The Superhero and American Exceptionalism
The Roots of the Superhero Phenomenon lie in the Combination of Christian Religion and White American Nationalism
The superhero genre is on some level a continuation of religion, which itself is an evolutionary continuation of mythology and paganism.
In the world’s pre-scientific era the belief systems behind mythology, paganism and religion had all evolved from the human need to mentally process observations and experiences in life, and had real psychological functions to relieve fear, which in more primitive times were filled with real hardship.
The belief systems behind mythology, paganism and religion have all provided emotional relief for unintellectual, or at least prescientific, civilizations. They were a way to explain away things that could otherwise instill paralyzing fear of extreme violence and death in times when those were very real parts of daily life. Psychologically they were trauma blocking devices of sorts and gave people euphoric feelings of salvation in earlier civilizations, kind of like precursors or alternatives to drugs.
And these belief systems, along with sometimes ritualistic practices and even offers and sacrifices, were a real, albeit realistically unsuccessful, way to appease to supposed supernatural phenomena for good fortune, of a good hunt or harvest.
And for many people, even in modern, scientific times, because of their inability or unwillingness to think critically, these belief systems still work like a drug, like a prayer, like salvation.
Art and philosophy, although also having been around very early on, are more progressive forms of belief systems, until scientific inventions gave people the tools to measure real existing phenomena.
Art, philosophy and science have evolutionarily largely replaced mythology, paganism and religion as more progressive and pragmatic ways to interpret reality.
But the more primitive, and mostly incorrect, belief systems of mythology, paganism and religion, to interpret reality, haven’t completely disappeared, and are the emotional go-to belief systems of people who cannot or will not take more critical thinking approaches. It gives them the euphoric feeling of salvation of sorts, of relief from mental unknowingness and emotional helplessness.
Anything that appears larger than oneself, especially in times of emotional need, can give a false sense of security and delusions of salvation of sorts, including the idea of superheroes.
The word super in superhero really means supernatural, with beyond humanly possible, otherworldly, unbeatable powers, a supernatural hero or entity with super-heroic qualities, who is not fallible or vulnerable like humans are, but someone or something perfect and indeed godlike, and the ultimate protector and savior, a warrior onto which to latch all hopes for winning and not losing a war or an empire, and to identify with only in a courage and strength that is not humanly possible to attain.
Historically the US sort of skipped mythology and paganism, since it ruthlessly replaced all original populations, and who had different spiritual concepts than the colonialists themselves.
And in a sense, the American superhero, along with the cowboy of the Westerns, (a more earthly and practical version of the superhero type,) became in turn the US’ own cultural mythology, a popular alternative to religion but with very similar underlying values, derived from Christianity and steeped in American Exceptionalism ideology.
The world slowly but surely progressed from mythology and paganism and religion towards art, (which was around since the cave days already,) and philosophy, (also around since the earlier civilizations,) and finally, and very importantly, science. Anything genuine in the world comes down to the study of life, which is what philosophy is exactly.
Science is not meant to be the replacement of philosophy either but the practical and measurable component to the intellectual, and more hypothetical, study of life that is philosophy.
Philosophy relies on the ability to think critically and reason logically in order to explain real life phenomena, and it provides the moral framework for science to remain ethical.
While art is the largely emotional study of life, a symbolic representation of life, created largely by tapping into not direct, mathematical, scientific intellect, but indirect, emotional intellect, through curiosity, imagination, intuition, passion, feelings.
Art, philosophy and science are just three different branches in the study of life. Just like paganism, mythology and religion are also branches in the evolution of the overall study of life, just more primitive ones.
Art and philosophy, (like science,) are indispensable to human life, and actually found a beautifully symbiosis in storytelling and the screenwriting format of the three act structure, but the superhero genre is a grossly oversimplified version of it and ultimately corrupts and betrays it.
In Europe in particular the religious movements of the medieval times and before, primarily the Catholics and the Protestants, got largely replaced by a scientific revolution/ evolution.
Protestantism itself was the very beginning of a moving away from strict and oppressive religious principles, which ruled Catholicism, and towards more rational approaches to questions around our existence. The word Protest itself is derived from the Latin word Protestant.
The intellectual revolution behind the Age of the Enlightenment, or the Age of Reason, wasn’t primarily or only preoccupied with the strict and oppressive nature of religion itself, but on a deeper level took philosophical issue with the irrational notion that human beings are somehow not responsible for their own actions, and instead even predestined for human weakness, “born in sin,” and so in reality morally helpless creatures, depending (psychologically) on a supernatural being for answers and protection.
Out of the rational and progressive need to redefine human beings’ actual meaning in life, of starting to recognize the basic need and determination of choice and free will, the very concept of human rights were born, as was the concept of individualism, a core tenet to understanding human rights. That is to say, one is an individual because one has the need and the ability to make individual choices.
In essence, one has the right to human freedom because one has the moral ability to make complex choices. (The ability to process complex problems is essential to progressive, long-term decision making.)
In the US, a country that in general likes to over simply and thereby take the original meaning out of things, individualism is in today’s political climate entirely confused with notions of greed and extreme selfishness, but the moral meaning of individualism is self-ownership.
The concept of self-ownership, (the right to ownership of one’s mind and body, and the fruits and labors thereof,) is in fact also the crucial argument behind having reproductive rights.
This is not in any way a pitting of Europe against the US, and historically of course the US is in large part a continuation of Europe, but the initial Europeans in the country that would become the US split off from Europe for reasons, and both wanted to hold on to things from their European past while also wanting to steer this country in entirely new directions.
So the US in particular, (not itself deeply steeped into centuries of religious wars that in Europe in particular had led to both a scientific revolution on the one hand but also an acceleration of colonialism on the other,) had all the advantages of the birth of the age of industrialism on its’ side and went into full on production mode, of everything, including film, without giving things like real purpose and meaning in life much thought.
In the US in particular technological advances, originally derived from scientific discoveries, sped up like never before, while the fostering of general education, information and intellect in the wider population was lagging behind. And the US had also imported and migrated and created, in quick succession and including through force, a lot of its’ own eventual American population, and with the very specific purposes of harvesting the land and building a new country from scratch, the birth of a nation that is indeed.
Educating the regular majority intellectually and creatively wasn’t exactly highest on the agenda, the results of which can still be felt today, despite the US having some of the world’s top universities. Getting a good education in the US is also primarily linked to the ideas of having cultural status and potentially better prospects in the job market, but it has in actuality very little to do with a real curiosity about knowledge, about learning itself, which is what philosophy nurtures exactly. And ultimately most jobs in the US realistically rely on one’s ability to sell, (and not necessarily to know,) anything.
The original concept of the pursuit of happiness also had nothing to do with chasing money or power, or anything and everything that makes you feel good. It was after all defined during a time in history where the idea of personal happiness of any kind was not a prerequisite to life at all, where one’s entire life and mind and body was in the service of concepts of gods and rulers or leaders and “the greater good.”
This obviously also includes the idea of not having to be attracted or even liking one’s life partner, since one existed not for oneself but for a god and for society at large, and so must live, work and procreate out of religious and social duty.
(This, to varying extents, counted for Western and other cultures alike, as every culture in prescientific times very much relied on procreation and cooperation in order to survive as a group or tribe at all.)
Out of this endless state of servitude and forced cooperation, which in prehistoric days was to a large extent absolutely necessary to secure the survival of the species, the evolutionary concept of individual pursuit of happiness was eventually born, and the concept of personal freedom became a requirement as well.
What regular people and politicians and business people alike today have twisted those philosophical concepts of happiness and freedom (as in free will) into has absolutely nothing to do with the original meaning of these concepts. And the lack of proper understanding of these concepts of happiness and freedom (or free will) will eventually erode them altogether.
