Word: superheroic
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...also manage to deliver a message about coping with adolescence. In one episode the Rangers wind up trapped on Rita's Island of Illusion, and their bodies dematerialize as they grow more frightened about their chance of escape. The heroes rematerialize only when they start believing in themselves again. Superhero Zack goes on to win a break-dancing contest. Along with lessons in self-esteem, the show serves up good-versus-evil showdowns and kids as Ninja-like conquerors. Get ready for some more heroic real-kid spin-offs...
Picture a kindergarten of the future as the teacher calls the alphabetical roll: "Armani, Burberry, Cartier, Fendi, Gucci, Hermes . . ." all the way down to ". . . Valentino, Vuitton and Zabar." Instead of superhero lunch boxes, these kids will tote personalized shopping bags. And what about children cursed with parents whose taste in store names is simply too plebeian? On Geraldo, talk-show shrinks will discuss the trauma of low-rent names like Kmart Smith and Shoe-Town Jones...
...other American films about children are like a progressive preschool. In them, youngsters learn social skills through fantasy war games. Most of the favorite American kids' films, from The Wizard of Oz to E.T. and Home Alone, are rites of self-reliance. Children face adult obstacles (or rather, superhero torture tests) and in surmounting them become adults (or rather, Hollywood's ideal of adults, as kids with weapons). Real parents are redundant in fables for latchkey kids; all authority figures are oafish, evil or, mostly, absent. The lost child finds his own way home...
...read newspapers that we don't see violent stereotypes or hear bad jokes at the expense of the mentally ill," says Nora Weinerth, co-founder of the National Stigma Clearinghouse, which organizes protests against prejudicial images of mental illness in the media. "When children are told that a superhero will be killed by someone who is mentally ill, it stigmatizes us." Backed by research showing that mental illness is biological in origin -- like cancer or heart disease -- patients and advocates are gearing up a national anti-defamation campaign...
...ratings in daytime, has the same dark hues as the hit movies on which it is based, but probably more entertainment bang for the buck. The animation nicely reproduces the films' shadowy, expressionist look; the action scenes really make sense; and the scripts aspire to more. This brooding superhero even paraphrases Santayana: "A fanatic is someone who redoubles his efforts while losing sight of his goal." Holy egghead...