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Cowboy movies (westerns) and plays were the superhero movies of the past couple centuries, until they faded out (from mass popularity) in the 1970s or so.
by Touche 7y ago
Cowboy movies (westerns) and plays were the superhero movies of the past couple centuries, until they faded out (from mass popularity) in the 1970s or so.
- peterwwillis 7y agoCowboys are the antithesis of the superhero. They don't have fame and glory, they don't live well, they're usually struggling to make ends meet, and they're barely able to save themselves or a wagon train, much less the country/world. They definitely have no super powers. They are the hard-working common man, the underdog. Part of their admiration was about a country which had become wealthy and powerful that wanted to re-imagine itself in rough-and-tumble working-class ideal. Even in the 19th century, stories of the West were fodder for most of the "civilized" cities throughout America, more for their salaciousness than anything else. Shoot-outs at the O.K. Corral were sold alongside gangs of thieves robbing trains. Although, the "hero" cowboy was very much what Moore is going on about - symbols of white supremacy bringing order to the native savages, killing who they wanted, chivalrously treating women as inferior and delicate, ignoring the law when it was convenient, though somehow still revered as symbols of righteousness. They're more akin to Old Testament figures than Captain America.
- Touche 7y agoWell Superman is the story of an immigrant, Captain Marvel is an orphan boy who was living on the street and even after he receives powers has to work a job to survive, Miles Morales is from a middle class family who is unhappy about having powers, etc. I'm not sure why you think the superhero genre is about fame and glory. There are examples of that for sure, but it's not the norm, and definitely not the roots of the genre.