Above is Raytheon's XOS exoskeleton which was trotted out this weekend for a demonstration. It's no coincidence that Raytheon wants to connect the Ironman movie with their fledgling exoskeleton technology.I have to say that the Ironman movie was very very good. This is truly a bold new age when superhero movies are actually pretty entertaining. I really like this movement for Marvel in their ability to make their superheroes have a universal quality. Spider-man wasn't just a movie about a teenager who gets spider powers, but carried the message of the choices one makes to become a healthy adult. X-men pushed the message of human discrimination. Ironman? the message in this movie was quite clear, and actually quite elegantly done.
We live in a world in which the corporations have become the most powerful force in the world. Outward conflict of guns, bombs and missiles are horrifically merely the backdrop to the truer means of control. Emile Durkheim wrote extensively on how social stability can be examined through understanding the centers of social solidarity. A nation is stronger, when everyone in that nation is aligned to a common goal. The idea of citizens rallying together against a common enemy is unfortunately a worn out tactic. What has happened now is the breakup of citizens in America in their allegiance to our country. Not to say that Americans have lost faith in America, but the vision of that faith has become fractured. What seems to be taking the place of national allegiance, is an allegiance to one's workplace. The dissatisfaction with the dirty hands of America as a nation, the romance of internationalization, and the ever expanding reach of transnational businesses have all driven this idea.
Ironman depicts a world which no longer rely on ideas of physical borders. (Honestly, Tony Stark takes a woman from Las Vegas across state lines to Malibu to have one night stand with her.) A company will sell weapons to anyone who will buy them, even if the buyer intends to harm the nation of the company headquarters. Tony Stark, horrified at this prospect takes it on himself (without the formal aid of the nation) to stop this menace. To further the point, he is recruited by Strategic Homeland Intervention, Engagement and Logistics Division or S.H.I.E.L.D., a nationless organization created to protect the world. (Think InterPol with a multi-billion dollar flying fortress.)
