Mixed Messages For Mixed Times

Comic creation, Superman, was nothing if not an American Patriot .... 

Superman The American Patriot

...... Indeed a 'Super Patriot'.

After all he was in fact an illegal immigrant looking for his version of the American Dream. During the Revolution this American Dream was initially equality e.g. ''all men are created equal'', and then in the post colonial period, the dream became the belief that everybody could find success in the United States, through hard work, no matter what their background.

But this idea of what the American Dream was, transformed over the succeeding centuries, and by the time of the post WWI booming America of the early 1920's, it became more about acquiring material possessions and wealth, as rural America slowly became urban America .... the 1920 census actually was the moment that, for the first time in U.S. history, more people lived in urban than in rural areas (51.2% urban to 48.8% rural).

So born Kal-El (a distinctly Arabic looking and sounding name), like many immigrants to the USA in the early 1920's, he quickly changed his name to Clark Kent, to 'Americanise' it to fit in with the rural America where he was to be raised, and thus effectively declare himself as a patriotic citizen.

Superman Supported The US Military

So when the USA was attacked by the Japanese in 1941, he took it upon himself to help the cause of the heroes known as G.I. Joe's ..... 

Superman Selling Bonds And Suggesting
What To Do With The Enemy .....

He then started promoting war bonds and with a bit of casual racism (in tune with the period, people)

Superman Teamed Up With Batman
And Robin To Sell War Bonds

but soon teamed up with other heroes such as Batman and Robin to sell war bonds and run paper drives etc .....

But then the war ended, and post Vietnam War, times they were a changing ..... and suddenly the white certainty about their place in the world order was starting to crumble and Superman had to change with it .... 

Superman Integration Talks

..... so suddenly he was giving advice on US integration to school kids.

But now Superman is about 103 .... In these divided times being old ain't so much fun .... one day maybe even a super patriot, may tire of giving out the same messages, to an increasingly fractured US society, and rebel ......

Superman May Rebel Against The Message ....

A super patriot for different times .... but for how long?