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Fatter
than a speeding bullet.
By Ricky Haley.
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This is a study of three characters and how their existence depends upon
the classical folktales that were studied in Vladimir Proppﾕs Morphology
of the Folktale. The characters are all related in that they are superheroes,
their names are Batman, He-Man and Hulk Hogan.
All three have many similarities, yet all come from varying backgrounds.
Batman started in 1939 as a comic strip character in America. He-Man was
a success manufactured by the toy giant Mattel in the early 1980s and
sparked a large audience for the Masters of the Universe cartoon series
as well as the vast range of toys and accessories. Hulk Hogan, the only
human character in this study, has brought American Pro-Wrestling into
the homes of millions of television viewers.
This study will explain
the history of these modern-day superheroes and try to find a correlation
between their narratives and the narratives of classical storylines using
Proppﾕs study.
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Contents
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Introduction
What is a Superhero?
Chapter 1:
The Golden Age of Comics, Batman and the beginning of mass-merchandising.
Chapter 2:
He-Man and the Masters of the 1980ﾕs toy boom.
Chapter 3:
Hulk Hogan and the Superheroic World of Wrestling.
Chapter 4:
Comparing Modern Superheroes to Classical Folktales using Proppﾕs Morphology
of the Folktale.
Conclusion
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Appendix
of Illustrations
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Bibliography
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Introduction.
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This study focuses on a particular type of character,
indeed a particular type of hero, the super- hero. The term ﾔsuperheroﾕ
today covers a much wider field than it did before the widespread popularity
of television in the household, mainly because many new variations of
the superhero have been introduced since the early incarnations of Superman
and Batman, the seminal superheroes of the pre-WWII era. In this dissertation
I will be examining the type of superhero that has an alter-ego or has
super-powers, as these were the original type of comic-book superhero
and some may say the true superhero. The study will look at the original
medium of choice for superheroes, ie. comic-books, but will also look
at a more recent technological advance that has expanded the superhero
phenomenon, television.
The alter-ego is one aspect that I will be discussing within this study
as it often distinguishes the hero from the superhero. The definition
of alter-ego in the Collins Gem English Dictionary is; n. second self,
very close friend. (Collins Gem English Dictionary.
(Harper Collins, 1991). p.15.) Within the constraints of the comic-book
the superheroﾕs alter ego normally means one thing, a secret identity.
The alter-ego is an element prevalent in most superhero formats and it
is usually carried out via a costume that is worn when the character wants
to be recognised as being a superhero. For example when Bruce Wayne wants
to have privacy or move about unrecognised he would wear normal clothes
such as a shirt and trousers. However when he wants to separate himself
from his normal appearance to fight crime in the guise of Batman, he would
put on his cape, cowl and boots to be instantly recognisable as Batman,
especially with the added Bat logos.
ﾔCostume functions as the crucial sign of super-heroism. It marks out
heroes (and villains) from other characters who do not wear costumes.
In this sense, costume functions as a uniform, binding together all
super-beings and costumed characters in contrast to the non-costumed
ordinary world.ﾕ (Reynolds, R. Superheroes: A Modern
Mythology. (University Press of Mississippi, 1994) p.26.)
The costume is basically a division separating reality from fiction, even
within the realms of fictional comic books there are normally elements
of reality, allowing the character who is on a higher level to contrast
the normality of the reader. The alter-ego or secret identity in some
stories separates, in the case of Batman or Superman, the life of a seemingly
normal (successful) working man from his superheroic self.
The primary way that I would differentiate a hero from a superhero is
by comparing the realism within the narrative to itﾕs purely fictional
elements, such as the protagonistﾕs magical powers. Within superhero narratives
there must always be a superhero and for the more traditional superhero
formats, such as Batman and Superman who were the first comic-book superheroes,
another key element is their secret identity. Bruce Wayne is the hero
who, once wearing his costume, becomes Batman the superhero. I will look
at the early years of the superhero genre in more detail in the next sub-chapter,
ﾔWhat is a Superhero?ﾕ.
The reason that I have emphasised ﾔcharactersﾕ as a word is because I
am not looking at television characters as a whole genre, but at a specifically
chosen selection. This selection of characters could be described as theatrical
or extravegant, by this I mean that these characters are far from the
stereotypical everyday person, although this shall be examined to see
if this can be proven in some ways incorrect, as similarities to, primarily,
American lifestyles may exist. None of the characters in this study could
be deemed as realistic to everyday life, some because they are cartoon
characters, some because they are real people but acting more dramatically
than normal behaviour allows, and their extreme behaviour is normalized
by the fact that these human characters have an alias or alter-ego.
In Chapter One I will be studying Batman and the beginnings of mass-merchandising.
Batman can in no way be denied the title of ﾔsuperheroﾕ in terms of the
storylines and his character identity in general, he is also a superhero
to his creators because of his special ability for turning storylines
into cash, he is the super-marketing-hero. Batman has survived as one
of the most popular icons of comic books, television and cinema from 1939
until the present day. However, the 1960s covers his biggest transformation
to date, when Batman went from comic book to the television screen. The
creators of Batman used technological advances, mass media and advertising
to allow for massive merchandising sales. One important question I hope
to answer is how much of this new rise in Batmanﾕs popularity was down
to the unique new look, language, and style devised especially for the
ﾔBatmanﾕ television series? Answering this should prove how much the television
industry manipulates characters in order to achieve a wider popularity,
and in turn larger profits.
The 1980s was a boom time for both the American toy company Mattel as
well as the now popularised long-running, full-length, format cartoon
series, so when Mattel simultaneously released an infinitely expandable
collection of toys to compliment the Filmation series of He-man and the
Masters of the Universe, they had a massive success second only to their
biggest hit toy-line of Barbie. He-Man was devised to make money so I
will investigate (in Chapter Two) to see if the creators had been ﾔinfluencedﾕ
by other superhero narratives or imagery, or had just blatantly copied
other commercially successful superheroes to exploit the consumer.
Spanning a longer period of time than the concentrated success and fall
of He-Man, American Pro-Wrestling has been around in its present form
(choreographed acted wrestling) for many years. If I were writing this
dissertation one hundred years earlier, putting aside the fact that the
term of ﾔsuperheroﾕ had not yet been coined, many people would not feel
that the inclusion of wrestling into a study of characters that have magical
powers to be appropriate. However since then, particularly from the point
of the 1970s to the present day, and I believe into the future also, wrestling
in itﾕs most popular format has evolved greatly. It is hard to date exactly
when it started but we do know the date that itﾕs greatest exponent came
onto the scene. The year that he really exploded into the lives of most
wrestling fans was 1982, he was born Terry Bollea, but to all of his fans,
and enemies, he is Hulk Hogan. Chapter Three will be analysing Hulk Hogan
and the American Wrestling phenomenon of the last two decades and trying
to find a correlation between the character of Hulk Hogan and more classical
heroes. He has certainly influenced many heroic characters since he achieved
massive success, indeed the look of He-Man, who was devised later in the
1980s, bears a striking resemblance to Hogan.
Batman, being one of the first superheroes (first appearing in 1939) will
be studied in Chapter One. The He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
television series and vast range of toys and merchandise existed solely
during the 1980s, with the ﾔbirthﾕ and ﾔdeathﾕ of He-Man (in terms of
sales) spanning not much more than half of a decade. Hulk Hogan, still
a popular wrestler/actor/celebrity to this day, could be considered the
most recent and will therefore follow He-Man in Chapter Three (although
his earliest appearances in pro-wrestling were in the late-1970s).
I have set myself a hypothesis which should tie all three chapters/characters
together. This hypothesis is my main question within this study and I
hope that this essay can resolve it to a certain extent:
ﾔDo modern-day superheroes set new trends or do they emulate already popular
trends?ﾕ
Basically what I am trying to find out is how, or if, present day superheroes
have evolved from the beginnings of the superhero genre in pre-WWII America
(the Golden Age of comics). In turn this hypothesis aims to find out how
much of the identity of modern superheroes is due to the impact of early
20th Century superheroes and how much of the identity of these early superheroes
descends from a far more classical source of inspiration ie. classical
folktales.
