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Date Posted: 09:52:12 09/10/07 Mon
Author: Age
Subject: Re: Another Look Spoilers HP and Heroes End.
In reply to: Age 's message, "Re: Another Look Spoilers Part 12" on 09:49:15 09/10/07 Mon

Spoilers for Heroes. And Harry Potter.

Come to think of it, the new series, ‘Heroes’ is also a satiric look at the folly of trying only to use might to secure safety from future attack with Claire, the suburban cheerleader representing the desire to be protected, symbolized through her ability to regenerate without pain even after she’s died; the split personality of Nicki and her internalized sister, the latter becoming a super strong, like the slayer, covert agent, representing the struggle between emotional empowerment and might; both Claire and Nicki, through their hair colour possibly allude to Buffy, Claire representing the struggle between protection and emotional development as she becomes the key to saving the world i.e. save the cheerleader, save the world, i.e., save the emotionally empowering approach to save the human world.

The character, Linderman, could be then roughly equivalent to Voll, both unseen behind the scenes; although Linderman is a healer trying to heal the world of its sickness; while Voll is trying to keep his citizens safe. It amounts to the same thing.

Hiro represents the movement of the individual who must have the time and space to be individual which requires being brave.

Issac, the artist who can see the future may represent through his comic books, the question of whether we act from a rule book or of our own volition, i.e. are we brave enough to do what has to be done to create a human society, or does our future have to be written for us and we just follow it like children. The comic book may also highlight the difference between fiction and reality: it is one thing to create a work of fiction like the comic book, but quite another to live through the dangers and choices it depicts.

Nathan represents ‘Big Brother’ as he’s the presidential wannabe who has the ability to fly above people, and is big brother to Peter, who, through his ability to absorb others’ powers without taking them away from the other, represents the everyman, the general public; the characters, Nathan and Peter, brothers, then play similar roles to Buffy and Dawn in these comic books, Peter requiring someone to protect him from himself as an authoritarian government structure assumes is necessary. Nathan as presidential wannabe joins the ‘parents’ group i.e. those who want to protect the citizens whom they view as children only from each other by letting a catastrophic bomb go off as an excuse to establish a top down government, (although they don’t really want it to go off, it’s just that they are pessimistic enough to believe that without a top down government such a terrorist attack is inevitable so it had better be now rather than later so they can start securing the public against future attacks; again this is the caring response of those who see humanity as children that need to be protected from one another.)

Sylar represents in one episode the government become attacker through such a top down structure; Sylar wishes to become special, i.e. above the ordinary, above the natural consequence of being alive which is death like Vol-de-mort of ‘Harry Potter’, by taking away others’ powers but has to kill them to do it just as the top dog uses the power of others for his strength, destroying the emotional individual; he’s presented as a wolf in one episode. Note that break in trust and the rising above others is represented in the Harry Potter books by the Malfoy (French for bad/hurt/broken faith) family with the dominant father’s racist views acting as familial culture; this is contrasted to the emotionally open Weasleys who are poor in riches, but rich in emotional bonding with one another, symbolic of how human relations could be, where Harry Potter is the central symbolic character who represents the struggle we all face between choosing a life based on risk, trust, love, self sacrifice and self control in an inhuman and therefore unfair world, and an existence based on the desire to remain alive as long as one can where each person mistrusts the other and must rule and control him for personal gain because the other, the demonized other as represented by the serpent imagery of Slytherin and Vol-de-Mort is simply trying to do the same, creating an animal world based on instinct and hierarchy of might. The Dursleys represent how poor parenting due to fear of being less than others actually hurts the next generation, turning their son into a spoiled adolescent, while forcing Harry, whom they fear as more powerful, more special, into a Cinderella figure.

I won’t discuss the season finale of ‘Heroes’ just in case others haven’t seen it, but it is metaphorical. Even the final scene itself.

Note that the eclipse as recurring symbol in the series may symbolize what the ring of slayers does in issue two of Joss Whedon’s comic books, given that it blocks out the masculine (might) sun. Also, the connections that these characters make throughout the season may play the same role as the connections between the first few pages of issue two of the comic books we are examining. They are brought together though emotional maturity, not torn apart by mistrust as the saw Warren is holding in issue three of the comics is meant to symbolize. Hiro and Ando as friends represent the journey that adolescents take to adulthood through their connection to one another. Hiro also is used to show how you cannot kill a man when he is still acting as such in the same way that Buffy doesn’t just dust Spike.

Also, and I can’t remember the character’s name, the guy who has radioactive power, the hothead, represents the alienated adolescent rule breaker full of anger that such a male (might) dominated society could create.

Peter’s role as caretaker to the dying gentleman highlights human mortality.

******

Finally…

Of course there was ‘The Prisoner’ series from the sixties with its repeated upsetting of the teacup image in the opening credits meaning what Joss Whedon intends by using one in these comic books.

Also, the theme of protection through might destroying the individual is part of the Borg of ‘Star Trek’ and the Daleks of ‘Doctor Who.’ Even the Doctor as male alien (ated from humanity) is the god of might flying in his protective box who has to have a female companion to supply the emotions he lacks and humanize him.

It’s in the film ‘Star Wars’ which Andrew references in issue two of the comics where Princess Leia and Luke represent the egalitarian society; while their father represents the fatherly top down authoritarian government of protection based on fear and mistrust.


Okay, that’s it. Thanks very much for reading this.

Age.

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