TRANSCRIPT
On June 14 2013, Zack Snyder's "Man of Steel" opens in theaters in the U.S. On June 14 1938, Cleveland-born writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster (Canadian-born, Cleveland-based) saw their fictional character take the world by surprise in National Allied Publication's Action Comics #1.
Originally envisioned as a bald villain with telepathic powers that embodied Nietzsche Ubermensch in the worst way possible, the new version of the character was a post-Depression social avenger that symbolized the meek and fairs' inner strength and had an unparalleled outward sense of Justice. "Superman" was a perfect mixture of Biblical symbolism, classic mythology, the best of old-school Americana and the aforementioned German Philosopher's own Super-Man.
The character exploded into the scene. His origin from worlds far from our very solar system, in combination with his need to stand for the oppressed, the duality of his identity that in itself stood for humanity's limitations juxtaposed to its potential and a colorful cast of characters made him the most prominent figure in a then-rising medium and what we would come to call "modern mythology".
Where Superman stands out opposite to all other super-heroes is that he always adjusted to what the zeitgeist dictated he needed to be, both the good and the bad.
In the '30s, he was the vigilante that post-depression America needed. He fought against corrupt politicians and stood by the common folk.
In the '40s he was the beacon of freedom against the Nazi war machine and served as a strong propaganda icon for his country, in a time when young men sacrificed themselves in war-torn villages against a sick rhetoric, defending an ideal.
In the '50s, he himself became a political tool in the rising tensions of the Cold War era. He saw the Comics Code of Authority enforced upon him and he shaped its restrictions to something to aspire to.
In the '60s, he saw man land on the moon and he dove into space and other fantastical worlds of epic science-fiction. He became a leader for both mankind and its heroes. As an alien he found worlds like his own and as a human he spread Earth's best ideals into galaxies unknown.
In the '70s, he witnessed war on the establishment, the fight against racism and sexism and the need for social change and he started asking the big questions about his own place in society. He wondered what effect his presence has on humanity and realized his responsibility as a god among men.
In the '80s, he stepped down from his throne on Olympus and became one of us. He saw the rise of the corrupted corporate world and the last days of the Cold War and he joined forces with the best of us to combat them and prove humanity's strength against evil.
In the '90s he became just one of the guys. In a prosperous time without a direction or common goal, when all audiences needed was arbitrary drama and plenty of angst, Superman just looked to remain true to his character while telling interesting stories. And while there had been tons of terrible ideas to make him more popular and many of these stand today as things to be avoided, the stories resulting from those terrible ideas were truly some of the best in '90s comic books storytelling.
As the 21st Century greeted mankind, Superman found himself in the midst of constant struggle for redefinition. The post-9/11 world required him to be the beacon of hope and freedom again. The oversaturation of super-heroes, required him to be human and relateable. The progress of technology and the desensitization to spectacle required him to be the pinnacle of fantasy and sci-fi. And he had to find a way to marry all of the above into one, with mixed success.
Nowadays Superman still attempts to listen to the zeitgeist, while keeping true to his roots. His popularity hasn't recovered in decades, but he has stood strong as a constant throughout the mythology of super-heroes. He fathered the ideals everyone should champion. He has stood for the little guy. He has stopped wars. He has fought Hitler. He has saved worlds far from our own. Mankind embraced him and returned the hospitality ten-fold. He has seen the beauty of our kind in a way we can't and time and again he has tried to share it with us, despite our constant displays of petulance.
He is the beginning and the end of modern mythology. Despite not being anyone's favorite anymore, despite people finding him too simple, too powerful, no cynical enough, he is necessary to the super-herodom, because without him, the entirety of the super-hero pantheon would have nobody to look up and to and compare themselves to, no standard to set.
His hero's journey is an inspirational one, his constant struggle to find out where he belongs is the single greatest parallel of the entire medium's position in entertainment and pop-culture (both back when it begun and now in its twilight), as well as super-heroes place in both pop-culture and literature. He wasn't just responsible for the birth of the genre, the genre can't survive without him and without the genre, pop-mythology will be all but extinct and our imagination and culture will be the poorer for it.
It's not that the ideals he embodies are original or removed from our very real world, but rather the exact opposite. He is the only character that has been so accepting in becoming the embodiment of everything mankind wishes it could be. This is a reality we need to see expressed in our escapism, to see what we are capable of. We're used to seeing our worst expressed in the guise of 'valid drama' while our best is usually expressed in a way so phony and neutered, it's less about potential and ideals and more about feeling good about ourselves. That's not what Superman is supposed to do. He is the Man of Tomorrow. He is who we can be, physically and intellectually and he represents our idealistic future, which we will not reach unless we put the effort.
An entire structure of entertainment, an entire piece of literature, they would collapse should this fictional hero disappear altogether from our collective consciousness. And that's something none of Superman's peers can claim for themselves.
So, happy 75th birthday Supes. Here's to a hell of a lot more than that.
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