Superheroes as Role Models: Today's Heroes Send the Wrong Message to Boys

Don't make assumptions that have no basis.

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Well, you've all done a bang up job of talking about nothing related to the article while simultaneously reminding me that people on the internet at batshit crazy. So thanks for that.

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This "distinguished professor" obviously doesn't realize that Iron Man has been around for over 40 years and has always had a moral backdrop to his character: the rich tech genius who has it all but has a failing heart due to his recklessness. Articles like these are hogwash and only make parents harder on their children instead of cautiously allowing them to make their own decisions about things. How can you write an article about something with bland generalizations?

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Ridiculous. Just because a kid watches a movie does not mean he aspires to be the way the main character acts. And what is all this about how moms should be inside the home? Shouldn't it be her choice, and a collaboration between husband and wife? Some men do well in the home, and sometime it is not economically feasible for one parent to be home. I'll have you know that daycare is not the "terrible" and "bad" place you make it out to be. I don't think a kid should spend all day there, but there have been several studies on its effects on children and guess what? If you find a good daycare it's actually GOOD for the child. Forming relationships and learning how to share, good for building a strong and secure relationship with the parents, etc, etc. I don't understand this. I love children, and cannot wait to be a mother, but if I want to work part time so that I can contribute why should I not be allowed? I'm a smart woman who works my butt off. I want to do both, and there are plenty of women who do both well. They are good mothers and great workers. Some do one or the other and you know what, it is their choice. You have no room to judge.

Douche bags.

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Some of you people are living in the past and the past is gone. Realistically it would be near impossible for many many families to live decently with only the father working. I know when I was young I had a stay at home mom and we barely got by because my dad didn't make enough on his job. I'll take a part time parent as long as they show that they care about me over someone who's around all the time but can't feed or clothe us properly. Yes, it would be great if things could be the way they were in the old days but they can't.

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It is quite obvious that the person who wrote this article has never picked up a comic book in their life.
Watching the "Superhero" movies and then taking what they see on screen as complete fact about these characters is a gross misinterpretation. When they make movies of superhero characters, they are working (in most cases) with decades of history. Many of the characters in comics have been around since before the people who watch the movies were born! So tell me how you are supposed to squeeze years of history and character development into a two hour movie?
Comics original conception when they began with Superman and Batman were the age old story of Good VS Evil, of the good guys taking the bad guys down and making things right again. Comics have always mirrored our own society. Comics were a frontrunner for opening up "taboo" issues for discussion.
Are there good people in the world? Yes. Do they have flaws? Yes. It is extremely important to let all children, boys and girls alike, know that what makes a person good is that they have conviction in themselves and they never give up on what they believe in or give up on their own selves and they stand to believe in a better world.
Did the writer even watch Iron Man? How about the entire origin in the movie where he was a selfish rich boy who only cared about money, and yet his money didn't save him from being captured and enslaved by his enemies. Only when he decided that, yes, he could do something and believed in himself did he find a way out of there, and in so doing he created Iron Man and realized he could put his life to greater good.
He like so many other people in the world, teachers, parents, politicians, laywers, actors, church goers, has an ego that he is in constant battle with - his own personal struggles. And what, I ask, is so wrong with showing children, that despite what personal struggles we deal with every day, as long as we never give up the battle, that we have made a difference for the better and made the entire world, as a result, a better place?
Our children see these Heroes face unbelievable adversaries. Isn't that how our own struggles feel? Too hard, too much to bare? And yet these Heroes, in spite of their own struggles, face their battles, and the worlds too. Isn't that what makes a Hero? Isn't that what real-life Heroes do? So what are we supposed to do, mislead our children by telling them that great people like Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington were perfect and didn't have any personal vices that weren't good for them and possibly others? Lead them to believe that we ourselves are perfect? They know better than that, but I bet in their minds we are still the good guys even with our flaws.
If the writer of this article would actually check facts and put anything besides steriotypes and their own personal slants into their work, they would find that Clark Kent was not clumsy. Christoper Reeves' role as Clark Kent was clumsy. Peter Parker is funny and outgoing, always jumping in where people need him, whether he is in costume or not. And Batman is a Man. A man who knows all too well the pain of loosing someone you love to selfish violence. He goes out there to fight crime, with or without fancy gadgets, not unlike a detective with a bulletproof vest. Batman's suit does not make him invulnerable.
The world is not full of cut and dry "winners or losers", "Jack Blacks or Tony Starks". The real truth is to let our children see that people choose who they are in all ways, and that they can choose who they want to be and like and admire who they choose.
So pick up a Comic for once in your life and see that these "SuperHeroes" are really more real than you thought.

