Superman: Historical-Narrative Formation of a 20th Century Popular ...

Superman: Historical-Narrative Formation of a 20th Century PopularAmerican Hero“Smallville”1

Table of ContentsAbstract.................................................................................................................................................3Introduction..........................................................................................................................................4Chapter 1: Narrative and Myth: Conceptualizing an American Superhero..........................................6Chapter 2: Good Fights Evil: The Mythic Hero of the Depression....................................................12Chapter 3: Lost in the Crowd, a Hero in Disguise.............................................................................16Chapter 4: Superman as the Embodiment of the American Dream....................................................20Conclusion..........................................................................................................................................25Works Cited........................................................................................................................................26Appendix 1: Superman Character Profile...........................................................................................28Appendix 2: The Superman Logo......................................................................................................29Appendix 3: Superman in the Comics................................................................................................30Picture Sources...................................................................................................................................332

AbstractThe aim of this thesis is to show that the Great Depression of the 1930s had significant changes inAmerican social consciousness. One escape was presented through identifying with the pop culturalcomic book character, Superman, whose fictional life is rooted in real life situations. The doubleidentity: being both a superman and an ordinary person enabled the character to gain popularityrapidly and has become one of the most important American pop cultural icons. In this paper, Iintend to reveal that the main characteristics of Superman are created within the framework of theAmerican national myth. Thus the hero has been capable of constant rebirth and formation, alwaysadapting to the needs of the given epoch through its narrative devices.3

Introduction“The American hero lives in all of us…and if we are not all heroes, we are all hero ridden.Descendants of a legend, we persist in identifying with it” (Rollin 434). These two sentences sumup the meaning of Superman in American culture. He is a cultural icon that is known throughout theworld. The ‘S’ logo, see appendix 2, has become a symbol which represents all that is good andright. Hence it is common to see Superman as the character that embodies these. With Superman thecreation of modern age mythology in America has begun. But what exactly makes a character risefrom hero to myth? Some would say strength others spirit. Actually they are both right; the mythicalfigures are mostly strong men, yet the possession of outstanding physical power never made anyonea myth. Only when the hero stands up for a cause, when he uses his powers to make a differencecan he become an archetypal mythical hero. People needed someone through whom they could seethat the value system they believe in works. Historical models were laid down by the religion andeach era expanded upon these, if there was need to. Religion and mythology always went hand inhand, since through myths heroes were trying to live up to the legacy set by the religion. Throughtheir success people could relate more to their religion and could have faith that the value systemworks and it is worth living by it. All these heroes are defined by their era. The reason whySuperman has grown so popular lies in the character’s built up, namely in representing the eternalvalues through which he has become the hero that all ages could relate to and aspire to be. In thispaper I will look at the origin of the Man of Steel and through approaching the character fromdifferent aspects from, how subsequent generation extended the whole notion of who Superman is, Iwill show why he can be seen today not only as a comic book hero or a popular culturalphenomenon but a symbol of America, and to go even further the founding myth of America as wellas the fulfillment of the American Dream itself.In the first chapter the mythological and psychological background of the comic heroSuperman will be addressed. Myths are found in various cultures and are, at first sight, culturespecific.However, once compared, they reveal a number of common points. Like the charactersthey use, the way the stories are told and even their structure. Superman as a modern mythologicalcharacter shows these exact same patterns. The chapter will look at the psychological base of mythformation and fill the gap between the mythological hero and the superhero. The superhero'sappearance marks a stage where the traditional heroes could not provide the kind of moral supportthat was needed. The chapter will also deal with the medium that Superman appeared in, the comic4

ook. Every medium is defined more or less by the narrative techniques that it applies. Comics usea rather unique way of storytelling. They are not purely pictorial or literal for that matter, they are arather a hybrid of the two. It is important to note that the character appeared in other media as well,including various radio broadcast, televisions series, movies and even a Broadway piece. However,this paper has its focus only on the comic series as such.In the second chapter I will outline the historical context of Superman’s birth; the GreatDepression. Already in the 1920s there were signs of the upcoming catastrophe. Agriculture neverreally recovered from the 1890s depression. There was not enough market demand for Americangoods, which was only deepened by overproduction. Wages were constantly decreasing, only thestock market index was rising. Mob rule and gangster activity were common while the workingmen often had to stand in bread lines. The notion of justice was swinging out of balance and peoplewere in deep need of some spiritual and moral guidance. Previous hero images did not meetrenewed social circumstances. This is the context Superman was born into in 1938 and took on themantel of the national hero. The character had such a deep impact because it was suggested throughSuperman that this state is attainable by an average man as well.The third chapter will elaborate on the relationship and narrative solutions of assimilation.Superman has a double identity; Clark Kent, the mild-mannered reporter, and Superman, the Man ofSteel. Duality is the key concept in understanding and unfolding Superman. This chapter willapproach the issue through the creators of Superman: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. They were bothsons of Jewish immigrants and second generation Jewish-Americans. Assimilation was afundamental problem their generation faced. How true they can remain to their ancestral culture andhow they can also be Americans at the same time are questions that every minority group has to askin the wake of the relocation experience. Renationalization, the establishing of enclaves was oneanswer. Denationalization accepting and giving in to the Melting Pot was another solution but asSuperman’s analysis shows it was not the only one. Superman as a common national mythologywas representing an ideology that was able to fuse all these aspects together.The fourth chapter will show how the notion of the American Dream is represented in thestory of Superman. Ideology meets ideology and the chapter will explain how these two areintertwined. Superman was sent to Earth from the distant planet of Krypton then he was found andraised in rural Kansas. After finishing school in Smallville, Kansas he moved to Metropolis. Thestructuring and sequence are built upon the very core American success story saying that you canbecome a respected member of the society but you have to work hard for it; it does not matter fromwhere you are. Superman, as an immigrant is a deeply relatable character since most of the5

Americans feel they share immigration as a background experience. Through Superman one of theclearest fulfillings of the American Dream are shown. Via keeping two diverse ways of achievingthis notion in balance the American Dream is embedded in the life of the character.The appendices at the end of the paper illustrate the character from three points. In appendix1 a character profile of Superman is given. Appendix 2 shows the changes that were made to thesymbol of Superman, the S shield. Appendix 3 provides examples from the Superman comics.6

Chapter 1: Narrative and Myth: Conceptualizing an American SuperheroThe term mythology has a dual function; it is primarily used for the study of myths as a principlebut it also stands for the body of myths of a given culture (Kirk). The study of myths can be tracedback in history to the Presocratics, who saw myth as being based on historical events. This theorywas not well received by their contemporaries; Plato for example was very much against it (Segal).Mythology gained increased scholarly attention only in the 19 th century (Segal), yet these werestrongly biased theories. The turning point was brought about in the 20 th century, when mythologywas not seen as an “outdated counterpart to science” any more (Segal 67). Various theories haveemerged since, regarding the functions of what myths can fulfill and where their origins may lay.Three of these will be touched upon within the frames of this study. William Doty argues that mythsare essentially based on historical events. The quality of these events, whether positive or negative,was increased through the repeated storytelling and those who enacted them slowly assumed theroles of gods. This approach is called euhemerism, because of Euhemerus, a Presocraticmythologist, who had proposed the idea (Oxford Dictionary of World Religions). Another way oflooking at myths is through allegories. According to this theory the origins of myths can be tracedback to natural phenomena (Segal). Closely connected to allegories is the personification ofinanimate objects as a possible origin of myths (Bultfinch).None of the concepts, mentioned above, exclude each other. A myth can be just as muchallegorical as personified. It is assumable that these processes happened simultaneously. Somecultures may have preferred one form of myth creating over the other but this did not result in adifferent outcome. When comparative mythology as a field of study appeared it had the goal to finddifferences and similarities between the mythologies of the cultures whose myths we were able tocollect. A number of mythologies were compared with and interesting conclusion. Even though thefigures of these myths were different, they were essentially very similar in nature. Their differencewas the culture dependent part, meaning how the stories were built up, yet the inborn qualities ofthe characters appeared to have a universal value. The differences were in the how and not in thewhat. Concerning the process of myths creation, if myths are abstractions of their originalcounterpart, than what is left after the comparative analysis is an archetype.The 20 th century began with a turn toward the inside in the analysis of the humanpersonality along the approach advocated by the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud. According toFreud the psyche is constituted on three levels, the Id is the biological component of our personality,7

above it there is the Ego, the psychological component and on the highest level, the Superego, beingthe social component of our personality. The Swiss psychologist, Carl Jung continued to work onFreud's dream model but only as a starting point. They both shared the point that dreams hold manyanswers to the understanding of the individual psyche, but Jung was keen on finding out whetherdreams may also reflect collective ideas.Jung studied myths of different cultures extensively and believed that the driving forcebehind the constant presence of myths throughout the centuries is to be found in a collectivelyshared set of ideals, which are not culture specific but rather universal. Jung's theory goes asfollowing:My thesis then, is as follows: in addition to our immediate consciousness, which isof a thoroughly personal nature and which we believe to be the only empiricalpsyche (even if we tack on the personal unconscious as an appendix), there existsa second psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which isidentical in all individuals. This collective unconscious does not developindividually but is inherited. It consists of pre-existent forms, the archetypeswhich can only become conscious secondarily and which give definite form tocertain psychic content (43).The patterns which each individual has in his/her unconscious is the collective unconscious. ClaudeLévi-Straus argued that these patterns in the mind are particularly visible when dealing withopposites (e.g. good-bad, light-darkness). They essentially reflect unconscious feelings and urges.Jung called the unconscious psychological forces, that are innate in each human, archetypes. Thusthe consequence can be drawn that myths are the effort to bring the unconscious patterns intoculturally manifestable forms. The archetypal forms are traceable in myths without furtherdifficulties and are claimed not to have cultural dependence, hence the archetypal characteristics ofheroes are known rather inherently.Myths provide the context in which the unconscious mental patterns can be expressed andthe heroes of myths are the projectional surfaces that are provided by the medium. The reason whymythological heroes vary on such a scale is in connection with the differences in the mental patternsand the need of trying to get a hold of them. By the circulation of myths, in the masses, the ideasexpressed are constantly reproduced and recreated generation after generation.Superman as a superhero stands at the meeting point of various ideologies. TheEncyclopedia of American Studies proposes the following definition for superheroes:The superhero has most often been labeled a cultural descendant of the classicalepic hero—the twentieth century's answer to Hercules, Robin Hood, and KingArthur. In simplest terms the superhero is a larger-than-life figure that fights againstthe forces of evil. As described by Robert Jewett and John Shelton Lawrence in8

The American Monomyth, he (or she) is distinguished by disguised origins, puremotivations, a redemptive task, and extraordinary powers. He originates outside thecommunity he is called to save, and in those exceptional instances when he isresident therein, the superhero plays the role of the idealistic loner. His identity issecret, either by virtue of his unknown origins or his alter ego, his motivation aselfless zeal for justice.If the superhero is indeed the “descendant of the classical epic hero” the making of myths has neverreally come to an end point. Rather with the appearance of new media new ways were found toexpress them. During this formal change the content remained but adding multiple identities to onehero opened up a whole new cultural frontier. Ordinary and extraordinary were fused in onecharacter. Yet without causing confusion in the reader it even enhanced the overall experience. Thesuperhero continued the tradition of the mythological heroes, meaning that he still felt like hestepped out of the collective unconscious, but it was not merely a projection, rather the ordinary, theeveryday part of the character took this role upon itself. One could project their own personality onthe ordinary half believing that they have the ability to grow beyond their ordinariness and can giverise to the “super” contained within. Superman was the character that pioneered this specificpsychological process.The narrative dimension in the case of Superman is the comic book. The comic book applies arather unique way a storytelling, one that is both differentiable from the other media yet tillrepresents a fusion. To think of the comic books and comic strips as a 20 th century phenomenon isonly partially true, only the format can be truly considered contemporary. The storytelling which itapplies, has deep historical roots.It is possible to view narrative from several perspectives.Ryan proposes five approaches todefine what a narrative is: the existential, the cognitive, the aesthetic, the sociological and thetechnical approach (2). The cognitive approach is interested in identifying the operations of themind that enables us the constructing of narratives. The instrumental approach views narratives asthe most important tool of manifesting our thoughts. The aesthetic one deals with the textsthemselves as a whole whereas the technical approach analyzes the narratives through itscomponents separately. These do not exclude each other, quite the contrary, together they canprovide a much more comprehensive picture. The one that provides a very core explanation of hownarratives work and, hence the one that will receive the most emphasis in this study, is theexistential type. Which: “tells us that the act of narrating enables humans to deal with time, destinyand mortality; to create and project identities; and to situate themselves as embodied individuals ina world populated by similarly embodied subjects” (Ryan 2). It follows that man has been, since thebeginning of history, trying to make sense of the world around him. Telling stories and preserving9

