iMurphy

    Why is Superman such a popular character in popular culture. I just listened to the free download from Amazon of Mudville’s “Hero of the World”, but I was also thinking of Crash Test Dummies’ “Superman’s Song” and the Superman monologue from Kill Bill 2. Bill is right about Superman, he is unique in the cosmion of superheroes, and modern revisions to his character only highlight our uncomfortableness with his uniqueness.

    We all want a hero. We want someone who is like us, but not like us. We want someone who is human, like us. We want someone who is touchable so that we can no that he is real. We want someone who is hurtable, because we hurt, and then we know that he is not just condescending. But we also want him not to buckle under the pressures of life and stress and years. Not only ought he to withstand external pressures, but internal as well. We want a hero who doesn’t lose to personal demons.

    Superman is half-way between what we want and what we actually need. His alien origin is offset against his completely human appearance. His is just one man but he can save the doomed airplane and the little girl stuck in a tree. He is vastly superior to us, yet comes down to live with us as one of us. He pretends to be Clark Kent and loves Lois Lane, a mere mortal. Because he’s American, he’s not about to overthrow the government, but instead fights to truth and justice. The clearly perceptible injustices of the world are righted by him without painting him a vigilante. But he can’t save us from ourselves.

    Jesus Christ has no comic books or action movies but is the true fulfillment of our Superman inclinations. He is God and so is alien to us, but he is human to a larger extent than we are. He shows us who we ought to be by having lived in the world but never yielding to it. He is vulnerable; Jesus wept. But he didn’t overthrow governments or evil geniuses or sadistic killers. Instead, he diagnosed our unadmittable condition and provided the unattainable solution. The eradication of external evils will not make the world a better place a long as any person has hatein his heart. We need Jesus, not Superman, because we are God’s enemy by nature.