One theoretical model that I shall utilise to understand how or if modern
characters and the storylines they exist within have evolved from classic
folktales is by using Vladimir Proppﾕs Morphology of the Folktale. This
is a well-established study (Arthur Asa Berger describes it as, ﾔ...one
of the most important contributions to our understanding of narratives.ﾕ
(Berger, A. A. Popular Culture Genres. (Sage, 1992).
p.13.)) in which he analyses classic folktales, or fairytales,
and breaks them down into their simplest components. This should prove
whether or not the characters that I am studying are completely original
or at least how much of their storylines rely on those which became standard
in the classical fairytales of Proppﾕs study. This will follow the three
chapters introducing the three subjects of this essay, Batman, He-Man
and Hulk Hogan. Therefore it will follow in Chapter Four allowing the
previous chapters to be tied together using Proppﾕs study of folktale
formatting.
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What
is a Superhero?
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First of all, I find it necessary to clear up, to the best that my ability
and research allows, the matter of what exactly is a ﾔSuperheroﾕ. To clarify
this point, which has been covered briefly within the introduction, I
shall rely on source material dedicated to comic books (the original birthplace
of the superhero as we know it today.)
Illustration plays a key role in the format of the comic-book, often outnumbering
text on a comic page to ratios of around 95% to 5%. Taking this into account
we can assume that literacy is not a major factor for the readers of comic
books. One way that this could be proven is due to the fact that many
manufacturers of comic-books want to establish a large readership and
make a higher turnover. Allowing a wider range of readers the capability
of reading a comic-book means more comic-books are sold and more profit
is made. The illustrative qualities almost act like sign-language, allowing
visual-clues, metaphors and diagrammatical mood to convey a storyline
without the use of text.
We can source the seminal days of the superhero in comic-book form by
looking at the very first appearances of superheroes in comic-books. Superman
began during the late-1930s, in Action Comics no.1 which was first released
in 1938, shortly followed by Batman in 1939 and Wonder Woman in 1941.
(Reynolds, op cit, p.127 no.1.)
The modern superhero, such as Batman and Superman, originally only existed
in comic-book form. The 1930s preceded the television age by around two
decades and comic-books were already a popular format for many, although
they had previously focused on humour or satire. The new superhero theme
was something rather radical and exciting and as a result became immensely
popular. The timespan from the first superhero comic-books of 1938 until
the end of WWII and subsequently the 1940s has been referred to in hindsight
as the Golden Age of comics. (Ibid., p.8.) This
was a time when Americans had a common enemy that they were at war with,
and within the realms of Batman and Superman all enemies could be overcome
therefore subduing the anxiety of the readers who followed their adventures.
ﾔAmericaﾕs entry into World war Two gave the superheroes a whole new
set of enemies, and supplied a complete working rationale and world
view for a super-patriotic superhero such as Captain America. This so-called
Golden Age of comics and superhero comics in particular lasted up to
the late 1940s, when the bulk of the costumed superhero titles folded
as a result of falling readerships.ﾕ (Ibid.)
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This quote showed how
popular superheroes were during the Second World War and possibly how
important it was for superhero and reader to share a common enemy allowing
a constructed kinship and interactivity between reader and superhero.
Many comic-books deal with important social issues, or at least those
that the creators feel will be relevant to its target audience. Therefore
issues such as WWII were addressed, an example of comic-book Boy Commandos
is given here;
ﾔ...the simple peasants and workers like Mamma Vanin and her courageous
little family...Young Ivan who commands an anti-tank gun unit, Tanya
Vanin...too young to work in the factories she does what she can to
help, and Boris Vanin, a red army sergeant. He and his hardy kind will
always be remembered when the world is rid of this detestable Nazi plague!ﾕ
(Simon, J and
Kirby, J. The Boy Commandos, from The Greatest Golden Age
Stories Ever Told. (DC Comics, 1990). p.17-18.)
This example of Boy Commandos shows how comic-books could
act in exactly the same way as government propaganda and therefore giving
comic-books an important and highly soap-box position, but in turn causing
a higher level of scrutiny from censors as to which themes should be exposed
to the comic-reading youth.
As will become more evident throughout the course of this essay, costume
and identity are major issues in the superhero narrative. I feel that
it is the costume that separates the hero from the superhero, as was discussed
during the introduction. The superhero often has a secret identity, first
a seemingly inconspicuous everyday life (Clark Kent was a News Reporter
before transforming into Superman) then after changing into the costume,
(usually a vividly coloured, tight fitting garment with long boots) the
hero suddenly assumed their second identity, as a superhero.
The superhero is always beyond the normal, this must be true in order
to differentiate the superhero from just a normal hero, such as a film-star
or fire-fighter. The superhero must have magical powers, or at least the
storyline should give him magical powers. Superman, for instance, had
powers enabling him to ﾔleap 1/8 mile, hurdle a twenty story building...raise
tremendous weights...run faster than an express train...ﾕ (Action
Comics 1. pg.1. (Found in: Reynolds, op cit, p.10).)
Batman had powers very different to those of Superman, his powers were
never defined in a specific sentence (readers were reminded of Supermanﾕs
powers at the beginning of every episode) but he has been known to be
invulnerable to bullets. It seems that the key factor to Batmanﾕs arsenal
is his anger (due to the murder of his parents as a child) and the fact
that his powers have never been spelt out, therefore allowing the artists
and writers freedom to create Batmanﾕs powers in order to fit into, or
create a storyline.
He-Man has more obvious super-powers. He starts as Prince Adam, who lives
in Castle Greyskull with his parents, the King and Queen Randor. Only
Orko, the Sorceress, Man-At-Arms and his cat Cringer know of his dual
identity, as He-Man. The sword that He-Man carries allows him to harness
the magical power of Castle Greyskull when he holds it aloft and shouts,
ﾒBy the Power of Greyskull...I HAVE THE POWER!!!ﾓ (He-Man
and the Masters of the Universe. Television series. (Filmation, 1984))
Once he has become He-Man, and in the process transformed Cringer
into The Mighty Battle-Cat, He-Man possesses both immense physical strength,
as well as mental strength, and also courage. He uses these to fight his
arch-enemy Skeletor and any other evil-doers. These powers coupled with
He-Manﾕs unending dedication for justice is very similar to the narratives
within Superman and Batman stories.
This chapter should be taken into account as a reference to key aspects
involved within the superhero phenomenon and as a short introduction to
superheroes allowing for a better understanding of the following chapters.
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Chapter
1:
The Golden Age of Comics, Batman and the beginning of mass-merchandising.
*@
ﾔLike Superman, both Batman's parents are dead. But unlike Superman,
Batman knew them as a child, witnessing their deaths at the hands of
a minor-league hit man named Joe Chill. Chill was later discovered by
Batman to have been part of a more far-reaching conspiracy against his
father, who had managed to make dangerous enemies in the criminal fraternity.
Shocked by the brutal murder of his parents, the young Bruce Wayne swore
to wage war on crime and, in particular, the use of firearms, 'the coward's
weapon'. He chooses the bat costume and identity to prey on the criminal's
sense of guilt. In the famous words from Batman 47; 'Criminals are a
superstitious, cowardly lot, so I must wear a disguise that will strike
terror into their hearts! I must be a creature of the night, like a
. . . a . . . A Bat!' (Reynolds, op cit, p.66. )
The original Batman is an early example of a dark hero, one who fights
for justice but carries an appearance usually reserved for villains. Another
reason that villains share an affinity with Batman is because he is about
revenge. Most of his comic-book storylines are based around regret and
hatred, and the need to exact revenge for the death of his parents.
