Superman Through the Ages! Forum

Funny stuff about Elian Gonzalez (now 12 years old) in a CBS article.  A big deal in the US news a few years ago.  Canadians were puzzled.

Here is an excerpt:

"Che Guevara was yesterday, Elian Gonzalez is today. And that’s precisely how Cuba is playing him. In what’s called the Museum of Ideas in Cardenas, he has already been cast in bronze as the revolutionary hero preparing to throw Superman — in Cuba a symbol of imperialism — onto the rubbish pile of history. "

Outside of banana republic dictators, are there any overt references to Castro's Cuba in the comics?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/28/60minutes/main888950.shtml

I always remember one of the first Flash II sagas. with flash in Cuba helping Castro to defeat a Durlan invasion  :lol:  :lol:

Silly Commies...

Superman? A symbol of "Imperialism"?!  :shock:

IIRC, the original Superman-Red, Superman-Blue story mentions Castro dismantling his weapons (the "anti-evil ray"'s effects)...

I fail to see how ANYONE could see Supermnan as a symbol for imperialism. Heck, the guy fought against corrupt politicians, businessmen, and munitions makers in the Golden Age. That doesn't scream "imperialism" to me. Then again, it would be crazy for me to think that the majority of people in Cuba had actually read any Superman stories--I just wanted to point that out.  :)

The real reason they hate him is most likely because he's part of Americana.

The problem i think its not with comunism. its with the autoritarian goverments and dictatorship. i wrote in other topic that superman was forbiden in my country for years. And we had a dictatorial goverment ultracatolic, conservative and anticomunist.

Yeah more like its the problem that sometimes supes its seen more as an USA symbol rather than universal.

In Miami there are a lot of terrible, terrible Cuba jokes circulated by exiles that haven't been to Cuba since the Fifties.

Here's one involving Superman:

One day, Superman decided to visit Cuba. He noticed, however, that when leaving the island, his flight was incredibly sluggish. Had Castro slipped him some Kryptonite while he was in the country? That's when he noticed why: lots of Cubans were holding on to his cape.[/list]



Who remembers that RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE album cover, "the Evil Empire" with a picture of a slightly sinister Superman?

Latin Americans, especially Latin American intellectuals, often consider a product of American pop culture as being imperialist in message - if not directly, than in subtext, and this is not a trait exclusive to Superman. The book HOW TO READ DONALD DUCK provides a Latin American perspective on exported American pop culture, particularly on Disney comics.

This attitude is changing, as many young people growing up in Latin America take pop culture seriously, and do not consider it "trash" culture or disposable. Elan Stavans, author of THE RIDDLE OF CANTINFLAS and the comic book A LATINO HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES shows, featuring Superman and Captain America besides masked wrestlers and the Mexican Calavera figure.

Incidentally, I lived in Little Havana in walking distance from the Gonzalez relatives during the protests. My God, was that ever a surreal scene. One Dad was walking his kid around on his shoulders - a kid that was a lookalike ringer for Elian himself. Little notecard protest sandwich boards were hung on either side of dalmatian weiner dogs. By far the weirdest part of the whole scene was Donato Dalrymple, the fisherman that saved the boy and the Kato Kaelin "comedy relief" of this entire affair, coming by and absorbing adulation from all the elderly Cuban grandmothers.

I'm from Latin America, and I can say that it's so very true, unfortunatly. Back in college, a teacher of International Relations on Post-War showed in his class images of what he considered exemples of American Imperialism, and there was a scene of Christopher Reeve as Superman from the movie, with the USA flag. I didn't start a fight in the class, but really wanted to.

Julian, thanks for your "on the ground" perspective!

Is the above book any good? Is it academic or more popular?

Ariel Dorfman, one of the authors of How to Read DD, wrote another book, The Empire's Old Clothes, about popular superheroes and characters like Babar and the Lone Ranger.  In the book he writes: "the superhero's triumph is based on the omission of the working class, the elimination of a community or collective which could transform the crisis and give it a meaning or new direction."

I have a book by Ariel Dorfman and Manuel Jofré called Super-Homem e seus amigos do peito (Superman i sus amigos del alma), with the same subjects. Didn't read it yet, I was reading Superheroes and Philosophy, with a chapter by Mark Waid... but it might be interesting for you.

If you want some good Miami books that get across the real "Banana Republic" weirdness of this town, try Carl Hiaasen; the movie adaptations, predictably (yes, I *AM* looking at you, STRIPTEASE) don't ever do his work justice.

Dave Barry lives in Miami and has a Cuban wife, but he isn't a "Miami" writer most of the time. Nonetheless, he too, is worth reading, especially BIG TROUBLE; as with Hiaasen, his stuff doesn't translate to movie form well.

There was a comedy "open ended" story by a bunch of Miami writers, NAKED CAME THE MANATEE, which is worth checking out.



LATINO HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES is a book that covers Latino history in the United States, and it covers area that is broad, but fairly shallow - good for beginners that are interested in a funny, graphic treatment of the subject, but probably not a good resource for writing a graduate school level paper on the subject.



The counter to Dorfman's claim, superheroes being Ayn Rand figures for a sinister ultra-individualism, is the concept of the superteam and "group power." The Fantastic Four, Justice League, and so forth are all great because they are a team, and with such groups, teamwork and teams being greater than the sum of their parts is the norm.

Many pulp heroes in particular are reliant on cooperation and working in groups. Doc Savage would never go anywhere without his Fabulous Five, as did the Shadow with his giant agency and spy network.

If ANY hero is a model of the Ayn Rand concept of "sticking it to the organization," it would have to be James Bond, not Superman. Bond is a businessman in a faceless bureaucracy that always finds little passive-aggressive ways to fight back; the way he flirts with his boss's secretary and destroys Q's gadgets, for example; sure, it isn't gassing subways the way Rand would have it, but he's clearly an individual overman stifled by the organization.

Thanks, a friend has recommended Hiassen, but I've never really been tempted.  I may have to reconsider.

Like crime fiction?  I read Miami Blues and liked it (good movie too).  Anyone like Elmore Leonard?

As for superteams, I really don't see a corporate superhero team as comparable to a mass movement.  They are more like armies or governments (or paramilitaries or posses).  From what I've read of the Authority and other dystopian, post-Moore team books, it is not a big stretch to make this explicit.

Of course, superteams may teach kids other things, like teamwork, tolerance, beauty, love, etc. (and the 60s JLA certainly had huge moral overtones) but Dorfman's points still are hard to refute for me.

And I thought Mr.A was the ultimate Randian hero (followed closely by the Question)!  Did anyone read Peter Bagge's Spider-Man one-shot?  Genius.

Superman Forever: it sounds like it may be the same book, with a different title.  I will check my copy to see if it has a different title in Spanish.

To be honest, I miss the idea of Superman being a sort of savior for the working class. I like the cosmic adventures he has, too, but there was just something cool about how the Golden Age Superman operated--except for the killing, that is.

Heck, the Golden Age Superman would even put Green Arrow to shame with his respect for the working man.  :)

I have never made it more than a few chapters into Atlas Shrugged, but Doesn't objectivism involve rather strict rules against "initiating force"?