At this year’s World Domination Summit, Chris Brogan said “When we look up to superheroes, it’s because there are aspects of us that we see in them that we want to bring out in ourselves.”
I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I think that’s true of any successful, powerful character we see on the big screen (or our personal television screen). The “superheroes” we see in the movies need to be reflections of us, or else you lose the connection to them and to the movie itself.
All too often, this point is missed in the development of powerful female “superhero” characters. They lack the depth, vulnerability, and will to overcome that we real-life women experience everyday.
But what can better motivate a character, and create drama, and add suspense, than giving that character great obstacles both externally and internally.
It’s been uplifting to see improvement in the development and depth of strong male characters in film, and they are starting to realize that a man’s character doesn’t have to be all brawn and no brains or inner beasts.
But we’ve yet to see it embraced in the female form, and quite frankly I’m getting rather tired of it.
If we can embrace the presence of the superhero and the kryptonite within ourselves, then why can’t we embrace it in the fictional characters that are supposed to connect with us on screen?
