Fake heroes

This morning I watched a documentary called Confessions of a Superhero. I started watching it to keep my brain busy while doing a mundane task in my classroom, but after a big I got pretty into it.

It's a film about the superhero lookalikes who hang out on Hollywood Blvd and take photos with tourists. It centered around a Superman who has blurred the line a bit between reality and fiction, a Batman with rage and truth issues, a Wonder Woman who married a man she met two weeks before, and a Hulk who was once homeless but now has an acting career on the rise.

These people are crazy. Spoilers ahead.

I remember that Batman. I was once up on Hollywood walking from store to store - the way you do - and Batman lunged at me and yelled. Now I have issues with costumed characters and clowns and anyone who's face is not visible so Batman made me very uncomfortable that day. In this film the same guy is eventually arrested for his inability to control his temper.

They were all a bit sad. The Hulk was the only one who didn't lie about his life a bit - he admitted that working for tourists tips in a sweaty Hulk costume all day is not his ideal profession. Superman, meanwhile, although kind of nuts, is the one who embodies the character more than the others. When he's in the Superman costume, he IS Superman. But when he's away from the street he doesn't seem to know how to be himself.

Still, he finds himself a woman in the end, proving that there is someone for everyone.

These are people I pass all the time. All I think about when I see them is how hot the costume must be, or how annoyed I am that they won't get the hell off the sidewalk so I can get to the Virgin Megastore. I never thought before about how they live. I just knew that Batman pissed me off.

The film turned out to be much better than I thought it would be. It's about one aspect of what it takes to be a struggling actor in LA - the denial, the hope, the frustration. It's about what people do to avoid admitting failure. It's a really good film overall, and next time I push past the actors on Hollywood I might be a little nicer.