Skip to comments.
The Problem with Superman ("Americans don't want to be told what to aspire to anymore")
Time Magazine ^
| May. 17, 2004
| LEV GROSSMAN
Posted on 05/10/2004 12:08:15 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: 2004electionbias; america; antiamericanism; bushbashing; bushhasser; comic; comicbook; comicbooks; comics; commiecomics; commieshill; communism; communists; culturewar; dc; dccomics; indoctrination; iraqwar; joestalin; josephstalin; liberalguilt; manofsteel; marxism; mediabias; outlawculture; prodictator; prostalin; reddupe; saddamite; satanism; socialism; socialists; sovietunion; stalin; stalinsusefulidiots; superman; supesisaddupe; timebias; timelifewarnerturner; timemagazine; unclejoestalin; usefulidiots; ussr; vigilantism; warnerbros; warnerbrothers; wb
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80, 81-88 next last
To: Hawkeye's Girl
"As someone who loved the dark side for a long time, I had little or no interest in Superman for years," Austen says. CULTURE WAR PING. Outlaw culture should not be the dominant culture in America and I would question those who see fit to put those who "love the dark side" in charge of setting the course for childrens' entertainment.
21
posted on
05/10/2004 12:35:28 PM PDT
by
weegee
(NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
To: Hawkeye's Girl
I'm sure Mr. Grossman prefers not to be told that sex with other men is immoral, filthy and disgusting!
Afterall, he does write for TIME!
To: Hodar
He has no weakness, except for some obscure element (Kriptonnite). Superman is also vulnerable to magic, FYI.
23
posted on
05/10/2004 12:36:59 PM PDT
by
TheBigB
(My posts are full of ironic sarcasm. Or sarcastic irony. Whatever'll keep you from gettin' PO'd.)
To: Hawkeye's Girl
Smallville, featuring a teenage Clark Kent, is the No. 1 show on the WB, but the best onscreen version may be the deadpan, dead-on American Express ads on TV and the Internet featuring and in part written by Jerry Seinfeld. Does the comedian think Superman needs refurbishing? "I do," Seinfeld says. "I thought that they kind of botched it up. The last series of films really lost the whole essence of the appeal of the character." Seinfeld's Superman, who gets too much mayonnaise on his sandwich and can't figure out a DVD player, may be the most credibly human version yet.
Talk about taking a quote out of context. I somehow seriously doubt that Jerry Seinfeld's dislike of the Golan Globus Superman films (3, 4, and 5) means that he wants to see a "dark side" running through Superman comics and adaptations.
24
posted on
05/10/2004 12:38:47 PM PDT
by
weegee
(NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
To: You Dirty Rats
Re: The Green Hornet
You did know that it's in pre-production for the big screen, with Kevin Smith directing ? It ought to be good. . .
25
posted on
05/10/2004 12:40:29 PM PDT
by
Salgak
(don't mind me: the orbital mind control lasers are making me write this. . .)
To: Hawkeye's Girl
A limited-run comic called Secret Identity tells the story of a Superman who lives in the real world, our world, and who plays a lifelong chess game with the government and the media to keep his true nature hidden. What could be more modern than a hero with an obsessive need for privacy?
26
posted on
05/10/2004 12:41:16 PM PDT
by
weegee
(NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
To: fr_freak
So aside from the lack of super powers, myoptic eyesight, poor hearing, looks, physique and an allergy to cat dander ..... you and Superman are alot alike.
Gosh, I wanna be you.
27
posted on
05/10/2004 12:42:59 PM PDT
by
Hodar
(With Rights, comes Responsibilities. Don't assume one, without assuming the other.)
To: freeangel
Why should anyone want to aspire to anything anymore? You know it may make other less ambitious people feel bad. LMAO! I want that on a bumper sticker for my car!!!
BTW, my 3 yr old son is a total Superman-buff. He likes Batman, Spiderman, and all that, but Justice League rules in his little world.
28
posted on
05/10/2004 12:43:07 PM PDT
by
momfirst
To: Hawkeye's Girl
"Americans don't want to be told what to aspire to anymore" Close. Americans don't want to be told what to aspire to anymore by the likes of pseudo-journalistic magazines like Time, Newsweek, or by news organizations like NYTimes or LATimes, who print news according to their little red books.