them served as a backbone for forming communities, no matter of what size. The members wereprovided with different identities with which they could place themselves within a community.Stories are easily associated with writing. Oral tradition, by definition, did not requireliteracy but was still to a large extent textual. Narratives are basically codes themselves in form oftexts. Encoded they result in a mental image, a cognitive construct, put together by the interpreter(Ryan). Where the textual dimension cannot work the cognitive dimension has to take over. Hencewhat was needed was a 'silent' form of narrating. Pictorial art has been given this role, whichenjoyed popularity throughout history.Every medium that in one way or other tells a story is defined by the narrative device that ituses. There have been numerous attempts to pin down the narrative of comics. Mostly it is seen aspictorial art purely; not accounting for the literal dimension that is also contained within themedium. Robert Hervey proposes that comics posses a “narrative told by a sequence of pictures”.Greg Hayman and John Pratt see comics as “juxtaposed pictures that comprise a narrative”. ScottMcCloud views the medium as consisting of “images in deliberate sequence”. This sequence ofpictures is the major organizing force and hence what provides the narrative structure of the comics.However, it is also important to remember that pictures are only half of the narrative that the comicsapply, there is the literal dimension as well. Pratt argues that comics are a hybrid art form,incorporating both the literal and pictorial dimension to successfully construct a narrative structure.The question is how they cooperate. Pratt continues that comics are “essentially pictorial”, but thisis only in certain cases true. Neither the literal or the pictorial dimension would make sense withoutthe other. Comics use a distinctive form of narration that is unique to the medium. Unique in thesense that it addresses more senses not only the visual.Like in the textual media it is often more important in terms of narration what is left out asopposed to what is included. Filling the gaps between the pictures is essentially the same as readingwithin the lines in a textual narrative. McCloud argues that “by de-emphasizing the appearance ofthe physical world in the favor of the idea of form, the cartoon places itself in the world ofconcepts” […] “and since viewer-identification is a specialty of cartooning, cartoons havehistorically held an advantage of breaking into world popular culture” (41-42). His conclusion isthat this way the message itself is getting the focus from the reader and not the message carrier.Basically the audience is presented with a world in which the projection of the self is not justpossible but a subconscious part of the narration process. This world is presented both on the textualand visual level and the reader puts the bits and pieces together to arrive at his/her own cognitiveconstruct. In my point of view McCloud’s account is the one that defines the comics as being10

constructed along the cognitive dimension and is the one that this paper will use as amethodological background.That comic books are associated with American culture is not a coincidence. However, itwould be a mistake to assume that they are only to be found there, but in the frames of this paperthe focus will solely be on one of the American comics, Superman. Since comic books and comicstrips are by definition popular cultural media a large number of people have access to them.11

Chapter 2: Good Fights Evil: The Mythic Hero of the DepressionAmerica in 1929 was a prosperous country. People were optimistic, enjoyed their lives and thoughtthat nothing could change this. This is the typical image of the Roaring Twenties we usually share.Nevertheless the vast majority of the people lived in poverty, already before the crisis. There werequite a few signs of the upcoming crisis. The reasons were plenty, but the most important were:economic weakness, under consumption and thus unequal distribution of wealth, this wealthconcentrated in the hands of large corporations. The previous crisis, in the 1890s, that had affectedmostly the agriculture was not over fully without leaving the economy severely damaged.Overproduction raised problems as well. Still for many the Twenties ended in a shock which wasmainly due to the government’s attitude towards the crisis. On October 29, also known as BlackTuesday, the stock market crashed and brought America to her knees which later resonatedthroughout the whole world. The crisis escalated due to the already existing international economictroubles and the failure of federal policies.The crash further worsened by the devastating depression that it unleashed. “Overall, theeconomic catastrophe aggravated old tensions: labor versus capital, white versus black, male versusfemale” (Norton, Katzman, Escott, Chudacoff, Paterson, and Tuttle 722). Unemployment rateskyrocketed, and only the wealthy remained unaffected by the crash. People sought help from thegovernment. Even though President Herbert Hoover used the state apparatus more than any otherpresident before him, he did not go beyond a certain line. He believed so much in one of the keyAmerican values – liberty - that the people felt he had failed them. However, no social unrest wasunleashed during the crisis. People “did not turn to violent revolt or political extremism. Theirrootedness in the past – their traditionalism – would not allow them” (Norton et al. 710). But thepublic definitely reacted; President Hoover did not get reelected in 1932. The Democratic candidateFranklin Delano Roosevelt became the new president and his New Deal was able to keep the crisisat least between certain limits (Norton et al).The Depression Era brought about another important change, which was how Americansunderstood themselves as a community. “One symptom of the new self-censure lay in the fall of thetraditional heroes” (Fox and Pope 595). The hero of the era up to the Great Depression was thesuccessful businessman. Yet, where millions became unemployed this image could no longer be ofhelp. To worsen the situation this was also the “Golden Age of Bank Robbery”. Gangsters likeJohnny Dillinger, Bonnie and Clyde, Al Capone and “Baby-Face” Nelson challenged the very12