If the storylines of Batman were based around hate, then why does he still
receive such massive popularity, with seemingly little complaint? It seems
that his other identity, Bruce Wayne, has a lot to do with this. Wayne,
being a wealthy, handsome, young man lives in a grossly oversized mansion
house with Dick Grayson alias ﾔRobinﾕ and their butler, Albert. Batman
drives a sports car while Bruce Wayne is driven around by Albert the butler.
Batmanﾕs massive popularity could be due to the viewers desire to become
him, to be Batman seems a perfect lifestyle. He is tough and courageous
as Batman (see Fig.1) yet charming and refined as Bruce Wayne (see Fig.2).
Admired by both men and women, he is successful and relaxes at home in
his mansion by day, having his every whim catered for by his butler Albert.
By night, he becomes Batman, fighting crime, whilst driving his customised
sports car the Batmobile.
The previous chapter (What is a Superhero?) looked at the Golden Age of
comics running from 1938 to 1949, a period when the world was at war for
the second time in a short number of years and coincidentally the period
that gave birth to Batman. Some storylines directly covered aspects of
the Second World War, it seemed that Batman could take out revenge on
Hitlerﾕs Germany and in the process avenge the deaths that took place
in reality, making a hero to those who read the comic and had lost friends
or family in the war. An example of this is in a bizarrely scripted Batman
radio play which was to be broadcast (but never was) from WOR in New York
in 1943. The script is as follows;
ﾔROBIN: (LOW) Bruce? Mother and Dad. . . they're dead, aren't
they?
WAYNE: (SOFT) Yes, Robin. . . but thanks to them and Linda and
the Batman, a convoy is safe.
ROBIN: (SLOW) What am I going to do? Where'll I live?
WAYNE: With me, Robin . . . if you will.
ROBIN: Thanks. . . Batman.
WAYNE: What? What did you say?
ROBIN: The Nazi's face was oily . . . when you hit him, you got
oil on your knuckles; it's still there. No! don't wipe it off! That
kind of makes you on the same side as my Dad . . . it's kind of like
a medal.
WAYNE: I'd rather you hadn't found out, Robin . . . it was my
secret; I used the phony accent so that no one would ever associate
Bruce Wayne with the Batman. No one must know, Robin!
ROBIN: Not even the girl? This Linda dame?
WAYNE: Especially not her. I work alone, Robin. . .
ROBIN: Bruce? They killed my Dad and Mother. . . and they tried
to kill me! Let me help! Can't I work with you? It's a chance to get
even . . . to avenge my parents . . . PLEASE!ﾕ (Kidd,
C. Batman Collected. (Titan , 1996) p.35.)
He was certainly a dark and sinister character, purposefully created in
the mould of a demon, with a horned cowl and flowing cape likened to bat
wings. However, this imagery had to be toned down since the characterﾕs
inception as a comic-strip cameo in ﾔDetective Comicsﾕ no.26 in 1939 and
by the time the Batman television series (and character mass-merchandising)
started in 1966, he seemed to have turned into a thin, weak looking, cartoon
character. The next section taken from the ﾔStandards of the American
Comics Code Authority as adopted (1954)ﾕ seems to explain exactly why
Batman was toned down from being so demon-like;
ﾔGeneral Standards
Part B
1. No comic magazine shall use the word horror or terror in its title.
2. All scenes of horror, excessive bloodshed, gory or gruesome crimes,
depravity, lust, sadism, masochism shall not be permitted.
3. All lurid, unsavory, gruesome illustrations shall be eliminated.
4. Inclusion of stories dealing with evil shall be used or shall be
published only where the intent is to illustrate a moral issue and in
no case shall evil be presented alluringly nor so as to injure the sensibilities
of the reader.
5. Scenes dealing with, or instruments associated with walking dead,
torture,vampires and vampirism, ghouls, cannibalism and werewolfism
are prohibited.ﾕ (General Standards Part B; taken from
ﾔThe Standards of the American Comics Code Authorityﾕ as originally
adopted. (1954))
Although at the time this affected only the look and content of the Batman
comic book, by the time the Batman television series was first aired,
twelve years later, in 1966, his change was irreversible. To an even greater
extent Batmanﾕs appearance became even less menacing over the twelve years
from 1954 when the U.S. Government imposed a scrutinous inquiry into the
comic book industry until the television series was first aired, leaving
the ﾔrealﾕ Batman looking even more comical than his comic book predecessor.
Although the Comics Code relates to the pen and paper version of Batman,
and all other comic books in America at the time, it should be taken as
an insight of the power that, in particular, the American government had
over media that was indeed aimed in majority towards impressionable youth.
This quote explains the effect that this inquiry had on the comics industry;
ﾔIn 1954, the U.S.
government subjected the comic book industry to intense scrutiny regarding
content. Headed by Senator Estes Kefauver, the congressional inquiry
focused on comic books and their role in provoking ﾒjuvenile delinquency.ﾓ
The outcome caused the ruin of many comic book publishers (including
the much-admired EC Comics) and the formation of the Comics Code, a
set of rules self-imposed by publishers that put frantic parents (and
troublesome feds) at ease.ﾕ(Kidd, op cit, p. 40.)
The fact that there was
a government enquiry into the practices of the comic-book industry gives
a great sense of the power that superheroes, and even comic-books in general,
have over the reader. This paranoia that popular culture may influence
the viewer or reader negatively still exists, for instance many movies
are still banned not so much for there graphic content, but for the influential
nature.
The characters that are presented to the viewer by the television industry
are not thrown together without any thought as to which social groups
make up the target audience, that is if it wants to achieve high viewing
figures. After all, the larger the audience, the larger the profit. This
next quote seems to take away the magic of the movie and television industry
and make it seem more like a factory, packaging a product to be shipped
to potential consumers:
ﾔThe production studios produce a commodity, a program, and sell it
to the distributors, the broadcasting or cable networks, for a profit.
This is a simple financial exchange common to all commodities.ﾕ (Fiske,
J. Understanding Popular Culture. (Routledge, 1994) p.26.)
Because television studios must make a profit in order to continue screening
their product there is often a trend to use a format that has already
proved to be popular. This is why character and programme identities show
likenesses to previously successful ideas, looks or formats. As the old
expression says, ﾔIf it isnﾕt broken, donﾕt fix it!ﾕ. Thus many production
companies churn out near-identical copies of previous shows or characters.
Production companies often have to look further than previously successful
television shows for inspiration and therefore character likenesses are
often a conglomeration of successful genres such as musicians, movements,
theories, aspirations and especially in the case of action-heroes the
characters often derive from popular icons of the sports world. Certainly
the 1966 televisual series portrayal of Batman by Adam West could be seen
as having the physique and certain costume elements parallel to those
of a baseball star (see Fig.3).
Baseball during the sixties was an incredibly popular sport at the time
in America so it would be an obvious choice as a source of inspiration.
ﾔAt one time sports
figures represented the American dream and were seen as heroic figures
who played by the rules (of the game and of society) and ﾒmade it.ﾓ
(Berger, A. A. The Postmodern Presence. (Alta Mira Press,
1998) p.17)
In comparison the new
style Batman from the movies of the 1990ﾕs bears a closer resemblance
to a more muscular American football player (see Fig.4) with his new rubberised
ﾔBat-suitﾕ encouraging a more muscular look than any of the earlier Batman
incarnations (see Fig.5).
American football now
dwarfs baseball in terms of audience figures and therefore could be the
driving factor for why the Batman of the 1990s bears such a strong likeness
to an American Footballer. The first television version of Batman, realised
in 1966, had a tall thin build clothed in soft athletic boots and tight
fitting baseball-style jersey and long tight pants. There was a uniformity
to the colour choice of his costume, black, (which in the television series
became a less menacing shade of blue) grey and highlighted with yellow.
The costume was topped off with a logo. A bat shaped icon on Batmanﾕs
chest, heroic for Batman but the shape of a black bat seems a strange
choice for a pictorial representation of the embodiment of well-doing.
