Arach Knight
Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Girl
- Joined
- May 18, 2008
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Actually it's an important part of his story and essential to telling Superman's story. He's not human, he's never going to be human and he may want to relate to them but he will always be separate from them. To leave those things out takes a fundamental core element of Superman's character. I don't get why you would want to limit the dramatic potential of his character by taking that out.
I disagree. Continually separating Superman from humanity and making him distant and so pensive, while at the same time admiring, creates a psychological complex that need not be present in the stories. In fact, Superman/Batman # 3 sums it up nicely
"It is a remarkable dichotomy. In many ways, Clark is the most human of us all. Then...he shoots fire from the skies, and it is difficult not to think of him as a god. And how fortunate we all are that it does not occur to him."
Superman should not spend his time mourning a dead world he never knew. I see Superman as a person who is shaped by a heritage he has to find, but interprets in a manner that affects how he behaves as a human. The idea that he comes from an alien world is not some huge issue of fundamentals. It was a reflection of Siegel and Shuster's own heritage. Their parents were immigrants (Jewish at that). So Superman being this outsider who comes to earth (America) and assimilates, is the actual idea behind the character. Not this guy who can never be human and wishes to be. He is not Pinocchio wanting to be a real boy (human). My view is not one left to solitude though. Author and cultural theorist Scott Bukatman states that Superman " is also representative of the United States dedication to "progress and the 'new'" through his "invulnerable body ... on which history cannot be inscribed.""
He is an allegory for immigration in the United States from Europe. Everyone else has just been over thinking that aspect and turned it into this great emotional conflict. Which is okay. Writers will constantly interpret a character that has been maintained by dozen if not hundreds of other minds. At this point however, I am saying it is time to give it a rest as far as the "I wanna be human, but i'm not and I miss the planet I never knew" routine. This character is so stale because he has not progressed past that yet.
You know why Spider-Man has been such an impressive character? Because he eventually moved on from the death of his Uncle (a brilliant piece of writing by Strazynski). He continues to be Spider-Man, not because he abandons his guilt, but he transcends it and fully adopts his Uncle's mantra on responsibility. It creates a more interesting character. Superman is 71 years old this year. Time to do something new other than have him try to be human. And to that end, he doesn't even have to try. All that separates him are his powers. And those only come from a yellow Sun. Take that away and he bleeds red just like the rest.
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I love it.
Seriously, what is their deal? I can understand the film gurus not knowing what to do with the character, but how can DC be so ****ed up on it that they have to 'reboot' 3 or 4 times a decade?