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Tweaker : : Linoleum |
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Superman isn't a hero because Superman can't die.
--from the movie Angus
the current war is a battle, one that has taken many lives and left many people with nothing but memories of their loved ones. but in any battle there is a kind of pageantry to it all; a deep competition that isn't voiced by the prominent media circuits and one that many people are simply not cognizant of. it is the battle for heroism. a competition to supply a veridical image and thus a push to establish some kind of amenable position in relation to other members of the world community. war is a struggle for the conferral of perfect ethics. no other forum dictates this drive more bluntly than the american cartoon industry.
there's no tension or indecisiveness to a superhero's pursuit and, more importantly, there is no tension or indecisiveness to the villains actions. neither of them is a being for that would imply subjectivity in action. no, they have transferred all their beings into pieces of clothing: clark kent is a being, superman is not; bruce wayne is a being, batman is not; tony stark is a being, iron man is not. by donning these fanciful garments they are in effect advertising to the world that they are not human. they are superhuman, above the realm of choice (thrust there usually by a choice which wasn't theirs) and into a plane of obligation. they fight because they "must," as if it's a transparent consequent. and what do children learn from these fantastic exhibits of moral imperatives? "do what is right?" no, more like, "do what is objectively right." enemies are never human, they are sub-human. they exist in a realm where the world is to become their slave for no other reason than some programming we will never know of. joker, two-face, penguin, doomsday, and poison ivy are all just psychoanalytic drives. they have no history except that of constant violence. they cannot change because change implies subjectivity. villains are forever to walk the earth as the hero's Other.
america is to be the hero, terrorists are drives. we are always right, they are always trying to destroy our correctness. the idea behind american cartoons is exposed in political rhetoric and fashion. it's why the flag is so important: it's the way we can safely allay all questions of validity about anything we do. whether it be bombs, tax cuts, executions, or campaign finance reform, it all adopts a religious zeal and efficacy when a flag is wielded. american cartoons are more than just fantasy.
they are the dreams of men who want to be gods.
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