Superman, All-American Hero
Gary Engle describes Superman as the ultimate American, “Superman is the greatest American hero” (Engle, 677). After reading three comic books I notice an occurring theme of wanting to protect what is good, even though the comic books chosen span over eleven years. Several distinct things to Superman’s personality are his cape, the respect he has for others, the respect others have for him, his intelligence, his protection of all life and what is right, his origin, and the sacrifices he makes. Superman is considered to be the greatest American hero of all time.
The Superman epic has gone on for years and years; yet the story line has always remained the same:
The core of American myth is Superman consists of a few basic facts that remain unchanged throughout the infinitely varied ways in which the myth is told – facts with which everyone is familiar, however marginal their knowledge of the story. Superman is an orphan rocketed to Earth when his native planet Krypton explodes; he lands near Smallville and is adopted by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who inculcate in him their American middle-class ethic; as an adult he migrates to Metropolis there he defends America – no, the world! no, the universe – from all evil and harm while playing a romantic game in which, as Clark Kent, he hopelessly pursues Superman, who remains aloof until such time as Lois proves worthy of him by falling in live with his feigned identity as a weakling. That’s it. (Engle, 678).
This is the same in any tale of Superman, the same occurring theme. This adds character to Superman, and explains why he is so all-American.
Firstly, Superman is an alien, to the United States and to the world. But is he really that different from you and me? We are all descended from people who were immigrants to America. Engle writes: “All Americans have immediate sense of their origins elsewhere” (Engle, 678). So doesn’t it make sense that everyone that fights or works for our natural freedoms are aliens, the soldiers, the doctors, the teachers, and Superman himself? “Like the peoples of the nation whose values he defends, Superman is an alien” (Engle, 678). Like all aliens the reason for coming to this country is to make something better of ones self. Where one may run any kind of business they please and not worry about someone else intervening because they simply can. Superman ...
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..., to stand up and fight for what he/she believes in.
Superman finally kills the creature but in the process end up dying himself. This is the sacrifice Superman makes for his people: he loses his life and his true love Lois. But it was all worth it in his eyes because he was protector of his nation. Superman had many things going for him, his invincibility against the humans, his strength, and most of all his love for Lois Lane. Superman could have easily fled and would have never been seen or herd from again. But to him America was worth his sacrifice of everything he has, including his life. Any true American is expected to sacrifice his life for his country.
Superman is an astonishing being. His self-sacrifice presents an ideal of what any soldier should do for his country. His politeness is an ideal for how every person should behave. His ability not to overreact is an example of what to be like in a dangerous situation. Superman is a glorified all-American and would do anything for the people. He goes beyond the call of duty to make life easier on at least one other person. Without a doubt everyone should know why Superman is considered the greatest American hero of all time.
Society favors the outlaw hero because we relate with that character more. We see ourselves more so in the outlaw hero than in the official hero. The outlaw hero has the child like talents that most of us wish we had as adults. To civilians it may seem that the outlaw hero lives more of a fantasy life that we all wish to have. Superman’s image has remained unchanged over the years. A blue suit accompanied by boots, a belt and cape have always been the Superman style, along with the Superman emblem on his chest. Superman’s real name is Kal-El, a descendant of the Kryptonian family of the house of El, with his father known as Jor-El and mother Lara. Krypton was discovered to be in the last seconds of life due to the coming supernova of its sun by Kal-El’s father. The other members of Krypton did not believe Jor-El could not tell others of his answers and examinations. Jor-El promised that neither he nor his wife would leave and with every last possible choice eliminated, Jor-El would send his newborn son to the planet Earth. Kal-El then crash landed into the care of Jonathan and Martha Kent, two farmers in Kansas. He then adopted the Kent family name,...
On one end of the spectrum lays Superman, an alien who from birth is comparable to god, and on the opposite side lays Lex Luthor, a genius human who comes from nothing and created a financial empire. Superman
Batman and Superman are superheroes whose qualities are exaggerated in a way that is reminiscent of the gods and heroes in The Odyssey. In Fact, the superheroes from comic books emerge from the epic tradition. Epics, as you know, celebrate the great deeds of one or more legendary heroes. This epic hero is generally involved with a quest to overcome hardship, and he (and it usually is a "he") succeeds. The hero performs superhuman exploits in battle, often saving or founding a nation or the human race itself. Sound familiar? And even in terms of the superhero's body, with his bulging muscles and larger‐than‐life qualities, such figures evoke the images of Baroque masculinity. What Becomes important in these retellings, then, is how the hero makes the journey, how he faces his obstacles, and what he learns in the process.
