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fromchaostocosmos:
intersex-ionality:
alarajrogers:
iamthedukeofurl:
Any analysis of Superman and Captain America should involve two main points.
1) They are every bit the caricature of honest goodness that they are said to be.
And
2) BEING a a caricature of honest goodness means not just fighting obvious villainy, but raging against institutional injustice, even when it comes from “Legitimate” sources.
There is a difference, however.
The Kent’s raised Clark with a strong moral compass, but also good sense. He’s very aware that, as Superman, anything he does comes with a tinge of Threat. He’s keenly aware that with the power he wields, the only way he can continue to operate is by appearing completely nonthreatening to the status quo. Unless he is preventing immediate, obvious harm, he has to be very careful with his intervention. He’ll see a city councilman skimming funds from schools, a factory illegally disposing of waste, or Cops inflating their quotas with bogus charges, and he’ll be outraged. But, Superman can’t do anything about those things. If he intervenes, people won’t see Superman protecting civilians from police abuse, they’ll see Superman Threatening A Cop. If Superman expresses any opinions besides the most milquetoast “Be Kind To One Another” stuff, it gets spun into “Scary Indestructible Alien Man Wants To Take Over The World”.
So, Superman takes all that rage, every injustice and abuse he sees, and those that he cannot solve as Superman, he gives to Clark Kent.
And behind the “Aw Shucks’ Kansas Farmboy affect, Clark Kent is RUTHLESS. He will pick apart your life and nail you sins the sky for all to see.
Like, everybody knows about Lois Lane, and she’s objectively the better journalist, but people always underestimate Clark. Those that remember anything about him usually think of him as harmless, the guy who comes to collect the statements your media people prepared, so you’re caught off-guard when the fangs come out. A Clark Kent interview goes like this:
First Question: Hello Police Chief Smith. So, how did you get involved in law enforcement?
Second Question: What are the key values that drive your police department?
Third Question: On September 14th, you called your officers together and told them to, and I quote “ Pull over every [racial slur] you can find out there. If they let you search, say you smell weed and bring them in. If they don’t, bring ‘em in for refusing to cooperate. Just get those [expletive deleted] in cuffs and paying fines, or else start looking for a new job”. Would you say this policy of deliberately targeting racial minorities is in line with the values you described earlier?”
And Clark Kent doesn’t stop after he gets his headline. It might end up on Page 3, but he’ll keep the story going until your career is torn to shreds and staked outside as a warning to others.
And then it’s back to human-interest stories and the feel-good beat until he selects his next target.
Superman is forced to overlook things, but he IS looking, and he won’t forget, and just because he’s not throwing you into the sun, doesn’t mean he intends to spare you.
Steve Rogers on the other hand will interrupt an interview to kick the shit out of a crooked real estate developer for driving people out of their homes. When arrested he’ll say “I’m sorry, how about we just chalk up the next time I save the world as community service”.
There’s a short story by Cory Doctorow called “Model Minority” (that doesn’t quite know whether it wants to be a fanfic or an expy; it renamed Superman to “American Eagle” but then continues to refer to Lois and Bruce) that goes into this. Superman saves a black man from police brutality and things spiral out of control to the point where Lois has to cut ties with him for her own safety and he has to go into hiding.
I think the strategy outlined by the OP would work a lot better for Superman and is also rather more in character in general, but I wonder, if he saw an act of police brutality right in front of him, would he be able to stop himself from intervening?
I think, and of course this is all in ideal circumstances, but it’s fiction so whatever. I think Superman would be able to intervene directly in acts of open police brutality simply by “helping” the police to make the arrest.
“Oh yes, officer, I saw you struggling to apprehend this man, and felt it was my civic duty to assist you. What did you say he is charged with, again?”
And should the officer not have a sufficiently meaningful excuse for the arrest, then Superman can either make a mental note of it, and offer the officer “company” back to the precinct, or possibly subtly remind the victim of their rights: you can’t be held without a charge, you can call a lawyer (and as a journalist AND superhero, he knows plenty to recommend and maybe has a business card on hand), you have to say, “I am invoking my fifth amendment right to remain silent. Please provide me with an attorney, as required by law” before you sit perfectly silent and still, you don’t have to sign anything, etc.
Delivered with his classic Boy Scout Charm, after he just helped the police apprehend a violent criminal and saved those Blue Lives that Matter so much, it would be possible to spin it.
Superman is meant to be the living embodiment of the obligation the Jewish people have to fix the world, he is Tikkun Olam in living flesh.
Captain America is the living embodiment of the Jewish willingness to fight and struggle. It is our “I will fight in synagogue parking lot” brought to life.
They were both written around the same time, but Superman was written by two Jewish teens and so I think with Superman because they were teens there is more optimism to him. A more sense youthfulness almost and fragility because there is also a more one to one of the Diasporic Jewish story going on with him.
Where as Captain America was being written by Jewish adults so there more of sense of him having seen the horrors of humanity, a sense of trauma, and Captain America was meant to a Golem who protects the Jewish people in a life threatening time. So he has to be ready to fight even if the fight is a verbal smack-down.
