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Disabled superwoman
(Of course, I also feel like this could easily go seriously wrong and would be best written by someone with experience with people like that)
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- Thefirstone
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Anyway, the story I'm thinking of was "The Legion of Supermen" The people of a distant colony are protected by an elite team, each of whom is imbued with one of the powers of Superman(that's all a human body can handle, IIRC) None of them are mentally disabled but most of them need to be taken care of by the support crew because they can't turn off their powers. The one with super strength crushes anything he tries to hold, like a water cup, so the support crew need to feed him and such. The one with X-Ray vision needs to wear lead blinders when not on a mission, rendering him effectively blind, because otherwise he'd go nuts from seeing through everything, including the people. The one with flight needs to be tethered when not on a mission so he doesn't float away.
Heat, the team leader with the power of heat vision has it relatively easy compared to most of his teammates. He just needs to fire a blast of heat vision out a window into the sky at regular intervals. IIRC, he noted that it makes getting a night's sleep "interesting." I think he needed to wake up multiple times every night just to discharge his built-up heat vision.energy
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- jumperprime
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Thefirstone wrote: I think there’s a lot of story potential here. A woman who’s physically superhuman in every way, but has a serious mental disability. A woman who can lift mountains but still needs vastly weaker people to take care of her could be an interesting contrast.
(Of course, I also feel like this could easily go seriously wrong and would be best written by someone with experience with people like that)
I would be scared to death by a scenario like this one. I've worked with people suffering from mental disabilities for a few years and considering how some of them are barely aware of their bodies the idea of a superbeing with that kind of limitation is terrifying. On the other hand, I have to recognize that some of them were among the nicest people I've ever met.
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- Woodclaw
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I tried, but it looked and felt all wrong. Maybe that worked for DC in the 1960's, and it was the perfect setup for some jokes, making fun of her dumbness, but I couldn't do it. So I wound up showing her as having been poorly educated and socialized back when she was young, which people took as being stupid, but that after 150 years of hard living, she was now pretty normal when it came to intelligence. Her ignorance had been fixed by experience.
It's very hard to pull off the strong but dumb thing without being exploitive or obnoxious. I tried to go there, but I couldn't do it in a respectful way. Maybe someone else can, but I have my doubts.
Between the Eugenics concepts of the US in the 1920's/30's (forced sterilization) that the European Nazis then adopted as an excuse for a one-way ticket to the gas chamber in the 1940's, there is no humor left in the scenario. The world has come a long ways from the days when it was OK to publicly shame and laugh or dehumanize someone for being mentally limited/disabled.
Shadar
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- shadar
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- HikerAngel
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However I do think there could be scope for interestingstories about a superwoman withsomething like Autisum, Dyslexia/Dyscalculia, depression, anxiety or PTSD. It could be interesting to explore their struggles to deal with the world around them especially the difference between their superhero life (which would be largely unaffected) and their civilian life. It could even explore other conditions like anorexia and body dysmorphia with the conflict between what they perceive their appearance to be and reality (especially if their powers include transformations). A story about a character who happily storms bad guy bases without a second thought but sometimes is too scared to leave their house because of what's going on in their head could be fascinating.
I'd also mention stmercy2020's'On the Rebound' story (www.deviantart.com/stmercy2020/art/On-the-Rebound-72880309) which has shades of this. A super strong women who struggling to deal with a break up caused by her strength which has left her with a very low opinion of herself.
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- The Highlander
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The Highlander wrote: I would be very wary about righting a story like this, particularly given the stigma around mental health and disabilities. It could very easily end up going in a very unpleasant direction.
According to some source, this was a very real concern at Marvel Comics when they greenlighted Daredevil back in the 60s.
The Highlander wrote: However I do think there could be scope for interesting stories about a superwoman with something like Autisum, Dyslexia/Dyscalculia, depression, anxiety or PTSD. It could be interesting to explore their struggles to deal with the world around them especially the difference between their superhero life (which would be largely unaffected) and their civilian life. It could even explore other conditions like anorexia and body dysmorphia with the conflict between what they perceive their appearance to be and reality (especially if their powers include transformations). A story about a character who happily storms bad guy bases without a second thought but sometimes is too scared to leave their house because of what's going on in their head could be fascinating.
I'm not saying that this is not an interesting idea or perspective, but I fear of what might come of it, especially in the case of Autism. Writing about a character with a mental problem, without going into pitying or normalizing territory, is extremely difficult.
In fact, I would like for all of us to make a bit of brainstorming and try to come up with a list of good media representation of mental problems, bonus points if they involve superpowers as well. One of my go-to reference is the episode of Static Shock "Where the Rubber Meets the Road", which portrayed some of the problems of dyslexia. The PSA at the end felt very preachy, but the episode was really good.
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- Woodclaw
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Woodclaw wrote:
The Highlander wrote: I would be very wary about righting a story like this, particularly given the stigma around mental health and disabilities. It could very easily end up going in a very unpleasant direction.
According to some source, this was a very real concern at Marvel Comics when they greenlighted Daredevil back in the 60s.
