Lecture Response: Superheroes and Vigilantes

On Tuesday, St. John's University was pleased to welcome guest speaker Dr. Aeon J. Skoble of the group blog Liberty & Power to our campus. Dr. Skoble is well known for his writing on a wide variety of topic in popular culture including Seinfeld, The Simpsons, Woody Allen, film noir, and more. That night he gave a fascinating lecture entitled "Superheroes and Vigilantes: Ethics in Comics and in Reality" to a rapt audience of philosophy majors and comic book nerds alike. Using examples from films like Taxi Driver and Death Wish, as well as traditional comic book characters, Skoble invited us to consider the ethical implications of vigilantism, be it costumed or otherwise.

It made me think, as all good lectures do. Certainly this one was rich with things to think about: the epistemological problem the vigilante would face in identifying evil as opposed to what he or she thinks is evil, the idea of proportionality and restraint in vigilantism (for example contrasting Batman and most heroes who do not kill with someone like Punisher), the distinction between self defense and active vigilantism, and many more. What really got my wheels turning, though, was the question of whose responsibility it is to "do something" about crime, particularly violent crime.

Spider Man tells us that "With great power comes great responsibility." So, one answer we have is clearly that those who have the power to stop crime also, because of that power, have the responsibility to do so. Spider Man interprets this to mean not only taking action when faced with crime, which he once failed to do with heartbreaking consequences, but in fact as seeking out crime to stop. However, as Skoble pointed out, many superheroes, most notably Batman, have no powers whatever and still take it upon themselves to seek out and fight crime. What does this say about each individual's level of responsibility? Does this responsibility trump our responsibility to obey the law? This second question involves the distinction between self-defense (or reasonable defense of others) and active vigilantism, in which one goes looking for trouble to fight against.

Two graphic novels from the mid-1980s, Skoble reminded us, address these questions in a much darker, more direct fashion: Alan Moore's Watchmen and Frank Miller's The Dark Night Returns.

In both of these novels, vigilantism (particularly of the costumed variety) has been outlawed in response to public outcry against it. Many superheroes retire, some go to work for the government (Miller's Superman and Moore's Dr. Manhattan and the Comedian) and still others become criminals themselves through their steadfast refusal to cease their crimefighting capers (Miller's Batman and Moore's Rorschach). For these in the last category, the responsibility to fight against evil and malicious crime is far more important than their own obedience to the law prohibiting vigilantism. Both have powerful personal reasons for doing so: Batman the memory of his parents' murder, and Rorschach a strong response to the real-life murder of Kitty Genovese.

The Kitty Genovese story is one of the most sobering examples of the consequences of ignoring crime. Kitty Genovese was stabbed 17 times outside of her apartment building right here in Queens while her neighbors looked on and did nothing, listening to her screams. The assailant left the scene and returned twice, over the course of the half-hour rape/murder. Rorschach's response to this horror was to take on a costume and actually go out to fight crime, of course.

But what does this mean for each of us? Should we do the same? Did Kitty's neighbors have a duty to rush out into the street to save her? Perhaps they were afraid, perhaps they were too weak to take on her assailant. We can easily understand their reluctance to descend to the street like so many knights in shining armor. But is that the definition of "doing something" about it? Perhaps our duty is to pick up the phone and dial 911. Perhaps it is to call out, as one man did, to deter the attacker. Although in that case it was not enough to save her, if we all take on one small bit of the responsibility, perhaps we won't find ourselves desperate for a costumed defender.