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Superman is not technically an American

Superman is from the planet Krypton, but he was adopted by an American couple and because America has that whole, drop a baby of at a fire department and they will no questions ask take it so you won’t hurt the baby thing which also goes for illegal baby’s and that is where the Kent’s first took him, he was then an American. But just because we have one helpful way for baby’s to become citizens, no questions asked, doesn’t really make Superman American…

Clark Kent was brought up an all American boy in a small Kansas town called Smallville. Now if you look at a map of Kansas, where is Smallvile?

Not there, both the town and the man are fictional characters and if the town doesn’t exist then its records don’t exist, and much like fox news accuses our president of faking his birth certificate, why wouldn’t Superman fake his nationality, in order to buy hot dogs for a dollar, and buy cheap furniture from IKEA? America is pretty awesome and isn’t a bad place for his alter-ego Cark to continually live (it rains a lot in England and the hot dogs aren’t as cheap).

Any other country would be mega stoked to have Superman, we certainly are, but he’s also not really a human being either. Dogs and cats aren’t really considered citizens and even animals with higher intelligence levels like dolphins don’t usually vote. In every movie I have ever seen where the government has become aware of an alien life form, that life form has then been tortured and studied, so Superman definitely did the right thing by becoming a citizen and forming a public image so that people would notice if the government stole him and so that he technically had rights against beign tortured and studied.

I don’t see Superman as American because he is limitless. The American dream is becoming something out of nothing, and while Superman’s story is tragic, its ideology and protagonist do not fit the American dream plot prototype at all.

Comments

J Chambliss said…
Great post, good analysis
September 16, 2011 at 9:36 AM
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