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Superman Was DEMOCRAT, Batman Was REPUBLICAN
FredericksburgFreeLance-Star ^ | Tue, 11/12/2002 | Unknown

Posted on 11/12/2002 7:08:48 AM PST by fight_truth_decay

While created by the same company, DC Comics' two most famous superheroes differed in political alignment.

Clark Kent, also known as Superman, was raised by two Kansas farmers.

He was born, however, on the planet Krypton. Superman's race was a group with great powers: incredible strength, X-ray vision, heat vision, ice vision, the ability to fly, super-sensitive hearing and super speed.

When grown, Kent moved to the city, where he landed a job as a writer for the large newspaper, the Daily Planet.

Bruce Wayne--also known as Batman--was an industry-owning millionaire. He inherited much of his wealth from the parents he lost to the hands of savage murderers at an early age.

As Batman, Wayne battled his enemies with the use of wit, human strength and a slew of high-tech gadgets.

Through their actions as both average citizens and superheroes, Superman and Batman exhibited characteristics that pitted them with clear political ideologies.

The location where Superman spent his childhood statistically fosters a Democratic spirit. As a man from a small farming community in a rural state, Superman is a Democrat. His place of employment encourages a Democratic political philosophy.

As Clark Kent, he writes for the Daily Planet, a large paper operating out of the city of Metropolis. Such large papers are typically liberal, with a heavy focus on moving forward with equal rights for racial or sexual minorities.

The villains Superman often combated were rich and powerful. For example, the criminal Lex Luthor was a wealthy businessman, likely utilized by the writers of Superman as a symbol of massive, corporate, unregulated American business practices.

Democrats often combat the Republican approach to an unregulated market.

Some Democrats believe that wealthy citizens comprise the great majority of the Republican Party. Owner of Wayne Enterprises, Bruce Wayne surely had the interest of his industry in mind while voting and allocating personal funds to the political campaigns of his choice.

As he inherited much of his wealth from his family, Wayne highly valued the status quo. He expressed his resistance to change at home. He had the same butler, Alfred, for his entire life and lived in the same, early 20th century mansion for just as long.

Unlike Superman, Batman was human. He did, however, possess the most tangible of all superpowers: wealth.

While Superman was able to fend off the most vicious villains with his natural powers, Batman battled with a tone body and with an expensive arsenal of grappling hooks, vehicles, guns and other devices.

He was human, and as demonstrated by the 1960s television series, he most often used wit to escape the toils of his enemies. In fighting crime he aimed to subdue the radical criminals that corrupted Gotham City with their new-age terrorist tactics and left-wing views toward public policy and capital punishment.

While Batman used intelligence, Superman often resorted to violence, the political equivalent to war. Superman would sooner melt an opponent with his heat vision than he would extend a negotiation or use intellect. He was a supporter of the use of force. This use of force is clearly a parallel to the Democratic Party ideal of a large, mobilized army.

While the heroes differed far beyond their powers, their creators at DC Comics cleverly crafted their polar political alignments.

The parent company of both heroes was DC Comics, a company founded in 1935. During this period of American history, the economy was at its all-time worst. It was an outright poor and foolish time to found a business.

The creative heads at DC were clever, however. In order to garner mass appeal, they created two generally likable characters with starkly different political alignments. Selling their stories at 10 cents a pop, they made their source of entertainment affordable to the Roosevelt supporters suffering from the pain of the Great Depression.

The eager Democrats enjoyed Superman's All American spirit, his courage in the face of danger and his sheer invincibility.

While the comics were cheap entertainment, they served as quality entertainment to Republicans of the time, nonetheless. Bruce Wayne was a savvy businessman--surely not a victim of the Crash of '29. He was a charming man with a sleek and ambitious attitude.

Both characters had mass appeal but catered to more specific tastes when observed more closely.

Each of these wildly successful superheroes has had a dramatic impact on American popular culture. While they appear at first as incredible, outstanding citizens with wills to do good, when one looks deeper it is clear that these heroes do so in their own, politically specific ways.

Although they can be taken for the face value of entertainment, what fun is there in that?


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: batman; batmansuperman; comicbook; historyrevisionism; superman
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To: fight_truth_decay
Er... I just learned that Batman and his 2 brothers(!) are Pakistani Islamifascists out to kill Salman Rushdie:

International Gorillay (1990)
Starring: Mustafa Qureshi, Babra, Ghulam Mohiudin, Javed Shaikh, Neeli, Afzal Khan
Director: Jan Mohammad
Synopsis: Sensational epic where dastardly Salman Rushdie sets out to destroy Islam
Reviewed by: Omar Khan

This epic creation made headlines when the British censors refused to allow it a certificate thus officially banning the film outright along with the infamous video nasties. However a month later, following a letter by Salman Rushdie himself, the ban was lifted and Gorillay became perhaps the first film from Lollywood to be screened on mainstream British television.

