We Need Real Heroes
I've been reading Camelot 3000.
My father-in-law is a big comic nerd.
I'm not so much, but curious enough. Knowing I like sci-fi and whatnot, he thought Camelot 3000 would be a good foray into comics for me.
He was right. I've been enjoying myself so far.
What has stuck out most to me, however, is the feeling I got reading the introduction of King Arthur, this hero of legends, to the calamity of an alien invasion.
It was heroic and gave me a sense of hope like I haven't felt in a long time.
I'm not the first to point out the sanitization of traditionally toxic masculine heroes.
I'm all for it. History was pretty gross.
In Camelot 3000, mere pages after the heroic, hopeful, introduction, King Arthur forcefully kisses a woman in order to awaken the memories of him in her past life.
Yikes.
But, I still can't deny the hope that a buff, kingly hero brings.
While major adjustments are needed, I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Call me crazy, but I think it's possible to have an impressive masculine hero that isn't a piece of shit to women.
It's pretty sad, but I think that intersection might be where some solid bits of Radical Hope can be found. (sad that being half decent to women is considered radical in media)
Sadly, the epic hero genre isn't something I'm super interested in generally. I don't think I'll have enough experience to do it justice, but I might try and work on a side project with an epic, masculine hero. I think it's something the world could use if done right.
In fact....! I think I have a basis for my hero.
.... Well maybe not. Who I was going to base it off of was kinda a garbage human.
..... But maybe I could work with it... Hmm. Maybe.
It'd be a different thing, though.
It'd be more of a cautionary tale than that of radical hope.
So never mind.
([REDACTED] It was going to be [REDACTED]. There's no need to be cryptic if I'm not going to do it)
Actually! I could probably make it work.
(Sorry, now I don't wanna give it away.)
Or I could use him instead. He'd be pretty good.
My best bet is probably just making my own character, though. I could make it a hybrid of the two....
Eh...
...
Damn it.
Now I'm rethinking everything. Trying to come up with a character, it's becoming harder and harder to do it without it becoming toxic.
It's pretty easy to leave out the misogyny.
But, violence is kinda toxic too.
How the hell do you have a badass hero that inspires hope without violence and domination!?
Like, I'm all for heroes that do things (mostly) peaceful and nonviolent. That's what Dimension Defenders is all about.
But like, as much of a badass Gandhi actually is, it's not the same kinda of epic heroism as you find in a King Arthur, or Conan.
Hmm maybe I have to go with more of a firefighter story.
Cause the key quality is the buffness and the feats of strength and what not.
A battle against nature gives more of heroism without necessarily having the violence.
(This does present an interesting question I don't have an answer to: Are our toxic heroes just products of toxic conflict?)
What inanimate conflict is actually compelling, though?
Like, I guess I could literally do a firefighter. That's pretty lame, though.
It's at least on the right track.
Firefighting is a great example of a 'pure' hero. They are (or can be) clean if toxic masculinity by not being inherently tied to violence.
So, firefighters, unlike police, soldiers, and superheroes, are genuine examples of hope.
But, there's still nothing all that 'radical' about fighting fires.
Wow. I am a moron.
The 'radical' part is doing one of the traditionally toxic roles, nonviolently and nontoxically.
Duh.
Oh boy. I've been really dim.
Doing the traditionally violent and toxic thing nonviolently and nontoxically is the core.
Buffness and 'restrained strength' is just window dressing.
I'm already trying to make a team of heroes that exhibit radical hope in the Dimension Defenders...
Wow.
Well, I guess that's good to know.
It also works as motivation for me to get back at it. I haven't really touched DD since my daughter was born.
...
...
...
I still want a solo 'restrained strength' hero though....
But yeah, that's exactly how to do it. Have a bunch of strength and power that they never fully use. Only use it defensively, and you can still keep a modicum of action to keep things interesting and have a backdrop for how radical their stance is.
Hmm. Yeah. I might try my hand at a nonviolent superhero type thing.
Most superheroes are in comics, not book books. I like book books cause I can't draw.
I guess I am going with the Conan route.
I need a violent world where a tough hero chooses the path of peace.
- Crime city
- war
- barbarism
- alien world?
- gladiatorial times
I've got a few options....
I'll think it over.