29
posted on
05/10/2004 12:43:35 PM PDT
by
theDentist
(John Kerry for President? BWAHAAAAhahahahahaaaaaaaaaa!!)
To: Hawkeye's Girl
This reminds me of what I thought to be an interesting phenomenom when I was a kid in the late 60's/early 70's. In my neighborhood, without fail, all the kids who were "Superman" fans preferred RC Cola, The Munsters, 'Mary Anne' and the Beatles - while all the "Batman" fans preferred Coke, The Addams Family, 'Ginger' and the Rolling Stones. It was really pretty strange.
Comparing the two, I also remember my 9th grade Social Studies teacher (it was 1973) joke that(paraphrased) 'Superman reads the Bible. Batman reads Neitzche' (sp). Not for THAT reason (though I've read both) but I am a HUGE Batman fan.
30
posted on
05/10/2004 12:45:06 PM PDT
by
NCPAC
To: Hawkeye's Girl
Superman not cool? The comic that gave us Supergirl, the Legion of Super-Heroes, Krypto the Super-dog, Beppo the Super-monkey, the Superman Revenge Squad, umpteen types of Kryptonite, Jimmy Olsen and the Carrot-Top Cut Ups, the bottle city of Kandor, etc., etc. not cool? The Mort Weisinger-edited Superman comics of the '50's & '60's are some of the best fun to be had in four colors!
And don't forget Mort's finest moment....BIZARRO!
To: Hawkeye's Girl
My Superman is Dubya
32
posted on
05/10/2004 12:48:10 PM PDT
by
Lady Jag
(I dreamed I surfed all day in my monthly donor wonder bra [https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate])
To: Salgak
Without Bruce Le, who cares?
33
posted on
05/10/2004 12:48:46 PM PDT
by
You Dirty Rats
(WE WILL WIN WITH W - Isara)
To: GodBlessRonaldReagan
Goodbye! Me am sad to meet you!
34
posted on
05/10/2004 12:49:05 PM PDT
by
TheBigB
(My posts are full of ironic sarcasm. Or sarcastic irony. Whatever'll keep you from gettin' PO'd.)
To: HamiltonJay
Superman has always been prissily apolitical as a resident alien, does he even vote?--but that may be the missing piece.
B.S.
A Hate-America Superhero? In the July issue, Superman declares the Iraq war immoral.
Our Superman will want to wallow in who he is and find out why he hurts.
"Why do they hate us so?"
"What could we do to make them not want to strike us with nother 911?"
"Why does that #*!$ on the Bachelor have to be so mean?"
35
posted on
05/10/2004 12:49:34 PM PDT
by
weegee
(NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
To: You Dirty Rats
Batman also dates from the 1930's Yes, but the dark gothic character of Batman is more recent. Superman has also acquired a brooding character recently. Crow and Sandman had such character traits from the beginning but that coincided with the time of the transformation of Superman and Batman. We might find the best evidence of the end of postmodernism in the comic strips, but the Baghdad prison scandal shows it is happening in reality also.
36
posted on
05/10/2004 12:49:36 PM PDT
by
RightWhale
(Destroy the dark; restore the light)
To: TheBigB
He debuted in the 1930s, when Americans liked their heroes like they liked their steaks: tough, thick and all-American. He was rejected in the thirties as too "Arian" i.e. neo-nazi, perhaps you are all too young to remember.
To: GodBlessRonaldReagan
BRING BACK MORT! (so to speak)
38
posted on
05/10/2004 12:53:25 PM PDT
by
weegee
(NO BLOOD FOR RATINGS. CNN ignored torture & murder in Saddam's Iraq to keep their Baghdad Bureau.)
To: ivanhoe116
I certainly wasn't aware of that. I do know that Supes wasn't the most popular comic during WWII...that was Captain Marvel and Joe Palooka.
39
posted on
05/10/2004 12:54:11 PM PDT
by
TheBigB
(My posts are full of ironic sarcasm. Or sarcastic irony. Whatever'll keep you from gettin' PO'd.)
To: TheBigB; weegee
The Bizarro Code:
Us hate beauty!
Us love ugliness!
Is big crime to make anything perfect on Bizarro World!
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20, 21-40, 41-60, 61-80, 81-88 next last
Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson