Sunday, July 14, 2013

Superman: Outsider Comes National Icon

In last six decades as a comic hero Superman had a great journey through our mind. Every corner of the world knows he is an American cultural icon. Beside that we also know that he was from Krypton planet, in that sense he is an immigrant, ironically illegal immigrant. We did not know yet that he got green card or work permit in USA. We saw him in different episodes that he is working as a journalist. Though Superman is an illegal immigrant he became one of the national icons in America. His suit has red and blue colors like American flag. Many times we also observed him and the flag in the same frame. He became the synonym of American national hero, the fictional character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 30s of last century.

This DC comic hero unlike to other comic heroes has a diaspora characteristic. He could not forget his planet Krypton and his parents. Many times he faced his past and suffered. Whatever his origin is people of our planet loves him a lot especially the Americans. Recently I watched a Superman movie (Hollywood movie obviously), the latest one 'Man of Steel' (2013) and I found some similarities with a president. The comparison between Barack Obama and Superman came into my mind because of their at least two matches: one is both of them are outsider to America (Obama already got his legality and presidency too) and both of them became national icon. These comparisons may be called hyper imaginative but I would rather say imagination makes our life colorful. May be for that particular reason Barack Obama imitated Superman too (look at picture given above).