Taking the character from the page to the screen had a major impact on
the style of Batman, he carried a somewhat camp appearance from his famous
use of his external underpants and what seemed like a stretch-elastic
aerobics costume. There was a good reason for this change of appearance.
Batman was already a widely recognised character, not just because of
his comic-book appearances but also because of his merchandise. However,
with the possibility of releasing mass-manufactured merchandise in tandem
with the proposed ﾔBatmanﾕ television series, and also the possibility
of Batman becoming a household name, with potentially bigger sales of
related products - the Batman image had to be more universally acceptable
and palatable, to encourage the largest amount of consumers of both the
television series and the merchandise. The following quote perfectly explains
the impact that television shows, especially the catch-phrase driven ﾔBatmanﾕ
series, can have on viewers, especially the younger audience;
ﾔThe slogans, catchwords,
values, mottoes, and other lessons tattooed on young minds even before
young people learn to read are not educational but commercial. They
displace, contradict, and cancel, in many cases in advance, those lessons
and values which education seeks and will seek at public expense to
teach and inculcate.ﾕ (Skornia, H. Television and Society:
An Inquest and Agenda for Improvement. (McGraw-Hill, 1965) p.158. )
The preceding quote by
critic Harry Skornia shows that if a television programme is successful,
in terms of filming and marketing, then it can be immensely influential,
in the case of this quote it shows the influence on children, but also
to adults who own the television sets and may have to pay the cinema admissions
or buy the related merchandise.
Batman has set a mould for the iconic superhero format, but how much of
Batman descends from a more classical genre? In turn, has Batman influenced
more recent superhero style characters? I will attempt to resolve this
question by following up this chapter on Batman with a look at more recent
superhero characters, (He-Man and Hulk Hogan) I feel that strong similarities
will be evident. These two characters were both aggressively marketed
characters during the 1980s and Hulk Hogan continues to be a dominant
figure in the art of audience capture in the year 2000. These next two
chapters should show the differences in character and television marketing
since the Batman television series first aired in 1966.
We can compare characters and the storylines surrounding them with the
study of components that constitute classical folktales, or mythology,
by using Vladimir Proppﾕs Morphology of the Folktale. This breaks down
classical folktales into their most basic elements, these elements are
of such key importance to these storylines that the same elements appear
(almost the full thirty-one components) in all classical folktales. A
particular episode of the original Batman television series will be put
into a context shared by more classical and more recent superheroes (those
of Greek and Norse Mythology as well as more recent superheroic characters
such as He-Man and Hulk Hogan). All of these branches that compose the
tree of superheroism shall be compared using Proppﾕs universal format
in Chapter 4.
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*@
Chapter
2:
He-Man and the Masters of the 1980ﾕs toy boom.
*@
He-Man was
the hero of the popular cartoon series by animation studio Filmation and
toy company (and inventor of the He-Man concept) Mattel. The series, named
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, had an enormous initial production
cost, somewhere around $14 million. Compared to the other characters in
this essay, Batman and Hulk Hogan, He-Man was the shortest lived, created
in 1982 and going completely out of production by the end of the 1980s.
He-Man made a fast and large impact, becoming the biggest toy craze of
the early 1980s. The He-Man line of action-figures sparked what may be
the earliest incidence of ﾔshopper-rageﾕ, with many parents rushing stores
to get the latest action-figures for their demanding children.
Arguably the most important era for the toy/character industry was the
1980s. This was the decade that video cassette recorders had started to
become prevalent in many households. The reason that many households owned
VCRs was due to their rapid price decrease since their inception in the
1970s. Prior to this technological advance the only way that a child would
be able to watch itﾕs favourite television show would be to wait until
it was screened on television, live, then when a show reached the end
of the series it would not be possible to watch the same show again until
repeats were shown. However, with the introduction of VCRs a television
programme could be recorded onto a blank tape and watched over and over
again, at any time. Not only did this extend the lifespan of a seriesﾕ
popularity and bridge the gap between one series and the next series,
but retail videos of television shows also became a big business in their
own right.
By the 1980s it had become apparent to toy companies that their action
figure lines could reach a massive child audience through television advertising
at particular times of the day. This had been tried and tested. It was
also obvious that toys representing popular childrenﾕs television programmes
could become even more popular. ﾔLicensed character toys grossed $8.2
billion in 1986, proving to the toy makers that television exposure was
the key ingredient in the childrenﾕs toy market.ﾕ (Kline,
Stephen. Out of the Garden. (Verso,1993). p.138. ) The reason for
the large profits that came from action figure reincarnations of childrenﾕs
television heroes must be because the figure functions not only as a toy,
but also as a representation of a character, thus the child could recreate
scenes from a particular episode with exact toy replicas. The toy production
giant Mattel, took this theory one step further. Mattel had become the
dominant force in toy manufacture due to their long-running success with
Barbie, a doll aimed squarely at the young female market. Because of successes
such as Barbie and Hot Wheels toy cars Mattel had enough financial muscle
to cover the costs to produce a television series of their latest toy
venture:
ﾔThe Mattel toy company,
for example, came up with the idea of its He-Man and the Masters of
the Universe programme in the early 1980s. The series cost over $14
million to produce, but this roadblock was overcome by financial arrangements
between television producers, licensing agents and the toy maker.ﾕ (Ibid.,
p.196.)
Differing
from Barbie in two major ways, the toy line for He-Man was aimed primarily,
if not completely, at a young male audience. Another difference being
that the action figures were marketed using a television show of thirty
minutes in length, rather than the constraints that the thirty second
commercial allowed. This thirty minute children's prime-time slot allowed
for the development of storylines, giving He-Man and each of his counterparts
uniquely individual personalities, thus enabling for the child fan to
reenact extremely vivid and engrossing details from the show with the
various action figures and accessories that accompanied the series. The
long running series also allowed for extra characters to be introduced
therefore allowing for more toys to be released, and once again in turn
broadening the variation in reenactment for the child playing with the
toys.
ﾔUnderneath it all,
however is the simple truth that children's personalities are very big
business with virtually infinite marketing possibilities. This makes
it critically important that youth marketers understand the vicissitudes
of their juvenile targets for maximum appropriation of the youth dollar.ﾕ
(McCollum-Spielman Topline Report, Star Power 2:Understanding
Kids and their Stars. (Topline, 4, 1985). (Taken from: Ibid., p.194).
)
Commercialisation
within the modern fairy tales of comic book characters and superheroes
has obviously occurred, to see this we only have to look at the success
of He-Man and the amount of profit that it has made. It is proven to be
a hero-myth designed to reap a massive profit, it had to, to earn back
the $14 million that was invested into the production of the series alone.
Mattel, the creators of He-Man, have in the past been accused of being
overly active in the promotion of their toys,
ﾔDirect sponsorship
was now prevented by broadcast policy, and the new arms-length approach
at the networks seemed to promise some protection against advertiser
abuse of the airwaves. As a result, as early as 1969, when Mattel had
tried to launch a programme featuring its Hot Wheels toys the FTC frowned
on this approach and prevented stations from showing it. Such promotional
tactics violated the established principle that advertisements and programmes
should be separate.ﾕ ( Ibid., p.138. )
The look
and theme of He-Man was a careful adaptation of Greek mythological heroes
crossed with mediaevalism (see Fig.6), with the actual character of He-Man
looking very similar to the Norse God
Thor (or at least the Marvel comic-book representation of Thor (see Fig.7))
or the American wrestler/celebrity Hulk Hogan. The style of He-Man was
highly medieval yet it maintained many futurist aspects such as laser
weapons and flying vehicles. This allowed the style to emanate the recent
screen success of sci-fi such as Buck Rogers or Star Wars whilst clinging
to more traditional, or classical, sources of childrens entertainment
such as knights, sword-fighting, castles and riding animals (horse-back
riding transformed into He-Man riding Battle-cat). This medieval/sci-fi
theme would probably have been devised to attract fans of both genres
as well as other potential viewers. Another way that we can prove that
this link to mediaevalism, or more classical sources exists is by comparing
He-Man to Russian folktales using Proppﾕs Morphology of the Folktale (results
of which can be found in Chapter 4).
