A superaventura: da narratividade e sua expressividade à sua potencialidade teológica

Abstract

A theological reading of the superadventure genre from the perspective of the role of narrative in the creation and maintenance of the human world through the approach of its media aspects, its primary conventions and its mythic structure, considered its historical and critical background. The first part recalls the historical trajectory of the superadventure genre from the focus of critics, presenting the arguments of psychia-trist Fredric Wertham, the creation of the comics code and an overview of the current scientific research. The second part discusses the importance of narrative in the cre-ation and maintenance of universes of meaning and the invention of the human be-ing. The narratives are readings of the world that simultaneously express fears, anxi-eties, hopes and senses and suggest how to interpret this world. Then the study pre-sents key issues of comic books as the locus vivendi of the superadventure, the pri-mary conventions that gives to superadventure its raison d être and the meanings and implications of its mythical form. The third part introduces the discussion on the theology of daily life and makes a theological reading of two superhero stories: Su-perman: Peace on Earth and Shazam: The Power of Hope. Superadventure be-comes a stage of the theology of daily life, when, by the mythical form, it is an ex-pression of a theological common sense. The research ends by indicating thematic, methodological and ideological approaches between superadventure and theology. Both theology and superadventure deal with the high values for the human being, the mythic structure and the human faculty of conceiving the ideal and adding it to the real.