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red, its a fact, and yes i had my turd women in the 80s and i took the psychopathic trash out. hollywood promotes the bad boy cause they are promoting their agenda ..they are psychopaths FACT

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you're welcome

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I wouldn't usually write to a blog but being a Dad is my favorite job. My Father, Dad, Pops, Daddy, Poppa, what ever makes you comfortable to hear is lying in the hospital as I write this. He spanked my butt when I got out of line( I deserved everyone of them),took me fishing,talked to me about the birds and the bees, etc etc.. to me he is the greatest dad in the world. Made it his duty in life to provide for the family and that included providing his time even when he didn't feel like it.A real man, a superhero in my eyes.He taught me that God came first Family second and Country third. He did not believe in political correctness, he stood for truth,justice, and the American way.Unfortunately I have a job that at times, sends me to third world countries to try to keep my family and America safe. I am a soldier. At 45 years old, with a couple of frontline combat tours behind me, I strive every day to try to be just a tenth of the man my father was.
Superheroes do not set a bad influence, Clark Kent is still clumsy, Peter Parker still has problems, I loved comics as a kid, but not one of the mighty superheroes from the comics could kick my dad's butt cause he was the one who kept me safe and made sure I had food and clothes, and someone to look up to.I like my dad's "old fashioned" values....they help make America great.
How have my kids turned out one may ask? My son is 16, an absolute phenom on guitar,trumpet and piano. My daughter 11, has perfect grades and is staring to study music as well.When I asked them who their hero was, they brought me to tears, their answer? "Why you Daddy who else? "Thanks Dad(and Mom) for giving me the tools I needed to raise my children in modern times!

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Wow some of the comments are very judgemental, generalizing working mothers. I find that very sad and ignorent especially in today's econnomic times. This article cracks me up though, while most of it is true though some a bit exagerated a parent should be their child's role model!! I'm a single, adoptive and yes working parent and I'll be damned if this crazy ass society we live in is gonna raise my child! His morals and values come from me and for us in our household this superficial, very sad agenda that the media and other outlets push is unaccepptable. It's ok for my son to admire some super heros, athletes and entertainers for their talents but at the end of the day his example to follow is mine!!!! The end result will be a strong man of good character who works hard to take care of his family, is loving and nurturing and treats other's with respect which is what I teach him by my example everyday. He is a reflection of me and he is my responsibility, not freakin iron man's!!

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It is amazing that as these so-called independent women and the family values men speak on this article, you appear oblivious to the obvious. Namely the fact that the days of the mom-pop-2.5 children resulted from a much different personal and world view on how to conduct your life. During the time that both of those groups long for, you had one overriding moral tenent of "stigma". The stigma associated with being an "unwed mother". This situation is the number one factor on the major changes in societal demise. When it became normal and accepted for a female to exercise her reproductive rights and capacity in complete indeference to the males wishes and without regard for her "independent" ability to provide for that child, things became catastrophically worse. When examined closely, the loss of the stigma to being an unmarried mother and the pseudo-promotion of have your baby and take him to court for support, effectively fracture the nuclear family concept as severely as slavery did in the African-American community. If women would learn that just because you "can" do something does not equate and license them to actually do it. And for the other situations where the baby gives the mother a ticket to a financial lottery-like windfall all of the moral rules go out the window. So it is of marginal importance if the "Superhero" for boys is a womanizer or not. Focus on when/why/and how the child came to be. If the child is the product of mutual planning and agreement, you'll find the results and participation from both parents is increased and focused on growing another healthy citizen. Peace

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Let's get real here. Children NEED both parents. NOT just good old mom trying to keep them straight and narrow. I do agree however, that a boy needs Mom's good moral values and it doesn't hurt for daddy to have them too. But, let's face it, today it is very hard to find a father figure that has good solid morals for his children to abide by. The home structure is gone and it isn't coming back real soon. God help the children, they will need it.

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ciadidjfk- one merely need look at you 'name' to see who's the psychopath.

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