fromchaostocosmos:

bunnyduckcucumberpatch:

shiraglassman:

jewish-privilege:

vimeswillgospare:

jumpingjacktrash:

roachpatrol:

zionistmooncolony:

fromchaostocosmos:

When Superman: Man of Steel came out people were saying that the film was too gritty and cynical and it was that cynicism that destroyed the Superman we have always know and loved.

That it was that very cynicism that had Superman break his cardinal rule of do not kill and had him that very thing, kill.

As the reviews come out about Batman vs Superman and the bleakness and cynicism of that film I posit that the reason Superman has killed and the reason he is so unrecognizable as the hero we grew up with and the hero we loved and looked up to is because every essence of his Jewishness has been meticulously and calculatingly been scrubbed out.

Superman was written by two Jewish teens in the early 30′s and they imprinted onto Superman a Jewish identity.

Superman is in Diaspora. His homeland gone, his language, his culture, and his heritage both alien and foreign to were he lives. Living day to day with a part of himself hidden so as to be live a somewhat unmolested life.

He must struggle with what it means to be a member of his people while not having his people or culture around him and while having the outside culture imposed upon him and expected to assimilate to this outside force.

A great example of this can be seen oddly enough in Man of Steel when Lois Lane asks Superman what the S on his chest stands for. He tells it means hope in his people’s language and Lois responds by saying that here it is a S.

Superman is expected to accept this new reality and to let go of his culture and understand that he must rather assimilate instead. That he must let go of what it means in his language and culture and understand that it is now a S.

It is the internal struggle of the Jew. To survive in Diaspora. To endure and still maintain a sense of self and one’s roots. To keep your people’s language, customs, and culture alive especially surrounded by a world where you are the alien. You are the foreign being and you must assimilate and then be grateful that you were allowed to be forced to assimilate in the first place.

Superman has two masks. The mask of Superman and the mask of Clark Kent. Kal-el, is the face of Superman and not the mask. Kal-el is the struggle to survive when you are the alien.

Superman in the films and especially Man of Steel and even more so in Batman vs Superman is meant to be a jesus figure. A Messiah.

But that is not what he really is. He is rather the personification of Tikkun Olam.

Tikkun Olam is that each and every person is obligated to fix the world. To leave it a better place that when it was when you got there. To work towards justice, peace, and truth, the three pillars of Judaism.

Superman is meant to reflect what each of us can be. What we should be and should do. That when given the opportunity to good we should take it with both hands. That is whatever way we can with whatever our own abilities and powers are we should help others when given the chance. That is Tikkun Olam and that is Superman.

The new Superman does not fail because it is cynical. The new Superman fails because he is not Jewish.

You forgot to mention that kal-el, which in Hebrew is famously and intentionally spelled קל א-ל means “voice of G-d”. His story specifically was based on that of Moshe in many ways. His father and mother – knowing that if he stayed with them he would only find death – placed him in a basket. And that basket, they floated down a vast river. The river of stars and particles, and seemingly nothingness. A nothingness that swallows everything which has falls into it. And that basket came to a place where he could grow up, and where in the end, he was needed. I personally don’t know much about the movies – my job as colony paper pusher leaves no time for such fun, but I agree with you. To erase superman’s jewish identity is to erase superman and create an entirely new character, empty and devoid of its original meaning and purpose.

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Administrator

Running with this, I want to point out fundamentally different approaches between Christian and Jewish traditions on heroism, and good and evil. To simplify a couple hundred years of literature and parable: in Christian fantasy, you have to eradicate evil. The narrative of Christian goodness is generally a strenuous, violent opposition to badness, and frankly this moral philosophy makes people really fucking dangerous, because in order to define themselves as good, they have to be fighting something bad. Purge their sins, slay their demons, drive out the unbelievers. In Jewish fantasy, to do good, you have to actually find things to do that are helpful and needed. It’s not so oppositional, it’s… supplemental. If no one is helping someone, you help them. If no one is fixing something, you fix it. The hunger of children is as important as the enemy at the gate. Kal-El, the voice of god, protects his people both as a super-man and as a human reporter. In both cases, on both stages, he asks people to stand up for truth and justice, and to stand up for each other. 

this is fascinating!

