The document discusses how Superman embodies quintessential American values and mythology through his origins as an orphan, immigrant, and angel from Krypton with a dual identity as Clark Kent. It analyzes how Superman represents themes of mobility, assimilation, and religious symbolism that tap into the American experience of dislocation, the immigrant dilemma, and the need for a national icon. The author argues that Superman resolves these issues through his powers, disguise as Clark Kent, and role as a divine savior figure.

1. What Makes Superman So
Darned American?

2. Superman’s Origins
 Action Comics #1 (June 1938)
 probably the most famous
comic book cover of all time
• certainly one of the most
expensive
 marked the debut of the
world's greatest hero --
Superman.

3. "Man of Steel"
 Both Jewish
 Invented Superman as
a typically Jewish
mythical hero
 Hitler oppressed the
 Created by Jerry Jews, and Superman
Siegel and Joe was their answer to
Shuster* while still in Hitler.
high school in
Cleveland
*Canadian relatives

4. Several Historical Perspectives
 Stock market collapse in 1929
 Beginning of the Great
Depression:
• millions out of work
• bread lines and soup kitchens
 The Great Plains Drought
• Overworked and overgrazed
land began to erode
• Farm topsoil blew in huge clouds
turning the sky brown

5. The Thirties and Nazism
 In the late 1930s, Nazi
war machine spread
across Europe
 Hitler was the ultimate
villain
 Oppressor of the weak,
defenseless and those
deemed "racially
impure"

6.  Superman was an overnight
success
 The "champion of the
oppressed" became a comfort,
particularly to children during
the hard economic times and
the threat of World War
 Reality was becoming ever
grimmer
 Superman became their light
at the end of a very long, dark
tunnel

7.  While heroes may change
superficially over the
centuries, the basic tenets
of heroism don’t change:
• the self-sacrifice
• the need to help
• the desire to right
wrongs, defend the weak,
and vanquish evil

8. What Makes Superman so
Darned American?
 “Superman is the American hero”
(Gary Engle 333/739).
 Superman achieves truly mythic stature by
interweaving
• a pattern of beliefs
• literary conventions
• cultural traditions

9. What is the Superman Story?
 An orphan rocketed to Earth
when Krypton explodes
 Raised by Jonathon and Martha
Kent, a childless couple from
Smallville
 Hides his “Superpowers”
 As an adult moves to Metropolis
and assumes the identity of Clark
Kent - reporter

10. The Eternal Triangle
While defending America/World/Universe
from Evil
 As Clark Kent he hopelessly pursues Lois
Lane
 Lois hopelessly pursues Superman
 Lois must prove herself worthy of
Superman by falling in love with Clark

11. 1. Superman is an Orphan
 Emphasizes themes of Dislocation, Mobility and
Displacement
• USA is an orphan separated from parent countries.
Alone: Superman & the World
• USA‟s social consciousness imbed the imagery of
passage form one identity to another: Mayflower
• Past is left behind: Must constantly move
 Superman reinvents himself for the future
• “This makes the orphan a potent symbol of the American character.
Orphans aren‟t merely free to reinvent themselves. They are obliged
to do so” (337/741)

12. Individual Mobility/Frontier
 Superman can fly at great speeds - He is
mobile and can fly whenever and wherever he
wants
• “His incredible speed allows him to be as close to
everywhere at once as it is possible to be.
Displacement is, therefore, impossible” (337/740)

13. Superman resembles Mythic
Figures
 Greek messenger god Hermes;
Roman god Mercury
 Zetes, the flying Argonaut
 Hercules

14. 2. Superman is an Immigrant
 Superman is an alien in a new land
• underneath Clark‟s all American exterior he is
always Superman: very visible minority
• Superman undresses unlike other superheroes
who don their costumes – e.g. Batman
• “Superman‟s powers - strength, mobility, x-ray
vision and the like are the comic-book
equivalents of ethnic characteristics” (334/739)

15. The Immigrant Dilemma
 Clinging to Old World identity meant
• isolation in ghettos
• confrontation with a prejudiced mainstream culture
• second-class social status
• impoverishment
 Assimilation into the New World meant
• loss of culture, language, tradition, soul
• struggle for identity: drowning in the melting pot
 Generational rift

16. The Immigrant Dilemma mirrors
the Western Myth
 Civilization vs Wilderness
 “The Mythic frontier represented an attempt
to embody the perfect degree of
assimilation in which both the old and new
identities came together” (339/742)
 Lone Ranger and Tonto

17. 3. Dual Identity solves the
dilemma
 Engle: „Kent‟ makes the myth work
(342/744)
 Improvement on Western Myth:
• “optimistic myth of assimilation, but with an
urban, technocratic setting”
 Disguise is a moral act to protect parents

18. Clark Kent: the Alter Ego
• bumbling
• weak
• immobile
• wimpy
 A symbol of cultural assimilation of the
immigrant
• “He is the epitome of visible invisibility, someone
whose extraordinary ordinariness makes him
disappear in a crowd” (341/744)

19. Duality
 SUPERMAN  CLARK KENT
 Real Identity  Illusion; unreal
 Unique, powerful  Assimilated; weak
 Above society and  Blended into society
culture and culture
 Represents heroic past  Represents everyman
and gods and the present

20. 4. Superman is an Angel
 The Cape
• “…a veritable growth from behind his
pectorals and hangs, when he stands at ease,
in a line that doesn‟t so much drape his
shoulders as stand apart from them and echo
their curve, like an angel‟s wings” (342/744)
 A divine saviour of mankind
 “An American boy‟s fantasy of a
messiah” (343/745)

21. Superman etymology
 Kal-El
• Similar to Micha-El,
warrior archangel
• Maybe Hebrew for “all
that God is”
 K-N-T = “I have found a
son” (342/745)
The Passion of the Clark

22. 5. Superman is a religious
myth
 An ET from heaven to supply a gap in
American mythology/iconography
 “America has no national religious icons
nor any pilgrimage shrines” (343/745)
 Do you agree or disagree with this
statement?

23. Engle’s 5 Points
1. Being orphaned, Superman taps into the
Western‟s mythology of dislocation,
constant moving, and re-identification
2. Being an immigrant/alien, Superman
represents the American dichotomy: fitting
in or standing apart

24. Engle’s 5 Points
3. His dual identity resolves the
assimilation/ isolation dilemma: he‟s a
righteous wolf in cheap clothing
4. Superman is an angel: his powers are
heaven sent
5. The Superman myth is religious–
especially Judeo-Christian–at its core