“Superman” was an avatar disguised as a writer
By Larry Delano Coleman
Monday, December 22, 2014
Ahhh, yes! I can feel, hear, and see it now! Daily ritual: After grade school, hurrying home to be in time to watch “Superman” on television.
“Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superman! Yes, it's Superman - strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman - who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.”
http://www.supermanhomepage.com/tv/tv.php?topic=episode-guides/t-aos
Through all the montages, through all the episodes, indeed, through all the years, only now do I recognize this one implacable fact: Superman was an avatar disguised as a writer. Oddly, only now does this manmade, variable, sociological, occupational identity occur to me, hit me, resonate with me.
He could’ve been a cop, or maybe a private eye. A lawyer, scholar, or body-builder/personal trainer. But writer? Why that persona? Why that ‘disguise?’ Was Superman more than just a fiction? Was he an avatar?
Reflecting back upon that, now, I comprehend that symbols subtend myth and reality, which in some minds blur and conflate, leading to flying leaps from rooftops, by young white-boy imitators with towels tied on their necks.
Not non-white me! I could see that Superman was no more ‘real’ than Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, or any other childhood avatar.
Lucky for me, I could distinguish, could discern between myth and reality quite young. Some people cannot or do not. Therein lies the difference.
Ahhh, yes! I can feel, hear, and see it now! Daily ritual: After grade school, hurrying home to be in time to watch “Superman” on television.
“Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look! Up in the sky. It's a bird. It's a plane. It's Superman! Yes, it's Superman - strange visitor from another planet who came to Earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. Superman - who can change the course of mighty rivers, bend steel in his bare hands, and who, disguised as Clark Kent, mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper, fights a never ending battle for Truth, Justice, and the American Way.”
http://www.supermanhomepage.com/tv/tv.php?topic=episode-guides/t-aos
Through all the montages, through all the episodes, indeed, through all the years, only now do I recognize this one implacable fact: Superman was an avatar disguised as a writer. Oddly, only now does this manmade, variable, sociological, occupational identity occur to me, hit me, resonate with me.
He could’ve been a cop, or maybe a private eye. A lawyer, scholar, or body-builder/personal trainer. But writer? Why that persona? Why that ‘disguise?’ Was Superman more than just a fiction? Was he an avatar?
Reflecting back upon that, now, I comprehend that symbols subtend myth and reality, which in some minds blur and conflate, leading to flying leaps from rooftops, by young white-boy imitators with towels tied on their necks.
Not non-white me! I could see that Superman was no more ‘real’ than Santa Claus, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy, or any other childhood avatar.
Lucky for me, I could distinguish, could discern between myth and reality quite young. Some people cannot or do not. Therein lies the difference.