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In a very literal sense, Thanos is a big purple man who goes around searching for nice colored stones while battling a bunch of grown men and women in fashionable attire. Though that certainly sounds less than flattering, in reality, Thanos and his character might not be as different from reality as you might imagine. In fact, I would go so far to say that Thanos is an incredibly bolstered and hyped up version of reality and the lengths people are willing to go for the things they desire.  Certainly a bold claim, I know, however, allow me to explain. 

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Behind all the dramatization and special effects, Thanos is a character who represents power and its corrupting ability. Thanos seeks to maximise his power and go as far as possible with it to the point where he aims to be untouchable, an invincible force to never be reckoned with or opposed. Thanos desires to be in control. If that at all sounds familiar, you would be right as this is something we see every single day from not only those in politics and positions of control but also in our day to day lives. Seeking power and desiring to retain it are unfortunately human attributes, some of the most negative attributes, but attributes nonetheless. Thanos represents the human nature of the desire to always seek maximum control and aspire to be in positions that warrant control. Thanos is no different from a human in his attributes, he just represents the fullest and worst extent of power corruption and the worst extent of what humans are capable of becoming should they not control themselves and keep themselves in line. Thanos represents the corruption that we dread and hope to never see and certainly pray and try to never become. 

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It is a common misconception that people have in that they feel they are immune to corruption. Corruption is much like racism in the sense that no one is born corrupt just like no one is born a racist, it is something one learns. The politicians you see today, many of whom are greatly immoral and unprincipled people, were once upon a time just like you and I, for the most part, people who desired to do good and make positive changes to the world. However, for the politicians many of them unfortunately, somewhere down the line, encountered people who led them astray and showed them just what they can gain and acquire from doing the very thing they aspired to never do. Thanos is a character who discovered this on his own, he discovered what he is capable of and decides to go ahead with it. In the case of Thanos, power fell into the wrong hands and this story repeats itself over and over again in the real world as well. 

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One thing I have always found interesting is that for the most part power always seems to fall into the wrong hands. Power always seems to fall into the hands of those who are inherently corruptible people. People without a backbone to keep them from falling into the lure of power and corruption. It makes you wonder, whether power falls into the wrong hands or those who gain power and become influential are where they are because they are willing to do anything to gain control as Thanos did. 

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Overall, Thanos isn't just a big purple man who goes around searching for nice colored stones while battling a bunch of grown men and women in fashionable attire. Thanos is a depiction and symbolic representation of human nature and one of its most flawed characteristics, the pursuit and search for power.