Smallville vs. other Superman series
Man, throughout the ages, has looked to the stars with great amusement and curiosity. Wondrous stories are born of these magical, glimmering specs in the sky. Stories of tragedy, magic and heroism. These stories entertain and more, they give us hope. A tale of the stars like no other is the one of Superman, protector of planet Earth.
As said by the Superman stories, Clark Kent was discovered by Martha and Jonathan Kent shortly after a meteor shower hit the town of Smallville. Martha insisted on keeping the young boy and taking him into their family. Clark grew up on a farm helping out with chores and being loved by his human mother and father. The only difference with Clark’s upbringing was that in the comics, he was just a baby when discovered by the Kents. In “Smallville” he was a boy about 6 years of age when he was found.
This very scene I speak of has been played over and over in television besides the WB hit, “Smallville” (Kal-El). For example:
“In the 1990's cartoon Pinky and the Brain, The Brain tracks down Superman's rocket ship and tries to raise Clark himself, with Pinky. Fortunately, the super baby turns out to be too much for the Brain, as changing diapers requires an oxygen suit, and the tiny kid of steel uses his heat vision to blast the lab rat. Baby Clark makes his way back to the field where he landed and where the Kents find him.” (Kal-El)
The most famous version of this scene is shown in the Superman Movie with Glenn Ford playing Jonathan Kent and Phyllis Thaxter playing Martha Kent (Smallville). In this version the Kents find Clark and he displays his powers right away instead of demonstrating them over his teenage years like in the “Smallville” series.
It was so smart for someone to answer everyone’s questions as to how Clark grew up by giving them the front row seat to Clark’s teenage years. Especially since in any other version of Superman all we knew of was when he was discovered and when he was already “Superman”.
Martha and Jonathan Kent have changed in the stories as well. All of the Superman stories have the Kents as an elderly couple in their sixties (Superboy). The 1978 movie version shows the Kents older and so does the Lois and Clark TV series.
With reference to “Man of Steel” and “Superman 1”, Superman is much taller than Lois resulting in her constantly having to look up at him and having him shot with a low angle from the point-of-view shot of Lois Lane, having the effect of Superman seeming more powerful. Superman’s adoptive mother is also a stereotypical, stay at home mother while his adoptive father
The Amish are very dedicated to their faith and believe they should live their life like their savior. They do not believe in modern conveniences such as automobiles, electricity, and any other modern technology. “The Amish are also known as the “plain people” because they tend to separate themselves from the modern world” (Rearick, 2003).
The mythology of Superman is a paradigm that embodies the cultural reality of the era; constructed around an archetype of ideology, fantasies of human spiritual ambiguity, a religious messiah, and a semiotic representation of modernity. In further study, Superman can be identified to have specifically changed to adhere to American culture in three distinctive periods; midst the Great Depression and WWII, post WWII and finally the socially progressive change of the Vietnam period. In each chapter Superman was re-imagined to meet the definition of the period, a tool of propaganda over that of entertainment. Currently, America is entering a new phase of cultural shift, and thus Superman will be redefined to represent the ideologies of truth, justice, and the American way of that required era. Yet, the mere surface mythology of Superman has applications to cultural ideologies, questions of human freedom, dreams in a Freudian nature, and the complex relation of fantasy and reality which required introduction before in-depth research.
When we think or hear about Amish culture we may tend to wonder what exactly the appeal of living without modern day advances is; to gain a better perspective on this particular aspect of Amish culture we have to dive into religious origins and kinships between people of the Amish culture.
From the beginning of this religion, to the present day family roles, the Amish religion has been dissected thoroughly to prove that they are not as boring as perceived by American society. To date, the largest group of Amish people live in Lancaster County, home to about 30, 000 Amish people. Prior to researching this religion, I had many bias thoughts and assumptions about the Amish people. Through weeks of research, I have enlightened myself to a new religion that I did not have much appreciation for, but most importantly, group of people whom I share many of my values and beliefs with.
