Superheroes and Neoliberal Surveillance Culture

Reflecting further on how the 9/11 attacks have influenced politics and the superhero genre, I have been studying the legitimisation of panopticism with modern protagonists. above is a clip from Christopher Nolan's 'Batman: The Dark Knight'. Here, Bruce Wayne (Batman) has used his wealth and access to military technology to develop a device that not only hacks telephones, but also uses the information to map out a virtual environment, giving him an all seeing edge. Dan Hassler-Forest wrote a chapter on theory of this authoritative gaze in his book 'Capitalist Superheroes: Caped Crusaders in the Neoliberal age.' He mentioned that although Morgan Freeman's character vocalises his concern on the ethics of Wayne's intrusive device, the outcome (where batman secures a building full of hostages) clearly suggests that the protagonists controversial actions were necessary. Bruce Wayne is also shown destroying the device after the job is complete. 'Hassler-Forest' also discussed the phenomenon of the 'Cyborg' with heroes such as 'Iron Man' and 'RoboCop' creating glamourous fantasies of future military technology. Iron Man's advanced weapons and armour allows him to quickly distinguish terrorists from civilians, defusing a hostage situation with zero casualties:

Again we are presented with idealistic situations where wealthy protagonists use their advanced visualisation  capabilities to prevent catastrophe. 'Jack Bauer' from the '24' television series is perhaps the strongest example of the media legitimising surveillance. Bauer uses his panoptic capabilities to monitor terrorism, the show also necessitating torture as a means of extracting information. Where these potentially controversial methods could be questioned and explored in the show, they are simply glorified. Bauer never accidentally spies on or interrogates an innocent civilian. Viewers are in fact encouraged to intrust this large responsibility in the hands of the protagonist.

Hassler-Forest went on to discuss Alan Moore's 'Watchmen' graphic novel. With the character 'Adrien Veidt', Moore explores the panoptic gaze of the entrusted superhero and places it under scrutiny. Veidt uses a wall of screens to monitor both television broadcasts and surveillance footage simultaneously. By analysing trends in advertising, Veidt in one sequence decides a war is imminent so tells a servant to invest appropriately. This depicts Veidt as a Neoliberal, partaking in disaster capitalism. Although he is entrusted with his great wealth and power, he ultimately destroys Manhattan and arguably betrays its citizens.

I plan to elaborate on this concept of panopticism within the superhero genre in my extended essay.

Cop 3 Introduction (Key Practitioners)

Over the summer I have been reading texts in preparation for the extended essay element of our 'Context of Practice 3' module. Through beginning to study a combination of both academic texts and graphic novels, I am starting to realise some key practitioners that will prove important in realising my current working title: 'The Politics of Superheroes.'

Firstly, the university professor and author 'Dan Hassler-Forest' has produced a body of essays investigating comic books and graphic novels. I purchased his latest book 'Capitalist Superheroes: Caped Crusaders In The Neo Liberal Age', which focuses on post 9/11 politics, and its relationship with the trending superhero movie genre. The book raises various issues, examples being disaster capitalism in response to the attacks and the representation of the traumatised hero, the 'victimisation' of America portrayed through the trend in the origin story (9/11 allegedly launching America into a new age), and the concept of surveillance culture within the 'Neoliberal City'. Hassler-Forest writes with a very analytical style, linking relating political and cultural theories seamlessly with the entertainment genre that is the Superhero movie. His insights will be crucial in exploring the political connotations behind the superhero phenomenon. To gain further insight, I will follow 'Dr. Dan's' word press: http://danhf.wordpress.com/author/danhf/

A second practitioner is renowned comic book writer 'Alan Moore'. He has produced a celebrated body of work within the comic book genre, his most famous being the 'Watchmen' series. He is recognised as a left-wing writer. This contrasts with the alleged right-wing writings of 'Mark Millar', another hugely influential figure in the genre, recognised for works such as 'Kick-Ass' and the Marvel 'Civil War' series. Over the summer I read Millar's 'Superman: Red Son', a re-imagining of the classic tale where Superman lands in Soviet Russia, and is raised as a communist by Joseph Stailin. By comparing and contrasting some of the works of these two writers, whose views lie on both ends of the political spectrum, I can accomplish a broad understanding of some of the themes that appear in Superhero narratives.

I partake in these studies as a person who is relatively new to the superhero genre. I was original enticed by the idea of political undertones within superhero narratives, through Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy. Christopher Nolan is a recognised conservative, ideologies which are apparently presented in his movies. With the awareness of political agendas often glorified through this popular action genre, I look forward to analysing both film and texts to produce an analytical and informative study.