Do men need superheroes?

(source: Yahoo Movies)

Edward Feser has something on comic book movies and the original source material: Movies, comic books, and sequential art.

Despite the gore and the rather let-down after the climax, I think I might have enjoyed re-watching Raiders of the Lost Ark more than Captain America. Marvel Studios may have found success with males by sticking to the formula and avoiding alterations to suit the SWPL crowd (even though the movies are still infected by liberal culture and ideals). Still, is it a good thing that superhero comic book movies are so popular? Or is the trend an indication that Americans are stuck in perpetual adultlescence? The problem goes beyond the nerds and the comic book geeks, extending to the video game-playing men in their 20s and 30s. (Even those in the military play video games, especially first-person shooters, to pass the time, whether in their barracks at home or overseas.)

There may be some frustrated males who are unable to do something that they can take pride in and therefore seek escapist fantasy in comic book movies, but there are plenty of "well-adjusted," employed males watching them. They may be ignorant of how they have been raised to be sheeple, subservient to those who have power and the system they maintain. A similar mentality exists among our servicemen as well. After all, they are not being formed as citizen-soldiers.

Why do we associate superhero comic books and comic book movies with the young? It is not because of the heroics or the courage or the simplistic depiction of good vs. evil, but the lack of realism which goes with the unbounded imagination of youth. The Bourne trilogy and similar action movies may not be much better with respect to the action sequences and stunts, but they at least pretend to be grounded in reality. Men cannot be inspired to do the impossible; their moral ideal must be something to which they can relate. (One can point to the exercise of the virtues in the abstract in comic book movies, but the imagination relies upon their concrete actions.)

Wuxia movies tend to be like more comic book movies than regular action movies. How about the Lord of the Rings trilogy? With whom does one identify, Gandalf or Aragorn? Or the hobbits? An objection could be that it is not the content of the story of the problem but the corruption of the moral imagination into fantasy and escapism. 2 hours of escape isn't bad; it's only a problem if one daydreams all the time about being a superhero or if more serious stories are being ignored or neglected. How much of an interest in comic book heroes is ok, then? Does "everything in moderation" apply?

Someone could say that it is silly to make such distinctions with regards to consumer culture. But that might be a rather extreme position to take, condemning all products only on that basis. The transformation of leisure into consumption certainly is a problem; on the other hand, the moral imagination does require story-telling for it to be developed. I think we can accept movies as a form of story-telling without approving of them wholly. It still seems proper, then, to link superhero comic book stories more with children than with mature adults, to be critical of them for that reason, and to cite their popularity among adults as a symptom of cultural and moral decline. (Is the inclusion of friendship and romance in comic book and wuxia movies a saving grace?)

Should we be watching more westerns, instead?