thoughtful examination of who superheroes are, and popular culture's treatment of them. Since those are all things I've always wanted to talk about, I hope people check it out.

Comments

[my_daroga]

Hey kid! Thanks for the shout-out--but you might want to link the specific post, in case I happen to post dirty rpf smut or something in the interim. Not that I'm likely to, but you never know!

&hearts

[tkp.livejournal.com]

Aw, I thought I did. Now fixed! Thanks.

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

I never trusted Superman because he was never human. Ever since I was a kid he's creeped me the fuck out.

Batman's cool though.

And Buffy, of course. Are you reading the comics? They are sort of addressing this, in a twisty kind of way.

[tkp.livejournal.com]

I would like to see a Superman treatment that addresses the fact that he's not human, by asking whether we want an outside arbiter to deal with all our shit. I think Watchmen wanted to do that, but failed.

Batman's cool, but should be locked up.

I'm not reading the comics. You make it sound like I should be? I wanted to, but am frustrated by only getting a little at a time, and how much they cost.

I think Buffy dealt with this problem twisty ways in the show itself. Sometimes there were moments like this, where it was all so clear. Buffy cannot be above the law: that would be wrong. But it's alright that she's murdering vampires. Murdering vampires is like stepping on cockroaches; it's not above the law, it's just house-keeping.

But Spike proves that's not really true. If these are creatures capable of seeking their own redemption, there's a moral question there, which no one asks, and Buffy stomps all over. Though these are mainly end of S6 and all of S7 problems, and we all know those seasons suck anyway.

[kita0610.livejournal.com]

You know my feelings on Spike and 'redemption'.

But it's true that AtS did a better job with shades of gray- including demons who were otherwise completely benevolent.

I loved the Angel comics a LOT, and you might too, because of all the Connor of them. Plus they're complete, you can buy the book. (The ones Joss wrote anyway, the rest I don't bother with.)

I only started following the Buffy comics when the B/A-ness started. I have no idea if the beginning of the 'season' was any good. But they are certainly looking at the consequences of Slayer making and Power having, and if you're into that, you might wanna give it a try.