Batman debuted 75 years ago. Why has this figure that can be both campy Caped Crusader and brooding Dark Knight captivated imaginations so consistently for most of a century? Batman ranks among the world’s best known fictional characters because he is the superhero with no superpowers. We welcome the improbably possible. We have never stopped needing heroes who feel real.
Monthly Archives: March 2014
Superman’s True Disguise: The Power of Social Invisibility
Superman’s disguise is not about observers being too dumb to recognize him wearing glasses. Writer Jerry Siegel daydreamed about what it would take to get noticed. Clark Kent was no disguise; he was a man confident he was secretly something more. The mild-mannered reporter symbolizes hope to those who know they possess great qualities that other people have yet to see.
Westboro Baptist Church: Modeling Empathy on the High Road
With the death of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, many have suggested protesting outside his funeral because of the many funerals where WBC members themselves have stirred things up. Some people, however, have found a better way by demonstrating empathy and compassion. One Westboro member might not understand, but others could potentially reassess.
TV Round Up: Penny Dreadful, AMC’s Halt and Catch Fire, and More!
At SXSW I got a look at a few new TV series (serii? How do you pluralize series?) that you can look forward to checking out soon. Here’s a round…
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Risky Sessions: Superheroes on the (Steel-Reinforced) Couch
Andrew Lesk of the University of Toronto has prepared a working bibliography of psychiatrists and psychologists appearing as characters in graphic novels and comic books, most of them as meaningful players in the plot and not simply as facilitators of the main characters’ analyses.
Veronica Mars: The Movie: The Review
What an age we live in! Beloved cult show (and one of my all-time fave series) Veronica Mars has returned— and it’s on the big screen! For the two of…
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