The film is a fabulous concoction and shows the Islamic world tottering on the brink of an abyss. Rushdie is leading the assault on Islam with his Satanic Verses and is targeting Pakistan (the "fortress" of modern day Islam) because once mighty Pakistan is dealt with, the rest of the Islamic world will hardly stand a chance. Rushdie plans to drive the final nails into the coffin of Islam by opening a new chain of Casino's and Disco's spreading contemptable vice and debauchery. Mustafa Qureshi, hen pecked to death by his demented wife, decides to call it a day with his day job at the Police station and induct his unemployed brothers to create a Mujahid (God's soldiers) trio whose sole aim is to seek out and destroy the despised Salman Rushdie before he manages to destory all virtue and decency on the planet. The trio have a personal axe to grind as their beloved family cherub was recently slaughtered by Rushdie's men while protesting Satanic Verses.

Mustafa Qureshi is quite superb as the vengeful elder brother and leader of the Mujahids. Ghulam Mohiuddin delivers a typically charismatic performance, charged with raw power and brooding machismo (!). Javed Shaikh is at his very best - meaning barely tolerable, but it is Gulloo who shines with his spectacular dialogue delivery. Neeli provides a little sparkle and delivers her punch lines with oomph and vigour. Babra plays Dolly, the evil English henchwoman of Rushdie who eventually sees the light and embraces the righteous path in a spectacular scene of dazzling special effects that will have Hollywood turning green with envy. Salman Rushdie, played with great relish by Afzal Khan is of course a man of unsurpassed evil and tortures his hapless victims by forcing them to listen to chapters from his fatwa-inducing book! - a fate worse than death itself.

The film is maniacal high farce and a laugh-a-minute caper as the three Mujahids go undercover to try to discover the evasive Rushdie even showing up in Batman outfits on one occasion to outwit their nemesis…….very appropriate undercover gear as surely nobody would find it at all odd to see three rather portly middle aged men wandering around in Bat-suits!

There are numerous spectacular fight sequences with tons of stunts, explosions and rocket launching in evidence. Neeli and Babra perform some rather atrocious dances to dire sub-disco numbers…..though Madame Noor Jehan is irresistible when she coos "Oh no" in that inimitable sultry manner of hers. The film moves along at a rollicking pace and sizzles with its sheer intensity and dynamism. The direction is sledgehammer subtle as is the norm for Punjabi cinema and the one-liners have to be delivered slowly and deliberately and sometimes even three times in a row so as to not miss their point!

A quite masterful and brilliantly opportunistic film that manages to expertly fictionalize the entire Salman Rushdie Satanic Rites issue and present it as a demented pseudo-religious fairy tale - a stroke of rare genius. An historic Lollywood masterwork not to be missed at any cost.


261 posted on 11/13/2002 2:49:40 AM PST by weegee
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To: bulldogs
You mean Superman was gay?

I wouldn't even hazard a guess. But of course, Bruce Wayne lived with a teenage boy and they both seemed to enjoy sliding down poles, while Aunt Harriet was clueless and Alfred was a paragon of discretion.

Not that there's anything wrong with that....

262 posted on 11/13/2002 3:25:46 AM PST by ihatemyalarmclock
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To: Caesar Soze
Alfred: "And the Society for the Prevention of Obsessive Behavior in Middle-aged Men?"

Bruce: "Write them a check."

Now THAT'S funny! LOL!

263 posted on 11/13/2002 3:59:45 AM PST by Jonah Hex
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To: All
Superman is a Republican, or at least a Reagan Democrat:

Friedrich, Otto. "Up, Up and Awaaaay! America's Favorite Hero Turns 50, Ever Changing but Indestructible." Time 14 Mar. 1988: 66.

264 posted on 11/13/2002 7:32:41 PM PST by Chodorov
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To: weegee
Speaking of Dr. Smith:

If you were John Robinson (or any adult member of that group, for that matter), would you trust Dr. Smith to look after Will Robinson alone?

On a side note, if you remember, in the first season, Smith was pretty good and a little sinister - he only turned into a fag in the 3rd season.

265 posted on 11/14/2002 12:00:53 PM PST by Chancellor Palpatine
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