Superheroes in American Culture

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Superheroes in American Culture

• Larisa Mikhaylova, Ph.D.
• Journalism Department,
• Moscow State University

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• Many American towns pride themselves on harboring
  their own Superheroes

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Metropolis, Illinois

• On January 21,1972, Metropolis, Illinois was
  given authorization by National Periodical
  Publications (D.C. Comics) to become the adopted
  "Home of Superman". The same year the state of
  Illinois also recognized Metropolis as the "Home
  of Superman" by passing House resolution 572.
  Superman himself was designated a "distinguished
  Son of Metropolis", The only so-named city in the
  United States.
• The Metropolis Chamber of Commerce then set into
  motion a promotional program to use Superman in a
  not-for-profit manner to promote the general
  welfare of the Metropolis Community.

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Metropolis, Illinois
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www.supermanhomepage.com

• The Superman Homepage is a fan-made website all
  about DC Comics' Superman, the first comic book
  superhero, who was created by Jerry Siegel and
  Joe Shuster, with information on Superman in all
  forms of media.

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• The TIMELINE menu allows you to visit the various
  sections of the Superman Homepage website based
  on the Superman era you're interested in, from
  the 1930s right through to today.
• 1938-1950
• 1951-1959
• 1960-1977
• 1978-1985
• 1986-1999
• 2000-Now

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1938-1950

• Classic Golden Age Comics
• Superman Radio program (1940-1951)
• Superman Cartoons (1941-1943)
• Superman Movie Serials (1948-1950) (with Kirk
  Alyn and Noel Neill

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Action Comics 1, June 1938

• Superman's origins as the last son of a dead
  planet were established
• The idea of a hero who keeps his birthplace in
  his heart yet also loves his adopted home
  correlates transparently to the experience of new
  immigrants
• People could relate to Clark because he was
  rejected, like some of them were yet underneath
  he was brave and good

Writer Jerry SiegelArtist Joe Shuster
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12-MONTH COMPARISONSof Comic Book Sales (2004)
www.comicon.com/cgi-bin

• 249.5 Superman108.2 Robin 65.8
  Batman Strikes!/ Batman Adventures 64.1
  Justice League Unlimited/ Justice League
  Adventures 63.3 Catwoman 50.3 Nightwing
  42.1 Batgirl 35.6 Adventures of Superman
  27.5 Flash 25.3 Green Lantern- 0.8
  Looney Tunes- 3.3 Wonder Woman- 6.2 Scooby
  Doo- 69.5 Batman

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Superman (1948) film with Kirk Alyn
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1951-1959

• Adventures of Superman 1951-1957 (TV serial
  with George Reeves, 104 episodes)
• Silver Age Comics

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• Adventures of Superman
• 1951-1957
• TV serial with George Reeves, 104 episodes)

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1960-1977

• Broadway Musical 1966
• Super Friends Cartoons 1973-1977

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Super Friends Cartoons

• Producer Hanna Barbera
• Characters Aquaman, Batman and Robin, and Wonder
  Woman along with eager young hero trainees Wendy,
  Marvin, and Wonder Dog

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1978-1986

• Four Superman films with Christopher Reeve

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• On the train are two former Superman alumni Kirk
  Alyn, who had played Superman in two Columbia
  Pictures serials in 1948 and 1950 and Noel Neill,
  who had played Lois Lane in both of those
  Columbia serials as well as in the Superman
  television series from 1953-57.

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1986-1999

• New Comic Books series
• Lois and Clark The New Adventures of Superman
  debuted on September 12, 1993 on ABC Television,
  and ran for four seasons.

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Smallville (2000-2006)
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Clark teenager in Smallville
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Superman Returns (2006)Clark- Brandon Routh
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The S Story
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Iroqois Healing Snake symbol
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Jor-El Krypton Family crest
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Appealing to the best human traits donating blood
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An appeal to Supermen within us
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Batman
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• First appeared in DC comic book in 1941

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TV serial Wonder Woman

• Lynda Carter as an Amazon with a golden lasso
  which entered our time
• (later Xena-Warrior Princess is based to an
  extent on the character of Wonder Woman)

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Wonder Woman

• Lynda Carter in the second season of TV series

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Spiderman

• Peter Parker
• bit by a radioactive mutant spider and turned
  into a person capable of long and high jumps,
  spurting spiderweb
• First appeared in 1962, Marvel Comics title
  Amazing Fantasy 15
• spiderman n
• ????. ????????
• ????? ???????. ?????? (EN-RU)

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Your friendly neighborhood Spiderman

• with great power there must also come... great
  responsibility... and so a legend is born".

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Green Lantern
The name used by a number of different DC Comics
superheros from 1940 on. Created by Martin
Nodell and Bill Finger, the original Green
Lantern debuted in All-American Comics 16 (July
1940). All Green Lanterns possessed a special
ring called a power ring.These individuals made
up the intergalactic police force known as the
Green Lantern Corps. A member of the Justice
Society of America.
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Flash

• Flash Comics 1 (January 1940)
• inhaled fumes of heavy water
• it turned him into superhuman
• runner

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X-Men

• Time has come for those who
• are different to stand united

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(No Transcript)
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Xena
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Incredibles
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Teen Titans

• Animated Series, ongoing
• Alongside with younger followers of other
  superheroes such as Batmans Robin grow teams
  of youngsters with superpowers ready to fight
  world evil
• It gave an idea of a school where they are taught
  to do exactly that - to save the world - Sky High

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Sky High (2005)

• Set in a world where superheroes are commonly
  known and accepted, young Will Stronghold, the
  son of the Commander and Jetstream, tries to find
  a balance between being a normal teenager and an
  extraordinary being.

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Russian Society of American Culture Studies

• http//www.rsacs.journ.msu.ru
• The theme of the next RSACS Conference is America
  Real, Fictional and Virtual
• It will be held at MSU Department of Journalism
  on December 14-19 2006.
• Themes and abstracts are welcome until March 1,
  2006 (half a page). Please send them to
  larisa_at_journ.msu.ru

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What ahead?

• Superheroes counteract Villains somehow it is
  comforting to know that whatever disaster is in
  store in the Universe people on Earth are not
  defenseless.