Heroes

I, for one, am very happy about this recent(ish) superhero trend in our culture.This is not just because I, personally, love superheroes (which, as you all know, I do!), but because I think it's a good sign for our society. I know that sounds kind of ridiculous, but let me explain.

I believe that superhero stories are basically the myths of our modern world, and I think that myths are very important. Every ancient culture had it's own set of heroes, people who achieved extraordinary and courageous things. I think these stories are partly responsible for all of the amazing things humans have accomplished throughout history. You see, when we hear stories about people who do great things, it makes us want to do great things as well.

For most of human history, this is what we wanted; stories of the courage and strength of great people. Then at some point in more recent times, we lost this. We decided that we wanted stories that were more "relatable". We wanted stories of people who were just like us, doing the things that we do everyday. Here's the thing though, we always manage to relate to stories, I think that's something that's just built into our DNA. When we relate to stories heroes, it brings out the heroic side in us. When we relate to people who are just like us, or worse than us, it only makes us inclined to be satisfied with our own mediocrity.

So, it seems to me that, the fact that we are becoming interested in these kinds of stories again might mean that we are looking for people to inspire us to be better than we are. Sure, these people aren't real, but better to be inspired by fictional people than to watch a bunch of real people acting like assholes and making fools of themselves ({cough} Jersey Shore {cough} The Kardashians {cough} every other reality show ever). I guess what I'm saying is that maybe, just maybe, the reemergence of heroes in popular culture is a sign that we are, once again, ready to face our own potential for greatness and look past what we are to what we could be.

There are even more superheroes coming to the CW next season. If you watch Arrow (and you're anything like me) you will observe who the girl in white is, and then you will do a happy dance.