Superman as a Social Justice Warrior

[Bored at 3:00AM]

This entire discussion could easily spiral into a cluster%&# of political pissing contests very quickly, so let's all try to be respectful and try our best to actually try to engage with each other as human beings first and tribal rivals a distant second

Any Superman fan with an understanding of the character's earliest history knows that the original Superman as depicted by Seigel & Shuster was very much a political character, who constantly involved himself in hot button issues like unions, spousal abuse, war, racism, housing problems and corruption in both government and business. Had the term been in vogue back then, Seigel & Shuster's Superman would no doubt have been labelled a Social Justice Warrior by conservatives for being an obvious mouthpiece for FDR's New Deal political views.

As the editors at National Comics took more and more control over Superman, the political edginess of the character became more marginalized to the point that Superman's original tagline of being a champion of "Truth and Justice" had "and the American Way" added to remind readers that Superman was now a defender of the status quo, which he remained for most of his existence.

Since then, various creators have dabbled in giving Superman a political edge again, mostly to disastrous effects. Among the most notable were when JMS stupidly had Superman threaten Lois and destroy her evidence of a factory's illegal actions in order to prop up the failing economy of a small town and Goyer's pretentious story in which Superman relinquishes his American citizenship in order to not have his actions be viewed as an extension of American Foreign Policy. While Morrison restored Superman's early scrappy champion of the underdog, the politics were fairly tepid with a few exceptions.

Obviously, Superman is a IP owned by one of the world's largest multinational corporations, which is probably not keen on Superman alienating any of its potential customers by doing anything too overtly political. However, do you think there's room for that SJW aspect of the character to play a role again or has he outgrown that part of who he was? I think the fact that he's an investigative journalist makes him an inherently political character and creators shouldn't shy away from that. The pursuit of truth is a part of who he is.

Again, please be respectful. Thanks.

[Black_Adam]

Seems like the right time to bring this topic up, what with the fact DC posted this tweet and the amount of discussion it has generated.
Superman.jpg
https://twitter.com/DCComics/status/1009481161201078273

Some of the replies are complaining about turning Superman into a SJW or doing a "Marvel" with others pointing out Superman has a history of tackling political issues.

[stephens2177]

Helping ppl who are in danger 1 way or another is not really political,it's the before and after that is imo,and that's what Superman should shy away from.

BTW liberals/socialist and conservatives/libertarians are both good ppl and want to help ppl,it's just the mechanism they use to do it that's different

[Bored at 3:00AM]

Helping ppl who are in danger 1 way or another is not really political,it's the before and after that is imo,and that's what Superman should shy away from.

But what about Clark Kent? Doesn't his job require him to be knee-deep in the before and after?

[Doctor Know]

Superman has a history of being a social crusader. Standing up for the little guy, the down trodden and foreigners.

However, SJWs use social causes to push what they consider "progressive" views and ideologies. A discomforting aspect of SJW tactics is to bully and shame people, employers and sponsors who don't agree with these progressive values. There is no middle ground or center. There are only extremes.


Superman destroying low quality housing, as a way to force the government to build better homes for the people. Is a lot different from the current climate of SJWs and progressives getting upset with Twitter's Jack Dorsey for eating at Chik Fil-A. Or the bruised feelings of those who feel the Supreme Court should have forced a Christian baker to make a custom cake for a gay wedding.

[kjn]

Helping ppl who are in danger 1 way or another is not really political,it's the before and after that is imo,and that's what Superman should shy away from.

Why?

A lot of problems are man-made. Take the water situation in Flint: it's entirely a man-made crisis. Sure, Superman could move an iceberg to the town, but actually fixing the causes of the situation will require political decisions. Or the energy situation in Puerto Rico, where the issues might have been created by a natural disaster but the reason they still remain is due to graft, corruption, and political indifference.

[Kuwagaton]

That's entirely the problem. It wouldn't be his place to fix our problems for us. I guess I appreciate Superman #247 more than I thought.

I think at best, the idea of the early Superman years being political is looking at it from an era where political has been grossly stretched and morphed, and the public response to assertions isn't at all the same.