concept of justice. As the unemployed were standing in bread lines the criminals were robbingbanks and making money. Some of them, for example Johnny Dillinger, became folk heroes, eventhough the latter was leading list of public enemies. At some point it seemed as if it was more worthbeing one of the bad guys, indicating moral crisis.Even though FDR’s New Deal tried to stop the Great Depression this could only be a partialresolution to the problems of the age. People needed something to give them hope, to make themforget this crisis, if only for a limited period of time. Movies were such an escape. “Although a thirdof the nation’s movie theaters shut down in the early years of the depression, millions of Americansstill paid to see Hollywood’s latest offerings” (Norton et. al. 720). All the classic gangster moviessuch as Little Caesar, The Public Enemy, The Petrified Forest, Angels with Dirty Faces, and TheRoaring Twenties were made in this era when these gangsters were active. Even though thesemovies might seem as homages to them, they in fact expressed the public’s outrage provoked bytheir crimes. Little Caesar had one of the bloodiest death scenes, which were to symbolize thepeople’s rage against these criminals and their hope that their time will soon be over. Being a villaininstead of a hero was more tempting because of the increasing rate of uncontrolled criminal actions.Society ended up admiring anti-heroes because of the lack of traditional hero images. Because ofthe urging need to balance the notion of justice, especially in this time of despair.Superman actually did not start out as a good guy at all when he was first imagined. JerrySiegel and Joe Shuster created in 1932 a mail-order periodical called Science Fiction (Appendix 2).These were short stories about the length of eight-ten pages. Inside there was a story called Reign ofthe Superman which was about a bold madman who tried to use his telepathic abilities to conquerthe world. The term ‘Superman’ was coined by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche some fiftyyears before the first publication of Superman. He mentions it as the “Übermensch” in his bookThus Spoke Zarathustra (Salter 421). This concept referred to an upper state of being which is in theNietzschean evolution attainable by ordinary man as well. This could have been an influentialideology on the creators of Superman, since a few months after publishing the story Jerry Siegelbegan to rethink the concept and shifted the character from evil to good. Also instead of telepathicabilities he would have physical strength.According to the original plot of the comic Superman was born as Kal-El on a distant planet,Krypton, which is described as very similar yet also different from Earth. His father, Jor-El, was aleading scientist on Krypton who discovered that the planet would soon explode. Together with hiswife Lara he started to prepare a spaceship to save as many people as possible, but it was too lateand they could only save their own infant son. With the planet exploding behind him baby Kal-El13

was launched towards Earth. Here he landed in rural Kansas where he was found by Jonathan andMartha Kent. Growing up in Smallville he realized that he had extraordinary powers, which he hadsworn to use it for truth, justice and the American way. He moved to Metropolis where he became anewspaper reporter, and developed his dual identity. The mild mannered Clark Kent was thedisguise; whenever help was needed Superman arrived.Superman’s publication life began in 1936. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, sons of Jewishimmigrants, had been trying to sell a comic strip they created to newspapers about a super-strongalien who fights injustice and stands up for the people. After two years National Periodicals, todayknown as DC, accepted their story and made Superman the lead character of the latest comic bookseries; Action Comics. From the moment Superman appeared in Action Comics in summer 1938(Appendix 2) it was a huge success (Look, Up). It is universally true for comics that the plots arebuilt up from real life happenings. This was the case for Superman as well and how they used itmade the public really react. “We are a nation that is new to this concept of urbanization and urbancrime and Superman was originally created as a social crusader” historian Mark Wade put it (Look,Up). Superman was different from the character that we know today. First of all he did not fly andhis strength was not as great as it later would become, neither did he have his heat- or x-ray vision.But what he lacked in powers he made up in attitude. The reason why Jerry Siegel and Joe Shusterequipped Superman with such an enormous strength is because there were so many problems thatwould have been impossible for only one man to face. As Eco points out “often the hero’s virtue ishumanized through his powers” (14), meaning that we equip our heroes with what we lack. In anindustrial society like America this virtue would definitely be strength. Plus with the problems thatpeople had to face everyday morality was added as well.There was another trend developing in the Depression Era storytelling, the rise of thecommon man. In stories like John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath where a family is doing their besttrying to escape the Depression, the virtues of common people were emphasized. This theme wasput to use by the creators of Superman as well. His alter ego Clark Kent is a character who appearsto us as modest, timid, near-sighted and not overly intelligent young man. This is what givesSuperman his biggest virtue, since the hero has to be believable and relatable at least to someextent. Superman alone was not enough for this; he needed to have an alter ego. Clark Kentrepresented the average American: he was working hard, having competition at work and a rigidboss. But he is only the disguise to the hero, which was to say that even though one might seem likean average person with ordinary strength all can be like Superman. “Through an obvious process ofself-identification, any accountant in any American city feeds the hope that one day, from the14

slough of his actual personality, a superman can spring forth” (Eco 15). This double narrative, beingpartly a detective story and a hero’s narrative is what made this character believable. With this thecreators were able to make Superman relatable and brought him down to the ground, within thereach of the common American person.Superman grew far greater than even his creators could have imagined. In 1939 Supermanmade the jump from comic book to newspaper comic strip, and soon millions of Americans werereading his adventures. Urbanization was still very much in progress, and the city was seen as adangerous place, which has not changed ever since. Superman faced the fears of the time, foughtenemies and won, he always stood his ground. Both fighting the fears of the nation within andoutside the borders. It was crucial to have such a character to appear during the Great Depression.America needed a unifying mythology of her own, regardless of race and religion. Supermanestablished the concept that even though one may be less strong physically or mentally, this doesnot matter because deep inside all can be supermen. “Winning is key to the American psyche” (Faul9) and it is coded in the nation as a whole. Though Superman is a fictional character he was able togive the people more hope than any real person could at the time of the Depression and long after.15

