Questions on superheroes
Q not evil but revenge or justice?
A some situations in game can be said this. But using Ardt’s ideas, elves are treated animal-like. Making these others not even have human characteristics.
Q Video game trend… completely justified uprising
Leader of uprising wants to oppress those who oppressed her.
Is this sort of narrative (oppressed becomes oppressor) problematic in real world?
A agree with what you are saying. It’s why I chose 3 different games. Different options.
Possible that there are other options.
Sometimes you are forced to choose a side.
Q doctor isn’t getting help. Picking up companions. “His way to interact normally” to keep him being functional…
A wanted to address. Separate paper, though.
Entire field of study within PTSD about companion support. Not just friends, but the right friends and the right people around.
Clara is an abusive companion.
Donna is an ideal companion.
Q seems like 10 displayed almost all the things you describe and chose to die, wasn’t allowed to die. Each reincarnation has to relive.
A regeneration as another manifestation of avoidance
Abandons everything associated with it.
Like starting an entirely new life.
Changed patterns of behavior—even changing which shoe on first
Attempt to start new but stuff comes back. Repressed memories. “Family of Blood” old traumas were leaking through.
Q avoidance overarching theme. Can see the singularity. Doesn’t want to go where he dies. Self-sacrifice ever used is being erased. Whatever happens?
A they don’t say what happens.
Everybody knows the doctor lies. He lies to himself.
All kinds of places that he avoids that aren’t canonically necessary to avoid, but he avoids anyway.
Doesn’t go back places he’s been before. The doctor’s daughter planet.
Easier for show runners, but is very consistent with PTSD.
Q model… Thinking consistently about superhero movies so different because they are informed by another media, comics. So much genre where self-aware characters, some have become pomo (?). Fan culture.
Maybe reason 4-stage model doesn’t work is because there is so much informing it from comics and fan culture.
New 52 when first started coming out from DC. First Aquaman… first pages comes in and orders fish. Can’t you not eat fish? Addressing how everyone hates Aquaman.
Q earlier stuff… in the 60s on television, Batman was seen as camp. Making fun of comic book character. Next season CBS and NBC did Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice. Camp parodies. Late 70s Greatest American Hero. So when Superman and Batman come out at late 70s get almost a neoclassical.
Like what you’ve done with neoclassical, inter-genre fertilizing.
A genre has moved from print to television to film.
That’s where the 4-stage theory works. Spiral. Goes in a circle, but moving forward. Goes through parody, but moves into new medium and starts over at primitive.
Basis is steeped in ridiculous and absurd.
That’s what is so interesting about parody existing concurrently. Still very popular.
Q Wouldn’t argue you might need a new genre description?
A revisionist and parody feed back to influence classical models
Guardians of the Galaxy structure, arcs, classical
Maybe we’ve birthed a new genre, new genres.
Conspiracy theory superhero film
Superhero science fiction
Q Shield shows non-super people views.
Liked Avengers classical and revisionist. Villain is not classical. Think that’s a characteristic of neoclassical wave?
A Don’t watch Shield.
Shield does present human perspective. I can’t speak from experience, can surmise from earlier paper, yes about normal people. Black Widow and Hawkeye in Avengers are Shield Agents. Little bit reacting to enormous things that are way out of their league.
Shield still non-powered humans, but still so intrinsically connected to world of superheroes. Not normal… What about the guy who sees Ironman fly by and that makes his week?
Reporter who lived through 40s and 60s during superhero revelations… aspect of superhero genre that hasn’t been explored as much. Could be an aspect of revisionist stage.
Loki as atypical big bad.
Joker Big Bad but comes off quite differently. Much harder than when campy.
Loki by Thor 2 becomes almost an antihero.
Q regarding name Doctor, play on that he needs a doctor?
A No. Because 1963 PTSD was shell shock. Back then was just something to make the character more interesting and ambiguous.
Interesting people tend to have suffered some trauma as well.
New Who has become more character driven. Old Who was static character.
Q One of ideas for where going to go, oversaturation falling into disrepair. Maybe more like Westerns. Space operas now. Probably where it will go.
A One part of 4-stage theory is otherly proposed 5th stage of nostalgia. Long period of silence and then a remake, reminiscing about Golden Era.
Also as far as Western goes. Transmuted Western idea is a good one. How many Westerns do we see a year? One or two a year. Especially about The Lone Ranger.
Q part of whole superhero thing is reboots and comic books. Told this story in one way. Need to do something different. Also dumping huge amounts of marketing. We as pop culture scholars changes in genre, large multinational corps get people into movie theaters.
A interesting to watch how it goes into different media.
Q Grey Wardens, gray allude to opportunity to choose to be neutral.
A In dragon age series, not always about keeping peace. Killing the blight. Fight off the dark spawn.
Q Joseph Campbell… because of what has happened to them, they are not pure good guys or evil.
Arbitration, too. Neutral line. Experienced both.
Q talking about flexing muscles of making decisions about evil
In this context, do you think trying to keep YA away from this kind of game a problem or innocence too long?
A talking about sex. Deny it doesn’t work. Makes issue worse. Still recommend Witcher series not be played by kids because there are a lot of mature content.
Q help them develop a moral compass
A not morality, helps them decide what is evil
Evil is different than morality.
Many decisions were moral but those decisions of absolute evil.