The Modern Superhero
When we were discussing the ideal modern superhero the other day, one particular character occurred to me as a possible manifestation of that: Benton Fraser from Due South.
Here is a brief summary of the show, taken from wikipedia: “Due South is an award-winning Canadian television police comedy-drama created by Paul Haggis and produced by Alliance Communications (now part of Alliance Atlantis), first aired in 1994. It followed the adventures of fictional Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer Constable Benton Fraser and his half-wolf companion, Diefenbaker, living and working in Chicago.�
First of all, his status as a “superhero.� He is obviously different from a typical superhero in sever ways. He is an officer of the law rather than a vigilante, but he is acting, for the the most art, well outside his jurisdiction and largely in his own initiative. He has no real superpowers, but he occasionally displays the ability to hear, smell, and taste things which stretch the bounds of reality. He often engages is dramatic heroics, such as jumping of buildings or stepping in front of people holding guns. His bright red uniform is reminiscent of the garish costumes worn by most superheroes, and his animal companion, a deaf half-wolf who read lips, also seems like something which would not be out of place in a comic book. Most importantly, he is good – practically incapable of lying, willing to risk his life for strangers, and so on.
There are many ways I would argue he presents a better role model than your typical superhero. Because he is an policeman rather than a vigilante, he does not require a secret identity and does not need to be dishonest. He also does not break any laws, and most superheroes probably do in the course of their heroing, making him less hypocritical. He also has those qualities which we discussed in class – he talks instead of fighting sometimes, he is understanding of people's circumstances. In “An Eye for an Eye,� for example, he talks a man who was trying to defend his neighborhood out of shooting a mugger. I also feel that, though he he is white and male (this is still television), he in some ways transcends class, race, and gender. I'm saving my thoughts about this for the next post, however.
He seems perfect to a casual viewer – in fact, it took me several episodes to begin to realize the extent of his imperfections. Most of his flaws, however, apply more to his personal life than his work, and they constitute a whole other discussion.