Superman

Superman                             5033  (1073)

Sunday, July 16, 2006-12:45 P.M.

Pammie had work yesterday and I didn't, so I watched Harmony for most of the day.  That little girl is pretty amazing.  Mama Davis watched her while I took Pam's car into the shop, and I had a good 3-hour-plus wait, so I ambled on over to the theater and caught "Superman Returns."

I'm not going to bore you with my prognosis of the film, suffice to say that I describe it as the story of a guy who needs a blood transfusion, and the only person who has his same rare blood type is his long-lost brother, and he lives, and I go through a long dissertation of how they find the brother, but there's no surprise, because you know it's gonna be the brother.  And I take over two and half hours to tell you this.

What disturbed me about the film, though, is the centerpiece; an article written by Lois Lane after Superman's disappearance titled "Why The World Doesn't Need Superman."  It's an obvious grudge piece written by a dumped female after a "love 'em and leave 'em" soiree with the Man of Steel, and she supposedly wins a Pulitzer Prize for her efforts.

The mangling of the Superman mythology is contemptible, to say the least, and this article is the unkindest cut of all.

I am a comic book collector and fan, which means I've spent no small amount of my life studying this stuff.  I love the characters, and have for 30 years or more, and as an adult, the love has changed from childish hero worship to something different.  It may be hard to explain, but I'm going to make an effort if you'll allow me.

Superman was created back in the 30's, 1938 to be exact, just after the Great Depression, by a couple of Jewish kids, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.  Marvelous storytellers, the Jews, that they concocted a story that has survived almost 70 years and become the most repeated tale in the world.  Superman is Kal-El, son of Jor-El, a respected scientist on the planet Krypton, a world revolving around a red sun, with heavier gravity than ours on Earth.  After years of polluting their planet, forces at the world's core threatened the destruction and explosion of the planet Krypton, and Jor-El's warnings go unheaded by the mass populace.

Jor-El, realizing that his world and people are doomed, loads his infant son into a rocket ship and launches him into space.  Krypton explodes, the remnants of the world becoming Kryptonite, a radioactive substance that is the only thing Superman is powerless against.  The rocket ship lands in a Kansas cornfield, and Kal-El is found by a couple, Jonathan and Martha Kent.  They raise him as their own, and as the child grows, they learn that he has powers and abilities much different from any Earthman.

Being good midwestern folk, Jonathan and Martha instill Kal-El with good Christian values (they were probably Lutheran, based on surnames and where they lived), and explained that he needed to defend the weak, to look out for others who couldn't defend themselves.

Coming off the Depression, you can imagine that there were a lot of folks who felt like a guy like Superman would have been pretty handy, and the character's popularity soared.  During the Second World War, Superman suited up and fought the Nazis, more so than bank robbers or mad scientists, and he looked up from his four-color pages and implored folks to recycle, buy war bonds, and support the war effort.

Superman continues to exist, preaching a lesson by example of the virtues of doing good for the sake of it, looking out for the weak, the lesser abled, and standing as a bastion of truth, justice and the American way.

That Superman has been compared to Jesus, a savior, is no mistake.  The movie makes that parallel, and the topic has been discussed over and over.  The comparison of a father sending his only son to Earth to help is cut and dried, with no extension of supposition, and all the more interesting in light of his creators' Jewish background.

Superman spawned a pantheon of heroes, many of whom have graced the silver and small screen; Batman, Daredevil, Spiderman, Wonder Woman, The Hulk, The Fantastic Four, The Punisher and more.  Times always contain plenty of trouble, trouble enough that us "normal" human folk could use heroes to look up to, to inspire us, to give us hope.

The simple fact of the matter, is that they don't exist; I've always wondered why not, with the technology we have in place, a Batman or an Iron Man would be possible, if not probable.  But what we do have are heroes of a more garden variety.  Our policemen, firefighters, military personnel, doctors, scientists who toil to eliminate disease, teachers andchild care people, and the list goes on and on.

We also have a list of villains in the world, and while they aren't as flashy as The Joker, Green Goblin, Dr. Doom or Lex Luthor, they are just as dangerous and need to be taken down.  The list is sickening to consider, but must be exposed, must be talked about; evil can only flourish in the dark...it cannot stand the light.

How about this for starters?  Anyone who preys on children, sexual predators, child pornographers, manufacturers of unhealthy food marketed to children, companies that poison the air and water, companies that don't provide healthy work conditions for their workers, companies that price gouge for necessities of life like medicine or gasoline, companies that move jobs to foreign countries and put American workers on the welfare roles while paying those foreign nationals a starvation wage?   I'll raise you crooked politicians, crooked cops, and that guy from "Girls Gone Wild" who gets young drunk girls to act like whores, and anyone who works for him.  For good measure, I'll throw in anyone who lies for personal gain, companies who sell products that promise weight loss, hair growth or penile enlargement, products that usually come in capsule form, and prey on the hopes of our vanities.  I'll end my list (but the list doesn't end here) with warmongers, companies who profit from war and encourage it, people who fight rather than use diplomacy, hate based on religious or national tradition, and anyone who looks the other way when obvious injustices occur.  And people who exploit or neglect the aged.

I'd rather fight Captain Cold, Braniac, The Sandman and Kraven the Hunter single-handedly than stand by and let these pieces of human garbage continue to torment us and make our world a lesser place to live.

These villains sometime seem unapproachable, and one man who can't fly, deflect bullets and see through solid walls can feel that he has no hope in defeating them.  But all it takes for evil to flourish in the world is for good people to do nothing.

It's hard to take up an activist's turn at the wheel, with regular life to contend with.  We all have to pay bills, tend to our families, and in hard times, run as fast as we can to stay in the same place.  There isn't time to take up arms, and all we can do is pray that good will finally vanquish evil.  We vote our conscience, use our dollars to support businesses that do the right thing, recycle, and try to live lives of moral consequence.  That should be enough, if everyone were participating.

The trick is to shake off the hypnosis that we are powerless, that we weren't imbued by our Creator with great powers and that we can't make a difference.  Everyone is talented, in some area, and the use of that talent (or not) can make all the difference in the world.  We need to be inspired to use those talents, to take up arms in the face of reckless odds, to decide to make a difference and to be Supermen and Wonder Women, to fight evil and make a difference.

We need Superman, now more than ever.  And we need him to be us.  I am thankful that those heroes exist, to remind me and inspire me to be greater than I am.

How about you?

Ralph Tetta

Rochester, NY