JulianPerez
Council of Wisdom
Offline
Posts: 1168
|
|
« Reply #1 on: February 02, 2007, 12:16:23 PM » |
|
HAIL SATAN!
Wasn't there an interview with Julie Schwartz a while back where he said something to the effect of "most DC girlfriends are thinly disguised Jewish or Italian women?"
The Methodist label on Clark Kent comes from an interview with Elliot S! Maggin, I believe, where he identified the religious backgrounds of all the characters. While I admire Elliot Maggin as a writer, it was in an interview and not in the books itself, and thus is merely a guess by a wise man with great insight into the character. It can't be counted on as gospel (no pun intended).
In fact, even if Superman's religion was given in a published story, I'd find it suspicious even then because Superman and his personality transcend writer interpretation. Writers have over time made "authoritative" stories that "explain" who is the disguise, Clark Kent or Superman, yet the discussion never ceases because the response is, "well, that's just Maggin/Bates/Pasko/Wein's take on it."
I'm not sure if this is a strength or a weakness, but it is an interesting characteristic of bigger heroes. Look at Batman; they list two or three contradictory religions listed for him!
Also, saying Superman is Methodist is typical of the site jumping to conclusions on the religiousness of characters on scanty or harebrained evidence.
I'm not even sure Superman can be qualified as worshipping Kryptonian gods, either - the "Great Rao" stuff is no proof. Swearing by gods does not equal religious belief, that's just how people from outer space talk and think. In fact, in E.E. Smith's Lensman books, it's revealed slowly that Kimball Kinnison swears by the outer space god "Klono" as a joke.
The truth is, there are only a few characters whose religious affilliations we absolutely know for SURE: Ben Grimm, Justice, Songbird, Shadowcat (all Jewish), Morgan Edge (also Jewish, thanks to Martin Pasko), Daredevil (whose Catholicism is a major theme in his book), Triathlon (Triune Understanding cult), and then you have guys like Thor, Thanos, the Valkyrie, and Oggar, that actually ARE deities themselves!
We can make some educated guesses on a few others. Generally, it's easier to "spot" non-religious people and entirely rational types, like Tony Stark or Barry Allen, because pure rationalism and distaste for the supernatural is built into their characterization.
The problem with pinning a character's religious affiliation is, it sometimes requires a judgment call assessing a character's personality. And often, that involves jumping to conclusions based on lack of "evidence."
An example of this would be the Marvel "evil Russian" characters, like Crimson Dynamo, Titanium Man, the Abomination, etc. The website automatically assumes that because these characters are products of Soviet Communism, they must therefore be atheists. This makes sense with characters that were raised (and sheltered) by the Soviet state, like Vanguard and Darkstar...and while there's no definite evidence for his atheism, assuming brutish thug and true believer like the Titanium Man subscribes unquestioningly to atheism isn't exactly the biggest jump to conclusions in the world.
But what about a guy like, for instance, the Crimson Dynamo? What's his religious affiliation? It is known that the Crimson Dynamo is a KGB agent, yes...and a real phony besides. And it is true that members of intelligence agencies are usually vicious, reactionary pricks (and this generalization is true of ALL intelligence agencies in all countries, not just the KGB). Saying that Crimson Dynamo would be an atheist is a good educated guess.
Yet...Crimson Dynamo is an intelligent man no doubt exposed to many influences, unlike the sheltered Darkstar and Vanguard. It's conceivable he might have some religious background.
What my objection comes down to is this: you can't say, "because Razorback is a truck driver, he must therefore not like poetry." Yeah, true, the mental image we have of a truck driver doesn't read poetry, but that doesn't necessarily mean Razorback does or doesn't.
|