*@
Chapter
3:
Hulk Hogan and the Superheroic World of Wrestling.
*@
From far
back in history until the present day wrestling has been a major event,
once it was a major sporting event, but now it is a major entertainment
event, at least in the realms of American Wrestling such as the ﾔWorld
Wrestling Federation (WWF)ﾕ or ﾔWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW)ﾕ. Wrestling
to the present day masses, predominently meaning one of the two American
Wrestling federations named above, is expected to be over-acted, and indeed
it is. It is hard as a grown adult to take it as being as real as boxing,
the only injuries occurring are those of an accidental nature, a slip-up
in the choreography of the ﾔperformingﾕ wrestlers. In Roland Barthesﾕ
ﾔMythologiesﾕ he comments;
ﾔThe public is completely
uninterested in knowing whether the contest is rigged or not, and rightly
so; it abandons itself to the primary virtue of the spectacle, which
is to abolish all motives and consequences: what matters is not what
it thinks but what it sees.ﾕ (Barthes, R. Mythologies.
(Paladin Books, 1989) p.15.)
Wrestling is now ﾔofficiallyﾕ
touted as ﾔsports entertainmentﾕ by the WWF. In other words it is now
no longer commonly regarded as a sport, although on a small scale ﾔrealﾕ
wrestling still exists in the Olympics and gymnasiums around the world.
From this point forward when my use of the term ﾔwrestlingﾕ will be refer
to the entertainment rather than the sporting version. The main example
that I will look at within this study of wrestling is the character of
Hulk Hogan. The reason for this choice is not just because he is the most
famous wrestler, but also the most merchandised and marketed wrestler.
He has also crossed over into other genres such as acting and music, proof
of how his popularity has affected his versatility. Wrestling is now a
big-business entertainment often drawing more spectators to stadiums than
bands such as the Rolling Stones or other popular crowd-pullers.
Although some may dispute the value of wrestling within the context of
an essay studying superheroes, I feel that the wrestler and the superhero
are inextricably linked. The wrestler and the superhero both display immense
power, the muscular physique is as much a part of wrestling as it is a
part of superheroism. We can also find links with the occasional aspects
of do-good propaganda and political preachings which occur within superhero
and wrestling storylines.
ﾔAnd if nothing else
of value can be found in professional wrestling, it does give us hope,
hope that we can be greater than Russia, that Iran cannot push us too
far, that the energy crisis can be licked, that America can survive
whatever tests she faces- we know because we see it happen every Saturday
night in some local high school gym, a National Guard Armory, or run-down
old civic center where we come together to witness what we know to be
true and hope for what we know to be possible.ﾕ ( Morton,
G. and OﾕBrien, G. From Wrestling to Rasslin: Ancient sport to American
Spectacle. (Bowling Green State University Popular Press). (Taken from:
Javna, J. The Whole Pop Catalog. (Plexus Publishing Ltd, 1992) p.602.))
One very important piece
of evidence linking Hulk Hogan to the superhero genre, backing up my argument
for his inclusion in this study is that the copyrights to the names Hulk
Hogan, Hulkamania and Hulkster are all owned by the Marvel Comics Group.
Marvel Comics are the biggest name in comics and superheroes alongside
DC Comics. Aside from Hogan, Marvel also own the rights to Spider-Man,
The Mighty Thor (based on Norse Mythology) Captain America (patriotic
American superhero, Marvelﾕs answer to Superman) and the X-Men.
Although many similarities between superheroes and wrestling are evident,
wrestling is still somewhat different to Batman and He-Man in certain
ways. Hulk Hogan differs from middle of the century comic strips, (such
as Batman and Superman) in that he acts out a superheroic role on television,
but in reality he is just a combination of a bodybuilder and actor. With
Batman there is no reality, Batman only exists within media representations
of Batman. However after achieving widespread popularity Hulk Hogan has
been converted to a cartoon character in the cartoon series Hulk Hoganﾕs
Rock nﾕ Wrestling. Therefore Hogan has gone from being just a wrestler
to become a multi-platform character similar to Batman.
The process of the real-life Terry Bollea becoming the ﾔrealﾕ character
Hulk Hogan then going on to become a fictitious cartoon character is somewhat
the reverse of the process that Batman has gone through, ie. from cartoon-strip
to television series and movies wherein Batman has assumed a ﾔreal-lifeﾕ
guise because of his portrayal by real-life actors such as Adam West.
(Adam West played the character of Batman in the Batman
television series that originally aired in 1966.)
Hulk Hogan is a real-life
person. He didnﾕt start out as a comic strip or cartoon but as a young
man, Terry Bollea. He became a wrestler (after being discovered playing
bass guitar in a nightclub (Adapted from: The Wrestling
Museum. Web-site. Hulk Hogan biography section. )) and, after various
name changes, finally assumed the identity of ﾔHulk Hoganﾕ.
It is not unusual for
wrestlers to have alter-egos or donned identities as these can be helpful
methods of inspiring fear or a particular image into opponents or the
audience, thus creating a heroic ambience for the audience to aspire to
or admire, or plainly just to excite the fans. The audience are an important
factor in wrestling, in just the same way that a television audience is
important, to believe in a myth, after all that is what the superhero
is, and most importantly to provide income and profit to sustain the myth.
What better way could
the career of Hulk Hogan strengthen the myth of wrestling than at WrestleMania
III in front of 92,000 fans at the Pontiac Silverdome? At the time this
was the worlds largest indoor attendance figure on record. (Adapted
from: Ibid.) Another attendance record was set at WrestleMania
VII (the case-study in Chapter 4, Example 3), although this record was
the largest audience in the history of pay-per-view television. (WWF
Magazine. (Titan Sports, June 1991). p.18.) Pay-per-view is a very
recent television occurrence which allows the cable or satellite-television
viewer to pay to watch a single televised event. This is now a popular
trend in sports television with many important boxing matches being televised
as pay-per-view only, costing the viewer around ｣10 for one event. Obviously
this is a source of large revenues and therefore is becoming a much more
popular format, as long as the viewer feels they are getting what they
pay for it may become even more abundant.
As is true with other superheroes having an easily recognisable style
and image is very important to Hulk Hogan, and indeed most wrestlers.
Hogan is famous for his red and yellow costume which has remained almost
identical throughout his wrestling career (see Fig.8). He wears yellow
boots and yellow trunks and bright blonde, long hair, with red highlights
such as knee-pads. The repetition of this constant colour throughout his
matches and his career not only makes him more easily recognisable but
it gives him a cartoon-like quality as the primary colours are extremely
bright, it is also reminiscent of a uniform or a superhero costume. Batman
and Superman would never be allowed to change to a completely different
uniform, this would make them completely illegible, superheroes are known
by their costumes and logos alone.
*@
Chapter
4:
Comparing Modern Superheroes to Classical Folktales using Proppﾕs Morphology
of the Folktale.
*@
ﾔVladimir Proppﾕs Morphology
of the Folktale is generally acknowledged to be one of the most important
contributions to our understanding of narratives. Though written in
1928 and devoted to analyzing a collection of Russian folktales, it
still remains useful and offers important insights for those interested
in narrative theory and related mattersﾐsuch as the nature of formulas,
the role of heroes and heroines in stories, and so on. That is because
it has wide applicability to all kinds of narratives in all kinds of
genresﾐsuch as detective stories, spy stories, action-adventures stories,
and science fiction stories.ﾕ (Berger, (1992) op cit,
p.13.)
This chapter looks at
the modern superheroes that are the focus of this study and compares them
to Vladimir Proppﾕs Morphology of the Folktale, a study of the narratives
of classical folktales. I will be using a particular section from Morphology
of the Folktale where Propp has broken down narratives of classical folktales
into their simplest components, therefore modern superhero narratives
can be inspected parallel to Proppﾕs components as the modern narratives
can also be broken down into their simplest components.
