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(03-20-2015, 01:03 AM)Ryoko Wrote: From an in-world perspective, superheroes cannot coexist with humans in a realistic environment, only rule us. Freedom cannot exist while Superman exists. See, it is established that Superman is greater than the combined might of all humanity. He never loses, he simply has setbacks. But eventually he wins, without fail. In this world, democracy cannot truly exist. Self-determination cannot exist. If we are allowed to make choices, it is only because Superman allows us to. Because if we upset him, he could destroy us all. We would have no recourse against him. No balance of power, no ability to rise up against tyranny. Just helpless ants being vaporized by a flying invincible jackass with laser vision. All of our elections, our wars, our revolutions, our social movements, all made irrelevant just by this one man existing. Countless millions die to shape our world, but for what purpose, when Superman has the final say?Â
Again, these are very specific, culturally-informed tastes regarding what is and isn't acceptable fiction and what qualifies as a compelling narrative. Go back as far as or even slightly less than a century and you'll find people arguing that yes, of course a narrative about a being higher than everyone who has the final say can create a compelling narrative. Indeed, it creates what a lot of readers would consider the most important narrative.
In short, if you frame Superman as God, as you have in the paragraph above, then only in the past one-two centuries or so are you going to find a readership that's sympathetic to the claim that this is somehow a bad story.
Go into the future another decade, another two, another generation, and you're going to find these arguments shift dramatically again. They always do. Right now there's a shift towards not liking characters or narratives about people who are greater-than-average. That's fine. But it may change, and when it does, it won't necessarily be for the worse. It will just mean people value characters who are marked as greater, or special, because of intrinsic worth rather than personal achievement than they do now.
Of course, I have to say the above with a grain of salt, because there are hugely popular stories out right now about characters who are marked as being "special" in some way. Divergent series, Harry Potter, most of the urban fantasy novels on the planet - we're actually still pretty okay with "special" in fiction. RPers seem to get a bug up about it more than the average reader.
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Current Fate-14 Storyline:Â Merchant, Marine
Current Fate-14 Storyline:Â Merchant, Marine