So I find with them two different, but very distinctive Jewish personalities essentially or methods of expressing Jewish philosophy, Jewish problem solving, and Jewish characteristics.
fromchaostocosmos:
intersex-ionality:
alarajrogers:
iamthedukeofurl:
Any analysis of Superman and Captain America should involve two main points.
1) They are every bit the caricature of honest goodness that they are said to be.
And
2) BEING a a caricature of honest goodness means not just fighting obvious villainy, but raging against institutional injustice, even when it comes from “Legitimate” sources.
There is a difference, however.
The Kent’s raised Clark with a strong moral compass, but also good sense. He’s very aware that, as Superman, anything he does comes with a tinge of Threat. He’s keenly aware that with the power he wields, the only way he can continue to operate is by appearing completely nonthreatening to the status quo. Unless he is preventing immediate, obvious harm, he has to be very careful with his intervention. He’ll see a city councilman skimming funds from schools, a factory illegally disposing of waste, or Cops inflating their quotas with bogus charges, and he’ll be outraged. But, Superman can’t do anything about those things. If he intervenes, people won’t see Superman protecting civilians from police abuse, they’ll see Superman Threatening A Cop. If Superman expresses any opinions besides the most milquetoast “Be Kind To One Another” stuff, it gets spun into “Scary Indestructible Alien Man Wants To Take Over The World”.
So, Superman takes all that rage, every injustice and abuse he sees, and those that he cannot solve as Superman, he gives to Clark Kent.
And behind the “Aw Shucks’ Kansas Farmboy affect, Clark Kent is RUTHLESS. He will pick apart your life and nail you sins the sky for all to see.
Like, everybody knows about Lois Lane, and she’s objectively the better journalist, but people always underestimate Clark. Those that remember anything about him usually think of him as harmless, the guy who comes to collect the statements your media people prepared, so you’re caught off-guard when the fangs come out. A Clark Kent interview goes like this:
First Question: Hello Police Chief Smith. So, how did you get involved in law enforcement?
Second Question: What are the key values that drive your police department?
Third Question: On September 14th, you called your officers together and told them to, and I quote “ Pull over every [racial slur] you can find out there. If they let you search, say you smell weed and bring them in. If they don’t, bring ‘em in for refusing to cooperate. Just get those [expletive deleted] in cuffs and paying fines, or else start looking for a new job”. Would you say this policy of deliberately targeting racial minorities is in line with the values you described earlier?”
And Clark Kent doesn’t stop after he gets his headline. It might end up on Page 3, but he’ll keep the story going until your career is torn to shreds and staked outside as a warning to others.
And then it’s back to human-interest stories and the feel-good beat until he selects his next target.
Superman is forced to overlook things, but he IS looking, and he won’t forget, and just because he’s not throwing you into the sun, doesn’t mean he intends to spare you.
Steve Rogers on the other hand will interrupt an interview to kick the shit out of a crooked real estate developer for driving people out of their homes. When arrested he’ll say “I’m sorry, how about we just chalk up the next time I save the world as community service”.
There’s a short story by Cory Doctorow called “Model Minority” (that doesn’t quite know whether it wants to be a fanfic or an expy; it renamed Superman to “American Eagle” but then continues to refer to Lois and Bruce) that goes into this. Superman saves a black man from police brutality and things spiral out of control to the point where Lois has to cut ties with him for her own safety and he has to go into hiding.
I think the strategy outlined by the OP would work a lot better for Superman and is also rather more in character in general, but I wonder, if he saw an act of police brutality right in front of him, would he be able to stop himself from intervening?
I think, and of course this is all in ideal circumstances, but it’s fiction so whatever. I think Superman would be able to intervene directly in acts of open police brutality simply by “helping” the police to make the arrest.
“Oh yes, officer, I saw you struggling to apprehend this man, and felt it was my civic duty to assist you. What did you say he is charged with, again?”
And should the officer not have a sufficiently meaningful excuse for the arrest, then Superman can either make a mental note of it, and offer the officer “company” back to the precinct, or possibly subtly remind the victim of their rights: you can’t be held without a charge, you can call a lawyer (and as a journalist AND superhero, he knows plenty to recommend and maybe has a business card on hand), you have to say, “I am invoking my fifth amendment right to remain silent. Please provide me with an attorney, as required by law” before you sit perfectly silent and still, you don’t have to sign anything, etc.
Delivered with his classic Boy Scout Charm, after he just helped the police apprehend a violent criminal and saved those Blue Lives that Matter so much, it would be possible to spin it.
Superman is meant to be the living embodiment of the obligation the Jewish people have to fix the world, he is Tikkun Olam in living flesh.
Captain America is the living embodiment of the Jewish willingness to fight and struggle. It is our “I will fight in synagogue parking lot” brought to life.
They were both written around the same time, but Superman was written by two Jewish teens and so I think with Superman because they were teens there is more optimism to him. A more sense youthfulness almost and fragility because there is also a more one to one of the Diasporic Jewish story going on with him.
Where as Captain America was being written by Jewish adults so there more of sense of him having seen the horrors of humanity, a sense of trauma, and Captain America was meant to a Golem who protects the Jewish people in a life threatening time. So he has to be ready to fight even if the fight is a verbal smack-down.
So I find with them two different, but very distinctive Jewish personalities essentially or methods of expressing Jewish philosophy, Jewish problem solving, and Jewish characteristics.