This comparison will
hopefully show evidence of whether or not modern superheroes have been
influenced by more classical fiction or show a classical structure.
(Bold text indicates
components from the case study, plain text indicates Proppﾕs components
from Morphology of the Folktale).
*@
*@
*@
Example
1: Batman episode 5 / 6:
ﾔJoker is Wild / Batman is Riledﾕ. (Batman.
Episode: Joker is Wild / Batman is Riled. (ABC, first aired 26/1/66).)
*@
Episodes of Batman were
always split into two, allowing for a cliff-hanger at the end of part
one which always found Batman in a perilous situation, part two then allowed
Batman to escape and capture the villain of the story. The two conjoined
parts were originally aired on consecutive nights. The two linked sections
always had rhyming titles, the Batman episode that I shall look at in
comparison with Proppﾕs study is called, ﾔJoker is Wildﾕ / ﾔBatman is
Riledﾕ.
*@
*@
Story starts with
the Joker (Batmanﾕs arch-enemy) pitching in a baseball game in prison.
The catcher in the game switches the ball for one that was secreted within
his clothing. This ball is bought into play and the next time the batter
hits the ball it explodes in a cloud of thick smoke.
3.The interdiction is
violated (villain enters the tale);
In the confusion the Joker escapes over the prison wall using a spring-loaded
device.
4.The villain makes an
attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries to find the children/jewels
etc; or intended victim questions the villain);
The Joker indeed does try to capture the jewels, an exhibit at the
local museum.
9.Misfortune or lack
is made known, (hero is dispatched, hears call for help etc/ alternative
is that victimised hero is sent away, freed from imprisonment);
Batman and Robin go to the museum fearing the Joker may be there.
10.Seeker agrees to,
or decides upon counter-action;
As above.
11.Hero leaves home;
As above.
12.Hero is tested, interrogated,
attacked etc, preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or
helper (donor);
Batman is knocked unconscious by an antique sword falling from a wall
in a fight with the Joker.
14.Hero acquires use
of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared,
spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters);
As Batman and Robin are being carried away, Batman takes a gas pellet
from his utility belt and lets it off.
18.Villain is defeated
(killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed while asleep, banished);
The Joker escapes via a trap-door.
19.Initial misfortune
or lack is resolved (object of search distributed, spell broken, slain
person revived, captive freed);
The Jewels are safe.
20.Hero returns;
Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson (alias Batman and Robin) are at the commissioners
office talking about a ship called the S.S. Gotham (which they do not
realise the Joker wants to steal). While there a small clown doll is thrown
through the window, a clue from the Joker.
21.Hero is pursued (pursuer
tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);
Batman and Robin go to an opera where they are attacked by the Joker
and his gang using sneezing powder.
22.Hero is rescued from
pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, hero transforms
unrecognisably, hero saved from attempt on his/her life);
Batman sets off the sprinkler system by firing a rocket from his utility
belt. The Joker escapes with a smoke bomb yet again.
(After the Joker has escaped, Batman has to christen the S.S. Gotham
by smashing a bottle of Champagne on the hull. However, the Joker has
switched the champagne inside for paralysing gas. Batman notices that
the cork has been tampered with so he and Robin both take a ﾔUniversal
Drug Antidote Pillﾕ. Everybody is paralysed, Batman and Robin are taken
away by the Jokerﾕs gang, believing that they are also paralysed).
25.Difficult task proposed
to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance, other
tasks);
The Joker broadcasts a ransom message on television claiming that he
wants the S.S. Gotham or Batman and Robin will be unmasked, and executed.
26.Task is resolved;
Batman and Robin, pretending to be paralysed, jump into action and
after the usual fight scene capture the Joker and his gang.
28.False hero or villain
is exposed;
The Joker has been captured and is brought to justice.
29.Hero is given a new
appearance (is made whole, handsome, new
garments etc);
Batman and Robin return to their everyday guises of Bruce Wayne and
Dick Grayson respectively.
30.Villain is punished;
(Simplified version of Vladimir Proppﾕs thirty-one functions
taken from: The Morphology of the Folktale, (Appended by: Everard, J.
Jerry Everardﾕs Introduction to Vladimir Propp. Web-site.)
The Joker is sent back to prison.
*@
*@
*@
Example
2: He-Man episode: ﾔThe Toymakerﾕ. (He-Man
and the Masters of the Universe. Episode: The Toymaker. (Filmation,
1984).)
If we look
at Proppﾕs functions in comparison with the common storylines in He-Man
we can see that it has many links to classical fairytales. For instance,
one particular episode of He-Man, ﾔThe Toymakerﾕ, fits the majority of
Proppﾕs functions. Here are a list of the functions that I feel fit the
episode in question (again, unrelated functions have been omitted for
ease of reading):
*@
*@
2.An interdiction is
addressed to the hero ('don't go there', 'go to this place');
This is the point before Orko goes wandering alone in the forest.
3.The interdiction is
violated (villain enters the tale);
This is the point where Orko goes walking in the forest and meets ﾔThe
Toymakerﾕ.
4.The villain makes an attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries
to find the children/jewels etc; or intended victim questions the villain);
The Toymaker impresses Orko with his magic tricks and compliments Orko
by saying that he is a better magician, a famous magician.
5.The villain gains information
about the victim;
The Toymaker finds out information from Orko by complimenting him.
6.The villain attempts
to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim's belongings
(trickery; villain disguised, tries to win confidence of victim);
The Toymaker gives a gift of some toys to Orko.
7.Victim taken in by
deception, unwittingly helping the enemy;
Orko takes the ﾔtoysﾕ home to Castle Greyskull.
8.Villain causes harm/injury
to family member (by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops,
plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts
spell on someone, substitutes child etc, commits murder, imprisons/detains
someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively,
a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical potion
etc);
The toys turn out to be magical and also evil and cause harm to the
inhabitants of Castle Greyskull.
9.Misfortune or lack is made known, (hero is dispatched, hears call for
help etc/ alternative is that victimised hero is sent away, freed from
imprisonment);
Prince Adam realises what has happened and asks Orko where he got the
evil toys from.
10.Seeker agrees to,
or decides upon counter-action;
Prince Adam decides to encounter the person who gave Orko the toys.
11.Hero leaves home;
Prince Adam leaves Castle Greyskull to find the Toymaker.
14.Hero acquires use
of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared,
spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters);
Once he is out of sight Prince Adam raises aloft his magic sword, and
shouts,
ﾒBy the power of Greyskull...I HAVE THE POWER!!!ﾓ
(In turn becoming He-Man the most powerful man in the Universe).
12.Hero is tested, interrogated,
attacked etc, preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or
helper (donor);
Prince Adam encounters the Toymaker and Skeletor
16.Hero and villain join in direct combat;
He-Man becomes involved in combat with both the Toymaker and his mentor,
He-Manﾕs arch-enemy, Skeletor.
23.Hero unrecognised,
arrives home or in another country;
See below.
29.Hero is given a new
appearance (is made whole, handsome, new garments etc). (Everard,
op cit, web-site. )
He-Man arrives home in his other guise, Prince Adam.
*@
It must be pointed out
that in this particular episode of the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe
cartoon series I could not find an element that corresponded to every
single one of Proppﾕs functions or ﾕmorphemesﾕ, however I can say that
there were fifteen that were definitely linked. Propp states about this
point, ﾔAs for groupings, it is necessary to say first of all that by
no means do all tales give evidence of all functions.ﾕ (Propp,
op cit, p.22.)
The cross-referencing
between the He-Man television show and the functions that Vladimir Propp
devised to break down classic Russian folktales into their primary components
(as shown above) shows that a method of analysing classic hero-based storylines
can also be used to analyse modern storylines. Therefore I feel it is
acceptable to class the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe television
series as using a similar format to the classic folktales that Propp deconstructed.
