Monday, July 29, 2013

My little superheroes

The moment my children get to know the dates of the release of movies of their super-heroes, we are into constant reminding mode to book tickets for the movie (not that we need to be goaded, as we still enjoy our childhood super-heroes) and that is how this Sunday we landed at the theater to watch "Man of Steel". We thoroughly enjoyed the action, the emotional drama and the histrionics woven into the movie so superbly.

The usual story of Good triumphing over the Evil is something which has been written about since time immemorial. However in this case, the Heroes are coming from an alien planet flying to dizzying heights like Superman, or are born out of a scientific experiment gone haywire to make an ordinary mortal like Peter Parker weave a web of spell around us by becoming the Spiderman, or get dressed in a highly sophisticated experimental suit with which Batman protects Gotham City. One has to just go to the theaters to experience this journey, as irrespective of  age or country that one belongs to, one can find people thronging to embark on a journey of super adventure with their favorite superheroes.

When I was a kid, I never got a chance to read any of these comic books. So sometime in the seventies when the first Superman comic was made into a movie and released, I became a fan of Superman. The love for the super-heroes grew once we started seeing them on Television, Sunday after Sunday. And, I still hum the jingle of Spiderman.

When my children were around three and five we took them to the theater to watch their first ever Superhero movie 'Spiderman'. After watching the movie, there was no respite for any of us, as we were pounced upon from their 'imaginary high-rise buildings' like tables, chairs, and beds and were trapped in their web as they went about saving the world from the bad guys. All my tablecloths disappeared only to be found swooshing and trailing from behind their backs a la Superman and Batman. The day they were gifted with Superman and Spiderman outfits their joy knew no bounds. It became their second skin until they outgrew it. The outfits have now been given to my nephew who now almost eats and sleeps in it!

Even today the saga continues. Every now and then my younger son sighs and tells me "how I wish I could fly like Superman or spin a web like Spiderman, Mama". One of his dream is to create an Ironman suit. Amen to that. I guess we will never ever outgrow these Superheroes, as each one of us has this dream of soaring into a world beyond our imagination.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely article and an apt topic!
I usually have a tough time at school when our 4 year old boys imagine themselves to be superheroes and jump all over the place, on work mats and materials. Gosh! On one hand we are trying to make them graceful and cultured and on the other hand this is what they do.

shobhana shenoy said...

Hi,
Managing a couple of children is difficult. Can imagine having a whole bunch of them jumping around must be quite a nightmare..(