Editing Superman (section)

==Literary analysis==
Superman has been interpreted and discussed in many forms, with [[Umberto Eco]] noting that "he can be seen as the representative of all his similars".<ref>{{cite book |last=Eco |first=Umberto |author-link=Umberto Eco |editor=Heer, Jeet Heer |editor-first2=Worcesterm |editor-last2=Kent |title=Arguing Comics |year=2004 |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |isbn=1-57806-687-5|page=162 |chapter=The Myth of Superman |orig-year=1962 }}</ref> Writing in ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' in 1971, Gerald Clarke stated: "Superman's enormous popularity might be looked upon as signaling the beginning of the end for the [[Horatio Alger myth]] of the [[self-made man]]." Clarke viewed the comics characters as having to continuously update in order to maintain relevance and thus representing the mood of the nation. He regarded Superman's character in the early seventies as a comment on the modern world, which he saw as a place in which "only the man with superpowers can survive and prosper".<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Gerald |last=Clarke |author-link=Gerald Clarke (author) |title=The Comics On The Couch |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,842864,00.html |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |issn=0040-781X |pages=1–4 |date=December 13, 1971 |access-date=January 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930062820/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C842864%2C00.html |archive-date=September 30, 2007 }}</ref> Andrew Arnold, writing in the early 21st century, has noted Superman's partial role in exploring assimilation, the character's alien status allowing the reader to explore attempts to fit in on a somewhat superficial level.

A.C. Grayling, writing in ''[[The Spectator]]'', traces Superman's stances through the decades, from his 1930s campaign against crime being relevant to a nation under the influence of [[Al Capone]], through the 1940s and World War II, a period in which Superman helped sell [[war bonds]],<ref name="60Y64">{{harvp|Daniels|1995}}. ''DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes'', p. 64</ref> and into the 1950s, where Superman explored the new technological threats. Grayling notes the period after the [[Cold War]] as being one where "matters become merely personal: the task of pitting his brawn against the brains of Lex Luthor and Brainiac appeared to be independent of bigger questions", and discusses events post [[9/11]], stating that as a nation "caught between the terrifying [[George W. Bush]] and the terrorist [[Osama bin Laden]], America is in earnest need of a Saviour for everything from the minor inconveniences to the major horrors of world catastrophe. And here he is, the down-home clean-cut boy in the blue tights and red cape".<ref>{{cite news|first=A C |last=Grayling |title=The Philosophy of Superman: A Short Course |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/archive/features/23525/the-philosophy-of-superman.thtml |work=The Spectator |location=UK |issn=0038-6952 |date=July 8, 2006 |access-date=January 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011230733/http://spectator.co.uk/archive/features/23525/the-philosophy-of-superman.thtml |archive-date=October 11, 2007 }}</ref>

An influence on early Superman stories is the context of the [[Great Depression]]. Superman took on the role of social activist, fighting crooked businessmen and politicians and demolishing run-down tenements.<ref name="60Y2223">{{harvp|Daniels|1995}}. ''DC Comics: Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes '', pp. 22–23</ref> Comics scholar [[Roger Sabin]] sees this as a reflection of "the liberal idealism of [[Franklin Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]]", with Shuster and Siegel initially portraying Superman as champion to a variety of social causes.<ref name="mythology">{{Cite AV media |title = The Mythology of Superman |medium = DVD |publisher=Warner Bros.|date = 2006}}</ref><ref name="Sabin">{{cite book |last=Sabin |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Sabin |year=1996 |title= Comics, Comix & Graphic Novels |url=https://archive.org/details/comicscomixgraph00sabi |url-access=registration |edition=4th paperback |publisher=Phaidon|isbn=0-7148-3993-0 }}</ref> In later Superman radio programs the character continued to take on such issues, tackling a version of the [[Ku Klux Klan]] in a [[The Adventures of Superman (radio)|1946 broadcast]], as well as combating anti-semitism and veteran discrimination.<ref>{{cite news |first= Richard |last= von Busack |title=Superman Versus the KKK |date= July 2–8, 1998 |work=[[Metro Silicon Valley]]|location = San Jose, California |url=http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/07.02.98/comics-9826.html|access-date=January 28, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150511114046/http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/07.02.98/comics-9826.html |archive-date=May 11, 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Stephen J |last=Dubner |author2=Levitt, Steven D |page=F26 |title=Hoodwinked? |date=January 8, 2006 |work=The New York Times Magazine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/magazine/08wwln_freakonomics.html?pagewanted=all |access-date=January 28, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407034409/http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/08/magazine/08wwln_freakonomics.html?pagewanted=all |archive-date=April 7, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Weldon|2013}}. ''Superman the Unauthorized Biography'', p. 83</ref>

