Well I've been thinking a lot about superpowers recently so I guess it's a good time to talk about one of my main beliefs other than objectivity, though the two are strongly related. I believe in superpowers and I'm not sure why. I guess one of the reasons is because they're cool. I've wanted superpowers as far back as I can remember. But that leads to the other reason; the one that actually has a sliver of academic merit. It's fairly obvious that superpowers are an ingrained part of all humans, not just me. After all, how else would they have arisen? There is absolute no evidence of a man with the individual power of flight or the ability to manipulate metallic objects. Likewise, the same is true for any supernatural activity described throughout human history, whether in real life or fiction. But other than various religious events, anything involving the supernatural is dismissed as a part of fantasy. But why is there such strong focus on the fantasy genre? In fact, why does it even exist in the first place?
An easy explanation is probably found through humanity's tendency to exaggerate. Sure, there's really no basis for a man with the properties of a spider, but maybe someone had above average agility and toughness that caused the comparison. And I guess what I'm really referring to here is the human imagination. Not only does our imagination exaggerate, it invents. So while someone will say "Hey man, that's some spider-like shit right there!" he'll also say, "Dude, what if you had some other powers like a spider like shooting webs and shit. That would be awesome as hell." Of course, that's more like what I would say rather than the actual thought process behind the creation of Spider-Man. Superpowers aren't the only part of the fantasy world, however, since the horror genre is also based on the supernatural. But I believe specifically in superpowers while I'm indifferent to other supernatural phenomena. This is mainly because the other parts of the supernatural are based on fear. For example, zombies, ghosts, ghouls, monsters, and other scary creatures are well within the parameters for being classified as fantasy or supernatural, but they have a specific purpose to scare people. This is in contrast with superpowers, which have rather unclear purposes.
I'll admit that this is a weak argument and a majority of it is because I think superpowers are more fascinating (or "cooler") than other elements of fantasy. But let me try and explain it in further detail. I'll start by looking at the standard models for the horror and superpower genres. The horror genre has a few different models, but they're all mostly the same. These models are the ghost, the zombie, and the monster. Zombies and ghosts are the same in the sense that they both arise from the dead. While clearly supernatural, there is nothing all that strange about this. As in, imagining the concept does not sound so far-fetched. Dead things are scary are already scary, as is evident by the effect that skeletons and corpses have on some people. Ghosts and zombies just seem to be an extension of that concept. If that dead thing were to come back to life, it would be far scarier. The traditional ghost story often has some concept of revenge or redemption, making it even scarier. The scariness of zombies is portrayed through their hideousness and horde-like behavior. As in, they are literally what would happen if the dead were given the ability to move. So ghosts and zombies are an extension of an already existing idea. There's nothing strange about their origin. Monsters are a little trickier because there are a variety of monsters, each one being unique from the rest. I would say the standard model for a monster is Frankenstein. But he's really no different from a zombie and therefore can be put in the same category. Other monsters are far different from Frankenstein so the same logic can't be used. Let's take for example the Bogeyman and the evil Sandman. I think both of these are similar in the sense that they both scare their victims (specifically children) while they're in their room/bed/sleeping. Therefore, these monsters play off of the already established fear of the dark, just as ghosts and zombies play off of the fear of the dead. But there are still monsters that don't fit into either category. Cerberus, for example, is a beast monster who doesn't share many similarities with ghosts or zombies. He's in the best category, which while still scary, does not really stem from an established fear. The closest real thing to Cerberus is a dog or wolf. Now Cerberus was created in ancient times, so the image of a ferocious dog was probably used as inspiration. And just like ghosts are exaggerations of death and the Bogeyman is an exaggeration of darkness, Cerberus is an exaggeration of the evil barking dog that chases the mailman. Say, wouldn't it be much scarier if that dog had like three heads and was fucking huge? I imagine the same is true for most other mythical beasts.*
And so a problem arises. How is this any different from the example of Spider-Man I mentioned earlier? It's almost exactly the same. If monsters can have the same origins as superpowers, then either every supernatural thing is real or none is. And so I've failed at: a) distinguishing superpowers from other supernatural powers, and b) showing how superpowers are actually real. But my argument is still alive because I can refute it. I also said that one possible explanation for Spider-Man was humanity's tendency to exaggerate things. What would be another explanation? Well, if superpowers were indeed real, the true origin of Spider-Man would be much more complicated. Instead, let's look at the standard model for a superhero, just like we did with the horror genre. The basic model is of course Superman. Not only is he arguably the first superhero, but he's also the most popular and the one that most people would jump to if they were asked to name a superhero. Superman's characteristics are easy to explain. Pretty much everything about him is, well, "super" compared to normal human beings. He's stronger, faster, can fly, has super breath, etc. Name one physical trait and Superman can perform it better than anyone. But there is a problem. Superman has heat-vision.