Alexie, Sherman. "Superman and Me." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 1998. Web. 14 May 2014. http://articles.latimes.com/1998/apr/19/books/bk-42979
On one end of the spectrum lays Superman, an alien who from birth is comparable to god, and on the opposite side lays Lex Luthor, a genius human who comes from nothing and created a financial empire. Superman
In Sherman Alexie’s “Superman and Me,” Alexie tells the story for how he “learned to read with a Superman comic book” and how the knowledge he gains impacts his life (Alexie 110). The knowledge he gains from the comic book leads him to become an adept reader. He is an underappreciated prodigy child who because he lives on a reservation. He was provided a gateway which leads him to a successful career as an author and as a teacher of creative writing to children on reservations. Some may call his knowledge a blessing, but it is not without consequence. Alexie “fought with [his] classmates on a daily basis,” because they wanted him to “stay quiet when the non-Indian teacher asked for answers” (Alexie 111). Indian children are expected to be stupid, and to grow up working minimum wage jobs. Alexie has to survive constant bullying, harassment, and ridicule from his peers throughout his childhood. Despite the fact that Alexie is blessed with knowledge, it results in his being tormented--undoubtedly a
Shortly after Superman made his appearance in 1939, a noted psychologist by the name of William Moulton Marston wrote an article in Family Circle magazine, praising comic books. According to Les Daniels in Wonder Woman: The Complete History (Chronicle Books, 2000, pp. 22-24), his article caught the eye of M.C. Gains of DC Comics. Gains was so impressed by the article, he hired Marston into a new position at DC Comics. Within a year, at the urging of his wife, Marston set out to create a female superhero. By February 1941, Marston handed in his first script for ‘Suprema: The Wonder Woman.’ (We owe a debt of thanks to whoever dropped the Suprema.) Marston created a unique heroine, based loosely on Greek Mythology. Diana was the Princess of Paradise Island, a mystical place inhabited by Amazons. Her mother, Hippolyte (sometimes referred to as Hippolyta), Queen of the Amazons, wanted a child and petitioned the Goddesses of Olympus to give her one. She was instructed to sculpt a child from clay. When she was done, the...
Kant: Wow Darwin you either did not read the book, or you completely missed what was going on. Superman had superpowers that consisted of super hearing, super vision, super strength, and flying.
While the Batman character grown into an international franchise, many of his fellow superhero peers have fallen by the proverbial road side. Riding on his mysterious and dark persona, he is one of the most famous fictional characters of modern times. It is a unique blend of super-hero fantasy and realism that has allowed him to be accepted by such a wide audience, and it is to the credit of his producers that they have been able to mould the character the character to fit their needs while capitalizing on the character’s essence.
The short story Harrison Bergeron helps support the idea that all Utopias are going to fail. In Harrison Bergeron characters like him find flaws in their “perfect” community and do something about it. In the Giver, Jonas is the character that rebels against the community because he is able to see past the lies set up by the elders and see the bad parts of it. Another reason it failed was because of the pain from the handicaps. Jonas’s community doesn’t experience any pain,except for Jonas and the Giver, Jonas makes a stand by escaping and leaving the memories of pain for the rest of the community.
Batman was created after Detective Comics (D.C.) wanted a new super hero to follow-up after Superman. In May of 1933, Bob Kane and Bill Finger created Batman. Bob was born on October 24, 1915 and died November 3, 1998. Bill was born February 8, 1914 and died January 1974. Bill always loved comics as a child and still when he went to high school at DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx New York. He and Bob went to the same high school but never socialized because they were in different classes. Bob meet Bill when Bill was working as a shoe salesman. They worked on many comics together for kids comic books and local newspapers. When they found out that Detective Comics (D.C.) wanted a new super hero they went to work. One day Bob came to Bill with a character, Batman. Bill liked the idea but said it looked too much like Superman. The original illustration had a Robin style mask and red outfit. So Bob took a Webster’s Dictionary and found a picture of a bat. He added bat ears to the mask, giving the full mask a more mysterious look. He changed the colors to black and yellow and added a cape that was cut like bat wings. When writing the comics Bill made Batman’s personality a...
...chokes her father telling him to say where the discs are. Her father tells Clark that he can kill him if he wants, but is never going to tell him. Normal Clark would never get overly aggressive with someone for a million dollar reward. However this new Clark made it obvious that all he seem to care about is money.
As a sociologist working with the Amish culture I would need to know that the Amish try to avoid the outside world for religious and cultural reasons. I would also be aware of the fact that when in Amish country there are slow moving vehicles to look out for and that there are also private properties that I should not enter. I should understand that the Amish do not like to be treated as an attraction, and that they do not like to have their photo or any video of them taken as they consider it an unacceptable act of pride. Lastly, I would need to not be offended by the people keeping their distance and avoiding my company or conversation because they don’t do it to be rude but because I do not follow their lifestyle and they try to avoid “pollution”.