Write a short, reflective essay that responds to
the following questions:
Who is your favorite superhero (if you don’t have
just one favorite, pick one for the purposes of this essay) ? What is it about
him/her that attracts you and holds your interest? Think back to the various
times you may have interacted with representations of your favorite hero as a
child (watching a tv show/film, reading a comic, imaginative play as a child,
etc.) and describe a memory connected to the hero. Building on what Loeb &
Morris say in their article (p19&20), how might imagining “What Would _(Insert
favorite superhero here)_ Do? Help you solve a problem or deal with an
issue in your adult life?
My favorite superhero is Robin. The Robin I am referring to is not the younger version who plays as Batman's wiley sidekick, but the older teenager who has broken away from the overprotective hand of Batman in order to lead the Teen Titans. The older Robin and I relate on a number of levels. First, I relate to the entire struggle with authority he had to go through in order to attain his independence. He'd traveled and fought with the Dark Knight for quite a time and started to mature. He wanted to get out on his own. Growing up watching teen titans, I identified with Robin's growing need for freedom and admired his achieved independence. On his own, he led a team and consistently saved the day with them in style. I admired that the Teen Titans were "his" team. He started them, he led them, and the way the teen titans came to grow into a mini justice league is something I admire. I am currently a student leader on campus, and have always felt the innate desire to lead. I wanted to lead through Robin with the titans. Robin is also cool, but very hard headed. Growing up, I wanted to achieve coolness, and Robin did just by being himself. However, the challenges he experienced as a character really drew my interest. Robin in this series is still an adolescent, but he is a deep, brooding character deeply attached to his friends and concerned about his community. He also has a sense of justice that he feels so strongly, he even becomes a villain once just so he can catch a bigger one. For Robin, this experience almost cost him his friends and career as a crime fighter. I wish to become a judge, and have since the age of 8 years old. With this desire, I related to Robin. Witnessing his struggles, I felt connected to a human being that made honest mistakes in his quest to always do the right thing. Personally, I have felt the temptation of crossing moral lines in order to fulfill the bigger goal of justice, but that episode as a younger child showed me the consequences of such actions may not turn out well. Later on in the series, a suit he made for his criminal persona was stolen. The person who stole and wore the suit used it better than Robin, and he became a master thief known as Red X. Robin ruthlessly pursued him, and throughout the episode the similarities between Robin and Red-X were striking. They were similar in skill, but Red-X only wished to thieve and find entertainment, Robin fought crime. As I watched Robin find his place among heroes and find himself fully as a leader, awkward-with-girls teenager (as was I), and crime fighter, I became enamored with the idea of leading my own team and breaking away from the cuffs of my own household to help people. Today, I still desire to build my own organization of titans. Ironically, I am President of a newly formed Greek Organization on campus, Mu Lambda Rho. Mu Lambda Rho, Go!
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