Also as I stated in Chapter
2, He-Man does carry a classical style. As can be seen by comparing He-Man
(Fig.6) to the Marvel Comics representation of the Norse God Thor (Fig.7),
He-Man does show a great similarity to the stereotypical God-like character.
Although there obviously can not be any primary evidence of what the ﾔrealﾕ
Thor looked like, we can say that by comparing He-Manﾕs likeness with
how Marvel Comics envisage Thor shows that many similarities are evident.
*@
*@
*@
Example
3: Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt.Slaughter:
ﾔWrestleMania
VIIﾕ and events leading up to it.
(WrestleMania VII. (Titan Sports, 1991).)
*@
It is quite difficult
to find a narrative within the exploits of Hulk Hoganﾕs career that can
be compared to Proppﾕs study. The reason for this is that Hulk Hogan,
and the American Wrestling federations that he wrestles for do not have
storylines with a definite start and end. True, some storylines are involved,
but these only help to create myth around his wrestling matches and allow
extra excitement for the crowd.
One particular Hulk Hogan ﾔstorylineﾕ culminated in a match at WrestleMania
VII. The theme that had led up to this match for several weeks came about
around the time of the Gulf War involving America and Iraq on opposing
sides. The real-life conflict was greatly trivialised within the World
Wrestling Federation as Hulk Hogan nicknamed the ﾔAll American Heroﾕ took
a dislike to the acts of anti-American behaviour by Sgt. Slaughter (once
American patriot who changed allegiance to Iraq) and his cohorts, Col.
Mustafa and General Adnan, who apparently was an Iraqi commanding officer.
*@
*@
1.A member of a family
leaves home (the hero is introduced);
Hulk Hogan sometimes known as the ﾔReal-American Heroﾕ is WWF Heavyweight
Champion. He is deeply patriotic and loves his fans who have been entitled
ﾔHulkamaniacsﾕ.
3.The interdiction is
violated (villain enters the tale);
Sgt. Slaughter emerges as a new wrestler, an ex-US army sergeant who
has turned his allegiance to Iraq (obviously the WWF introduced this storyline
to increase audience emotion due to the Gulf War of USA against Iraq at
the time).
4.The villain makes an
attempt at reconnaissance (either villain tries to find the children/jewels
etc; or intended victim questions the villain);
Prior to WrestleMania VI in 1990, Hulk Hogan was the WWF Champion.
However Slaughter beat Hogan at this event to become the new WWF Champion.
5.The villain gains information
about the victim;
Slaughter knows of Hoganﾕs love of America and his fans, the Hulkamaniacs
(see number 8).
6.The villain attempts
to deceive the victim to take possession of victim or victim's belongings
(trickery; villain disguised, tries to win confidence of victim);
At WrestleMania VI, the previous year, Sgt. Slaughter beat Hulk Hogan
to win the WWF Heavyweight Championship belt.
8.Villain causes harm/injury
to family member (by abduction, theft of magical agent, spoiling crops,
plunders in other forms, causes a disappearance, expels someone, casts
spell on someone, substitutes child etc, commits murder, imprisons/detains
someone, threatens forced marriage, provides nightly torments); Alternatively,
a member of family lacks something or desires something (magical potion
etc);
In the case of Hulk Hogan, his fans, known as Hulkamaniacs, are his
family. Also Hogan is extremely patriotic about the USA. Therefore months
of Slaughter calling Hulk Hoganﾕs fans Pukamaniacs as well as his anti-American
behaviour is very much the same as Proppﾕs component number 8 wherein
the villain causes harm to a family member.
10.Seeker agrees to,
or decides upon counter-action;
Hogan decides to take on Slaughter at the upcoming WrestleMania VII
in order to regain the WWF Championship belt.
11.Hero leaves home;
Hogan goes to WrestleMania VII.
12.Hero is tested, interrogated,
attacked etc, preparing the way for his/her receiving magical agent or
helper (donor);
As soon as the wrestling match starts Gen. Adnan begins to interfere
and distract Hogan, allowing Sgt. Slaughter the chance to smash Hogan
over the back with a fold-up metal chair.
13.Hero reacts to actions
of future donor (withstands/fails the test, frees captive, reconciles
disputants, performs service, uses adversary's powers against them);
Slaughter continues to attack Hogan and get him to the floor, Slaughter
drapes the Iraqi flag over Hogan. Then Hogan sees the flag in front of
his eyes and jumps up. Angrier than ever, he rips up the Iraqi flag to
the cheers of the crowd.
14.Hero acquires use
of a magical agent (directly transferred, located, purchased, prepared,
spontaneously appears, eaten/drunk, help offered by other characters);
In many American superhero stories patriotism is power, and in this
case Hulk Hoganﾕs patriotism for his country gives him something more
than just physical power.
16.Hero and villain join
in direct combat;
Hogan releases a series of blows and gets Slaughter to the floor before
using his trademark ﾔbig leg-dropﾕ move and then pinning Slaughter for
victory.
17.Hero is branded (wounded/marked,
receives ring or scarf);
Earlier on in the match Hoganﾕs face was wounded after being smashed
into a metal corner-post resulting in blood covering his face and chest.
Hogan picks up the
American flag and waves it with his face still covered in blood.
18.Villain is defeated
(killed in combat, defeated in contest, killed while asleep, banished);
Hogan has defeated Sgt. Slaughter.
19.Initial misfortune
or lack is resolved (object of search distributed, spell broken, slain
person revived, captive freed);
Hogan reclaims the Championship belt that Sgt. Slaughter kept from
him for a whole year.
20.Hero returns;
Hogan, triumphant, takes part in a post-match interview.
21.Hero is pursued (pursuer
tries to kill, eat, undermine the hero);
Sgt. Slaughter storms the interview and throws fire into Hoganﾕs face.
22.Hero is rescued from
pursuit (obstacles delay pursuer, hero hides or is hidden, hero transforms
unrecognisably, hero saved from attempt on his/her life);
Hogan manages to escape with just burns to his face.
24.False hero presents
unfounded claims;
Slaughter constantly mocks Hogan and America in live interviews.
25.Difficult task proposed
to the hero (trial by ordeal, riddles, test of strength/endurance, other
tasks);
Hogan teams up with the Ultimate Warrior to take part in a handicapped
tag-team match against Sgt. Slaughter, Col. Mustafa and Gen. Adnan at
an upcoming event called Summerslam.
26.Task is resolved;
Hogan and Ultimate Warrior defeat the three-man team.
27.Hero is recognised
(by mark, brand, or thing given to him/her);
Hogan lifts aloft the WWF Championship belt showing that he is still
the champion.
30.Villain is punished;
Sgt. Slaughterﾕs team-mates, Adnan and Mustafa, claim Slaughter cost
them the match and also state that Slaughter should retire from the WWF.
(WWF Magazine. (Titan Sports, July 1991).)
31.Hero marries and ascends
the throne (is rewarded/promoted). (Everard, op cit, web-site.)
Hogan holds on to his WWF Heavyweight Championship belt. (Information
about the Hogan vs. Slaughter confrontation taken from the following sources;
WrestleMania VII. (Titan Sports, 1991). WWF Magazine. (Titan
Sports, June 1991).)
*@
*@
*@
Conclusion.
*@
There must be a cynical
conclusion to this study running concurrently to an optimistic belief
in the superhero phenomenon. It is obvious by reading this study and also
just by living within modern Western civilisation that media doesnﾕt always
create original ideas, but often regurgitates old ideas in original ways.
