Why the World Needs Superman
Can you imagine our world without Superman? I’m not referring to having a physical Superman in our midst, but the idea of Superman.
We probably won’t be saying something like, “you want me to do all this in 15 minutes? Who do you think I am? Superman?”, or have songs like “I am Superman” by R.E.M. and “Pocketful of Kryptonite” by the Spin Doctors.
Created in the early 1930s by two 17-year-old boys, Superman is possibly the pioneer of all super heroes and the best of the lot even after 70 years since its birth. And why is he such a classic that’s so well-loved by generations?
Let’s see…. He doesn’t possess any fantasy of wanting to be an animal or insect, he’s not born of this world which practically makes him an alien, but looks exactly like a human being with all of our human emotions packaged in.
Like what we imagine an alien would want to do, Superman was destined to rule our world. But having been brought up by a morally righteous couple, he grew up loving our world and marveling the human spirit. He takes our positive attributes like love, compassion, loyalty, inspiration and glorifies them. He’s practically the embodiment of a perfect man, who also happens to have super powers. To top it all off, he does all this world-saving stuff with a smile!
Hmm… Somehow, this reminds me of another man, born about 2000 years ago who also possesses these characteristics.
And what makes Superman so believable is that like the rest of us, he too has his weakness. An out-of-this-world one that can even give humans the power to cripple him if we choose to. But even as he’s being weakened by the Kryptonite, he never failed to either use his determination to overcome his weakness or motivate another human being to lend a helping hand, thus showing us that any one of us can be a hero if we let our positive human strengths to shine through. And despite numerous evil humans who tried to destroy him, he kept to his faith that we are worthy of his rescue and chose to save the world rather than rule it.
Now apart from his super powers, don’t you think all of us should aspire to be or at least look up to a hero like that with the courage to go against all odds to preserve humanity?
"I will always be around"
- Superman Returns
We probably won’t be saying something like, “you want me to do all this in 15 minutes? Who do you think I am? Superman?”, or have songs like “I am Superman” by R.E.M. and “Pocketful of Kryptonite” by the Spin Doctors.
Created in the early 1930s by two 17-year-old boys, Superman is possibly the pioneer of all super heroes and the best of the lot even after 70 years since its birth. And why is he such a classic that’s so well-loved by generations?
Let’s see…. He doesn’t possess any fantasy of wanting to be an animal or insect, he’s not born of this world which practically makes him an alien, but looks exactly like a human being with all of our human emotions packaged in.
Like what we imagine an alien would want to do, Superman was destined to rule our world. But having been brought up by a morally righteous couple, he grew up loving our world and marveling the human spirit. He takes our positive attributes like love, compassion, loyalty, inspiration and glorifies them. He’s practically the embodiment of a perfect man, who also happens to have super powers. To top it all off, he does all this world-saving stuff with a smile!
Hmm… Somehow, this reminds me of another man, born about 2000 years ago who also possesses these characteristics.
And what makes Superman so believable is that like the rest of us, he too has his weakness. An out-of-this-world one that can even give humans the power to cripple him if we choose to. But even as he’s being weakened by the Kryptonite, he never failed to either use his determination to overcome his weakness or motivate another human being to lend a helping hand, thus showing us that any one of us can be a hero if we let our positive human strengths to shine through. And despite numerous evil humans who tried to destroy him, he kept to his faith that we are worthy of his rescue and chose to save the world rather than rule it.
Now apart from his super powers, don’t you think all of us should aspire to be or at least look up to a hero like that with the courage to go against all odds to preserve humanity?
"I will always be around"
- Superman Returns
posted by Devilsoup at
9:29 AM
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