Naif Al-Mutawa: Superheroes inspired by Islam
There is no doubt in my mind that Naif Al-Mutawah is trying to do the right thing in creating 99 supercharacters based on the positive attributes of Islam. His talk is erudite and well worth watching, although there is something troubling in his tale. He talks about the similarity between the Bible and the North American superheroes, batman, superman and spiderman (I grew up on the first two), and how Jews were involved in dreaming them up in the first place (did I miss something?). But here’s the point. Regardless of the similarity between the tales of ancient Egypt and Krypton, you don’t need to invoke religion to bond with Superman. Superman is religionless, he’s there for everyone. So, if we now have 99 Islamic superheroes, maybe all the religions should have their own. I for example would favor Moishe, who flies except on Shabbes and never shmooses in the synagogue, and Peter, who encourages rogues, bandits and ousted CEOs to turn the other cheek. So definitely watch this one and ponder its implications. Will the real super hero please stand up?
Yes Mel, you did miss something - many (but certainly not all) of the superheroes in American comic books were invented by Jewish writers in the 1930's and 40's, as Jews were just beginning to emerge from the Ghetto and Shtetl mentality.
ReplyDeleteThere is no such thing as a cultural artifact (say, comic books) without an underlying cultural viewpoint - the personal values that were in the background of the artists who created these works.
Superman turns into "mild mannered" Clark Kent - with a hard working personality that doesn't want to stir up anything or make waves - isn't that like the American Jewish persona of the 1930's, 40's and 50's? A person who knows he's an outsider, but wants to fit in to American society.
And he falls in love with a girl who ain't Jewish :-) liking
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