Title goes here

[aesmael]

Originally published at a denizen's entertainment. You can comment here or there.

Got a call today from my supervisor at the charity shop. Of the two people I am sure get paid for their work there, it seems the other is having the day off, and she wanted to know what I hours I would be working, to be assured she would not be running the shop solo.

Tempted to wonder if this means I am considered reliable, or competent. A more likely explanation is that I am known to regularly be there during approximately the desired hours and thus am a likely candidate for chasing that up with.

I keep seeing flashes of reaction to a recent issue in which Superman renounces his US citizenship, which I didn't particularly care to know about, so now other people who don't care about it can have my small thoughts. Mainly, I don't like it because a moves like that means reminding everyone that as a character he is so strongly identified with that country. I'd rather forget, and have the character's adventures genericised to the point of obscuring national identity as far as possible. Which isn't very far at all with any scrutiny, but the many heroes in so many contexts who are to some degree instruments of foreign patriotism[1] discomfits me. I would prefer to ignore that and enjoy the parts I enjoy.

[1] I don't exactly want heroes of local patriotism either, but there is an unpleasant tension when the most of heroes are from elsewhere trumpeting the virtue of that elsewhere, or passive assumption of its pre-eminence. A levelled field would be nice. That seems unlikely. Humas are humans; we like our kith and kin.

Comments

[coniferous_you]

For what it is worth, whenever I've been in a position of soliciting volunteers to do things, I call the ones I trust the most. For me anyway, just showing up on time is not enough!

Superman

[ambershadedlens.livejournal.com]

Superman's nationality has been somewhat central to his character. The whole Truth, Justice, and the American way. He fought Nazi's. In the Dark Knight Returns he was basically used by the US to dominant other countries, and there is an alternate universe where the major difference is superman landed in communist Russia. I am kinda surprised DC made such a move. I think it fits in to Superman's character as someone who wants to help and not wanting to cause wars because he helps people in another country (the reason why he is giving up his citizenship). I consider it nifty that they would make a move that may alienate or upset the US fan-base for something that works for the character.

Re: Superman

[pazi-ashfeather.livejournal.com]

think it fits in to Superman's character as someone who wants to help and not wanting to cause wars because he helps people in another country (the reason why he is giving up his citizenship).

You could look at it just the other way though -- Superman's origins are steeped in US exceptionalism; he's been a tool of, or dramatic proxy for, US policy for much of his published career. Despite this fact, he's become a widely recognized media figure in many parts of the Anglosphere, and as the character has evolved through history, the sensibilities of the authors at DC have shifted away from that overt patriotism. In the process, he's become a less overtly nationalistic figure, and this is considered a benefit to fans in other countries who already deal with US media and cultural hegemony in their home countries. You get to enjoy your Superman without having the US patriotism rammed down your throat; his nationality becomes more incidental.

Superman renouncing his US citizenship might seem like a bold move to an American progressive, but I'm guessing that to fans abroad it's a step backward -- they already know he's an American icon, they've largely been relieved to see that played down. Just putting it back in the spotlight at all is going to seem like a step backward there, and beyond that, it raises three bigger issues...

First, said fans then have to contend with the ensuing shitstorm in the online fandom of US fans who're up in arms over the decision. Not that this is a bad thing, but when it's been "Yay/boo USA" for so long, some people don't really want to hear more of it either way. They'd rather just not hear superlatives or emphasis called to this element at all. They don't want to have to think about it at all; it's probably already been thought to death for them.

Second, is this a permanent change? Or just a drama-building device to pump sales, and all-too readily retconned a few months or years down the line because it was inconvenient? We're talking about the genre that epitomizes revolving-door death...Fans in Canada and Australia and Europe, not to mention other countries where Superman comics have gained an appreciation (I don't know a whole lot about how widely-translated or circulated DC comics are outside the Anglosphere), have very different stakes in that question. To the extent that the US fans can write it off as no big deal, that reflects our own bias.

Finally, if Superman strips himself of overt national affilitation, and yet continues to act as essentially a vigilante enforcer of US and more broadly Anglosphere mores and culture around the world, isn't that in many ways more insidious than overtly acting as an agent of his country? If we go by real-world analogies, do we want to replace the US Army with Blackwater/X and Halliburton? Is that really a step forward for the character?

[lost-angelwings.livejournal.com]

I think it means that you are reliable and competent and they like having you around :)

I agree w/ you about Superman. I know Metropolis is in the US and he patrols that city, and originally it was "Truth, Justice and the American Way" but I think most ppl just consider him to be like... Superman and Metropolis is just the city he patrols and fights criminals in and it's incidental it's in the US (and I think in fiction, we're pretty used to many "mainstream" entities being in the US) but I never thought he represented them, or even was a US citizen (Clark Kent is) o_O I dislike the comics that ever suggest the JLA (yeah I know the A -_- lately they try to downplay the A, it's just iconic at this point :( ) is a political entity... or goes around influencing policy in other countries (i have a JLA classified like that and it is v v annoying) the problem becomes when writers feel that "helping people" around the world (from an American perspective) MUST mean overthrowing dictators or getting involved in politics (presumably Superman's been saving abortion doctors in America from murder too right? and I doubt any of the writers consider THAT to be him being political or representing the democrats) and then they get all tied up and confused about the implications and you get stories like this -_-;;