Poliglocia

Unter den Aspekten, die für mich Steampunk definieren, ist nicht nur die Uchronie wichtig, sondern auch das Technomagische. Mit der Beziehung zwischen Magie oder Mystik, und Kunst, habe ich mich auf persönlicher Ebene schon länger beschäftigt. Mein Interesse für Alchemie insbesondere hat sich aber erst in den letzten Jahren ausgeprägt. Alchemie ist als ein System des spirituellen Fortschritts strukturiert. Die Verwandlung des Blei zu Gold beschreibt eine Verfeinerung und Reinigung des Materials, welches offensichtlich nicht nur eine archaische Vorstellung der Metalle, sondern vor allem den Geist des Mystikers darstellt. Dies ist ein Symbol, das mit vielen interagiert und in die Komplexität des genannten Systems eingebettet wird. Die Symbole müssen im Endeffekt kryptisch bleiben, und können nur in jedem Leseakt einzeln entschlüsselt werden, denn das Lesen ist auch Teil des alchemistischen Werkes. Dies hat zufolge, dass jeder Autor ganz andere Symbole in den Mittelpunkt stellt. Das S...

Alan Moore has described the current trend of superhero films as a "tsunami" that is "not doing our culture any good at all", "power fantasies" that "refuse to take responsibility" for the current and future world. He also uses the, now very trendy, word "infantilization". When an old man tells other people to "grow up", when they are cranky about someone having fun with comics, superheroes, science fiction and toys, of course it sound like he's just missed to go with the times himself. Eco has labeled this tendency to refuse anything new as "apocalyptic" and Debray has identified is as a form of gatekeeping the cannon, practiced since the very moment when Socrates refuses to use the new medium of writing. Moore, however, does not fit the profile of the apocalyptic. He is rather fond of counterculture and is known first and foremost for his own work on superhero comics. His critique of the genre therefore c...

To begin to imagine the impact of Watchmen on a die-hard superhero comics fan like me, visualize a train-wreck taking place in twelve monthly installments. I may not have recognized Watchmen as a deconstruction of the hero, but certainly I realized (with a combination of horror and fascination known to rubberneckers everywhere) that there my precious heroes were being shattered before my very eyes, taken apart from the inside-out, in the pages of the medium that had always loved and cared for them, and in a style that demonstrated an obvious mastery of the medium that it now set out to implode. Thomson, Iain: "Deconstructing the Hero". In: . Superheroes and Philosophy . Open Court, Chicago 2008, P. 102. As for me, I never experienced superheroes as part of my childhood. When I was around 7 years old, everybody was crazy about "Batman Returns", but my parents wouldn't take me to watch it because it was too dark for a kid. In a way, they were right. I must ha...