THE GRAPHIC NOVEL’S DARK HERO AND ANTIHERO: ETHICAL MODELS FOR THE ADOLESCENTS IN CONTEMPORARY COMPLEXITY

Abstract

Adolescents reject traditional models of ethic formation. The objective of the present investigation was to comprehend if the graphic novel hero participates in the process. Transversal study with hermeneutic method, using in-depth cases with 8 key informants. A semi-structured interview was developed, and categories were built with specialized software Atlas.ti V7. Results show they recognized ethical models in good/evil dynamic, embodied in hero/anti-hero/villain figures, contained in the graphic novel, mainly in the Dark Age. The figure with the greatest impact is Batman, due to his problematic inner structure and their ideals of strengths (wealth, resilience, integrity, superior intelligence and, particularly, absence of mentor), with their adolescent psycho-emotional needs. It is concluded that new ethical models give no univocal responses, but present logically unsolvable questions, and only through the harmony of epiphany and reasoning, the teenager develops an ethic impulse which makes him take a mature posture before the world.