For one thing, for the innocent intentions of what the creators wanted to depict, the idea of Superman "tackling race" to me is how he dealt with some dark skins in a grass hut. So putting him in a modern context like "SJW" for the good or bad it's supposed to mean... I don't agree.

[Vanguard-01]

Considering the actions I've seen self-proclaimed Social Justice Warriors take on the Internet, I'd have to imagine that a Superman who subscribes to such a philosophy would be best represented by his Red Son or Injustice incarnations.

[A Guy's Name]

This will be a discussion fraught with landmines - Americans have a problem with understanding political positions and term.
We have terms that have no business being used for a particular political ideology - like American "Libertarianism" or even understanding "Liberalism" as a term meaning different things as time progresses - Third-Way Liberalism being different from Keynesian Liberalism or Classical Lib and Soc-Dems. Liberal understanding of Fascism for example hides or at least ignores the influence of business-industrial leaders and financiers in the rise of Mussolini and Hitler, let alone the The Business Plot in the USA. Soc-Dems suddenly being called socialists in common American parlance.
Any discussion here will be severely warped by ignorance of political and economic ideas/ideologies, their terms and historical development.
Faulty readings of theorist like Smith, Foucault or Marx can influence how you understand some ideas, whether you support the idea or are against it. The increasing concentration of the media, especially news media, in fewer hands also affected political perception, introduce more ideological blinkers, emphasizing some issues while not even showing others (how propaganda works).
I do agree, however that while Supes can have a political opinion, it should take more than just Superman to fix socio-economic-political problems. We shouldn't tackle it by having Supes as a Great Man as in Great Man theory.
That is all.

[Bored at 3:00AM]

It seems the very term "Social Justice Warrior" is a sticking point for many, so let's set that aside for now. It was simply a shorthand for an overtly political Superman.

Should Superman be an overtly political character today?

[DochaDocha]

It seems the very term "Social Justice Warrior" is a sticking point for many, so let's set that aside for now. It was simply a shorthand for an overtly political Superman.

Should Superman be an overtly political character today?

I don't think he should be apolitical per se, but I'd be pretty annoyed if a writer used Superman as a bully pulpit to force down his fringe political views I highly disagreed with. Just in general, political discourse today is all sorts of terrible, and I just assume that using Superman as a platform wouldn't make things any better.

[PunishedFire]

Superman should not be overly political beyond standing for the importance of individual rights.

Superman is at his best (like most superheroes) when taking part in fantastic stories. Superman, in particular, does great with sci-fi stuff and crazy high-level superheroics. Political stuff should stick to very simple allegories that tie into general concepts. As I've already pointed to, a great example of this was the recent seahorse-alien story with Superman and Superboy where the story discussed the concept of faith & science and how they can absolutely be balanced.

Superman is not a wedge issue, nor should he prop one up.

[Sacred Knight]

Superman should not be overly political beyond standing for the importance of individual rights.

Superman is at his best (like most superheroes) when taking part in fantastic stories. Superman, in particular, does great with sci-fi stuff and crazy high-level superheroics. Political stuff should stick to very simple allegories that tie into general concepts. As I've already pointed to, a great example of this was the recent seahorse-alien story with Superman and Superboy where the story discussed the concept of faith & science and how they can absolutely be balanced.

Superman is not a wedge issue, nor should he prop one up.

All of this.

[nonsense man]

agreed as an allegory yes but in an in your face political superman would tank sales. That is why Alan Moore even though a self described socialist was great he made all his characters complex and human even if he disagreed 100% what Rosarch and the Comedian were about he gave them their due and respected their views. That is why he was such a great writer wish there were more like him today. Whether they hold his views or are totally opposite of them

[Thor-Ul]

It seems the very term "Social Justice Warrior" is a sticking point for many, so let's set that aside for now. It was simply a shorthand for an overtly political Superman.

Should Superman be an overtly political character today?

More than a "Social Justice Warrior" I would say than Superman is more a Social Justice Activist. He doesn't force, he invites. He don't shame you, he invite yo to be better, he don't talk you down by, he talks you to think about if there is another way.

Well,at least as I feel the character should be. Anyway, for me, the best example of this political inclined Superman is Peace on earth. One of my favorites.