BBC The Why Factor Response: Comic Book Superheroes
I listened to the podcast on why superheroes are still around and popular and relevant to today, even if they are from the 20th century. The podcast said a reason is the normal person likes the supernatural powers and people who defy the rules and who change the common perception of the world. These comic books were also made during bad time periods like World War Two and these comic books motivated people and filled them up because these are very inspiring stories, it gave people a sense of hope in bad time. KNOWLEDGE QUESTION 1: (couldn’t find bold)- How have comic books which have ascended from ancient gods, evolved and survived to survive and be popular today in 2017?
Another thing that made me think is how are something like comic books giving people this sense of hope and they used immigrants as an example. They used immigrants as these comic books were giving these people trying to escape their countries and gave them this inspiration and hope. The speaker thinks the superheroes are around because superheroes can explain the world in a different way and it gives the people a different perspective of the world, and this makes me think that if these superheroes were real, would we really be this attracted to them, or would it be a one hit wonder until the superhero does something extremely spectacular.
There was a very interesting topic brought to my attention, and that was how Japan was said to be a very sexist country, however they had female comic book artist’s that were made for everyone any age. However in places like Great Britain, and the USA comic book artists that are female are a minority and there aren’t many of them.
Comic books are also often reflected of the time period. This next point leads to my knowledge question. In the 1960’s Dr. David Banner overdosed on a NUCLEAR toxin that made him like the hulk. This is reflective of this time period because its around the time when nuclear bombs were big. This leads me to my knowledge question. KNOWLEDGE QUESTION 2: How do comic books reflective of their time period be accurate, yet don’t upset anyone or offend anyone and are still very popular.