Punch Magazine

PSYCHOANALYZING SUPERMAN
Douglas Rasmussen
With the release of the
new trailer for Zack
Snyder’s upcoming Superman
film, Man of Steel,
brings forth once again the
question of identity and
masks in the Superman
character. A debate that
swirls around the concept
of which belongs to his real
self and which is the false
identity that Superman is
deliberately performing. Is
Clark Kent the real self while
Superman the façade? Or
is the reverse true?
Complicating the issue is
that there are in fact three
facets to the Superman
personality; Clark Kent, Superman,
last son of Krypton,
as well as Kal-El. The 1978
Superman movie shows
us that Superman does
have access to Kryptonian
culture (by way of Marlon
Brando’s large floating
head). It can be argued
that this aspect is too removed
and distant to be
have the full impact on his
identity, but in actuality I
would postulate that it is in
fact more significant access
to cultural heritage than humans
have. As a mortal
I do not have the facity to
interact and have a dialogue
with my ancestors. In
this regard Superman has
a greater knowledge of his
genealogical past than we
humans do.
It is this aspect of an isolated
alien from another
world, another culture that
separates Superman from
mortals. Central to this
concept is a Superman
whose extraordinary origins
form the basis of his real
self. Superman as the authentic
self and not just a
public role has been taken
up by Grant Morrison in
All-Star Superman, one of
the better explorations of
the Superman mythos, who
undertook his project with
this perspective in mind.
The concept was also popularized
in a monologue by
Bill in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill
Bill. Although as any historian
of comic book criticism
would know, that monologue
is taken almost word
for word from Jules Feiffer’s
1965 book Great Comic
Book Heroes.
John Byrne argues the opposite
view in the mid-80’s
mini-series called Man of
Steel. Byrne however, highlights
the main difficulty with
establishing the Clark Kent
persona as the authentic
self. The only way to promote
this idea of Superman
as the public role and Clark
Kent as the true identity is
that Byrne strips all the silver
age elements from the
character in order to make
The concept was also
popularized in a monologue by Bill
in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill
this idea work. By doing this,
by modernizing the Superman
character, readers
lose everything that differentiates
Superman from his
origins. It also leaves question
to what purpose would
a super-powered being
perform such a transparently
awkward interpretation
of a teenager, well into
adulthood. The shyness, the
stammering, the fainting at
times of crisis (more prominent
in the Fleischer cartoons
than in the contemporary
incarnations), the
obvious acts of buffoonery,
are too blatant as to actually
draw attention towards
the character.
Finally there is the physical
reality of his extraordinary
abilities. When Superman
wakes up in the morning
he is that powerful being
known as Superman. This
would be particularly evident
during adolescence,
when everything that separates
an individual from
Finally there is the physical reality of
his extraordinary abilities.
the rest of his peers is highlighted
and exaggerated,
often becoming the point
of ridicule. There is no way
for a character with powers
of this magnitude would be
able to comfortably blend
into the rest of the teenagers.
Not only is it psychologically
unbelievable that
a powerful being from an
alien world would be able
to comfortably fit into our
society, it also devalues
everything that is interesting
about the character.
By removing the alien
heritage as integral to
Superman’s identity the
readers are left with an
assimilationist ideal of a
unique being called Kal-
El becoming comfortable
with his adopted culture
and abandoning the traditions
that helped formulat
his identity.
jordan Ratzlaff
page 15