Superethics

Last week in class we debated what makes a superhero and it started me thinking about the ethics that bind superheroes.  First I need to begin by defining what I think makes a superhero.  I think the best way to demonstrate what a makes a superhero is to demonstrate why they are important to us as a culture.  One common theme among any of the superheroes is a person (usually a fairly average person to begin with) develops special superhuman power(s) through either a coincidence or their own resources.  The superheroes then use their power to fight crime and help the innocent.  Superheroes would never use their power to control innocent people thus defying the old adage “Power corrupts.”   But there is one more aspect that deals with people excepting a super hero.

            In the movie Hancock the main character, Hancock, is a man with incredible powers not from this world (similar to Superman).  However, Hancock is not accepted as a superhero by the general population in the movie even though he does as every other superhero by fighting crime and helping the innocent.  What is the difference between him and every other superhero?  Theatrics.  We touched on this in class by mentioning how superheroes usually dress with their tights and flashy colors.  Their good deeds were selfless but all of them seem to feed off the attention their superhero personas attract.  Hancock is the opposite; he does not want the extra attention or care about how people think about him.  Because of this he is viewed as more of a menace for the damage he causes rather than a superhero for the people he helps.  In fact he is disliked so much that the public wants him in jail and he needs a public relations manager to clean up his reputation.

             I think this circumstance demonstrates how circumstantial and changing ethics can be.  In a younger American society when people were mostly ignorant the privet lives of high profile “good people”; superheroes were expected to be perfect as well.  As our society has grown, we have seen that few if any in the public arena are who they seem. Because of this our ethics standards have changed and with them the lives we expect our superheroes to live also changed to include the imperfect or darker side being acceptable.  Originally, all superheroes were spotless images of morality but as culture evolved so did the superheroes, with the notable exception of Superman (leading to the debate in class).  Will culture ever get to a point where we completely disassociate ethics and how a job gets done?  Would all of our other superheroes then look similar to Hancock?  What do you think?