tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1965905287512456704.post1645118594518719080..comments2024-03-15T20:53:54.885+13:00Comments on Wacky Comics!: How The Superhero Genre Copes In A Post 9/11 WorldGeorge Shiershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03162253849922362900noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1965905287512456704.post-77311881382060320452013-05-26T03:17:08.186+13:002013-05-26T03:17:08.186+13:00One of the aspects of the post 9/11 American cultu...One of the aspects of the post 9/11 American cultural scene that interest me is the Manga/Anime boom. Manga sales have abated recently because of changes in distribution over there but their strength before that compared to the steady decline of the domestic scene is something that should arouse interest more than does it seems to me.<br /><br />I see a relation with shift in the post 9/11 American superhero genre, which I see in a slightly light to that expressed here. 9/11 was a terrible catastrophe that deeply shook American self image, a tragic aspect of which was it's avoidability. The chain events that culminated in the tragedy are as tenuous and move through as vicarious a path as that of the plot of any pulp novel or comic. It's as if reality caught up with fantasy. I remember a TV show from the pre 9/11 era called seven days, the plot of the pilot episode was uncomfortably close to the events of 9/11 with the exception that the hero won out through the use of a fantasy device.<br /><br />Pre 9/11 superheroes where personal analogies and edification of American archetypes, YOU can achieve anything, YOU are a hero, YOU are important, YOU are unique and you can do all this here because this is the greatest country in the world.<br /><br />Post 9/11 the Superhero has been externalised, he/she doesn't represent you any more, he's your protector, something more than you are not a fantasy of what could be. Characters who violate this principle meet a sticky end, the vigilantes in The Dark Knight, General Hager in Rise of the Sliver Surfer.<br /><br />Where Manga/Animie succeeds is that allows you to exercise the hero fantasy in fantasy context. It's not New York of some proxy for such, ie Gotham/Metropolis, it's a different world untouched by the destruction depicted at the top of this page.DeadSpiderEyehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07687178085803686186noreply@blogger.com