Could Kansas truly raise a Superman as we know him?

[Lokimaru]

Given what Kansas has turned into to think that it could produce a man like Superman firmly plants the story in the realm of fiction. I watched the JLA abridged show on YouTube and It always rankled me how disrespectful they treated Superman til I realized that they weren't. They were just treating him like a guy raised in Kansas by Old People. No one can stand him not even Lois, It's crazy. So I ask you is a Kansas raised Superman a fantasy?

[Kuwagaton]

I'm just a bit confused. Are you talking about the actual Kansas, or Superman the character being from a fictional version of Kansas? And are we talking about the actual Superman character, or a person who looks and/or acts like him?

[Celgress]

I fear this thread is going to become really nasty really fast. When culture and politics get involved civility offer is the first casualty.

[KurtW95]

“Given what Kansas has turned into?” What does that mean? Did the whole state turn into a containment zone for a zombie infestation?

[Lokimaru]

I'm just a bit confused. Are you talking about the actual Kansas, or Superman the character being from a fictional version of Kansas? And are we talking about the actual Superman character, or a person who looks and/or acts like him?

Actual Kansas. Could Modern Kansas produce a Superman as he is popularly depicted. Would the Kent's have to be liberals? Would he have to be homeschooled?

[MajorHoy]

Actual Kansas. Could Modern Kansas produce a Superman as he is popularly depicted. Would the Kent's have to be liberals? Would he have to be homeschooled?

Why couldn't it?
If the right alien being landed in the right spot and was found by the right pair of people, anything is possible in the world of fiction.

[LordMikel]

Actual Kansas. Could Modern Kansas produce a Superman as he is popularly depicted. Would the Kent's have to be liberals? Would he have to be homeschooled?

I live in Kansas, if an alien with powers landed outside my door, he would be raised to be the next Superman.

[PunishedFire]

Given what Kansas has turned into to think that it could produce a man like Superman firmly plants the story in the realm of fiction. I watched the JLA abridged show on YouTube and It always rankled me how disrespectful they treated Superman til I realized that they weren't. They were just treating him like a guy raised in Kansas by Old People. No one can stand him not even Lois, It's crazy. So I ask you is a Kansas raised Superman a fantasy?

Of course.

Good, kind-hearted and noble people can't come from Kansas.

Clearly this is impossible and a fantasy.

Superman raised in Kansas would just be Overman. Anyone saying otherwise is trying to hide the truth.

With Kansas being incapable of producing good people, is the obvious answer to nuke it like in Kingdom Come? Why would you want to keep around a place that can't produce good people?

#MagogDidNothingWrong ?

[Adekis]

I mean... I don't think there can be any doubt that Superman is a character with leftist roots, given the New Deal era/stye content of his earliest adventures.

The Communist Scenarist did a comic where they claim Superman is a communist, and while I don't fully agree with them (I think he's more a believer in social democracy than he is a democratic socialist) their point about Kansas proves interesting.



So I think even if Kansas is more right-wing nowadays, his birthplace in Kansas is still illustrative of those roots.

Also, there's no particular reason why he'd have to be homeschooled and hidden away from conservative thought. Plenty of left-leaning people come out of right-leaning communities without bad blood, and I don't see anything particularly unrealistic about that.

To say nothing of the fact that he's not always written as a leftist in the present day, or even throughout a lot of his history.

[PunishedFire]

Superman is definitely Communist & Socialist.

It works out great when you combine government authoritarianism with a godlike dictator that wants to do what is best for everyone. It doesn't go wrong at all just like Communism and Socialism never go wrong every time.

This also definitely wasn't fully illustrated within recent living memory both in the real world and in comics.

If Superman were a real person he'd wear a Che shirt under his tights

red_son_superman.jpg
-This ended well for Superman and the society he crafted

[The World]

Well yeah he could have found perfectly good people that would have raised him well but he also could have landed in China or Australia and got the same thing. The problem with Superman today is how writers and fans alike talk about him like he was a robot that was programmed by the Kents. Compare that to Batman who's seen as someone who forged himself into the man he is today and people are going to respect that later more than the former.

[PunishedFire]

Well yeah he could have found perfectly good people that would have raised him well but he also could have landed in China or Australia and got the same thing. The problem with Superman today is how writers and fans alike talk about him like he was a robot that was programmed by the Kents. Compare that to Batman who's seen as someone who forged himself into the man he is today and people are going to respect that later more than the former.

Indeed.

On the flip side, it's sad that people also forget Alfred's influence on Bruce growing up as well. Alfred is a good, intelligent and moral man who did well to raise Bruce into the adult he became.

That said, you are absolutely right that Superman is the product of A LOT and that includes the Kents but also includes his Kryptonian heritage as well as his own personal qualities and ideals.

Ironically, since Superman is a champion of the greatest minority (the individual) those ascribing to Superman large, sweeping political outlooks might be doing the character the greatest disservice. Superman is closest to Captain America for a reason...both champion the Constitutional ideal that "each man" is created equal...with the emphasis on "Each". This is what helps support the notion that it's better to let 10 guilty men go free than to wrongfully imprison 1 innocent man along with the idea that you DON'T sacrifice the individual in the name of the greater many as some kind of callous, pragmatic mathematics. Superman has always been about that.

[Robanker]

Without getting into politics, frankly no. Superman was raised by two people who extol the virtues of humanity with few of the faults that aren't themselves outweighed by their good traits. The Kents are essentially a Norman Rockwell painting given form. I don't really think anyone could live up to their example, and I know a great deal of wonderful people. The ability to remain those paragons of virtue while raising an alien boy as their own and keeping him under wraps would lead to compromise. I can't remember a situation in which Jonathan or Martha outright faltered as parents where they didn't just double back and prove they're the gold standard for parenting.

Clark would grow up a good person, I think, but not who he is in the comics. He's /supposed/ to be something of an anomaly himself, but one we strive toward becoming ourselves. Likewise, Jonathan, Martha and Smallville themselves are idyllic representations of Americana, which frankly never existed and never will. It's all the best-case scenario enacted by people perfectly crafted to produce the greatest hero the world ever raised.

Likewise, I don't think any circumstances could truly create Batman as we know him either. Fundamentally, there's a breaking point for everyone and these characters are so memorable because they find a way to keep pushing it further and remaining heroic, good people.

I don't think it matters what state Kansas is in, regardless of one's feelings on that matter, because Superman was never /really/ a product of it in the '30s either. He's an idea. He's a product of wishful thinking, whimsy and wonder.

[Kuwagaton]

To be clear on some of the posts so far and maybe down the line: the point of asking what the OP means is figuring out how to best have the discussion Lokimaru envisioned. Whether you get it or not, writing the whole thing off by being rude about it is not a good way to go.

Well yeah he could have found perfectly good people that would have raised him well but he also could have landed in China or Australia and got the same thing. The problem with Superman today is how writers and fans alike talk about him like he was a robot that was programmed by the Kents. Compare that to Batman who's seen as someone who forged himself into the man he is today and people are going to respect that later more than the former.

Batman is every bit as programmed by his parents, or the lack thereof. I'd be interested in seeing a poll made of how many alternate Bruce Waynes essentially become Batman without a comparable inciting incident, versus how many Clark Kents become a Superman without the Kents.

[Slim Shady]

Yes, they absolutely could raise a Superman as we know him.