An Ode to Homelander (Why I identify with this psychopath) (NO SPOILER ZONE)
I penned this for my channel on Facebook (Wonderland 21 if you're interested, check it out!) and figured that I would share as I know The Boys is really doing well this year and Homelander, well what a great character right?
Here is what I wrote:
An ode to Homelander - Why I identify with this psychopath (NO SPOILER ZONE SO NO WORRIES)
Homelander is, right now, the most interesting character on television. Not in the comic book genre, in all of television. I identify with Homelander and I'm not afraid to admit it. It is not likely the way that you think though.
As a child I didn't have the best childhood. Of course nothing like Homelander had to endure, which by the way helped to mold him into what he is today. There is no nature versus nurture debate to be had, it is absolutely both, nature and nurture, that create a hero or a villain. Or in my case the stranger, dark person that I am today at middle age.
So how do I identify with the meanest wack job to likely ever grace the small screen? It's simple really, I hate emotions and I hate what most of us love about humanity. It's one reason I believe that I am so supportive of AI, because I think machines are unencumbered by emotion, unlike humans.
It's no secret in The Boys that Homelander looks upon his emotions, his humanity, as a curse, as I often do. I am insightful enough though that I can see that it can be our greatest gift.
At a young age I was very emotional, just as most children are (often to an excess) but I learned, through neglect really, that emotional appeals were easily ignored. And I suffered a good bit from neglect, moving often, drugs, drinking, no intentional abuse really, but just a healthy dose of chaos and disorder, with no parental direction most of the time.
Much like Homelander I learned that having emotion, or empathy, was a real weakness, and one that, with proper mental direction, could be completely ignored and compartmentalized. This approach, that of logic, devoid of emotion, became the way that I lived my life.
It's still the way that I live my life, primarily anyways. I approach issues with a significant emotional detachment, often because I feel absolutely nothing anyways, but sometimes simply because I feel that the situation at hand functions better with no emotional input.
Until I got married and we started trying to have kids the lack of emotion and reliance on logic worked. At that point I decided to try to get back to being more human (something that would be great for Homelander but far less interesting on the show) and so I began years of therapy and various methods to try to become more balanced.
I have very little filter and no topic is off limits to a discussion. I can speak passionately about something, but not so much that I lose a sense of logic. I can empathetically see every side of an argument, and of course I can play Devils Advocate.
Adding emotion, empathy and humanity complicates all of this.
However, I think we are all better, and healthier, if we can have both emotion and logic. With that being said, I go through periods in which I can function without any emotion but the danger in this is that when I want to get out of this, I am often forced to go through a very dark and trying time to get back the balance.
All of this serves to mean that I'm almost the polar opposite of most people in society today, who are fueled by emotion, and very little logic. That is also highly problematic.
I absolutely do identify with Homelander, but unlike him I am in a power struggle in which I think the better, more human side is winning, and Homelander, well he's got some issues...
And while I don't think Homelander has yet to surpass Heath Ledger's Joker, I can say this, it ain't over yet, so he's still got some time...
Here is what I wrote:
An ode to Homelander - Why I identify with this psychopath (NO SPOILER ZONE SO NO WORRIES)
Homelander is, right now, the most interesting character on television. Not in the comic book genre, in all of television. I identify with Homelander and I'm not afraid to admit it. It is not likely the way that you think though.
As a child I didn't have the best childhood. Of course nothing like Homelander had to endure, which by the way helped to mold him into what he is today. There is no nature versus nurture debate to be had, it is absolutely both, nature and nurture, that create a hero or a villain. Or in my case the stranger, dark person that I am today at middle age.
So how do I identify with the meanest wack job to likely ever grace the small screen? It's simple really, I hate emotions and I hate what most of us love about humanity. It's one reason I believe that I am so supportive of AI, because I think machines are unencumbered by emotion, unlike humans.
It's no secret in The Boys that Homelander looks upon his emotions, his humanity, as a curse, as I often do. I am insightful enough though that I can see that it can be our greatest gift.
At a young age I was very emotional, just as most children are (often to an excess) but I learned, through neglect really, that emotional appeals were easily ignored. And I suffered a good bit from neglect, moving often, drugs, drinking, no intentional abuse really, but just a healthy dose of chaos and disorder, with no parental direction most of the time.
Much like Homelander I learned that having emotion, or empathy, was a real weakness, and one that, with proper mental direction, could be completely ignored and compartmentalized. This approach, that of logic, devoid of emotion, became the way that I lived my life.
It's still the way that I live my life, primarily anyways. I approach issues with a significant emotional detachment, often because I feel absolutely nothing anyways, but sometimes simply because I feel that the situation at hand functions better with no emotional input.
Until I got married and we started trying to have kids the lack of emotion and reliance on logic worked. At that point I decided to try to get back to being more human (something that would be great for Homelander but far less interesting on the show) and so I began years of therapy and various methods to try to become more balanced.
I have very little filter and no topic is off limits to a discussion. I can speak passionately about something, but not so much that I lose a sense of logic. I can empathetically see every side of an argument, and of course I can play Devils Advocate.
Adding emotion, empathy and humanity complicates all of this.
However, I think we are all better, and healthier, if we can have both emotion and logic. With that being said, I go through periods in which I can function without any emotion but the danger in this is that when I want to get out of this, I am often forced to go through a very dark and trying time to get back the balance.
All of this serves to mean that I'm almost the polar opposite of most people in society today, who are fueled by emotion, and very little logic. That is also highly problematic.
I absolutely do identify with Homelander, but unlike him I am in a power struggle in which I think the better, more human side is winning, and Homelander, well he's got some issues...
And while I don't think Homelander has yet to surpass Heath Ledger's Joker, I can say this, it ain't over yet, so he's still got some time...
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