The Rabbit Hole

The Death of Captain America:
A Literary Criticism of Unbreakable

Superman, when in contact with the glowing green substance “Kryptonite” becomes weak and unable to battle. Ironman suffers from a weak heart, outrageous ego and alcohol problem. Spiderman puts everything on hold when he hears Mary Jane calling. Most Super humans (heroes and villains alike) have weaknesses. While these faults can be arguably annoying, they are essential to the progress of the comic book story and the development of the polar opposite.

A weakness allows for the complete character of the hero or villain to shine through, thus making him more human in a way, and more relatable to the audience. The relating secondary characters will then almost always take advantage of said fault, often through the application of scapegoating. A scapegoating public is a staple in the classic comic book fan along with the arch nemesis, tragic back-story and fluorescent costume. The audience expects to receive just that, but on rare, collectors edition, occasions the entire backbone of the classic comic falls apart, and the masked avenger isn’t quite what he seems.

Batman is a shining example of a vigilante hero who receives the usual public response. By taking the law into his own hands he is regarded unkindly by those he protects. As a result, Batman is Gotham’s scapegoat.

M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable appears as though it applies the classic comic book formula. At first glance, it seems as though the hero figure is played by the Unbreakable man, and that his antagonist is Mr. Glass. This brings into question the identity of the scapegoat.

However, that is not how the storyline functions. Quite contrarily, the hero is in fact Mr. Glass, his villain being the Unbreakable man. As such, the question arises once again, who is the scapegoat? To respond, both Dunn and Price are scapegoats, though they provide different functions.

One can often identify the hero utilizing common traits. The superhero has extraordinary powers or abilities, a strong moral code, a motivation, a strong a sense of responsibility and an engaging back story. Often, the hero will come complete with a general disapproval from the press or public. Spiderman provides an excellent example in this instance, as he has spider-like powers, a need to defend his city, Aunt May and Mary Jane to motivate him and death in the family. He is also constantly harassed by the press.

Does this not perfectly embody Mr. Glass? While his special ability is not immediately associated with super heroics it is very apparent. Mr. Glass is extremely breakable (one must not assume that all abilities are beneficial, take X-Men’s Rouge as example), and very intelligent. Not every citizen has the mental capacity to construct such elaborate plans, or the will power to get up after so many falls and to continue with their search.

As such, it is clear that he is highly devoted to his task, and does have a strong moral code. The ‘Mr. Glass variety’ of superhero can be compared to those grouped under the term ‘vigilante’. While indeed heroes, they are morally ambivalent anti-heroes who tend to be more violent than the classic variety. A vigilante’s need to protect out weighs all other ‘rules’ of morality. For, “There are men, wrote Aristotle, so godlike, so exceptional, that they naturally, by right of their extraordinary gifts, transcend all moral judgment or constitutional control: ‘There is no law which embraces men of that caliber: they are themselves law’” (”Super Hero”).

Leaving the comic book realm, heroes are also categorized based on their literary roles (For instance, warrior or lover), or in the case of Unbreakable, as the heroic scapegoat. The role of the scapegoat can differ in many ways. In one instance the scapegoat may give oneself to a cause, and in another he may forever feel as though he has been abused or used by others. As a scapegoat, Elijah Price fully devotes himself to the worthwhile cause of finding the world’s true superhero. He could also be considered in the later, for as a child he was constantly tormented for his type one osteogenesis imperfecta, and continued to face disrespect into his adult life. Price carried the burden throughout his life still embarked upon a great quest that would ultimately aid the community. He is a picture perfect example of the heroic scapegoat (”Unbreakable (film)”).

As a thematic tool, Elijah Price, explores one of the scapegoat’s greatest roles, which is to bring into light the themes of identification and misidentification. This isn’t done solely within his own character, but also in the role of the villain, David Dunn.
While David Dunn is the apparent ‘hero’ of the film this father and security guard is in fact the villain. Clearly, David Dunn’s super ability (his inability to be injured) would provide quite a challenge for Elijah Price, thus making him quite an obstacle, but the unbreakable man is villainous in less obvious ways as well.

The best villains are those who do not see themselves as villainous. He may do villainous things, but ultimately he believes that he is doing them for righteous reasons. The villain will also exhibit characteristics directly opposite to those of the hero and within their role as foil, serve as an obstacle for the hero to overcome. Mr. Glass was completely faithful to the idea of real life superheroes, and as his direct opposite, the unbreakable man was very reluctant to believe. David Dunn’s unwillingness provided a great obstacle to the handicapped hero as half the movie was spent trying to defeat said obstacle. Mr. Glass had met his match.

It is through this interaction that a lesser scapegoat emerges. Said role is that of the villainous scapegoat, a character who is to blame by cause, motive or neglect. The villainous scapegoat is commonly society, however in the case of Unbreakable it is played by Bruce Willis. Villains do make the best scapegoats, hence the previous implementation of the death penalty. Who is better to pile the blame onto than those at blame?

Like Elijah, David was used and abused. He was used by Mr. Glass to discover himself, he was used by his son for a personal role model and he was abused emotionally by his wife. Earlier on in the movie he devoted himself to ignoring the truth about his usefulness (how villainess) and after accepting his supposed place, devoted himself to his family alone. Even though he may have saved two children utilizing his powers, did he not use the incident only to later impress his son? What is truly the reasoning behind his action, when this is taken into consideration?

David Dunn’s role as a scapegoat allowed Elijah to question his identity, as Elijah allowed David to question his. However, Dunn took the role a step further by acting as a mirror to both Elijah and the society. The scapegoat can represent the uncleanliness of his persecutors and how is this more adequately portrayed then through the scapegoat’s visions. All the wrong doings committed by both Elijah and the outside members of the society were reflected to the audience through Dunn. It is only once the ‘immoral’ acts of Mr. Glass are reflected through the visions of the Unbreakable man that his “secret identity” is revealed. After said reflection, David can no longer be used as Elijah’s scapegoat and Mr. Glass falls to pieces, as he is then sent to jail.

M. Night Shyamalan’s Unbreakable puts an interesting twist on the classic comic book storyline, as while all of the clichés are there the true identity of these regulars is often misinterpreted. He also utilizes two distinct scapegoats, each one employed by the other, with similar and differing roles to explore the theme of identity. While one is villainous and the other is heroic the motives behind any action are questionable. Whether or not the creative mind behind the film sought to explore the world of comic books at all, a deeper element of the genre was captured; the exploitation of the scapegoat.

Bibliography

“Superhero.” Wikipedia. 2008. Wikimedia Foundation Inc.. 28 Oct 2008 .

“Unbreakable (film).” Wikipedia. 2008. Wikimedia Foundation Inc.. 28 Oct 2008 .