Superhero “Deconstructions” and somehow “superheroes” becoming Hollywood Celebrities

[ShadowArxxy]

How about this hypothesis?

Restrictions on the Protectorate are due to mistrust of the parahumans.

Restrictions on the PRT are due to fear of the parahumans (and their reaction).

Not an unreasonable hypothesis, but I really don't think it works because the two halves fundamentally contradict each other.

 

[GoldRanger]

Not an unreasonable hypothesis, but I really don't think it works because the two halves fundamentally contradict each other.

I agree that it's a contradiction, but I disagree that it necessarily means it doesn't work. It just means they were trying to find some kind of clumsy balance between protecting the population and placating the capes.

 

[Doomsought]

I think the big dividing line is that in most superhero deconstructions, you still have an effective state. While in classical superhero fiction you have a failed state. The system is either too weak or corrupt to deal with criminals and other threats, thus the superheroes step in where the state has failed.

 

[Terthna]

Japanese anime and games can be weird like that. "No, you can't kill the bad guy, or you will be just like him!"... even though said bad guy is actively trying to kill innocent people and just killing the bad guy is the simplest way to stop him (Xenoblade 1 comes to mind, Tomino Gundam). Or "whatever legitimate grievances you have are irrelevant. Stop fighting!" (Miyazaki's Ghibli films, Pokemon, Tomino Gundam, etc). Attacking people, or god forbid, killing bad guys, is a heinous act that good guys never do. (I mean, not killing people is preferable yes, but often Japanese fiction I've seen seems to take it too far to the point of ridiculousness).

Japan doesn't have a monopoly on that sort of mindset; in fact, with superhero comics in particular, before the eighties killed the power of the Comics Code Authority with works like The Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, western superheroes operated under that same principle. There was a Legion of Super-Heroes issue I remember hearing about where the team put one of their own members on trial for murder when he accidentally killed a villain he was trying to apprehend; the story ended with it turning out the guy he supposedly killed had faked his death, but the trial itself was absolutely insane. The gist of the argument against him was that because he didn't exhaust every conceivable (as well as inconceivable) alternative, he was guilty of murder.

There are people in America alive today who remember a time when it was illegal to write stories that didn't push a singular moral perspective; one where heroes never did anything wrong, villains never won, and nobody ever died or got seriously hurt.

 

[ShadowArxxy]

The gist of the argument against him was that because he didn't exhaust every conceivable (as well as inconceivable) alternative, he was guilty of murder.

That is, arguably, legally accurate in most states because the self-defense exemptions do not apply to proactive vigilante activity. If you're actively going out and hunting down criminals, you cannot appeal to self defense; as far as the law is concerned, you are yourself a criminal engaging in criminal activity.

There are people in America alive today who remember a time when it was illegal to write stories that didn't push a singular moral perspective; one where heroes never did anything wrong, villains never won, and nobody ever died or got seriously hurt.

No, it wasn't actually illegal. The Comics Code Authority was an industry self-regulation, not government regulation. As was its counterpart, the Hays Code which governed movies.