Исследовательская работа «Russian and American superheroes. Their role in the history.»

БОУ ТР ОО «Никольская СОШ»

Исследовательская работа

«Russian and American superheroes. Their role in the history.»

Выполнили учащиеся 9 класса

Галкина Анастасия

 Дементьева Екатерина

Кононыхина Майя

Парамохина Лидия

Сенькина Анна

Руководитель  Кононыхина Е.С.

2013 год

• A superhero is a person who does something special or out of the ordinary in order to help others.

• Superheroes seem, probably due to their origins, much more of an American concept than a European one.

• Superheroes have at least three traits in common:1) They are practically immortal; 2) through their superpowers they can help hundreds of millions of people at the same time; and 3) they are fair-minded.

• Russia has no comparable superhero tradition of its own.

• Our society already has superheroes.

It’s not a secret we have an increased interest in the figure of the superhero in our society. How can fictional heroes and superheroes impact on our imagination? Do people need to do different things to "be a hero" in different cultures? What are the differences between superheroes of different cultures? Do good heroes do only good things?

When you think of a superhero you think of Spiderman, Batman, or Superman, but there were superheroes long before these characters were created.     What is a hero?   It is a person who does something special or out of the ordinary in order to help others.   It could also be someone who is admired for a characteristic about them, be it physical or mental.  Normal everyday people can look up to them.   A superhero is someone who helps many people, or leads them.     There had to be something more to make them stand out.  

Superheroes seem, probably due to their origins, much more of an American concept than a European one, because the American culture needed someone or something to admire. It gave them a goal which could never be reached in hopes that people would never stop trying. Superheroes are an American phenomenon, an expression of boundless optimism.

 Though it may be hard to believe, superheroes stem from God.   This began as early back as Greek gods, then leading to Jesus.   Jesus was a normal man who helped everyone, and led people.   He was the real superhero of his time.   Once he was gone, people began to crave what was new, what was ‘in the now.   This can be seen in the early American settlers.

Then we see superheroes arising in our life.   They were not necessarily able to fly or see through walls.  They were still extraordinary people.   Their stories were passed from father to son and the story grew with every telling.  

If you think about comic book superheroes like Superman, Spiderman or the X-men, these superheroes have at least three traits in common:1) They are practically immortal; 2) through their superpowers they can help hundreds of millions of people at the same time; and 3) they are fair-minded. They don’t play favorites.

Superhero comics are generally a form of American comic books. Its stories centers on the life and adventures of a superhero. They narrate of their origins, super powers, strengths and abilities as well as the super villains they have to battle with in order to save the world.

The first superhero character was introduced in 1938 and featured a man with red cape and a blue costume. It was the birth of Superman, the first comic book character to have powers greater than any human being, setting the stage for more superhero characters to follow.

Then goes Batman, a fictional character, from a comic book, which was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Finger. In the original version of the story, Batman's secret identity is Bruce Wayne, an American millionaire, industrialist, and philanthropist. He has witnessed the murder of his parents as a child, he swore revenge on criminals. Wayne trains himself both physically and intellectually and dons a bat-themed costume in order to fight crime. Unlike most superheroes, he does not possess any superpowers; he makes use of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, martial arts skills, an indomitable will, fear in his continuous war on crime.

In May 2011, Batman placed second on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time, after Superman.

But they remain American superheroes. Russia has no comparable superhero tradition of its own.

The God-Bringers! These are famous knight-like characters of legend. Their number includes ILYA-MUROMETS and MIKULA. Although mortal, they had various special powers such as super-strength, swiftness of foot.

Ilya Muromets is a Russian superhero. He is celebrated in numerous folk epic poems. With Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich he is regarded as the greatest of all the legendary bogatyrs. Ilya, the son of a farmer, was born in Morivsk. He suffered serious illness and was unable to walk until the age of 33. He could only lie on a stove, until he was healed by two pilgrims. He was then given super-human strength by a dying knight, Svyatogor, and set out to liberate the city of Kiev. He defended Rus' from numerous attacks by the steppe people, including Kalin, the (mythical) tsar of Golden Horde.

It’s nice to have some icons to look up to. But we think it would have been feasible to have heroes along the lines of Superman or Ironman.    Imagine the first Cosmonauts coming back and having gained super powers from their flights are heroes of the people; saving lives from natural disasters, stopping CIA agents from destroying the people's harvests.   Or something along the lines of Superman: Red Son, except written better.  He could have arrived in Tungustka where there was that mysterious comet explosion at the turn of the last century.

Superheroes can usually beat any obstacle with the help of their massive strength and superior weapons, but there's a new problem on the horizon that none of them can seem to overcome.

We have an obsession, here, with the idea of the superhero. We teach our young boys to idolize them. We read comic after comic hailing them. We jokingly label helpful and insightful friends as 'superheroes.' We create a grandiose notion of this person, invincible to the harms we face in our daily lives, a savior who will make everything better if we just wait for him to come.

We like superheroes, but we don't care much for the comic books. Almost all the superheroes we know are American or created by Americans. We don't have an issue with this at all. For example, Superman is American, but Valor is related to Superman, but he has an accent, so he pretends he is from the U.K.

The world may need Superheroes but it doesn't deserve them and couldn't tolerate them if they were here. Life is dangerous and it is a fine escape to imagine superheroes stopping crime. Maybe a guy with crimson "S" on his chest could help us. We would all be safer and happier - at least for a little while.

We need heroes in our society for a very simple reason - because they give us someone to model ourselves after. The average human being is unwilling to brave the dangers inherent to resolving the problems that plague them. Crime may overwhelm a city, but we do not care until it affects us personally; and even then we only usually worry about whatever facet of it has impact on our own life.

Our society already has superheroes; unfortunately they are almost invisible sometimes. Many see celebrities of various sorts as 'superheroes'. They model themselves after them and give them more credit than they deserve. They too are merely people, and not even people who make a big difference in the world for the good in some cases.

Superheroes are not those in the limelight; they are not the ones who fly in and 'save the day'; they are not the ones who flash in, take the glory and go.

Literature:

1.  http://en.wikipedia.org/
2. http://psujourn.narod.ru/
3. http://io9.com/5306465/20-great-american-superheroes-to-share-your-holiday-with.