Superhero Copycats

Violence is a frequently brought up topic when it comes to media effects. Parents are especially worried about these media effects because they don’t want their children to be exposed to content that will negatively affect their behaviors and attitudes.

Priming, the copycat phenomenon and the social learning theory tell us that audiences observe what they see in the mass media and associate that to the real world. Children are the most vulnerable to these theories because they are still developing an understanding of society.

Obviously, parents should limit the amount of violence and gore in the movies and TV shows that their children watch. However, parents seem to be a little more lenient when it comes to superhero movies. Does violence in superhero movies have a different effect on children than violence in other action movies?

Wonder Woman was released in 2017. In my lifetime, Wonder Woman has been the most influential female lead in a superhero movie. The character’s strength and persistence definitely inspired women of all ages when the movie was first released. But according to reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, parents of young girls are concerned about how appropriate the movie actually is.

No matter how successful they are in box offices, all superhero movies have a lot of violence. Without violence, superhero movies wouldn’t be successful because the audience wants to see the hero defeat the villain. The violence portrayed in Wonder Woman is probably not suitable for young children, just like every other superhero movie.

I personally don’t think that violence in superhero movies is a big deal. When I was a young boy, I was a big fan of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. My brother and I would play in our back yard after school and copycat the Power Rangers while pretending that we defeated the “bad guys.” When children watch superhero movies, they often only copycat the heroes because they admire them for overcoming their obstacles and defeating a particular antagonist. In this sense, the children are more likely to copycat a hero’s bravery instead of the actual violence shown in the film.

But everyone experiences the media differently, so I understand why parents are concerned.

After watching Wonder Woman, I couldn’t help but wonder if young girls across the world fell into the realms of priming, the copycat phenomenon and the social learning theory more than boys. Because the film contained a strong female lead, it would make sense for females to be more affected by the violence. Young boys associate more with male characters, so it is the girls who are the prime targets of the film. It would be interesting to see if levels of violence in females increased after Wonder Woman was released.

Superhero movies don’t seem to play a major role in the effects of media violence, compared to R-rated movies with violence. The fiction factor should also be considered because many children do understand that superheroes are not real people. Yes, children still copycat superheroes like I did in my back yard, but parents should allow them to do so because children need people to look up to, whether those people are real or fiction.