 "Superman is long considered to have been an allegory for the immigrant experience in America.")
A new Superman movie is being released.
And the Make America Great Again (Maga) movement is mad. Really mad.
Because James Gunn, the filmmaker behind the movie and the head of DC studios, is drawing attention to one of the major themes of the movie – immigration.
“I mean, Superman is the story of America,” Gunn said in an interview. “An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost.”
“Yes, it plays differently, but it’s about human kindness and obviously there will be jerks out there who are just not kind and will take it as offensive just because it is about kindness,” he said. “But screw them.”
Gunn’s remarks came in the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on immigrants across the United States.
But what do we know about Superman’s immigration story? And what are the Maga faithful saying?
Superman’s immigration origin story
First, let’s take a brief look at the origins of Superman.
Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in 1938.
The character made its debut in Action Comics #1 in the April of that year.
Superman, who was originally a bald villain, was reworked into a superhero.
This was the time of the Great Depression, when America was hungering for a hero.
Superman became a smash hit across the United States – and remains one of the most iconic comic book characters in history.
Siegel and Shuster, who were from Ohio, met in high school and became friends.
More importantly for our story, they were both the children of Jewish immigrants.
Siegel’s parents came to America from Lithuania while fleeing anti-Semitism, while Shusters’ hailed from the Netherlands and Ukraine.
Immigration is a massive theme when it comes to Superman.
The character, named Kal-El, hails from the fictional planet “Krypton”.
His father, Jor-El, sent him to Earth as a baby so that he could escape a dying planet.
While many people have drawn parallels between Superman’s story and that of religious figures such as Jesus or Moses, others see Superman as a metaphor for the immigrant experience in America – those who come to America or are sent by their parents to seek refuge from war and famine.
More specifically, they view Superman as a nod to the experience of Jewish immigrants.
Remember, Superman’s tale came at the time when Hitler was gaining power in Europe and persecuting the Jews.
In fact, the comics even showed Superman confronting those seeking to persecute immigrants and remarking that he is “one of them”.
In Action Comics #987, Superman saves immigrants from an armed white American who is angry over the loss of his factory job.
“Superman is himself an immigrant,” Dan Jurgens, the writer of the comic, told USA Today. “In some ways he is the ultimate immigrant. It’s not that he’s from another country, he’s from a whole other world.”
It just isn’t limited to comics alone.
The TV show Smallville, which deals with Clark Kent as a teenager and young adult, also deals with this immigration theme head on.
Clark even point blank tells his mother Martha that he is an illegal immigrant and reminds her that she forged his adoption and other legal papers.
The comics and TV show also dealt with the recurring theme of Kal-El’s identity as an immigrant – one who comes from another world and tries to assimilate into America and successfully reconciles both halves of him.
What are the Maga faithful saying?
The Maga faithful have not taken Gunn’s remarks well.
Kellyanne Conway, who famously coined the phrase ‘alternative facts’ during the first Trump administration, chided Gunn for his remarks.
“We don’t go to the movie theatre to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us,” Conway said. “I wonder if it will be successful.”
“You know what it says on his cape,” her co-host Jesse Watters asked. “MS-13.”
Others on social media also accused Superman of “going woke” and lamenting that “Hollywood never learns”.
However, the cast of the movie seem to have brushed the matter aside.
Nathan Fillion, who plays Guy Gardner, aka Green Lantern, told Variety, “Aw, somebody needs a hug. Fillion said “Just a movie, guys.”
Sean Gunn, who plays Maxwell Lord, added, “My reaction to [the backlash] is that it is exactly what the movie is about,” he said. “We support our people, you know? We love our immigrants. Yes, Superman is an immigrant, and yes, the people that we support in this country are immigrants and if you don’t like that, you’re not American. People who say no to immigrants are against the American way.”
Superman stars David Corenswet as the titular hero, with Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor
The film will hit theatres in India on July 11.
With inputs from agencies
Deven Kanal kicked off his media career at Reader's Digest after graduating from The Times School of Journalism. With more than 13 years of work experience in the media, he has written on a variety of subjects — from human interest stories to sports, politics and pop culture