That is exactly why art and philosophy and science, as well as a knowledge of world history, are of the utmost importance in preventing a society from devolving into dictatorship.
The mainstream US population however, reared on religion and comics and wars, thrives on emotions over intellect, which makes for exactly the kind of crowds dictators prey on.
People are socialized to take the easy way out, to not think too much but to feel instead, not genuinely and deeply neither but rather to be in some constant state of excitement and shock really. They are bombarded with messages on how to sooth their cravings, for food, for sex, for love, for thrills, for image, status, money, revenge, violence. They are hooked emotionally on entertainment of any sort that sells them these messages exactly.
As long as they don’t have to think too much and are afforded a break from the harsh realities of their own lives, their daily work and monthly bills and human foibles in between. As long as they can sit on the couch or in the movie theater, after a long day at work, with their comfort food and their families, and take in these messages before going to work again and do it all all over again.
Not too many people stand still for a very long period of time to reflect on their lives in general and to put in perspective the accumulation of their small, daily observations, unless maybe they fall ill or get into an accident, or lose a loved one, or get divorced or cheated on.
Then maybe they begin to actually think, and for a while. That’s when people usually start having mental breakthroughs and make changes in their lives but if they don’t absolutely have to the vast majority goes right along with not having to “think too much.”
This is not actually how people naturally are, and certainly not how they were as children, but this is how they have been socialized by their governments and institutions.
People are naturally curious and want to think about things and come up with solutions, for this is the closest to a natural instinct that the human species has, and its’ only true tool for survival in nature, the ability to reason and to problem solve.
But governments don’t want people thinking for themselves, individually and critically, for they’re harder to control that way, and even though the core purpose of government is actually to ensure people their constitutional rights.
A genuine appreciation for critical thinking and curiosity for learning could of course be instilled in people but it requires a lot more effort than creating fear. It takes longer than instilling fear as well but the pay off is a lot better.
I imagine the diverting the general population’s attention from exclusively or mainly superhero type of entertainment to other types of films is a concerted effort but ultimately would be akin to a psychical detox from from junk food, or a unplugging of social media these days. It would be relaxing and interesting and thought provoking and would replace a lot of tension and hostility with more positive feelings.
Just like people eventually take to new foods, people would take to other forms of “entertainment.” They just haven’t been exposed to it enough. They haven’t been taught how to appreciate certain films and art, through the providing of a historical and social context, by making connections, by making people relate to the material, by making it interesting for them.
Past decades in US history itself, and certainly other societies, have placed value in art and literature and philosophy, and art films by extension. We just need to reintroduce newer generations to some of those more valuable forms of “entertainment.”
If one looks into the history of dictatorships, including the many European ones of course, (as well as many religions for that matter,) a denunciation of intellect has always been a core part of the agenda.
The stoking of fear to get one’s emotions all stirred up is just the flip side of this very agenda. Creating fear and suppressing knowledge go hand in hand that is. Creating real or imagined emergency states and twisting facts go hand in hand. Creating forced systems of conformity and erasing individuality and authenticity and memory and history are mechanisms at work in every dictatorship. These are the easiest and oldest ways tyrants have kept unknowing or unthinking people in a states of mental and emotional bondage.
The other way to instill fear would be direct violence of course, which was certainly also used in dictatorships. Governments with intentions to have maximum control and power but falling short of being able to be called dictatorships completely, and the US currently would fall under such a definition, use mental and emotional bondage before direct violence, since it’s less obvious.
The US government, backed up by corporate interests and unconstitutionally mixed up with religion, and using rightwing media to deliver it’s message of American exceptionalism, does this through instilling fear and confusion in its’ citizens. And after instilling fear comes instilling anger and hatred, through contempt for others, through nationalist pride, race pride, etc.
And these are the underlying themes and messages in superhero films, approved of by the government, played off as entertainment while in reality being propaganda for the case of American exceptionalism, that is American superiority over the world, and therefore right to rule it.