With reference to “Man of Steel” and “Superman 1”, Superman is much taller than Lois resulting in her constantly having to look up at him and having him shot with a low angle from the point-of-view shot of Lois Lane, having the effect of Superman seeming more powerful. Superman’s adoptive mother is also a stereotypical, stay at home mother while his adoptive father
To your average white American kid, a comic book is cheap entertainment— a leisure, a novelty. Your run of the mill issue of "Superman," perhaps the most generic superhero of all, is something to be read once, maybe even merely skimmed, while in the bathroom or the doctors' office. When finished with it gets thrown away mindlessly or tossed aside to join a mounting stack of similarly abandoned stories of fantastical heroism. However in the eyes of the young Indian boy, Sherman Alexie, as depicted in his essay, "Superman and Me," a tattered comic found in a donation bin was much more than that— it was a life line.
It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s Superman! In 1938, Action Comics #1, released the first Superman comic to the public. Superman, also known as Kal El, has shown many different powers since his first debut in 1938. This paper will discuss various topics about four of his major powers and explain why they are all impossible for anyone to achieve in real life. Superman’s four major powers that will be discussed in this paper are X-ray vision, being able to fly, super strength, and invulnerability.
Is this film about Superman or about a mysterious bearded man who protects people once in every decade of his lifetime? One problem that the film has lies within the first hour of the movie - in which the film, having up to that point not yet really established Superman as a hero. Opposed to the original Superman in which Superman would be fully developed within the first scene of the movie. In addition to his powers being fully developed, Superman would have already established his arch nemesis as well. This course of action took way to long, and while understanding that the director wanted a firm background of Clark Kent as well as Kal-El this action could have been more upfront. In Man of Steel Clark Kent should have transformed into Superman and shown the world who he really is and...
During the fight that takes place in Small Ville Superman gets shot in the chest. This blast does not kill him, and he shows no sign of pain. This depiction of masculinity promotes the popular belief that superheroes are indestructible and instills in young children that even when experiencing agonizing pain heroes suck it up and keep fighting.
In his essay “Superman and Me”, Sherman Alexie details how he rose above the limits placed upon him because of his ethnicity. Alexie begins the essay by opening up to his audience and recounting how he taught himself to read by using a Superman comic book. Alexie’s family was living paycheck to paycheck, so he began reading anything and everything that he could get his hands on. The purpose of Alexie’s “Superman and Me” is to inform the audience of how one does not need to be affluent to learn. With pathos, repetition, and elaborate metaphors, Sherman Alexie evokes a change of mind from his audience.
To the ordinary citizen of any given suburb, town, or city the names Bruce and Clark do not particularly stand out to be special or significant. If one was to ask an ordinary citizen if he or she had heard of Batman and or Superman, one could bet that those names would be labeled as special and significant. Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent otherwise known as Batman and Superman have lived in America's comic books, movies, cartoons and hearts for well over fifty years. Protecting the streets of Gotham City and Metropolis, these crime fighters have given a great deal to humanity, and although they have many similarities, their childhood and upbringing are quite different.
Superman, a fan favorite super hero, has many other qualities that make him a super hero
Alan Moore successfully breaks down the effectiveness of superheroes portrayed in your average comic book with his use of Dr.Manhattan:Super-powers and the superpowers inside his graphic novel Watchmen. Dr.Manhattan is made out to be less than divine. The American’s “placing our superhuman benefactor in the position of a walking nuclear deterrent”(Dr.Manhattan:Super-powers and the superpowers.II), depicting him as the Vitruvian Man and having a God present among mere mortals all lead to Moore being able to break down the common conceptions about superheroes.
And that's why he'd let Batman get a hold of some kryptonite, and why Superman won't dodge it as it's plunged into his chest.
Another thing I want to bring into focus is the title of this documentary, which in a certain light is cynical. At the beginning Geoffrey mentions that the saddest day of his life was in 4th grade when his mother told him that superman didn’t exist. He cried because he realized that there was no one that could save us from the poverty we had all been born into. We all wait for superman because it seems that a task this great cannot be achieved by the likes of
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