SUPERMAN WILL NO LONGER FIGHT FOR “THE AMERICAN WAY”
John wrote here about how the Superman character will come out as bisexual in the latest DC Comics series. But there’s more to the new Superman. According to this report, Superman will no longer be said to fight for “truth, justice, and the American way.” The motto will be changed to “truth, justice, and a better tomorrow.”
DC Comics defends the change on the theory that Superman does, indeed, fight for a better tomorrow. Okay. But this doesn’t explain removing “the American way.” Superman’s mission could be described as fighting for “truth, justice, the American way, and a better tomorrow.”
Thus, the change is an obvious attempt to detach the Superman brand from America, just as some of our elites want to detach themselves from their country. The change seems like an implicit statement that fighting for the American way isn’t a mission worthy of Superman, and maybe anyone else.
That’s the view of many on the left these days. Thankfully, it’s not the view of most Americans.
But the target audience for Superman comics isn’t most Americans. I assume a big part of that target audience is pre-teen and early teenage boys.
That cohort probably has nothing against the American way, although our education establishment is doing what it can to change this. However, these boys, on the whole, will be none-the-wiser when it comes to the change in Superman’s slogan.
The remainder of the target audience — the adult portion — must not, on the whole, be too fond of the American way. At least that’s how DC Comics must view it, for I doubt the company wants to alienate a significant portion of its consumers.
So DC Comics probably sees only upside in changing the slogan. The company signals its virtue to adults by taking a dim view of the American way, while making sure its Superman comics don’t promote patriotism among impressionable kids.
But will pre-teen and early teenage boys have any interest in the kind of woke Superman portrayed in John’s report? I hope not.
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