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Super Hero Ethics!
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.
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.