i would suggest that the christian hero narrative has two branches, the one roach described, and one of radical hospitality, which i think is embodied in captain america, particularly in his interactions with bucky in the mcu.

but wrt batman and superman, yeah, batman definitely personifies the dark side of that eradicate-evil attitude, and superman has personified the “what can i personally do to improve things” approach. from what i’ve heard about the recent movies, it sounds like they’re losing that.

hello cap was also created by Jews cap in his original incarnation was also very much a Personification of Justice but I mean.mcu cap I see it

Yeah, Steve Rogers’s story is very much so Jewish. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, but Steve Rogers is a golem created by a Jewish scientist (two if Howard Stark is Jewish) who becomes self-possessed. 

This is a fascinating conversation!

Snyders Superman is still very much a immigrants story.  I think this poster made a great post about it here: 

https://mynameisbrandyd.tumblr.com/post/142559572188/whitemarbleblock-kennysamathedeviant

She has other great posts and reposts on her site about Superman as a immigrants story.  They’re quite touching and thoughtful.

Also the OP’s comment here:  “The new Superman does not fail because it is cynical. The new Superman fails because he is not Jewish.“

Personally I disagree with this, this Superman for a lot of people doesnt work for them, I think, is because this Superman makes people uncomfortable.  He does good, but doesnt always reap the rewards or get the praise.  He isnt a symbol for great hope for some (in the film) but the potential of great destruction.  And even when he does do good, there’s always the IDEA that no matter how much great things he does there’s the potential for great destruction around the corner. 

I think this discomfort comes from the fact this goes against the ideals of the American Dream. When your immigrant (or even just a minority / POC) the American Dream isnt always so easy.  Your supposed to work hard and reap the rewards. And when your an immigrant your also supposed to assimilate.

But for a lot especially immigrants and POC, you work hard you dont always get the reward or you have to work twice as hard to prove your worth, but even then your still considered an alien and an outsider.  Look at Batman V Superman (spoiler alert) Superman had to die before the country, he was raised in and lived would consider him a hero.  He had to make a great sacrifice to prove his worth. He’s treated like a immigrant a lot in Snyders movies, no matter how much good he does some people will automatically assume the worst before the assume the best. 

In Man of Steel, Superman tells an army official, “I want to help but only on my terms” and “your scared of me because you cant control me.” These two statements scare a lot of people when they come from an immigrant, immigrants aren’t supposed to assert themselves they’re supposed to assimilate and appreciate and be grateful.  But when your immigrant in a new country, you want to enjoy the freedoms your new home provides but for some people, they believe you shouldn’t enjoy those freedoms unless you earn them.  

For a lot of people Superman is the American ideal and Americans don’t earn their freedoms, their supposed to be a God given right.  But Superman he’s expected to earn them and that makes people uncomfortable.  

Superman is an immigrant and was written by the children of immigrants.

But the creators of Superman and Superman himself are a very specific type of immigrant.

They are Jewish immigrants.

To erase that Jewish component to Superman is antisemitic. You are erasing that Jewish component.

You can disagree with my statement “The new Superman does not fail because it is cynical. The new Superman fails because he is not Jewish.” all you like, but it does not change the facts.

I’ve seen a lot of discussion and videos and posts and articles about Superman and what went wrong. I’ve seen a lot about Superman in terms of being an

immigrant and etc.

You know what I have very little of?

Superman and his Jewish origins and and Jewish identity, 98% of which are written by Jewish people.

That is active Jewish erasure.

Which you are participating in.

Do you no realize that Jewish immigrants had to deal with the same shit of the American Dream and Ideal not being accessible to them. Deal with systemic antisemitism and institutionalized antisemitism that still is around.

Jews have always been treated and still are as alien and as outsiders that should give up and assimilate.

Jews are expected to be grateful when we are told we will go to hell for being Jewish. We are expected to be grateful that “hey not all of you died”.

I find your post insulting, condescending, and full of Jewish erasure and antisemitism.

Want to make a post about Superman as immigrant. That is fine. 

But if you are going to be actively erasing Jewish people’s history, history of antisemitism, current antisemitism, Superman and his creators’ Jewishness, and the struggle Jewish people have had throughout the years and well as currently then at least have the decency to not do on a post about the ingrained Jewishness of Superman and the erasure of that.