SA 21 - Q

Khu, Kevin

Laurel, Matt

Oliveros, Kat

Tesalona, Karen

Zulueta, Cesco

1. Who is the identity you want to imitate? Why did you choose this identity?

Growing up in a society where superheroes are not out in the open and are mainly comic books and movies. We aimed to violate the norm that people like UP’s Zorro do. The fact is that it is not normal to see someone dressed in eye popping capes with symbols on their chest. What people would decide as weird clothes, we took it to another level by wearing things that were clearly out of the norm, clothes straight out of the comic books. Head pieces, capes, masks, green skin.We also thought that we would put our own twist on what it meant to “help people out.” Usually when you see a person sitting in a cafe with an empty plate of food you’re first reaction would not be to take it away for them since it is not your job or if you see someone just walking around the halls with something light in their hand, you wouldn’t ask if they needed help with such a small task. We aimed to give help to people even if they didn’t necessarily need it.  From taking dirty plates and putting them away, throwing random people’s garbage, or just carrying a clipboard of a guard, we superheroes were there to help anyone no matter what.  We made sure that with one look, people knew immediately what we were trying to accomplish. And by the looks we got, we clearly succeeded in making people believe we were superheroes.

2. What is your identity’s main function in the society?

The main function of a superhero in today’s society is meant to be someone that will be there to help society when it is needed. The superheroes that we are familiar with in today’s society are the ones that we see on the big screen in movies like “The Avengers” or “Man of Steel.” These movies depict superhuman people fighting crime and saving the day from potential threats against society. Today in our everyday society superheros are just “freaks” in costumes going around doing random things and pretending to be something that they are not. Usually these people want to brighten the day of a random person by acting “super” or just help out whenever help is needed.

3. How does he/she look like? (clothes, gears like cellphone if any?, skin, hairstyle, nails, physical appearance—observe everything!)

A superhero’s costume helps make him or her recognizable to the general public. Costumes are often colorful to enhance the character’s visual appeal and frequently incorporate the superhero’s name and theme. Bright colors and icons or symbols were used to properly identify a superhero, such as Superman’s S, the Bat of Batman, Captain America and his shield. They were used as a way to be easily identified by the public.  So naturally, we wore bright colored clothes and had symbols on our chests, one of our members even painted his whole body to imitate the Incredible Hulk. Most of the group took up a role of an existing superhero since it was difficult to make up our own superheroes, we took roles of existing ones so people would immediately understand who we were and what we were trying to do. The physical appearance is everything. Superheroes are made to look big and strong, and the costume was to be worn in such a way that was not sloppy, always clean cut and sleek, so we tried our best to imitate that effect. Haircuts were essential, the hairs of superheroes were always fixed, depending on the kind of hero, but generally all clean cut unless they wear masks to hide their face.

4. How does he/she speak and behave?

Superheroes speak in a very energetic and deep voice. Playing the role of the hero requires a very appealing, confident, and dominant voice to properly portray the role given to them. It is also a voice that is very different from their normal voice to hide their identity, as well as remain intimidating and maintain an air of awe. There is a sense of dominance in the way a hero walks and acts. When they walk they try to make their body as large as possible by puffing out their chests, putting their hands on their hips, or tilting their head upwards all to show that they are in control and assertive. They have a very calm demeanor and carry themselves very well. Superheroes were created to play the role of a model to look up to, someone who follows his ideals and shows that in his words and his actions. So they were created for children to have positive role models and try to apply whatever they learn and see into life itself.

5. How do they talk to people? How do they laugh?

They always speak in such a way that they assume everyone is in distress. In a lot of comic books, one sees a superhero only in the midst of crisis. Apart from a crisis, seeing a superhero would be rare. So when we talked to people, we made sure that we maintained a sense of heroism and asking what they were in need of, whether it was a good wiping of sweat from their head and face, to cleaning their tables, filling their water jugs. We assumed all of the problems normal students these days face, and tried to combat them by assisting them. They laugh at things that people think we cannot do, and us having no shame, we actually do.

6. What are their beliefs in life? What are their values?

They believe in their ideals, something that is a solid base that they can always fall back to in times of hardship. These are the strengths of superheroes, to always put others before themselves and put aside fears of life or death to save people. The morals each superhero believes in allows them to live their life in such a way that it keeps them grounded, and constantly looking back at these morals and virtues. Our belief as superheroes on deviance day was to risk getting caught by the guards with no id, to help students who we believed were in trouble. Some ladies not being able to clean their own tables, or a lady with an empty water bottle, the first thing we put on our list to do was service for others and we prioritized it above all.

7. How does his or her day look like?

A superhero’s day is filled with normal everyday happenings and only becomes something other than that in the midst of evil. In that very moment, the seemingly normal man or woman unveils to be a superhero. These evils may come as a an empty water bottle, a used plate, or in the form of Thanos. A superhero is much like any of us mortal human beings, they need to eat and sleep. They too need rest and take vacations, but what makes them differ from us is their passion and stamina in facing the evils of this world.

8. Any sociological+personal reflections ? How did it feel being another person for a day

Breaking a social norm tends to be nerve wracking as you don’t want to make a fool of yourself especially being on campus. The sense of being on the Ateneo campus made us feel a bit more tentative compared to doing our group breaching experiment off campus as we would be less likely to encounter someone that we knew. The idea that we would be “saving people” around campus with people that we would be seeing on a daily bases (i.e. our friends, classmates, security guards, and the Ateneo faculty) made the idea of this deviant day behavior less attractive but once we interacted with the first few people, our nerves left and we were ready to “help” the citizens of the Ateneo. It ended up being much more fun that anticipated, taking on an alter ego and “helping” people out. We were able to freely walk up to people that we wouldn’t normally talk to and ask if they needed assistance and if they didn’t we would just keep pestering them until they finally gave in or ran away scared. One of the group members felt uncomfortable doing the experiment at first and he would lapse into his real self from the character he was portraying. The first step in deviating seems to be the hardest part, especially if you’ve lived all your life following these norms. We were not only deviating ourselves but also encouraging others to deviate. We see this in the reactions of individuals we approach. Common phrases such as “stranger danger” or “don’t talk to strangers” come to mind. At first, it seems almost impossible for these individuals to entertain us. One doesn’t just interrupt others to offer services or talk to people one does not know, especially those looking so different from the established norms. So the fact that they went out of their normal selves and talked to us superheroes, points to how deviation can be encouraged through peers. Plus some also played along with our act in a sense that they told us what was troubling them. After a while though, it became easier to stay in character and offer “help” to the citizens of the fair city of Gonzaga and Zen Garden. All in all it was a fun experience that we will remember for a long time.