Story Rave of the Week #1 Hancock : Power without purpose leads to depression

So my most recent pledge is to read and write about one book per week. I don't really care to hone my skill as a reviewer. However, I do think it's important as a writer to be a reader. When I write about a book, I do so because it touched me and/or I learned something about. It's times like these that I really wished I had a book club to talk to. Or maybe still had my writer's group, or both.

So I'm not going to review books. I could "reflect books" but sounds too weak, too much like the stupid "Reading Response" journals I asked my 4th graders to keep last year. So instead I believe I will RAVE about books.

And who says that text that touch us have to be limited to books?
So this week I'm raving the film, Hancock.

Hancock is the story of an alcoholic, depressed superhero. The film is very minimalist in its details but nonetheless has a surprise ending. SPOILER ALERT! If you are reading this and haven't seen the film and care--I'm about to disclose that surprise.

Hancock's misanthropy mainly springs from the fact that he believes he is alone and unique in the world. He tries to save and protect the people of L.A. but he so not with care but contempt for the lowly mortals. And they resent him for it. For example, some gangbangers are being chased by the police down the freeway in their escape car, a White Ford SUV. They're shooting their uzi's at anything that moves and causing mayhem, property damage, and at least a few fatalities. Hancock is sleeping off another one on a park bench when a little kid whacks him on the head and points at the car chase being depicted on the TV screen nearby. (Hancock just happens to be sleeping outside an electronics store with TV's in the window--nice plot device. I must remember that.)

After the kid calls him a few names and Hancock fires some profanity back at the eight year old, Hancock is air borne. Notice, our antihero does not don a superhero name or costume to mask his identity. He's just an average alcoholic dude with powers.
Hancock does stop the criminals but does so with little regard for the safety or welfare of the people around him. He rips the roof of the car off and throws it behind him where it hits and breaks about 3 police squad cars. Hancock bashes the car and damages several buildings before finally impaling the car on a skyscraper needle.

Question: If superheroes can so easily destroy their physical surroundings how come they don't also spend time rebuilding them? I mean, think about it, Hancock or superman, or spiderman--anytone with superstrength--would make an excellent contractor. If elected chief of Superhero Affairs for this fine constituency I will see that all registered metahumans are required to serve hundreds of community service hours per year.

Anyway, my point is Hancock is depressed because he doesn't know who he is. He knows he has superpowers but he's been suffereing from amnesia for about the past 80 years when we first meet him. He woke up in some hospital in Florida with a concussion. When the doctors tried to put a needle in him it broke off. When he signed out the nurse asked for his John Hancock. He mistakenly thought that was his name and later kept it.

Later in the story, a down on his luck PR Rep is saved by Hancock. Hancock saves PR Man from being run over by a train when his car is trapped on the railroad tracks. Instead of simply lifting the car out of the way, Hancock breaks both the train and damages several vehicles. (He is always constantly managing a killer hang-over, afterall).

The PR man tries to school Hancock on the finer niceties of life, much like a good miss manners. None of the charm school training seems to take much affect until Hancock meets another of his kind.

It is then revealed that the PR man's wife is also a superpowered individual, a metahuman. She has chosen to keep her powers a secret. She reveals to Hancock that they used to be lovers and have had an off again on again relationship spanning thousands of years. There used to be many of them and now there are only two. All the powered beings come in two's, lover pairings. When the two halves meet each other, both end up becoming mortal, so that they can reproduce, settle down and have a normal life.

In the end, in order for them both to live ( and for Charlize Theron's character to stay with her mortal husband) , Hancock leaves. He relocates to a new city for him to protect. We never do learn his real name. Does he even have one?

My point is this: It's not enough to know your power in the world. You must also be sure in your identity, community, and context. It is not power alone that powers us. But power and purpose that we live by.