The Problem with Superman ("Americans don't want to be told what to aspire to anymore")

Time Magazine ^ | May. 17, 2004 | LEV GROSSMAN

[Hawkeye's Girl]

For America's multimillion-dollar Superman industry, it's a serious problem. This is a guy who's from outer space — he was born on the planet Krypton, let's not forget — but he's also from another time. He debuted in the 1930s, when Americans liked their heroes like they liked their steaks: tough, thick and all-American. Nowadays we prefer our heroes dark and flawed and tragic. Look at the Punisher (wife and kids dead), or Hellboy (born a demon), or Spider-Man (secretly a nerd). Look at Batman: his parents were killed in front of him, and he dresses like a Cure fan. Now look at the big blue Boy Scout, with his cleft chin and his spit curl. He's just not cool.

[TheBigB]

Superman will -always- be cool. Ditto for Captain America (at least, before Marvel turned him into an anti-American leftist wuss.)

[ECM]

Amen.

[tallhappy]

So this is what Time magazine wastes its space with....

[wbill]

Pretty bad when Superman is "uncool". What could be cooler than XRay vision? Or being able to fly? How jaded our culture has become..... /nostalgic sigh

[steve8714]

slow Newsweek?

[Hawkeye's Girl]

I think they were just looking for an excuse to slam America in the enterainment section:

He's a metaphor for America, but an outdated, obsolete America: invulnerable to attack, always on the side of right, always ready to save the rest of the world from its villainy whether or not it wants to be saved.

[steve8714]

Spiderman may be closer to the spirit of America because he learned the hard way to do the right thing, is despised for it, and has a whole set of typical American problems, including financial ones.

[joebuck]

Superman never made any money
saving the world from Solomon Grundy
And sometimes I despair the world will never see
Another man like him
"Superman Song" - Crash Test Dummys

[Hodar]

Pretty bad when Superman is "uncool".

Not at all. Superman is a 'God'. Gravity has no effect upon him, he doesn't need air, he can run or fly at faster than light speed, time means nothing to him (he can reverse it if things don't go right). X-ray vision, heat vision, artic breath, or hot breath, bullet proof, never gets tired, and is never truly in danger himself. He has no weakness, except for some obscure element (Kriptonnite). Boring.....

Contrast that with the other comic heroes. They all have weaknesses, but bend the situation to meet their strengths. When I was a kid, I knew I had weaknesses, insecurities; but I also had strengths. If I could twist the situation to address my strengths, I felt better.

Who could possibly relate to Superman?

[weegee]

Superman is still the company's flagship icon, but Batman outsells him, and the original superhero hasn't starred in a movie for 17 years.

More money is made from the licensing of comic book characters than from the comic books themselves. Who cares how many monthly titles they are selling? It matters not to the company's bottom line.

Fanboys are a small subset of a subculture that reads comics in America. That comic book subculture is a small (but vocal) subset of all the people in America who watch movies or shop at the mall.

Warner Brothers (parent corporation for both DC Comics and Time Magazine) knows this.

When was the last time Mickey Mouse starred in a cartoon for American audiences?

[dfwgator]

Superman will -always- be cool.

Two words, "Christopher Reeve."

[You Dirty Rats]

Batman also dates from the 1930's, so the whole thesis is bogus.

I never liked Superman, anyway.

Give me the Green Hornet. With Kato as your sidekick, how can you lose?

[freeangel]

Why should anyone want to aspire to anything anymore? You know it may make other less ambitious people feel bad.

[TheBigB]

LOL Everything else aside, there is no actor in existence who looked more like Supes than Reeve did. With the spit-curl, you'd swear he was taken directly from the comic.

[weegee]

David Carradine delivers a monologue in Kill Bill Vol. 2 as to why he likes Superman over any other character.

He says that Peter Parker, Bruce Wayne, et al put on a costume to become a superhero.

Superman was born Superman. That S he wears comes from his home planet. His costume is that of a straight laced newspaper reporter. Clark Kent is how he sees humans and what he thinks he has to do to "blend in".

"Bill" uses this lecture to explain to the Bride why she can't hide from her past as a killer. She can't just seclude herself to living in a small town being a homebody. It is not who she is any more than Clark Kent is who Superman is.

[HamiltonJay]

Problem with Superman is that they've gone PC with his character.. have for years now.

[weegee]

He debuted in the 1930s, when Americans liked their heroes like they liked their steaks: tough, thick and all-American. Nowadays we prefer our heroes dark and flawed and tragic.

Liberal guilt results in a lousy steak (dark, flawed, and tragic).

[fr_freak]

Who could possibly relate to Superman?

I could. Sometimes I think we must have been seperated at birth because we have so much in common. Well, except for the super powers. And the good looks. And it's possible I don't look as good in tights. At least I'm not allergic to some little radioactive rocks, though. What a wuss. Of course, I am allergic to cat dander.

[weegee]

"Batman is a more modern-era type character," Lee says. "He's fueled by vengeance; he's the boogeyman. Superman is the altruistic alien hero that protects us all. It's difficult to make that believable in this day and age."

So if it is "hip" to be a vigilante rather than stand up for truth, justice, and the American Way, then the media has no problems with the abuse of terrorist suspects in Iraq? eh???