superheros bad influence?

yahoo article

So apparently some people think that todays superhero movies are a bad influence on kids. I think this is ridiculous. "Sharon Lamb from the University of Massachusetts-Boston, who spoke on behalf of the study, explained: "Today's superhero is too much like an action hero who participates in non-stop violence; he's aggressive, sarcastic, and rarely speaks to the virtue of doing good for humanity". I'm sorry but isn't that what the real world is like!?! People are aggressive, pushy, sarcastic, etc. That is the real world why would you want to portray the world as a place where everyone is nice, and virtuous. And what is she talking about they rarely speak to the virtue of doing good for humanity? Spider man fights crime they even had a parade for him for all the good he had done. Bruce Wayne's whole reason for becoming batman was for justice! To fight crime and protect is city. And IronMan fights crime on a bigger scale going after bad people that are more on his level like rich, powerful people.

Sharon also said,"When not in superhero costume, these men, like Iron Man, exploit women, flaunt bling, and convey their manhood with high-powered guns." Duh of course they do that's what the youth of today are constantly bombarded with on tv and movies. I think it's about time they see someone that might be like those people doing something that actually helps human kind. To see that regular people, people with problems and flaws and personal battles can do the right thing, can be virtuous, can do their part, can change!

Another problem I have with this is where she says, "The problem is, of course, that real-life humans haven't been bitten by radioactive spiders or developed mutant powers. As the researchers discovered, this leads to problems when movie marketing can "take advantage of boys' need to forge their identity in adolescence and sell them a narrow version of masculinity." No the problem is that parents aren't teaching their children. If a child believes that they can become a superhero that is something that the parent needs to address not the media. It is the parents job to teach children what is real and what isn't. Of course your not going to become a superhero if a mutant spider bits you. No you can't be a superhero by creating some kind of super suite and fighting crime like batman or ironman. My 6yr old nephew knows that if a spider bit him he is not going to be spiderman. His favorite movie is Ironman. He has it on his book-bag, lunchbox, t-shirts, pajamas, everywhere, but he knows that Ironman is not real and that someone can't just build a suite and fly around beating up bad guys. He knows that it's the police that catch bad guys that's their job. If someone hits him on the playground he is suppose to tell the teacher because if he just hits the kid back then their both going to b in trouble. His parents have taught him what is real and what isn't and what is right and what is wrong.

It's also the parents job to teach their children about right and wrong. There are people that do have personal battles such as alcoholism and I think that it is important that superhero characters portray those flaws as well. Children need to know that no one is perfect and even if you do have "bad habits" that doesn't mean that you are a bad person or that you can't do good things. To show that superheros have flaws or personal problems brings it into reality. Gives people hope that there no one is perfect and that just because you have bad habits doesn't mean that you can't also do good in the world. Parents should teach them that you don't have to have super powers or a special suite to do great things for the world. Anyone can be a superhero to someone.

So I completely disagree with this "study" and believe that todays superhero characters are just fine.