[[Scott Bukatman]] has discussed Superman, and the superhero in general, noting the ways in which they humanize large urban areas through their use of the space, especially in Superman's ability to soar over the large skyscrapers of Metropolis. He writes that the character "represented, in 1938, a kind of [[Le Corbusier|Corbusierian]] ideal. Superman has X-ray vision: walls become permeable, transparent. Through his benign, controlled authority, Superman renders the city open, modernist and democratic; he furthers a sense that Le Corbusier described in 1925, namely, that 'Everything is known to us'."<ref name="MOG">{{cite book |last=Bukatman |first=Scott |author-link=Scott Bukatman |year=2003 |title=Matters of Gravity: Special Effects and Supermen in the 20th century |url=https://archive.org/details/mattersofgravity0000buka |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |isbn=0-8223-3132-2 }}</ref>
[[File:Library of Congress celebration of Action Comics and Superman.jpg|alt=Three men seated onstage, flanked by Superman material|thumb|The [[Library of Congress]] hosted a discussion with [[Dan Jurgens]] and [[Paul Levitz]] for Superman's 80th anniversary and the [[Action Comics 1000|1,000th issue]] of ''[[Action Comics]]''.]]
[[Jules Feiffer]] has argued that Superman's real innovation lay in the creation of the Clark Kent persona, noting that what "made Superman extraordinary was his point of origin: Clark Kent." Feiffer develops the theme to establish Superman's popularity in simple wish fulfillment,<ref>[[Jules Feiffer]] ''The Great Comic Book Heroes'', (2003). [[Fantagraphics]]. {{ISBN|1-56097-501-6}}</ref> a point Siegel and Shuster themselves supported, Siegel commenting that "If you're interested in what made Superman what it is, here's one of the keys to what made it universally acceptable. Joe and I had certain inhibitions... which led to wish-fulfillment which we expressed through our interest in science fiction and our comic strip. That's where the dual-identity concept came from" and Shuster supporting that as being "why so many people could relate to it".<ref>Andrae (1983), [https://web.archive.org/web/20031207220852/http://superman.ws/seventy/interview/?part=10 p.10].</ref>

[[Ian Gordon (historian)|Ian Gordon]] suggests that the many incarnations of Superman across media use nostalgia to link the character to an ideology of the American Way. He defines this ideology as a means of associating individualism, consumerism, and democracy and as something that took shape around WWII and underpinned the war effort. Superman, he notes was very much part of that effort.<ref>[[Ian Gordon (historian)|Ian Gordon]] "Nostalgia, Myth, and Ideology: Visions of Superman at the End of the 'American Century"in Michael Ryan, ' 'Cultural Studies: An Anthology' '(2007). Blackwell {{ISBN|978-1-4051-4577-0}} [https://nus.academia.edu/IanGordon/Papers/509594/Nostalgia_Myth_and_Ideology_Visions_of_Superman_at_the_End_of_the_American_Century].</ref>

===An allegory for immigrants===
Superman's immigrant status is a key aspect of his appeal.<ref>Fingeroth, Danny ''Superman on the Couch'' (2004). Continuum International Publishing Group p53. {{ISBN|0-8264-1539-3}}</ref><ref name="Engle">Engle, Gary "What Makes Superman So Darned American?" reprinted in ''Popular Culture'' (1992) Popular Press p&nbsp;331–343. {{ISBN|0-87972-572-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Wallace|first1=Daniel|first2=Bryan |last2=Singer |title=The Art of Superman Returns|publisher=Chronicle Books|year=2006|page=92|isbn=0-8118-5344-6}}</ref> Aldo Regalado saw the character as pushing the boundaries of acceptance in America. The extraterrestrial origin was seen by Regalado as challenging the notion that [[English Americans|Anglo-Saxon]] ancestry was the source of all might.<ref>{{cite book|first=Regalado|last= Aldo |chapter=Modernity, Race, and the American Superhero|editor-last= McLaughlin|editor-first= Jeff |title=Comics as Philosophy|year=2005|publisher=[[University of Mississippi]] Press|page=92|isbn=1-57806-794-4}}</ref> Gary Engle saw the "myth of Superman [asserting] with total confidence and a childlike innocence the value of the immigrant in [[Culture of the United States|American culture]]". He argues that Superman allowed the superhero genre to take over from the [[Western (genre)|Western]] as the expression of immigrant sensibilities. Through the use of a dual identity, Superman allowed immigrants to identify with both of their cultures. Clark Kent represents the assimilated individual, allowing Superman to express the immigrants' cultural heritage for the greater good.<ref name="Engle" /> David Jenemann has offered a contrasting view. He argues that Superman's early stories portray a threat: "the possibility that the exile would overwhelm the country".<ref>{{cite book|last=Jenemann|first=David|title=Adorno in America|publisher=U of Minnesota Press|year=2007|page=180|isbn=978-0-8166-4809-2}}</ref> David Rooney, a theater [[critic]] for ''The New York Times'', in his evaluation of the play ''Year Zero'' considers Superman to be the "quintessential immigrant story [...] [b]orn on an alien planet, he grows stronger on Earth, but maintains a secret identity tied to a homeland that continues to exert a powerful hold on him even as his every contact with those origins does him harm".<ref name="Rooney">{{cite news|last=Rooney |first=David |title=Finding America, Searching for Identity |url=http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/theater/reviews/03year.html |access-date=June 11, 2010 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 3, 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100609111610/http://theater.nytimes.com/2010/06/03/theater/reviews/03year.html |archive-date=June 9, 2010 }}</ref>

