Religion and superheroes are two topics that most people don't relate, unless someone reads comics religiously. Get it? Anyway, they are more similar than people think. Consider how they both have impacted the culture of the world. Comics were created to entertain, and they have been very successful. Every year new movies are made about superheroes, and they take up much of the media. The success of these movies is immense, which shows how popular and revered they are in our culture, similar to the widespread acceptance of church and religion. Superheroes such as Captain America are created to show how to be a good person and put others before oneself. These comics are similar to early Puritan writings which were written to exemplify the benefits of religion and show how to live a good life in the eyes of God, though using different tactics. Early Puritan writer, Jonathan Edwards, uses fear in "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" to convince sinners to follow God and live a life without sin by describing the mighty power of God and torments of Hell, through threats such as "God has many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell." (Edwards 22-23) . This is juxtaposed to the cultural influence of Captain America, who is a role model to comic fans and a perfect representation of how to be a morally good person. They also use similar tactics to tell morally influential stories. In comics there is always a good and bad guy, and the good guy always winds because his intentions are pure. These stories can be related to biblical stories which always convey a moral ideal, such as the juxtaposition of God and the Devil, or David and Goliath. Religious writings and comics both influence culture by using stories and rhetorical devices.
I like your connection between comic books and religious books. After you said, I do think they are very similar and do influence culture greatly. They are both revered by society and do have a major cultural impact.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, I enjoy how you were able to construct your own voice in the piece. Also, I agree with your connection and find it interesting the way in which you were able to relate two very distinctly different topics. The use of religion as well as superheroes, as funny as it sounds, are a very important way to construct the accepted and unaccepted behaviors in society.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading this because it's sounds sophisticated while conncecting to an idea that many people are aware of such as superheroes. I think it's interesting how you found a connection between the two, there seems to be a relation between the two not only with moral concepts but how everyone turns to the hero or turns to God for comfort.
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