The media, and by this I mean television, printed matter including art,
radio and film etc. are businesses. These businesses range from multi-national
companies such as Warner Brothers (producers of television, film and music
mainly) to somewhat smaller, more focused companies such as Marvel Comics
or DC Comics who originally produced just comic books, but in doing so
became powerful and popular enough to be able to transfer their product
(superhero-style characters) to other platforms; i.e. cartoon seriesﾕ,
toys and other merchandise. These companies can be enormously successful
and make enormous revenues, but from a more optimistic viewpoint we can
find that there are many people inventing characters for enjoyment, as
fans, yet most of these characters will never reach the fruition of being
published.
If we were to believe Berger (Berger, op cit, (1998). p.19.)
that the importance of characters such as sports stars is documented
by how much television coverage they receive, then superheroes must still
have a quite important role in modern society. However, as opposed to
the Gods of Norse and Greek Mythology, our modern superheroes possess
only a fraction of the impact in comparison. Our days of the week are
named after Norse Gods such as Woden/Wednesday and Thor/Thursday. Obviously
there is yet to be a day of the week named after Batman, Superman or any
of the other superheroes of the past seventy years. This difference seems
to lie in, not the importance of the modern superhero, but the person
that the superhero is important for. It seems that our modern superheroes
must have a more limited appeal than the Mythological Gods. The other
problem is that of reality, cynicism and fear. Nobody believes in the
modern superheroes, we know that they were invented to make money or entertain
us, whereas their Mythological predecessors were often used as a threat
of punishment, one example is the phrase ﾒFear of Godﾓ.
I believe that we should
not completely try to compare modern superheroes to previous incarnations
such as Mythological Gods because our modern superheroes are an entertainment.
We can see many links to previous ﾔsuperheroesﾕ but anything that has
too many similarities to a predecessor must surely be an imitation. The
problem is that as time passes many people forget the previous incarnation,
or the original, and may only remember the imitation. Indeed the Norse
God Thor may have led to many other similarly cloned incarnations before
He-Man and Hulk Hogan, but how many people remember those that existed
between? Therefore when more characters come along, after being influenced
by the likes of Hulk Hogan, people may in time forget Hulk Hogan and remember
just his clone.
This finding leads me
to believe that those ﾔsuperheroesﾕ that I would deem ﾔclassicalﾕ, namely
the Gods of Greek and Norse Mythology, may one day only be remembered
by the characters they spawned. In my lifetime that consists of the characters
that I have studied, Batman, He-Man, Hulk Hogan and others. In future
generations there will be many new superheroes that may have been created
due to the existence of my generation of superheroes and in turn they
may have existed only due to a previous generation of superheroes. This
leads me to believe that every generation will have certain new superheroes
but how many of those that exist now will still be around depends greatly
on how much the public need superheroes.
ﾔAndrea: Unhappy
the land that has no heroes...!
Galileo: No. Unhappy the land that needs heroes.ﾕ (Brecht,
B. The Life of Galileo. (quote found in: The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase,
Saying and Quotation. (Oxford University Press, 1997) p.205.)
The findings of this
essay, in particular Chapter 4, show that the modern superheroes within
this study may owe a lot to classical folktales. It seems that if we were
purely reliant on the findings of Chapter 4 (where Batman, He-Man and
Hulk Hogan were compared to classic Russian folktales using Proppﾕs component
structure of Russian folktales) then we would believe that due to the
fact that the majority of Proppﾕs functions still fit within our modern
fiction storylines. As this is the main evidence within this study this
conclusion would have to assume that modern superhero storylines are unavoidably
linked to the same structure as the classical Russian folktales that Propp
studied.
ﾔOf all the lessons
learned by toy makers probably none was as beneficial to sales as the
idea that 'personality promotes loyalty' to a product line in the toy
market. Personalities were easily remembered and therefore circumvented
young children's inability to remember the functional attributes or
characteristics of the products. More importantly, personality provided
a way to involve children emotionally in the product. Finally, it enabled
children to communicate easily to their parents which toys they preferred
without having to know brand or corporate names. Kids could ask for
Barbie, Jem, Lion-o, or He-Man without needing to know the names of
the companies that made them. Giving toys distinctive names and memorable
personas provided a better way of communicating to kids and, through
them, to adults.ﾕ (Kline, op cit, p.194.)
I feel that the above
quote by Stephen Kline helps to round off this essay. As I said previously,
given the evidence of Chapter 4, we can say that modern superhero storylines
are similar, or very similar, to classical storylines. This is true if
we believe, as many including Berger do, that Proppﾕs Morphology of the
Folktale is an important and correct study of narratives. The quote by
Kline allows me to elaborate my own personal belief as a result of my
findings that although modern superhero storyline narratives do not seem
to have changed largely from more classical narratives, the creators have
made their product more original in other ways.
An analogy that can be
used to help explain my point is that many, many painters still paint
on canvas, a practice that has lasted centuries. It seems that canvas
is such a simple, yet effective method of getting the artists point across
without confusing the key issue. In the same way it seems that creators
of superhero storylines choose to use a very simple narrative, similar
to classical folktale narratives, as a very simple foundation of which
can be added to. The previous quote by Kline shows that characters and
identities are the components that are added to this foundational narrative.
These characters can be developed constantly and their identities can
be infinitely modernised, yet the narratives of all three of my case studies
show that as modern as the superhero becomes there will probably be a
storyline that shares its roots with a classical predecessor, and maybe
the superhero will also bear likenesses to a previous incarnation.
Word Count =
c. 8530 excluding quotations.
*@
*@
Bibliography
Bibliography
Books
Barthes,
Roland. Mythologies. (Paladin, 1989).
Berger,
Arthur Asa. Popular Culture Genres. (Sage, 1992).
Berger,
Arthur Asa. (edited by). The Postmodern Presence. (Alta Mira Press,
1998).
Campbell,
Joseph. The Hero with a Thousand Faces. (Paladin, 1988).
Fiske, John.
Understanding Popular Culture. (Routledge, 1994).
Haas-Dyson,
Anne. Writing Superheroes. (Teachers College Press, 1997).
Javna, John.
The Whole Pop Catalog. (Plexus, 1992).
Kidd, Chip.
Batman Collected. (Titan, 1996).
Kline, Stephen.
Out of the Garden. (Verso, 1993).
Knowles,
Elizabeth. (edited by). The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase, Saying &
Quotation. (Oxford University Press, 1997).
McCue, Greg
S. and Bloom, Clive. Dark Knights: The New Comics in Context. (Pluto,
1993).
Phillips,
Phil. Turmoil in the Toybox. (Starburst, 1990).
Propp, Vladimir.
Morphology of the Folktale. (University of Texas Press, 1998).
Reynolds,
Richard. Superheroes: A Modern Mythology. (University Press of
Mississippi, 1994).
Simon, Joe
and Kirby, Jack. The Greatest Golden Age Stories Ever Told. (DC
Comics, 1990).
Skornia,
Harry. Television and Society:An Inquest and Agenda for Improvement. (McGraw-Hill,
1965).
*@
*@
Periodicals
WWF Magazine.
(Titan Sports, June 1991).
WWF Magazine. (Titan Sports, July 1991).
WWF Magazine. (Titan Sports, August 1991).
*@ Web-Sites
1966
Batman http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/1391/bp1966.html (9/2/00).
Adam
West.Com. http://www.adamwest.com/batstoreframe.htm (10/2/00).Everard,
Jerry.
Jerry
Everardﾕs Introduction to Vladimir Propp. http://www.anu.edu.au/english/propp.html
(23/1/00).
NFL Gallery.
http://www.canoe.ca/FootballNFLGallery/week9_hou_sf.html (10/2/00).
USCA
University Web-Site. http://www.usca.sc.edu/athletics.html (10/2/00).
The Wrestling
Museum. http://www.wrestlingmuseum.com/pages/pictures.html (18/1/00).
*@
Other
Media
Batman.
Television series episode: Joker is Wild / Batman is Riled. (ABC,
1966).
He-Man
and the Masters of the Universe. Television series episode: The
Toymaker. (Filmation, 1984).
WrestleMania
VII. Video. (Titan Sports, 1991).
*@
*@
*@
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