===Religious themes===
It is popularly believed that Superman took inspiration from Judaic mythology. The British rabbi [[Simcha Weinstein]] notes that Superman's story has some parallels to that of [[Moses]]. For example, Moses as a baby was sent away by his parents in a reed basket to escape death and was adopted by a foreign culture. Weinstein also posits that Superman's Kryptonian name, "Kal-El", resembles the [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] phrase ''qōl ʾēl'' (קוֹל-אֵל) which can be taken to mean "voice of God".<ref name="UUaOV">{{cite book |last=Weinstein |first=Simcha |author-link=Simcha Weinstein |year=2006 |title=Up, Up, and Oy Vey! |edition=1st |publisher=Leviathan Press |isbn=978-1-881927-32-7 }}</ref> The historian [[Larry Tye]] suggests that this "Voice of God" is an allusion to Moses' role as a prophet.<ref name="Tye, 2012">{{cite book|author-link=Larry Tye|last=Tye|first=Larry|title=Superman: The High-Flying History of America's Most Enduring Hero|year=2012|publisher=[[Random House Digital]]|isbn=978-1-4000-6866-1|pages=[https://archive.org/details/supermanhighflyi00tyel_0/page/65 65–67]|quote=Like Moses. Much as the baby prophet was floated in a reed basket by a mother desperate to spare him from an Egyptian Pharaoh's death warrant, so Kal-El's doomed...|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/supermanhighflyi00tyel_0/page/65}}</ref> The suffix "[[El (god)|el]]", meaning "god", is also found in the name of angels (e.g. [[Gabriel]], [[Ariel (angel)|Ariel]]), who are airborne humanoid agents of good with superhuman powers. The Nazis also thought Superman was a Jew and in 1940 the ''[[Schutzstaffel]]'' (SS) newspaper [[Das Schwarze Korps]] denounced Superman and his creator Jerry Siegel.<ref>{{cite news|last= |first=|date=April 25, 1940 |title=Jerry Siegel Attacks! |page=8 |url=http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/superman.htm |newspaper=Das schwarze Korps |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160112183828/http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/superman.htm |archive-date=January 12, 2016 }}</ref>

All that said, historians such as Martin Lund and Les Daniels argue that the evidence for Judaic influence in Siegel and Shuster's stories is merely circumstantial. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster were not practicing Jews and never acknowledged the influence of Judaism in any memoir or interview.<ref>{{harvp|Lund|2016}}</ref><ref>{{harvp|Daniels|1998}}. ''Superman'', p. 19: "There are parallel stories in many cultures, but what is significant is that Siegel, working in the generally patronized medium of the comics, had created a secular American messiah. Nothing of the kind was consciously on his mind, apparently: his explanation for dropping Superman down from the sky was that "it just happened that way". And Shuster echoed him: "We just thought it was a good idea.""</ref>

Superman stories have occasionally exhibited Christian themes as well. Screenwriter [[Tom Mankiewicz]] consciously made Superman an allegory for Jesus Christ in [[Superman (1978 film)|the 1978 movie]] starring [[Christopher Reeve]]: baby Kal-El's ship resembles the [[Star of Bethlehem]], and Jor-El gives his son a messianic mission to lead humanity into a brighter future.<ref name=SteelDreams>{{cite magazine |last=Dickholtz |first=Daniel |date=1998 |title=Steel Dreams |url=http://supermania78.com/2010/08/tom-mankiewicz-1942-2010/ |magazine=Starlog Yearbook |page=77 |publisher=Starlog Group, Inc.}}</ref>
This messianic theme was revisited in the 2013 movie [[Man of Steel (film)|''Man of Steel'']], wherein Jor-El asks Superman to redeem the Kryptonian race, which corrupted itself through eugenics, by guiding humanity down a wiser path.<ref>''Man of Steel'' (2013; Warner Bros. Pictures). "They won't necessarily make the same mistakes we did, not if you guide them, Kal."</ref>