Tuesday, March 30, 2004
The Greatest American Hero
My brother recently wrote a song parody of "Believe it or Not," the theme song to that old 80's classic TV series, "The Greatest American Hero." The parody is titled "The Greatest American Zero" and is a fun exploration of what I would call the not-quite-Presidency of Mr. George W. Bush.
If we're lucky, my brother will start recording this and other political parodies and start selling them on iTunes. :) Until then, the reference to a beloved childhood TV show that I haven't thought of in a long time helped to trigger a blog entry.
For all of my life, I've simply LOVED superheroes. It started in preschool when I said that I wanted my future profession to be Superman [instead of the usual replies of Firefighter or Astronaut]. This love of Superman eventually developed into a love of the Avatar from the Ultima series, a love of real-life efforts to help others, and a liking of just about any superhero who's at least somewhat well-developed as a character.
As I was surfing the net to relive my childhood enthusiasm for The Greatest American Hero, a thought occured to me. I'd probably be much healthier and happier if I adopted HIM as my role model rather than Superman, the Avatar, or any of the other superhuman superheroes out there!
For those of you who don't know the story, the Hero was just some schoolteacher named Ralph Hinkley who was given a special superhero suit by aliens so that he might save humanity from self-destruction. He lost the alien instructions though, so he and his ad hoc partner [FBI agent Bill Maxwell] often ended up bumbling around doing the best that they could to make good use of this gift.
What I like about this Hero is that he's just an ordinary guy.
My first favorite superhero, Superman, is by definition a superhuman being who is anything but ordinary. My favorite superhero when I was older, The Avatar, started out as a more or less human character, but grew less so as the Ultima series progressed. In other words, I was idolizing superhuman characters as my role model. This was wonderful in terms of inspiring me to help and serve others, but surely had a lot to do with my eventual extreme burnout.
In other words, my heart was with Superman, but my body couldn't quite fly or bend steel.
Now that I realize that, it's been good to look back at one of the truly human superheroes from my childhood. Yes, in the short duration of this series, the Greatest American Hero did help a lot of people and perform extraordinary feats. But all along, he was really just some guy named Ralph who had a life, a job, a significant other, and his own human vulnerabilities.
They don't have the series available on tape, DVD, or even cable, but maybe I'll be fortunate enough to catch a few episodes of it again someday! It may inspire me to put on my Super Anarchist costume and make another public appearance... :)
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If we're lucky, my brother will start recording this and other political parodies and start selling them on iTunes. :) Until then, the reference to a beloved childhood TV show that I haven't thought of in a long time helped to trigger a blog entry.
For all of my life, I've simply LOVED superheroes. It started in preschool when I said that I wanted my future profession to be Superman [instead of the usual replies of Firefighter or Astronaut]. This love of Superman eventually developed into a love of the Avatar from the Ultima series, a love of real-life efforts to help others, and a liking of just about any superhero who's at least somewhat well-developed as a character.
As I was surfing the net to relive my childhood enthusiasm for The Greatest American Hero, a thought occured to me. I'd probably be much healthier and happier if I adopted HIM as my role model rather than Superman, the Avatar, or any of the other superhuman superheroes out there!
For those of you who don't know the story, the Hero was just some schoolteacher named Ralph Hinkley who was given a special superhero suit by aliens so that he might save humanity from self-destruction. He lost the alien instructions though, so he and his ad hoc partner [FBI agent Bill Maxwell] often ended up bumbling around doing the best that they could to make good use of this gift.
What I like about this Hero is that he's just an ordinary guy.
My first favorite superhero, Superman, is by definition a superhuman being who is anything but ordinary. My favorite superhero when I was older, The Avatar, started out as a more or less human character, but grew less so as the Ultima series progressed. In other words, I was idolizing superhuman characters as my role model. This was wonderful in terms of inspiring me to help and serve others, but surely had a lot to do with my eventual extreme burnout.
In other words, my heart was with Superman, but my body couldn't quite fly or bend steel.
Now that I realize that, it's been good to look back at one of the truly human superheroes from my childhood. Yes, in the short duration of this series, the Greatest American Hero did help a lot of people and perform extraordinary feats. But all along, he was really just some guy named Ralph who had a life, a job, a significant other, and his own human vulnerabilities.
They don't have the series available on tape, DVD, or even cable, but maybe I'll be fortunate enough to catch a few episodes of it again someday! It may inspire me to put on my Super Anarchist costume and make another public appearance... :)
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