Chapter 3: Lost in the Crowd, a Hero in DisguiseSuperman is a character with a double identity who embodies all that is good in the world anddefends it. That he is both Clark Kent and Superman, urban and rural, conformist and nonconformisthas deep roots that made this character rise from a superhero to the superhero. Tounderstand why he ended up being the most virtuous being it is important to examine thebackground of the creators of Superman – Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster, who were both sons ofJewish immigrants and had first hand experience in having an ethnic background. Ethnicity is a keyconcept here in understanding both the origin and the success of Superman. Ethnicity is used torefer to a group a people who by having the same language, religion, heritage or a shared culture areable to identify with each other (Seidner). America is famous for having a large number of ethnicgroups living within its borders and Jewish Americans have been in North America since earlycolonial times.They were among the first groups of people to arrive in the New World and with no lessreason but to escape living as minorities (Gleason). This universally applied to all the Jewishcommunities, no matter where they were living. The immigration came in waves which weregaining size and mass more the closer they were to the pre-Depression years. The sooner theyarrived the better chances they had in succeeding. Having immigrated from different countries alsomeant that there were significant differences between them in a number of ways. “Language wasone index of this diversity” (Goren 571), these of course led to differences between these groups.Those who arrived before the mass immigration waves established themselves and were also able togain public respect; like the German Jews. They have been known to be skilled lawyers and werealso holding a few well known newspapers (Gleason).The eastern European Jews were arriving in large numbers, without any proper educationand with very little or no material possession whatsoever. They did not have any real likelihood toestablish themselves as the German Jews have done it before them. Most of the eastern EuropeanJews were heavily concentrated in the Lower East Side of Manhattan “which contained the largestnumber of Jews ever assembled in one place” (Sowell 80). In such heavily populated ghettos onehad a very limited number of possibilities, which were mostly only manual jobs. This situation wastypical for the first generation of American Jews in the Lower East Side. However, the secondgeneration had more opportunities and was also able to break out of the unskilled worker’s classand enter the white collar professions. Nevertheless, the means of this breakout varied on large16

scale.The Jewish immigrants were but only one of the many different groups to arrive and settle inAmerica. This cultural divergence was even more visible in the larger cities, especially on the eastand west coast. Each immigrant group had its own neighborhood. Differences in origin, languageand religion divided them but they all had one factor in common. They had to face the choice of“renationalization or denationalization” (Gleason 15). This meant basically that they either shouldwork on developing a nation of their own in America or should become Americanized and by doingso organize their lives according to the American values. It is obvious that even if these migrantgroups wanted to obey this need, which they did not, it would have been impossible to establishenclaves within America. Most of them were trying to remain true to their original culture but thesecond generation was more oriented toward becoming assimilated into the mainstream culture. Theties with the parent culture remained as well so a dual cultural identity was established.Immigrants who came to America have been exposed to a culture different that they wereused to in their homelands. Getting acquainted with this new culture required time. Through theiradaptation period they often retreated into ethnic enclaves, a little piece of the mother country. Thesecond generation was both same and different to their parents. “The younger generation wasEnglish-speaking (often bilingual) and so was less tied to the lower east side by Old World languageand culture” (Sowell 89). This is where we can see the cultural dualism unfolding. As children eachgroup’s members were exposed to the culture surrounding them. In most cases this was only oneculture, like in the case of the recent European immigrant Jewish community this was the Jewishculture in the lower east side of Manhattan. This became the inspiration for the city calledMetropolis, appearing later in Superman’s life. Yet when the second and later generations weregrowing up they needed to find a way out of these heavily populated areas which meant acceptingwork opportunities often in the other half of the country.Jerry Siegel the writer half of the Superman creating duo was the son of a Lithuanian-Jewishimmigrant (Look, Up). His father was a manual worker who encouraged his son’s intellectualdevelopment. Joe Schuster lived among similarly poor conditions as his later to be Superman coinventorand the one to present their ideas on the visual level. Both were second generation JewishAmericans. They both visited the Glenville High School in Cleveland, Ohio, which is where theymet in 1931. They shared the same interest, such as adventure stories, science fiction, pulpmagazines and comic strips (Look, Up). They were working on the school newspaper together, withJerry as writer and Joe as the illustrator. The road they went along eventually ended with theirgroundbreaking ‘Superman’ project.17

The journey Superman made represents what the parents of the creators and of course anyimmigrant went through, which is of crucial importance to Superman’s later progress. Superman isthe last survivor of the planet Krypton. His father launched him in a spaceship to Earth where thebaby Kal-El (Superman’s original Kryptonian name) would have a real chance to survive. Hearrived in Kansas, which in the central of the United States and by this symbolic act it is shown thatthe idea of the American exceptionalism is one of the key notions in Superman’s life, drawing fromthe consciousness of his creators. It is here, in Smallville, Kansas, where he is raised by Martha andJonathan Kent, a farmer couple. Here Clark Kent (the name which was given to him by his earthlyparents) experiences his multilevel origin. He gets to know the core rural-small town Americanvalues. Growing up in the small town of Smallville he also began to recognize that he is differentfrom the other people around him. He has powers that allow him to achieve higher goals. This iswhere the crucial turning point lies in the evolution of any super powered character or anyone whodiscovered that there is a power difference between him and the rest of the society. The question isplainly set how to go on from here. Clark Kent became Superman because of how he was raised,because of the American values.Clark Kent began working on his double identity already in Smallville but concluded it inthe city of Metropolis. The process of leaving the rural home to seek possibilities in the urbanjungle of Metropolis is also embedded in the era’s culture and history in a number of ways. First,this is exactly the same process which most of the second generation immigrants went through.Second, the first decades of the 20 th century were also the time of the urbanization. Third, this wasthe era which witnessed in literature the rise of the common man. All these factors were fusedtogether in the double identity which is Superman and Clark Kent. When we unite these we can seea character who is balanced by oppositions. This balance is held up by the two very differentidentities that are working together; but one is only a mask, a cover. Superman is the original andClark Kent is the costume, yet one that is needed for Superman to be relatable. A modern age mythwas created.The Kryptonian self was denationalized in Superman but as the character progressed he feltthe need to learn more about his origin. But this did not mean that Superman wanted to ‘kryptonize’America so to say. Superman established a place called Fortress of Solitude on the South Polewhere he could research his Kryptonian origin (Look Up). It was meant to be a reminder to all theAmericanized minorities in regards to where they come from. There is a need for them to knowtheir heritage. This again could by applied not only for the second generation Jewish Americans likethe creators of Superman themselves were but to all the minorities in a similar situation. Even18

