As I mentioned, I can understand from a box office perspective that the beautiful people that step out of central casting modeling agencies make for great eye candy on the big screen. That sells tickets. But what is this need we have to make all of our heroes beautiful? Why can’t someone who looks average be a hero? To me is says that unless someone is beautiful on the outside, then he or she cannot possibly be strong, heroic, and save the world every few months. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have known many people who have beautiful wrappings and ugly minds and souls. I wouldn’t want those people as heroes because there is truly nothing heroic about them. On the other hand, I have known more people who are of average looks but have beautiful minds and souls. Those are the people that I want to have as my heroes.
How have we gotten to the place where beauty and physical looks equate to grand abilities and great deeds? What do the different things really have to do with one another? And just in case anyone is thinking about the opposite end of the spectrum—think Quasimodo—I also don’t know why a decidedly homely character who wins the hearts of the fair maiden or handsome man and the audience has become a movie trope. Why do we have to go to extremes?
There is nothing heroic about having fabulous good looks or the perfect body. Some people are born that way, and others work very hard for their looks, but that doesn’t make them heroes in any sense. To paraphrase Dr. King, when can we get to the point where the content of a person’s character means more than how they look? I suppose the true question is can we get to that point? Maybe we can if we can finally find, and celebrate, a superhero that has average looks but extreme strength of character—things like integrity, virtue, compassion, and principles.