American Hero Complex In Superhero Movies

In recent years, Hollywood produced a series of superhero movies and achieveda great success. Batman and Spider-Man, as the representative of the Hollywoodblockbusters, created the myth in the global box office. Actually, superhero moviesadapted from the comic stories didn’t make breakthrough in the plot and theirnarrative mode seemed quite simple. However, superhero movies were stilloverfavored by Americans. The reasons were found to be related to American deeplyrooted hero complex. Firstly, this thesis traced the origins of hero complex from fiveaspects: the psychological source, the Greek origins, the Renaissance, the reformationand capitalism. Then the author explained the connotation of hero complex: Americandoctrine of salvation and individualism in details and analyzed it by taking theexample of superhero movies. By analysis, this paper offered an explicit overview ofhow American hero complex was reflected in superhero movies.This thesis is comprised of three parts. The introduction part introduce thesuperhero movies first. Then the central topic hero complex will be put forward. Thesecond part is a body part, divided into three chapters. The first chapter puts forwardthe question this thesis will mainly discuss. Then the concepts and origins of hero andhero complex will be discussed in details. The second chapter illustrates Americanhero complex by analyzing American doctrine of salvation in Superman andSpiderman. In chapter three, American individualism will be explained in details toanalyze American hero complex in Batman. The third part is the conclusion part.American hero complex gave rise to their affection for superhero movies. This herocomplex is the embodiment of American doctrine of salvation and individualism, andreflected everywhere in superhero movies.