Banality in the Superhero Genre

Something that really interested me in our class discussion was the topic of going to movies for a temporary escape of the banal. This idea of how we fear the mundane seems so tied into society and especially this generation, our need to be seen is expressed and critiqued in films-- from "The Fault in Our Stars" when the protagonist talked about fearing oblivion to Dash in "The Incredibles" complaining that saying everyone is special is just another way of saying no one is. Why do we fear banality so much? Why does the idea of being the same evoke such terror in us? It's incredible how much a genre has profited and grown out of the mass need to feel special and to live vicariously through different superheroes.

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