Heroes (not the show)

[Caspian]

I'm considering doing my Master's on Superman.

[Jayelle]

..duckies?

[anonshadow]

Would it be good to have superheroes, you mean?

Um... I'm not sure. I think that there's a lot of potential for destruction that I am, understandably, uncomfortable with. Having heroes is like giving missiles to a few dozen people and saying, "Good luck, don't screw up."

The average person who goes rogue can only do so much damage, and it takes work to get something that can do serious destruction.

... whereas Superman could (and has) destroyed a huge amount because he went rogue.

At the same time, we trust our leaders not to do something terrible, so why not superheroes?

[Jayelle]

I think he's asking whether it's a good idea or a bad idea to do a Master's Thesis about Superman.

[anonshadow]

OHHH.

*headdesk*

Ditz moment, sorry.

Um... that would actually be kind of interesting, depending.

[eriador]

I would need a lot more information on exactly what you feel like doing before I could vote.

[Caspian]

Over the next 3 years (that's not including this one) I want to study the hero in literature, with particular focus on the epic, on mythology, on communal writing and the oral tradition, and on the contemporary incarnations of the above.

I want to use Superman as a particular instance of a contemporary hero without a single author, and research whether Joseph Campbell's Hero with 1000 Faces is an accurate model of Superman's story, whether as time has passed and Superman's character and story have evolved his conformity to Campbell's model has changed—if so, in which direction? What are the implications of that? If his conformity to Campbell's model has not changed, what are the implications of that? Does a communally created hero like Superman conform more or less closely to Campbell's model than a hero created by a single author?

I will explore various ideas of hero, from Plato’s notion of heroic virtue, including Aristotle’s conception of the tragic hero, to Jungian ideas of the psychologically significant universal hero. I will research both the social and literary function of the hero historically in both popular mythology and in literary epics such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Virgil’s Aenead, Beowulf, Milton’s Paradise Lost, etc. and with special focus on the contemporary heroic character of Superman.

Will my research lead me to support Campbell's idea of a universal myth? What about non-western heroes? How has Christianity affected the development of Western mythology and particularly the Western idea of the hero? To what degree is Superman a product of Western culture, and to what degree is he a universal hero, and to what degree does he fail to be either?

[Eaquae Legit]

Methodology?

Has anyone done similar research? Any previous scholarship you might draw on?

(Sorry, went through the gauntlet that is grant proposal season last month.)

[Hegemon]

I think you should definitely do a thesis on Superman... but instead of the stuff you wanna write, i think you should focus it on why Superman would kick Godzilla's ass.

[Jebus]

I read an article recently on who would win between Superman and Batman. The author decided Superman would win but he was clearly biased.