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Title
SUPERMAN, THE ARCHETYPE
Release Date
2006-01-13
Time
08:25:00
Comment
Article Text
JANUARY 13, 2006. He came into being in 1938. He was The Man of Steel, who could fight crime as soon as mild-mannered reporter for The Daily Planet, Clark Kent, stepped into a phone booth and took off his outer layer of clothing.
Like Moses and other ancient heroes, Superman was taken away, as a baby, from a place of danger and sent to another locale, where he flourished.
Superman was the underlying fact of Clark Kent.
Superman was the archetype of Clark Kent.
One of the very bright artifacts of the comic series was this ordinary person (Clark) backed up by the archetype.
In Captain Marvel, the same device was used. Billy Batson, crippled boy reporter, has been taken to see an old dying wizard named SHAZAM, who tells him that when he speaks his name he will be transformed. When Billy shouts SHAZAM, a bolt of lightning strikes him and he is the immortal and powerful crime fighter, Captain Marvel.
The archetype has been released and assumes center stage.
The crippled newsboy is transformed.
Weakness hides strength.
The stuff of legends.
Clark Kent CONSCIOUSLY adopts the pose of weakness. He uses it to conceal his strength. Why? Why doesn’t he exist all the time as Superman? What difference does it make if everyone knows who he is all the time?
Aside from the fact that Clark makes a great story, Clark grew up on Earth (after his exit from the planet Krypton) as an Earth child with Earth foster parents. He merged into Earth culture. He took on its limitations and customs. He assumed a dual nature.
When Superman was brought to the big screen, a new wrinkle was added. Realizing he is in love with Lois Lane, Superman must give up his power and live out his life as Clark in order to marry her. Enter the irony.
This quandary reflects the supposition that, in order to function in this culture as a card-carrying human being, one must surrender his power.
The supposition is false, but it acts as a deterrent.
The taboo is installed from without and within: IN ORDER TO BE WHAT ONE REALLY IS, ONE MUST GIVE UP THE MOST LONGED-FOR GOAL: LOVE.
It’s a very effective taboo. It works.
“I choose love.”
Or:
“I choose power.”
Can’t have both.
That’s the “rule of the prison.”
It’s a false rule. It’s a lie.
But it operates as a wall.
There are a number of these rules that keep human beings from tapping into their actual power.
The love-or-power rule is also invoked in the Spiderman movies. The kid can’t have both. He has to choose. Defend the weak against injustice and pain (be what he is), or marry the woman he loves.
Love is framed as the essence of what the culture is. So this rule could be expanded as: HAVE POWER, OR BE A PART OF THE CULTURE. CAN’T HAVE BOTH.
Another lie.
Actually, the part of the culture you don’t want, if you tap into power, is the perverse part that says individual power is a crime.
The Superman archetype was framed so that Supe came off as something of a dolt. He wasn't really anything unless he was fighting crime. He had no off-hours. He wasn't colloquial. He wasn't hip. He wasn't funny. He was a stiff.
Now, that is a perversion of archetypes. For example, I've written about a prime archetype called The Jester. For clues to this persona, I'd suggest Hesse's famous novel, Steppenwolf.
Interesting that The Jester is wrapped up in a Batman bad guy, The Joker. The Joker has all the fun, while Batman even as Bruce Wayne doesn't really enjoy life much.
This signifies a fracture in the culture. The good guy is androidal. The villain has flexibility. He parties. He laughs.
Even in the Godfather novel and films, the mafiosa guys are pretty happy, while the cops are practially invisible.
It sets up an either-or situation. Do bad stuff and enjoy yourself, or do good and be a robot.
We even see some of this in ET accounts. ETs are described as one-track morons. Do they ever tell jokes? Do they laugh? Do they jump in swimming holes? Do they listen to good music?
Show me a TV cop who laughs a lot, and I'll show you a guy who is portrayed as corrupt, or as a psychopath.
But when you get into the actual realm of archetypes, beyond the refracting distortions of the culture, you find, among other things, ecstasy and laughter and surpassing joy---with no sacrifice of power.
Speaking of America, you of course know that the culture was built on the backs of the Puritans. Hard work=grim work. Loyalty=tyranny. Hope=sacrifice. Laughter=sin. Sex=duty. Goodness=punishment.
That's one way the fracture occurred. It's how the good guys came to be the jerks. It's how people began to root for the bad guys. It's how the 1960s took off. It's how Nixon came to be the man everyone wanted to kick around. At an early age, he took on the mantle of the android. This fracture gets even worse when we come to Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld. The troika. Actually, Cheney and Rumsfeld embody the worst traits of both The Joker and the Cop...
Cultures everywhere pervert the realm of archetypes through distorting lenses, and end up with some version of an involuntary S&M freak show.
To top it off, people who don't exhibit some trace of either S or M are looked at with suspicion.
Consider a re-write of the Spiderman blockbuster. The kid tells his girl he can't love her because she might get hurt. She slaps him hard and tells him he's acting like a loser. Does he want the whole apply pie or does he want to turn into a flying steel statue? After all, she can fly, too. Flying can turn into sex, and vice versa. And then you have a whole new sequel.
All of this is background for the CD program across the page called ARCHETYPES, PAST LIVES, AND HIDDEN HUMAN ENERGIES.
JON RAPPOPORT www.nomorefakenews.com