though this is only a small detail it adds an interesting new shade to all that what Superman issupposed to embody when we see it through the minorities. Yet it could also suggest that there wasno place to apply their culture in the American mainstream. It suggests that there is no need to gettoo Americanized. However, America has always been a multi-ethnic culture that is constantlychanging and expanding and in this sense new layers can constantly be added. The melting pottheory is also applicable in the case of whom Superman embodies.The melting pot is a metaphor referring to the assimilation process the immigrants gothrough when arriving in America. Through adding and taking away cultural features the meltingpot is the process itself since immigrants ‘enter’ it and Americans are the ‘outcome’. In cultureswith a longer cultural past there are examples in the folk tales and mythology about what makes thatparticular nation the one it is and where the differences lie between them and others whencompared. The melting pot was to establish the so called proto-American. This common mythologyacts as a binding element. Comparing this with the definition of the melting pot that Gleason gaveseeing it as “a symbol for the process whereby immigrants are absorbed into American society andsomehow changed into Americans” (3) this becomes a unifying process but it is such in variousways. It is not detailed what counts as American so each group can add their values as their sumcould end up as the common mythology that has been missing since Americanization is a processwhich happens as an interaction between the people. “’The real American’- the fusion of all races,the coming superman – had not yet made this appearance” (Gleason 6). Superman is in many waysthe ultimate immigrant. The character of Superman with its duality and multiple layers is what wecould call a solution to the melting pot symbol. Superman represents the values of both rural andurban communities and both that of an immigrants and mainstream Americans. He can be related toregardless to religion, race or even gender. He sums up what it means to be present at all theselevels while giving his best and holding his ground. Thus, he may become the person that couldchallenge the necessity of assimilation, the common national mythological figure.19

Chapter 4: Superman as the Embodiment of the American DreamSuperman embodying the American Dream is an ideology embodying an ideology. Ideologies canbe seen as received consciousness, meaning that behind an ideology the main purpose is to offerchange in society and adherence to a set of ideals where conformity already exists. Supermanbecame not simply a moral crusader but a guardian of the core values, as an agent of the status quoof the nation, keeping these at their place. Superman embodies America the problems he faces, thevillains he overcomes are the troubles the nation itself has to solve. The means of this is havingthese mythological heroes go through various success stories. By doing so the value system isreinforced and the heroes are moved to a new level, they become idols. Heroes of this type can befound in every culture. Because they represent the nation as a whole they are of key importance inunderstanding the build-up of the belief and value system and through it how the given cultureworks.The American Dream has been just as much of a cultural icon of America as Supermanhimself. There is no standardized definition of what the American Dream really is. Thus, it shouldbe understood more as a frame of reference than a concrete definition. One can approach it fromdifferent ways, since it was brought up on a number of occasions, yet the only true differences lie inthe given epoch’s way of achieving it. The original concept was that of the New World; a landwhere people can go and live their lives free from religious wars, free from feudalism and free fromcorruption. People were given the chance for the first time to start new. America was seen as theNew Jerusalem, the land where the all-embracing idea of equality was a core concept of the dreamfrom the very beginning. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are, to this very day, the mostsolid part of the American Dream.The frontier spirit, the opportunity to explore the unknown was an important pillar in theAmerican mythology. According to Frederick Jackson Turner, the Frontier closed down already in1890. This realization lead to a public depression from which only the finding of new frontierscould provide a way out. Turner also stressed that the Frontier is to be seen as a process, if onefrontier is closed, new ones need to be found. Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster have opened up a wholenew cultural dimension with adding Superman, the first superhero to this notion of the unexplored.There is a psychic need for heroes and everyone has their own ones and sometimes they can even bemoved up to national level. Superman turned out to be the character he is today because the peoplewere given the chance to explore what a hero means for them. Year after year features were added20

y the writers that made Superman the hero of the people.Already a year after his first appearance in Action Comics Superman became a symbol ofhope (Appendix 2). As the Second World War started Americans questioned whether to get involvedin the unfolding war in Europe. On December 7, 1941 America entered the war and DC wanted tofind a way to support the allies with Superman (Appendix 2). The character was involved innumerous advertisements supporting the war cause and reminding people on the sacrifices thesoldiers were making overseas. DC thought that it would be disrespectful to have a comic bookcharacter in costume fly in and fix all the problems of the war in a matter of minutes. So the storiesnever touched upon the war itself, he had to stay in America, only the covers showed some of theaction Superman would have been done if serving in the war (Look, Up). WWII was aninternational conflict which would not have solutions through national mythological figures. As thesoldiers came home from the battlefields and America finally entered a more peaceful age theSuperman stories were taking new directions as well. As Superman was gaining more and morestrength in his evolution the perception of the character changed as well. His originally roughmethods were softened and his character was becoming more similar to the character that is knowntoday as Superman. At the beginning of the decade he was viewed as a social crusader but at the endof the 1940s America’s favorite superhero was the embodiment of social order and an Americanicon. He became the ‘big blue boyscout’.The 1950s was a politically paranoid era in the history of United States. The fear of nuclearannihilation was also represented in the comics with the introduction of a mad scientist already asearly as the 1940s (Appendix 2). This madman, called Luthor, was the arch nemesis of Superman inthe feature film Atom Man vs. Superman. A few years later this character was already known as LexLuthor, Superman’s number one arch enemy. The mad scientist, using technology to bringSuperman to his knees was a fitting boogeyman for this paranoid decade. Segregation was aneveryday phenomenon in the middle of the twentieth century. In the 1951 feature film Supermanand the Mole-Men audiences witnessed a story where mole like creatures appeared in a small townand because of their appearance people wanted to kill them, but Superman stepped in and saved thecreatures. Audiences were given an important lesson in tolerance for which there was an urgingneed. It was important that he did no use brute force to solve this conflict but a principle, which wasequality. This idea went back to the very founding of the nation itself and was defended andreinforced by the idea of common mythology. At this point it was starting to take shape what thecharacter of Superman really represented for the American people. He did not represent whitepeople or black people, nor men or women only. He represented everyone; he became a common21

