Heroism and Superman II

Our thoughts on Superman often parallel our thoughts on the president. This came to the foreground with the widespread references to President Obama in Supermanian terms during the days of his first campaign and early term. And it was no coincidence that Bill Clinton was referred to as Superman when he facilitated the release of two Americans from North Korea a while back.

But I don't want to write about the presidency today--not about broken promises (is a hero someone who always keeps a promise, no matter the consequences?) or exceptionalism or fascism or hope and change. I'm going to write about the Fortress of Solitude.

In Superman '78, a teenage Clark Kent hurls a green crystal into the Arctic ice and witnesses the rise of a place where he can go to be alone, to learn and become the sort of person he wants to be. In the comics, he often does experiments there, and keeps souvenirs and trophies; it's a place of history moreso than anything else. Its purpose is fulfilled when  he takes flight for the first time, returning to the world to help it realize its potential. He stops criminals, rescues a cat from a tree, saves Lois Lane.

I see so much rhetoric about both American exceptionalism and isolation, as if keeping the rest of the world out will transform a country into a paradise. I can't help but think of the Fortress of Solitude in that context. Yes, Superman became a hero by isolating himself, but only for a little while--and he wasn't really isolated. He had with him all the learning of his birthplace. He had, in the Fortress, the capacity for change. I worry that isolation (true isolation, as is being proposed; separation from the world itself in an attempt to put America first) will have the opposite effect. Isolation can breed stagnation. After all, if Superman had never left the Fortress, that cat would still be stuck up in the tree.

I'm always wary of any tradition that counsels disengagement from the world. 

Bill Clinton

I don't know why I'm thinking about this right now, but when I started this project i signed up for a twitter account. I thought I would need one not because I wanted to twit things, but because I thought it would be useful for following Superman-related things on twitter. To date, I have tweetered nothing. Yet I have three followers. Maybe I'll start tweeting all the alternate jokes I come up with when I'm watching television shows. That way I won't have to harass my wife every time I think I'm funnier than the television.


Anyway, the reason I'm writing about this is because one time I was searching twitter for everything that people were writing about Superman right at that moment. It was the time Bill Clinton flew to some North Korea to rescue two journalists who were trapped there or something. So all sorts of tweets referred to him as Superman. This was a while ago. The idea popped up a few places outside twitter as well.

No caption necessary.

At the moment, there is no particular unity or pattern to the tweets about Superman.  A couple of them are about Lebron James. A couple about catching people when they're falling. A couple about Justin Bieber, of all things.

In case you've forgotten, the President and First Lady made an appearance in the comics, during Superman's funeral in the early 90's. Just for the record, funereal is a very good word. I just didn't feel like working it into this post.

Stunning likenesses.