America unmasked

UNT professor thinks superheroes tell distinct stories about our culture

Comic book superheroes have soaked the movie house this summer with the angst and rage born of their famously mutated blood. It’s true of the Incredible Hulk, Hancock and Hellboy. And on Friday, the thoroughly human, non-mutated Batman comes roaring back into the cinema. He’ll probably score the highest-grossing weekend of the year if industry predictions bear out.

Shaun Treat

Call these summer action flicks popcorn-tossing entertainment if you must. Shaun Treat, a University of North Texas professor, insists that these superheroes — even the ones who don’t suffer gene-altering accidents — have a lot to say about the American psyche.

Students are curious, packing the small graduate course Treat is teaching this fall, called “The Mythic Rhetoric of the American Hero.” The class has generated national buzz, and Treat isn’t complaining.

For the communications studies professor, the comic book heroes who’ve leapt from the page to the screen say a lot about the people who push money through the ticket window. Superheroes have a lot to say about what Americans want in their nation and their leaders. They say a lot about what we fear, how secular America still connects to the Christian story of salvation, what we lust for and, sometimes, they have a little something to say about our secret sexual kinks.

“The superhero trope is a really good way to look at some of these issues,” said Treat, who wore a well-loved, light blue Superman T-shirt to the interview. “Some people think these issues are dull and boring until you put it in tights and a cape.”

•  Denton Time

•  Denton Time (.pdf)

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