The US government has a history in meddling with Hollywood’s creative content through a variety of laws and tactics, from the Hayes Code in the 1930s, to the MPAA Rating System, which is a federally enforced system made up by a group of anonymous nongovernment citizens of rightwing and Christian leanings, a sort of “morality police.”
Europe does not have a rating system of its’ own and European films distributed in the US are not allowed to be rated by the MPAA. American films shown in Europe are actually often shown in the director’s cut version, the one oftentimes not passing the US’ MPAA Ratings System. And curiously Europe does’t have its’ own version of superheroes neither. American superhero movies are exported worldwide and no other country in the world has any modern day equivalent of their own superhero, (Japan’s anime animation maybe coming the closest to it.) Europe has mythological figures as well as royalty of course and their histories of empires but no contemporary superheroes or equivalent in genre.
Even without the extra layer of boycott the MPAA Rating System in the US does to its’ films, Europe gets increasingly influenced by American entertainment though, and is bombarded with American superhero movies about doomsday scenarios and supernatural heroes and villains with subliminal messages of American exceptionalism at their core, which obviously affects Europeans or anyone in the world differently than American themselves, who are essentially instilled with patriotic pride through these films called entertainment.
But the ideology of the superhero in and of itself, the idea of the supernatural hero, with beyond humanly possible powers, otherworldly, unbeatable powers, a hero who is not fallible or vulnerable like humans are, but someone who is perfect and indeed godlike, and the ultimate protector and savior, a warrior onto which to latch all hopes for winning and not losing a war or an empire, and to identify with only in a strength and courage that is not humanly possible to attain, can be instilled without the direct entertainment as well, (and often times the shutting down of entertainment and art are early signs of dictatorships exactly,)
Throughout history European dictators have taken their cue from anything from mythology, religion, ancient empires, other dictators, military leaders and power grabbers, and even pseudo-science and oversimplified philosophies, to instill its’ people with an unnatural sense of nationalist pride and hatred of others.
This is why dictatorship was, and is still, certainly possible in Europe as well, and is ultimately possible anywhere, and again and again. This is exactly why history does repeat itself, why knowledge is systematically erased and why it is replaced by emotions, particularly of desperation.
And an intellectually repressed and emotionally desperate people love the feeling of euphoria that a god or a king or a national belonging, or a sports team or a pop star or a superhero for that matter can provide.
Because every society that even for any period of extended time suppresses critical thinking, and urges its’ general population to primarily escape through emotions instead, of alternately desperation and euphoria, by creating false emergency states to deliver false salvation and protection from, (rather than even allowing the experiencing of genuine, complex, vulnerable emotions,) is always doomed for overthrow and dictatorship and downfall.
Brief Bio:
My name is Gabriella Bregman, I am a Writer, Filmmaker and Producer, currently in production of a Feature Documentary about LGBTQ US-Immigration Exclusion-Policy, including my personal story of US immigration discrimination as International Film Student under DOMA, (Defense Of Marriage Act, of 1996–2015,) titled ‘The Queer Case for Individual Rights,’ through my Film Production Company Bregman Films.
The 2001 John Cassavetes Film Retrospective ‘Gena and John: A Cassavetes Retrospective’ at the Laemmle Theatres in Los Angeles is a Bregman Films Production.
I am also the Founder of a Nonprofit Film Organization Queer Female Filmmakers Los Angeles (2019.)
I identify as a Gender Nonconforming Lesbian, “non-op” Trans-Masculine, and Bi-Racial, from the Netherlands, Los Angeles-based.
My pronouns are: they/them/theirs.
I sometimes go by Orlando, as in Gabriella Orlando Bregman, (in a nod to Virginia Woolf.)
Below is a Complete List of Articles as they will appear in Book Format, titled: ‘The Queer Case for Individual Rights & Other Essays’ (2019)