General question to fans of superheroes movies and comics.

[Lapidem]

Unfortunately nobody has responded to my original German-speaking question in another (German) Lego forum.

I try it here:

Hello

Although I myself have quite a lot of nerdiness to me, technical interests and hobbies, a certain film genre and hobbies that a "serious" adult should not have (?), I can start with the whole superhelden area, the starwarsfilms and also similar series little.

Somehow I find the stories boring, very simplistic, humorless, politically far too correct and often too simple knit.

Therefore, my question to the older fans (older in the sense of: Having a family of their own, have already participated in the professional life for a long time, the first destiny and crises have brought about, interested in "real" social / political issues - not only image newspaper and Facebook ...):

What fascinates you at the superheldenstory, whether film, serial or comic?
What is so special for you on Star Wars and similar film series? (No, I'm not interested in why Star Wars is better than Enterprise Enterprise, Battlestar Galactica, or is not).

Signature: My nickname which I use in that forum.

This text I have automatically translated with the Google translator.

 

Lapidem
 

Edited February 21, 2017 by Lapidem

[Tariq j]

There's no sole reason that makes Star Wars good, for lots of fans its down to many reasons: the lightsaber battles, the epic space dogfights, the ground battles, the weapons like the Death Star and Starkiller Base and of course the characters. 

Another reason is the way (particularly the Originals) is the way they were made, the use of models, large scale sets, puppets, it was like nothing anybody had ever seen before.

[gedren_y]

Star Wars, like many other heroic tales, is the modern equivalent of folklore. There was a very fine television special that covered a lot of why Star Wars is the phenomenon that it is, but I cannot remember what it was titled. I think it was produced by either The History Channel, or A&E. It covers the literary traditions Star Wars draws from, and does a far better job at explaining the roots of the story.

Superheroes follow a similar vein. For me it is about the possibility of the fantastic. Living beyond the ordinary, especially for the characters who have no 'abilities'. But it all stems from story for me. I don't need all the visuals, though. The printed word can be enough, but then I was a bibliophile before I regularly read comic books. I read Norman Mailer and Robert Silverberg before I started reading the various comics I enjoy now. The Watchmen is worthy of the name graphic novel (the movie loses too much for me).

[Japanbuilder]

It is really hard to answer this, since the resulting answers are going to be very subjective. 

But as a species humans tell stories. Each age has a a medium to deliver stories too, from simple oral stories to what we have today which is everything from oral narration to books, to film and audio. 

Now today just like always, there are some stories that appeal to some folks but not to other folks. 

I think one big difference though between antiquity and today is the rise in leisure-time. So ultimately most of what constitutes media consumption today is designed to fill that type of time. This is going to make a lot of the content delivered by said media very shallow, very un-serious and like leisure itself a luxury in wasting time. 

So I can take an applicative approach, since it is meant to amuse me anyway, I may as well expand on what I am consuming by applying to it a meaning based on personal circumstance. 

This allows me to extract perhaps a philosophical meaning from one genre (say how Stormtroopers have white armor but the inner armor is all black, thus symbolizing possibly their true heart) Or say from Super Hero movies I can apply a psychological interpretation, in that the heroes represent a mental need or wish for answers to huge problems to be simple. 

Or my usual approach. Let whatever I am watching waste my time for me since I was probably going to waste it anyway on some other equally shallow endeavor. It is  like the cherry blossoms and plum blossoms here in Japan every spring, they are just there so I will enjoy them while they are there. Plato would be mad at me I am sure.

[BaneShake]

My best answer is this: the unrealistic rules of these types of media allow the storytellers to provide a very original story. No one can actually shoot laser eyes or become a magical space monk, but asking "what if" allows possibilities that otherwise couldn't be explored. In particular, for me, comics often do delve into deeper and murkier waters. Take Swamp Thing: he is a sentient plant, to oversimplify it. There is only so much a human can do to question "what does it mean to be human?" because, naturally, they always will be, genetically, human. Whereas Swamp Thing wondering "what does it mean to be a person?" can be explored so much further, as humanity and personhood become entirely distinct from each other.

[Cody Startale]

I think it comes down to a form of escapism, ultimately. Star Wars is my favorite hobby and means a lot to me. It is something that gives me a break from the real, often more uncomfortable stuff and a welcome distraction in times of hardship. It helped me go through phases of broken heart and depression, and often gave me something that lifted my spirits and something to look forward to. Also, I consider myself a creative person, I just love stories and all things you can make up in your mind. So, naturally, the power of phantasy fascinates me and as such, a big and powerful franchise like Star Wars, displaying such a vast amount of imagination, has a natural draw on me.

Also, in stories, I find it easier to root for the heroes and their cause because things are more simplistic. That doesn't mean it's dumb or undemanding, just that it's usually more black-and-white and not as greyshaded as real life is. On real life political and ethnical struggles, I often find myself at a loss what to think or who/what to root for, because ultimately, I always feel like I am missing certain information, like I am missing critical context to make a right judgement. In movies, it is very easy... you see an evil Empire oppressing people and building horrible weapons, and you root for the small but dedicated group of ragtag underdogs who risk their lives to oppose them and make things better for the entire world. But real life doesn't work that way, most of the times. You might find fascist regimes here and there and rebels who oppose them, usually labelled as traitors or terrorists, and whoever comes out of this conflict on top writes the history on who was good and bad. Things in RL aren't as clear and therefore, it's easier to find yourself rooting for the wrong thing, even if it's for all the right reasons and intentions... and in the end, you might find yourself aligned with the "bad" guys. That doesn't happen with Superhero stories. You root for those who obviously do the right thing, and they become an instant role model that works without flaws, most of the time (which is why it is all the more exciting to see your favorite heroes struggle and even dip into morally bad waters once in a while, because it's a little unsettling, but also pretty much guaranteed to have a positive happy ending outcome ultimately).

 

In short: with real social and political issues, I often feel overwhelmed, to the brink of hopelessness, because there is so much going wrong and so little you can do. Stories, though, always give us examples of hope and how things can work out in the end. Stories give us hope. If you didn't see it, I recommend to you the movie Saving Mr Banks. It's a Disney movie about how Disney acquired the movie rights for the Mary Poppins movie. Tom Hanks plays a brilliant Walt Disney and says something about this very topic that has deeply impressed me, though I won't spoil it right now.

[VaderFan2187]

50 minutes ago, Cody Startale said:

 In movies, it is very easy... you see an evil Empire oppressing people and building horrible weapons, and you root for the small but dedicated group of ragtag underdogs who risk their lives to oppose them and make things better for the entire world.

Pfft... more anti-Imperial propaganda 

Actually, one thing I like about SW is some of the grey areas. The Empire established order and unification in the galaxy, the rebels wanted to destroy that. Rogue One helped blur the lines further by showing not all rebels are perfect, like Cassian's attempt to kill Galen. The power void left by the rebels in the end of Episode VI did nothing except put another empire in place - the First Order.

And Imperials aren't dumb either. Stormies on Tantive IV efficiently crushed the rebels, and managed to "miss" Luke and co. on the DS, when they were given orders not to kill them. Plus Thrawn knows Kallus is fulcrum...

And Vader is awesome!