How 21st Century Values Turned Superman into Something Less than Super

As America goes, so goes Superman.  Superman was the perfect master image for a culture desperate for one 50 years into the20^th Century.  Superman arrives on Earth after his home world of Krypton explodes. 

He is an extra – terrestrial that just happened to look like most people in America in the 1940’s and 50’s.  He is white and able to blend.

The 20^th Century Baby Boom following the second World War would come with the late 1940’s and 50’s.  America needed a Superman to represent the values of the modern era that is ending.  Marginalized blacks, women and others challenge the status quo.  

Traditional absolutes are fading fast.  Traditional power brokers rebel when called upon to open portals of access.

Superman was the stranger from another planet whose image could stand for traditional notions of truth, justice and the American Way.  Superman’s powerful symbol inspired little boys all over America to tie towels around their necks that would fly in the breeze as they ran.   

The 20^th Century Superman was indestructible physically, emotionally and morally. Rock fragments called Kryptonite from his home world were the only things that could harm him.  He could fly over skyscrapers in one jump.  He could run faster than trains.  Bullets from crooks’ guns bounced off the man of steel’s chest.

The 20^th Century ended with America and Superman in question.  Immigrants seek to live in the land of milk and honey observing America still a land of opportunity.  Some enter the borders with the benefit of appropriate documentation.  Others get in by any means necessary.  As America goes, so goes Superman.

21^st Century Values result from a plethora of diverse cultures, classes, and religions making up the population.  Power shifted in the past 60 plus years.   The New America and the New Superman acknowledge rules have changed. 

Power still comes out of the barrel of a gun.  There so many more guns in the hands of people who do not hesitate to use them. 

The contemporary Superman is not as super as he used to be.  Just like America, he does not seem so indestructible even when there is no Kryptonite or Lex Luthor.  The contemporary Superman kills with extreme prejudice.  21^st Century values have turned Superman into something less than super.  As America goes, so goes Superman.

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