The impact of Superheroes post 9/11

Superheroes: the Impact of 9/11

Steph Hendry explores the ways Hollywood has reinterpreted the ideologies of superhero fantasies in the light of the War against Terror.

Comic book heroes are everywhere at the moment. Bat-men, Spider-men, Iron-men, Watch-men and X-Men (amongst others) have been staples of Hollywood blockbusters for the last decade and we never seem to be too far away from another franchise instalment. As their stories span a number of years this makes them ideal sources for contextualised readings.

9/11 and the post-9/11 response

Often, major events act to define a particular period. Some events are so catastrophic that they change the culture dramatically. We divide the 20th Century as pre-war (before 1939) and post-war (after 1945) as World War 2 irrevocably changed the world. On the morning of September 11th 2001 the attacks on the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon and the failed attack on the Whitehouse caused physical devastation in New York and Washington but the shockwaves of the events went much wider. The shock and horror felt in the West and the political and social changes that it led to have created another similar cultural divide as World War 2. We now speak of the pre-9/11 and post-9/11 context. What this means is complex and will often depend on the observer’s own viewpoints; but the trauma of the 9/11 attacks can be seen to have impacted on Western culture in a number of ways:

•            The live reporting of the event meant that people watching the news at the time were not protected by the usual mediation of the attacks by news reporting. Reports of the first ‘explosion’ were being broadcast as the second plane hit in New York and the confusion and terror felt by the journalists at that moment reflected the confusion and terror of the viewing audience who witnessed the event. Rather than receiving explanations of what had happened, as would usually be the case after a terrible tragedy, the audience saw events of the day unfold live on air and the public were drawn into the story in a way they had not previously experienced.
•            Prior to this event America had been perceived as being safe from external attack. This was the first attack on US soil from a non-American source since Pearl Harbour in 1941 and it shook the confidence of this global superpower. America had been shown to be vulnerable.
•            Whilst, tragically, many lives were lost that day, the impact of the day was not simply based on the human cost. The targets for the attack were chosen carefully for their symbolic importance. The targets represented three crucial aspects of US power:
–            capitalism (The World Trade Centre)
–            the military (The Pentagon)
–            political power (The Whitehouse)

The world, quite simply has not been the same since that day. The West reeled from the shock of seeing a vicious and premeditated attack on Western values and ideals and can be seen to have slipped into a ‘culture of fear’. Terrorism became the main cultural concern and nations tightened up security, changed laws and fought wars in an attempt to take back some control after the feelings of helplessness caused that day. The ‘war on terror’ was not a war like those that had gone before. The enemy was hidden and unidentifiable and the fear was that they could strike again at any time.

Given the idea of the ‘hidden enemy’ these fears can be seen to have translated into a general fear of otherness and difference. It might not be a complete surprise that Hollywood’s response was to create heroes. Classical Hollywood narrative provides reassurance and this structure was applied in the retelling of stories which gave us powerful heroes who save the day. These fantasies responded to the post 9/11 context and provided some comfort in a time when danger seemed very close.

Pre-9/11 Superheroes

The 1970s and 1980s

Since Superman first donned his spandex in 1932, superheroes have reflected contemporary concerns and fears. The 1970s saw the first signs of an ecological awareness; the world was entrenched in the Cold War arms race and was having to deal with economic problems which spanned the decade and included huge rises in oil prices, unemployment and strikes. New York nearly went bankrupt in 1975 and it was a city where street crime and violence was rising, seemingly out of control. Hollywood tends to provide the culture with the heroes it needs so it might not be surprising that ‘alien’ heroes were brought in by Hollywood to provide the answer to our social problems. The extra-terrestrial superhero Superman (1978 onwards) was a popular figure who came to earth with a host of superpowers and solved problems for us. This speaks of a pessimistic culture where mankind itself is seen to be responsible for the problems in the world and Superman plays to fantasies about an outsider coming in to sort things out on our behalf.

The 1990s

As we moved into the 1990s, the culture appeared more optimistic. Batman was reinvented in the late 1980s as a tortured soul; but he was a man who could help rid Gotham of its criminal element (Batman, 1989) and Batman Returns, 1992). As this cycle developed, he became a cartoon superhero and lost his more introspective side as the series became an action spectacle (Batman Forever, 1995) and Batman and Robin, 1997). Even though superheroes are by their very nature outsiders and different from ordinary humans, at this time the popular superheroes were often simply ‘special’ human beings who, because of their own personal sacrifices (Batman), science accidents (Spider-Man) or natural evolution (X-Men) have the ability to protect others weaker than themselves. This theme in the idea of the superhero culminated in The Matrix (1999) where Thomas Anderton simply needed to discover his true identity; once he began to believe in himself, he found he had the power to control (quite literally) his own environment.

Pre-9/11 and post-9/11 superheroes

At the end of this period two films were in production. X-Men and Spider-Man. X-Men was released in 2000 and although Spider-Man was released just after the 9/11 attacks (2002), it was in production beforehand. The X-Men franchise spans the years 2000 to 2009 and there are currently three films in the main series: X-Men 1-3 (2000, 2003, 2006) and a fourth ‘origin’ film, Wolverine (2009). Spider-Man 2 was released in 2004 and Spider-Man 3 in 2007. Both franchises have further instalments either planned or in production. Each film within the trilogies can be read as reflective of cultural attitudes which relate to the pre, post and even post-post 9/11 context in which they were made.

Post-post 9/11

As we move further away from the events of 2001 the culture is shifting away from its immediate post-9/11 responses. By looking at these films it is possible to identify changes in the cultural context that surrounded them. Spider-Man 3 breaks away from the reassurance of classic Hollywood narrative, creating a complex representation of good and evil that perhaps indicates the culture’s more questioning and challenging attitudes towards authority. This trend can also be seen on other recent superhero films such as Iron-Man (2008) and Watchmen (2009). The hardest context to recognise and understand is our own. When we are within a cultural context its fears, desires and preoccupations appear ‘normal’ and ‘natural’ to us. Our subjective position cannot be completely eradicated but applying techniques of analysis through the media concepts allows a more in-depth reading of the values and ideologies influencing a text’s creation.

Steph Hendry teaches Media at Runshaw College and is an examiner for AQA.

This article first appeared in MediaMagazine 31, February 2010.

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