national hero who the people could aspire to be. These represent features are a typical characteristicof mythical heroes.The optimism with which America went from the end of the 1950s was soon to be crushedby the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The 1960s was a decade when most aspects oflife became grounds for deep changes. Political protests became an everyday phenomenon. Americaentering the Vietnam War set the nation on fire; there were protests against it all over the country.The hippy movement escalated and the whole system of the United States Government wasquestioned. The desegregation movements were also becoming more drastic. Martin Luther Kingwas not the only leader of the movement that demanded black equality but there was also MalcolmX who did not believe in the peaceful solution to the problems at hand. Superman as the agent ofthe status quo was losing on relevance, since how could the hero of keeping all affairs in a constantstate represent a nation which is changing. Superman now seemed irrelevant and inappropriate. Themost important question was how to make Superman relatable.By the 1970s Superman stories have gotten more serious since the readers have also grownwith the comics. The first generation reading Superman were now in their mid forties and still beingfans insisted for their hero to have more serious problems (Look, Up). The Man of Steel onlyregained relevance in the 1970s when throughout America a newly awakened interest in spiritualitywas felt. The political radicalism of the 1960s started to settle down and people were searching forsomething to believe in. Religion became an issue once again. Superman was now for many not justa comic book superhero but a secular messiah (Appendix 2). His life is filled with religious symbolsthat can be found in the Bible as well, like being the savior who descends from the sky, leading thepeople and lending a helping hand even to his enemies echo the Judeo-Christian tradition.. Theseare features that can be found in the teachings of many religions, and Superman having these showsa unifying intention. However, he was never meant to been seen as a substitute for religion, he wasa substitute of mythological heroes and as the character developed he became the commonAmerican myth.By the late 1980s the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union seemed to be comingto an end. With America entering a new age the changes were reflected in Superman as well. JohnByre's 1986 Man of Steel miniseries rebooted Superman and made the character appropriate for thenew age. This is not the first reboot the Superman series has seen in its runtime, there is a tendencyto do so roughly every ten years, however, Byre's version combined the major elements ofSuperman stories past and, where needed, updated them. The tendency was followed by othersuperhero comics, having the characters change from a two-dimensional personality to an actual22

personality.Yet the 1990s was filled with struggle to make the character more relevant for audiences.Superman seemed to be too perfect. “They demanded their heroes to have dimension, depth anddecidedly human problems” (Look, Up). Everyday questions became material for plots and theways of solving these were to attract new audiences (Appendix 2). The movements that started inthe 1970s had their new waves in these decades. These problems were brought in contact withSuperman via his supporting cast. Gaining social relevance was not boosting Superman’s popularityas D.C. comics hoped it would. In Superman #75 they made a striking decision by havingSuperman die in a fight to protect Metropolis from a monstrous being called Doomsday (Appendix2). “The world really reacted; the real world acted the way the characters acted in the story. Theywere shocked and sad, and worried what the world would be like without Superman” – as MikeCarlin, senior group editor of D.C. Comics, described the upset that the death of Superman caused(Look, Up). What seemed to be only a comic book plot had the devastating affect of shocking thepeople with the death of their own national myth. The fall of Superman also indicated that thevalues he embodied just as well died with him. The eventual resurrection of the Man of Steelbrought balance to this troubled situation and supported the value system in a fresh new way.The 21 st century brought about a revival of the Superman myth. After the terrorist attack onthe World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 the powerful nation was brought to her knees. Theconcept of what a hero traditionally stood for was in a matter of days strikingly redefined. Americaneeded something to comfort her in a time like this. People wanted to have heroes in their lives.They needed to have someone to reassure them that a better future is ahead us and that we will getthrough these conflicts. After 9/11 America needed a hero more than ever before. Unlike othercomic book heroes Superman remained the embodiment of what is good and right, the representorof moral certainty, since the early 1940s. It is not the costume that made Superman the character toturn to, it was the morals and the virtues he represented. The real strength of Superman is so not hisphysical power but what he represents; that a hero lies in all of us.Superman's story is a hero narrative, more precisely the story of a 20 th century Americanhero. As life narratives reflect possible lives that, are possible in one's culture, one way tocharacterize cultures is by the narrative models they make available for describing life. Through thebuilt up of the narrative of Superman it is suggested that everyone can be a superman, since ClarkKent (Superman's alter ego) represents the ordinary man who can turn into Superman wheneverthere is need to. According to Redman, “identities are fabricated by and in narratives” (1). BecauseSuperman's narrative is a success story, and its Bildungsromanesque built up suggests that it is open23

to masses he became on possible the embodiment of the American Dream.Superman is built on dualities and is keeping the balance between two key concepts whichwere seen as the means of achieving the American Dream. The first was conformism whichSuperman applied through the group spirit with becoming Americanized and achieving great deeds,being there for the people. The second lies in the concept of non-conformism because even thoughtSuperman is in a way part of the American society he is also outside of it, being the last of his kind.Despite the binaries of these opposing concepts they are balanced out in the actions of the Man ofSteel. Superman faced America’s fears for more then seventy years. He has been beaten downsometimes but always came back fighting and won. He is the immigrant who came from a greatdistance to America and achieved the greatest in human potential. Everyone in America except thenatives was in some way an immigrant and thus an alien. Superman became a hero that united allpeople, one that everyone could aspire to be. He is the ultimate embodiment of the American dream.24

ConclusionSince his debut in 1938 Superman has had many incarnations from comic book, to comic strip,animated and life action movies. The popularity of the character has been rising and decreasing butit never ceased to have value, since for more than seventy years the character has been present inthe popular culture mainstream. The notion of what it means to be a hero has always been strongenough to survive the changing times. Thus Superman established a two way relationship withculture. He was forged through and from the American culture and vice versa. Layers were addedwhich made Superman adapt more to the given period in history. During the Second World War hewas used for calling attention to war support and moral guidance for the Allied Forces. Supermanwas even seen as a religious figure, a secular messiah. Even though the story of Superman doeshave hints that can be interpreted in this way this was never what the character stood for, so it didno last. Various political problems were also dealt with in the comics, always having Superman asthe cultural icon of America facing the issues that plagued the nation. This did not only make thecomic more socially relevant but also deepened the notion that Superman is the cultural hero, thechampion of America. This was also a medium that, like all the others, was searching for solutionsfor the crisis at hand. Superman as the agent of the status quo had the task to provide solutions forthese problems, which of course were by no means easy to solve. Depending on how these werepresented to popularity of Superman developed accordingly.Superman’s built up established a life narrative that is based on not only the AmericanDream but the cultural assimilation process as well. Superman is a superhero that is at the meetingpoint of various ideologies, keeping them in balance. The medium, in which Superman firstappeared in, the comic book, was available to large masses from the start. The mythologicalimplications of the character were recognized and provided escapism. Soon Superman was not onlyseen as a moral crusader but a symbol of hope, an implication that he held to this very day.25