Now I hate to make a big deal about minor things but I believe in this case it's crucial to everything. Superman has heat-vision. I want you to repeat that several times, up to the point where it loses all meaning. Because it makes no sense to begin with. Superman is the simplest superhero. His creation was no doubt one of the easiest. Just take everything normal humans can do and make them better. Yet this super-human is for some reason given the power to shoot laser beams out of his eyeballs. No, I'm sorry DC, because that is almost absurd. But what does it prove? Well clearly it's not as absurd as I'm making it out to be. Superman has had this power for over 50 years and nobody seems to bring up the fact that it doesn't make sense in relation to his other attributes. In fact, it's a well accepted power in his arsenal. Maybe it isn't absurd at all.
This is where my belief really starts to take off. When I was about six years old, I imagined a superhero perhaps after seeing images of Superman. I swear to you and myself that I had no knowledge of any of Superman's powers, other than that he had some sort of superpowers. But the superhero I imagined also had heat vision. To me, this is astounding. What is the coincidence that I would give my imagined superhero the one power I find to be the most ridiculous? The one that by far makes the least sense? But looking back at Superman, the power does seem to make sense. Of course Superman should have heat vision! Why? Because it just seems right. And therein lays the heart of my belief. There is something about us humans that not only accepts but embraces Superman's heat vision when logically we have no reason to. I think the reason for this embrace is because humanity innately believes in a power like heat vision. And why would we have this innate belief if superpowers didn't actually exist in our universe in some way? Yes! They must! How else can you explain it?
I realize that a lot of this is far-fetched and relying on this tiny piece of evidence really shouldn't prove anything. But this is my personal belief. You may not believe that I imagined Superman with heat vision before I knew that was one of his powers, but I certainly do. And what separates this from modern day mainstream religions? Aren't those all based on superpowers? How is Jesus being able to walk on water somehow more believable, more noble, than Aquaman being able to control water? This is not a criticism of religion but rather an embrace of the supernatural abilities that constitute it. Religion is based upon a leap of faith. This leap of faith happens when you can't prove something is true but have such a strong belief in it that you act like it is true. My belief in superpowers, my belief in the idea that humans are innately exposed to superpowers, like I was to heat vision, is my leap of faith.
This has turned out to be a little anti-climactic. All of the words and evidence before this sum up to form nothing more than a personal belief. In order to redeem this, I'll put forth some final food for thought. The writing before this might be significant because it established that supernatural things are nothing more than exaggerations of real life things. Ghosts and zombies are exaggerations of death, monsters are exaggerations of animals, and Spider-Man is an exaggeration of an agile human. Likewise, Superman can be considered an exaggeration of a man. In fact, isn't that what his name suggests? A super man, nothing more. All of his abilities can be done by humans, just not as well. Except for one, that being heat vision. Unless of course I somehow am not aware of the human ability to mildly warm things up by staring at them. Some can also argue that flying is not a humanistic trait, but let's not forget that Superman originally could not fly but instead jump really high. Does the phrase "Leap over a building in a single bound" ring any bells? This of course is an exaggeration of the basic human ability of jumping. This exaggeration itself was exaggerated even further to give Superman the ability to fly. But heat vision still doesn't make sense? Where did it come from? How did it originate? Why did Superman's creators give him the ability in the first place? It may seem silly, but I think those are some truly important questions.
I think I've accomplished my goal with this entry and while the thought involved in it may not be very impressing, I'm quite proud that I was able to back up my belief this successfully. But lastly there is still one problem left. I don't believe in just superpowers, I believe in omnipotence, which in turn includes omniscience. However, that would take a long time to explain in an article that is by far my longest to date already. So I'll just say type down the gist of it in the hope that I may expand upon it later. Basically it stems from the idea that if superpowers are real, then theoretically there should be no limit on them. Why stop at just heat vision and super strength? What's to stop someone from eventually acquiring every superpower? Maybe he/she has a superpower that gives them the ability to steal other people's superpowers? Limits are endless in real life, shouldn't they be even more so when superpowers are involved.
And then there's the fact that I keep separating real life and a life where superpowers exist. Why should I if I believe that superpowers exist in real life? Well unfortunately it's quite obvious that they don't, or at least they can't be seen. Maybe this is all part of the omnipotent being's plan. Maybe he/she removed all superpowers from the universe for the time being and is observing us right now without them. Why, you may ask, has this omnipotent being done this? Well do they really need to answer that question? They're omnipotent! Their actions do not need an explanation, they simply just are. Most people would call this being God, but I don't think it is God. I think this omnipotent being is someone completely independent of God. I believe that this omnipotent being does exist and that God could exist but they are not the same person.
And finally there's the question of why I would want to believe in this ridiculous theory. Well, again, there's enough reason in there to fill another article with. But this one stems from my other belief that the most important thing to humans is power. I believe in an omnipotent being independent from God because I want to be that omnipotent being. Don't you?
*As I typed these sentences about mythical beasts, I immediately thought of the unicorn because it destroyed everything I had just said. If mythical beasts were supposed to cause fear (and therefore not have any basis in reality) what is the explanation for the unicorn, a mythical beast that is a symbol of hope and beauty. Well I checked Wikipedia, the source of all human knowledge, and the first paragraph contained a quote that said "The unicorn is the only fabulous beast that does not seem to have been conceived out of human fears." This strongly re-affirmed my beliefs and was an inspiration to finish this article. I guess the unicorn is one of those unique exceptions in my theory.
0 comments:
Post a Comment