The Highlander wrote: However I do think there could be scope for interesting stories about a superwoman with something like Autisum, Dyslexia/Dyscalculia, depression, anxiety or PTSD. It could be interesting to explore their struggles to deal with the world around them especially the difference between their superhero life (which would be largely unaffected) and their civilian life. It could even explore other conditions like anorexia and body dysmorphia with the conflict between what they perceive their appearance to be and reality (especially if their powers include transformations). A story about a character who happily storms bad guy bases without a second thought but sometimes is too scared to leave their house because of what's going on in their head could be fascinating.
I'm not saying that this is not an interesting idea or perspective, but I fear of what might come of it, especially in the case of Autism. Writing about a character with a mental problem, without going into pitying or normalizing territory, is extremely difficult.
In fact, I would like for all of us to make a bit of brainstorming and try to come up with a list of good media representation of mental problems, bonus points if they involve superpowers as well. One of my go-to reference is the episode of Static Shock "Where the Rubber Meets the Road", which portrayed some of the problems of dyslexia. The PSA at the end felt very preachy, but the episode was really good.
I once read a story on Reddit about Rocket Raccoon suffering from OCD. I think that could make for an interesting story here, but even as someone who deals with it myself I’m not sure how to do that.
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- Thefirstone
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This is exactly the appeal.Woodclaw wrote: I'm not saying that this is not an interesting idea or perspective, but I fear of what might come of it, especially in the case of Autism. Writing about a character with a mental problem, without going into pitying or normalizing territory, is extremely difficult.
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- HikerAngel
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HikerAngel wrote:
This is exactly the appeal.Woodclaw wrote: I'm not saying that this is not an interesting idea or perspective, but I fear of what might come of it, especially in the case of Autism. Writing about a character with a mental problem, without going into pitying or normalizing territory, is extremely difficult.
I can see that and I do believe that there's an appeal, but I can't shake the feeling that out of a thousand attempts maybe one will work.
To be completely honest I tried twice to write a story about a character with PTSD, but really couldn't bring myself to produce something that didn't looked terribly cliche and unpalatable.
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- Woodclaw
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Woodclaw wrote: .....I'm not saying that this is not an interesting idea or perspective, but I fear of what might come of it, especially in the case of Autism. Writing about a character with a mental problem, without going into pitying or normalizing territory, is extremely difficult..
Expanding territory......Pixar is getting ready to feature their first Autistic animated character in one of their newest projects, Loop
ElF
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- lfan
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- Thefirstone
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You're probably right. Here's to Spectacular Failure. She and I are BFFs.Woodclaw wrote: I can see that and I do believe that there's an appeal, but I can't shake the feeling that out of a thousand attempts maybe one will work.
To be completely honest I tried twice to write a story about a character with PTSD, but really couldn't bring myself to produce something that didn't looked terribly cliche and unpalatable.
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HikerAngel wrote:
You're probably right. Here's to Spectacular Failure. She and I are BFFs.Woodclaw wrote: I can see that and I do believe that there's an appeal, but I can't shake the feeling that out of a thousand attempts maybe one will work.
To be completely honest I tried twice to write a story about a character with PTSD, but really couldn't bring myself to produce something that didn't looked terribly cliche and unpalatable.
Cheers!
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has 3 male mental patients suspected of having superpowers en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_(2019_film)
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- slim36
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But Erikphandel's ideas of multiple personality disorder (with a different power for each personality) or a wheelchair-bound girl gaining the ability to fly are excellent.
The wheels are already spinning in my head.
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erikphandel wrote: This is a story I will write someday (tm). A woman with multiple personality disorder, each one with a different superpower. It's probably been done before but I think I would be able to put an interesting spin on it
that is the premise of Crazy Jane of the Doom Patrol who has 64 different personalities, each with a different power.
She is played incredibly on the TV series by Diana Guerria (sp)
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- lfan
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erikphandel wrote: Also, a girl wheelchair-bound who suddenly gets the ability to fly. Could be a emotional story if done right
Fantastic idea!
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- lfan
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lfan wrote:
erikphandel wrote: Also, a girl wheelchair-bound who suddenly gets the ability to fly. Could be a emotional story if done right
Fantastic idea!
If her powers involved transformation I could see there being a temptation to give up on her normal identity entirely.
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- Thefirstone
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- algae2k
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Thefirstone wrote:
lfan wrote:
erikphandel wrote: Also, a girl wheelchair-bound who suddenly gets the ability to fly. Could be a emotional story if done right
Fantastic idea!
If her powers involved transformation I could see there being a temptation to give up on her normal identity entirely.
... kinda like a Captain Marvel, Jr. type deal?
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- algae2k
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erikphandel wrote: This is a story I will write someday (tm). A woman with multiple personality disorder, each one with a different superpower. It's probably been done before but I think I would be able to put an interesting spin on it
Sounds like Legion from Marvel Comics.IIRC, he's Charles Xavier's son and has multiple personality disorder with each personality having a different power. Telekinesis, telepathy, I'm not sure what else.
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