Works citedBlanchard, Mary W. Comic Strips and Consumer Culture, 1890-1945. by Ian Gordon. The Journalof American History, Vol. 86, No. 3, The Nation and Beyond: Transnational Perspectives onUnited States History: A Special Issue (Dec., 1999), pp. 1365-1366Bulfinch, Thomas. Bultfinch's Mythology. Whitefish: Kessinger 2004.Burn, Kevin, dir. Look, Up in the Sky! The Amazing Story of Superman. Perf. Bad Hat HarryProductions. Warner Brother Studios 2006. DVDC. G. Jung, The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious (London 1996) p. 43Doty, William. Myth: A Handbook. Westport: Greenwood, 2004.Eco, Umberto and Natalie Chilton. "The Myth of Superman" Diacritics, Vol. 2, No. 1 (Spring,1972), pp. 14-22Encyclopedia of American Studies, ed. Miles Orvell (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,2009), s.v. "Comic Strips and Comic Books" (by M. Thomas Inge), http://easref.press.jhu.edu/view?aid=144(accessed October 2, 2009).Faul, Stephanie. The Xenophobe’s Guide to the Americans. London, Oval 1999Fox, Frank W., Pope, Clayne L. American Heritage, an Interdisciplinary Approach. Sixth Edition.Dubuque, Kendall / Hunt Publishing Company 1983Gleason Philip. Speaking of Diversity Language and Ethnicity in Twentieth- Century America. JohnHopkins UP. 1992Goren, Arthur A. “Jews”. Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Ed: StephanThernstrom. Cambridge, MA.: Harvard UP, 1994.Harvey, Robert C. “The Aesthetics of the Comic Strip”, Journal of Popular Culture 12 (1979), pp.641-652Hayman, Greg and Henry John Pratt, “What Are Comics?” in Aesthetics, ed. David Goldblatt andLee B. Brown (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall,2005), pp. 419–424, at p.423.Kirk, G.S. Myth: Its Meaning and Functions in Ancient and Other Cultures. Berkeley: CambridgeUniversity Press, 1973.26

McCloud, Scott. Undestranding Comics. Northampton,MA: Kitchen Sink Press, 1993Norton, Mary Beth; Katzman, David M.; Escott, Paul D.; Chudacoff, Howard P.; Paterson ThomasG.; Tuttle, William M.. A People and a Nation, a History of the United States. Second ed.Boston, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1986.Pratt, John. Narrative in Comics. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Vol. 67 Issue 1. pp107–117, Winter 2009Ratliff, Julie M. “Superheroes”. Encyclopedia of American Studies. Ed. Miles Orvell. Balltimore:Johns Hopkins UP, 2009. Web. 2 Oct. 2009.Redman, Peter (2005). The Narrative formation of identity revisited: narrative construction, agencyand the unconscious. Narrative Inquiry, 15(1), pp. 25–44.Ryan, Marie-Laure: Narrative across Media: The Languages of Storytelling. University of NebraskaPress, 2004.Salter, M. William. Nietzsche's Superman. The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and ScientificMethods, Vol. 12, No. 16 (Aug. 5, 1915), pp. 421-438Segal, Robert. Myth: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.Seidner, Stanley S. Ethnicity, Language, and Power from a Psycholinguistic Perspective. Bruxelles:Centre de recherche sur le pluralinguisme,1982.Sowell, Thomas. Ethnic America : A history. Basic Books, New York 1981The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. Ed. John Bowker. Oxford University Press,2000. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. UC - Berkeley Library. 20 March2009 .27

Appendix 1Superman: Character ProfileClark Kent: alter ego of Superman, his earthly nameDaily Planet: the newspaper where Clark Kent work as a reporterJonathan and Martha Kent: Superman’s earthly parentsJor-El, Lara-El: Superman’s biological parentsKal-El: Superman’s original, Kryptonian nameKrypton: Superman’s birth planetLex Luthor: Superman’s arch nemesisLois Lane: Superman’s co-worker and later to be wifeMetropolis: the large city where Superman began his life as Clark KentSmallville: the small town in Kansas where Superman was raised28

Appendix 2The Superman logo29

Appendix 3Superman in the comics30

Picture SourcesI. The Superman LogoSuperman logo: http://www.curtoons.com/images/SUPERMANlogo.jpgSuperman logos from 1938-1970: http://www.logoorange.com/logodesign-S.phpChristopher Reeve Superman movies logo: http://www.myspace.com/ptcruiser49ersupermanSuperboy TV series logo: http://gilemovie.blogspot.com/2010/10/superboy-1998-complete-firstseason.htmlLois and Clark TV series logo: http://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/lois-andclark/LoisAndClark-dvd1-tb.htmlSuperman animated series logo: http://www.supermanhomepage.com/tv/tv.php?topic=reviews/stasdvd01Superman Returns logo: http://www.seeklogo.com/tag.html?q=SupermanII. Superman in the ComicsSuperman comic strip: http://www.thespeedingbullet.com/atomic.htmlReign of the Superman http://z.about.com/d/collectibles/1/0/M/Q/3/752010870o.jpgSuperman #1: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/superman#i1Action Comics #1: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/action-comics#i1Superman in WWII: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/action-comics/2#i58 &http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/action-comics/2#i591940s Superman: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/superman#i141950s Superman: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/superman/2#i741960s Superman: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/action-comics/8#i3751970s Superman: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/action-comics/13#i6061980s Superman: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/man-of-steel#i11990s Superman: http://www.mostinspired.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/tut-comic/Deathof-Superman.jpgSuperman of nowadays: http://www.coverbrowser.com/covers/superman-1987/5#i20433