Heroes

The days of heroes, human, not sandwiches, have passed. As an adult, that's fine, but for kids, it's a shame.

As you grow, hopefully, you come to accept the frailties and flaws of your fellow men and women. Children are not aware enough to cope with the various shades of gray. I, for a few episodes, watched the TV show Gotham. It wasn't too badly done, but to call it morally ambivalent would be a huge understatement. It is a view of Batman, Bruce Wayne, as a young man, and it places his adolescence in a nightmare world.

In days past, Batman was a heroic character, a righter of wrongs. He existed in a black and white, dualistic world, almost Manichean.. He was right, the criminals were wrong and he had a lot of really cool gadgets. He has been transformed into a near psychopath, determined to recreate the world in the image he holds in his severely twisted mind. Interesting for adults, disturbing for kids, and yet that show is broadcast at 8 PM, prime time, the family hour.

All throughout TV, heroes are at best semi-heroic. Same with movies. As an adult, I can and often do, appreciate that, but it seems that children cannot benefit from such a nuanced portrayal.

This does not mean that kids can only relate to Barney the Dinosaur, but they would be well served by entertainment that had actual heroes. Such humans can, of course, have flaws, but showing heroes who are almost as psychically warped as the villains, cannot be a good thing.

Humans walk a fine line between  good and evil. Most of us, by far, lean to the good, but it is sometimes a razor's edge that we travel on. It's hard enough for adults. Let kids be kids. Give them at least some clear cut pictures of good. They will slowly learn the subtleties of human life,, so let them be young for awhile. Too much moral ambiguity is not a healthy thing for a kid.