Yes, James Gunn's Superman is an immigrant story. Just as it always has been
The new DC film has landed with controversy after writer-director James Gunn called it the story of ‘an immigrant’. Despite the cries of ‘woke’, it’s hard to read Superman’s classic origins any other way
Superman's classic origin story has him as a climate refugee fleeing his exploding home planet. Image: DC / Warner Bros
Share
Superman is an immigrant. That’s the discourse that has taken flight as James Gunn’s new DC film lands in cinemas.
The writer-director told the Sunday Times: “Superman is the story of America. 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 something that we have lost.“
It’s gone down well in America at a time when ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agents) are detaining people on the country’s streets as Donald Trump’s pledge to crackdown on “illegal aliens” continues apace.
Right-wing commentators have predictably branded the film “woke” in a now-predictable backlash.
Fox News’ Kellyanne Conway said on the channel’s The Five show: “We don’t go to the movie theater to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us. I wonder if it will be successful.”
Of course, Fox News would never throw around an ideology.
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
The faux-outrage would have you believe that the comic book superhero, created by children of Jewish immigrants Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel in 1938, is completely disconnected with politics and the social issues of the day.
However Gunn’s take on the classic comic origins of the character manifests, it’s not a new or particularly controversial read of almost 90 years of Man of Tomorrow stories to suggest Superman is an immigrant.
After all, he is, quite literally, an “illegal alien” who crashes in the American midwest and is taken in without so much of a check of his papers.
That comes after he flees his home planet of Krypton when it self-destructs in the original Action Comics tale.
That makes Superman a climate refugee, Daniel Sohege tells the Big Issue.
“The whole point of Superman’s backstory is that he came to Earth after his own planet exploded,” said Sohege, director of human rights consultancy Stand For All and an expert in refugee and migrant law.
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
“Granted, the Refugee Convention does not cover the explosion of planets, but the UN has clarified that climate refugees, which Superman could arguably described as, do need to be provided with asylum.”
The Zack Snyder retelling in 2013’s Man of Steel has the planet destroyed by war driven by General Zod, meaning that Superman is a refugee fleeing conflict.
Whatever Gunn’s new take offers, it’s unlikely to stray too far from this ideal.
The classic tale has Superman raised as Clark Kent in the farmlands of the American state of Kansas.
Jonathan and Martha Kent take in the boy and raise them as their own. It’s a warm welcome relatively few of the world’s 42.7 million refugees can expect when they arrive in a new country, let alone on a new planet.
“Having come to Earth, Superman is seen to be an undocumented migrant initially, with his adoptive parents having to keep his origins secret. This is important in the context,” said Sohege.
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
“It shows Superman as someone who isn’t just powerful and good, but who also makes his utmost efforts to integrate and belong in a world he is not from. His whole story is the story of people coming to a country in search of a better, safer, life and making it their home. You cannot have Superman without recognising that he is first and foremost an immigrant.”
Superman’s Action Comics debut also entitled him as “Champion of the Oppressed”. According to the book DC’s Greatest Events, Superman “would go on to treat crooks and the forces of authority with equal disdain”.
It was in the advent of Second World War a few years after his debut when his patriotic place was assured.
Siegel and Shuster debuted How Superman Would End the War in Look magazine in 1940, imagining how the Big Blue Boy Scout would bring Stalin and Hitler to a trial for war crimes.
He’s not the only hero who was immediately thrust into the political sphere.
Since then, superheroes have soared in popularity and have come to dominate popular culture in the last few years, even if the cinematic star has slipped recently.
Superman is DC’s latest big swing to launch a new connected collection of films to finally rival the runaway success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It is a film that is intended to have as much mass appeal as possible, rake in millions and launch another wave of superhero stories.
But behind the Hollywood flair and the capes and cowls, the origins of these folk tales do have a deeper meaning and always have done. Sorry Fox News and the anti-woke brigade.
Advertising helps fund Big Issue’s mission to end poverty
If Gunn’s Superman delivers then he could be the hero America – a nation built on immigration – needs at its darkest hour of deep division.
Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
Support our vendors with a subscription
For each subscription to the magazine, we’ll provide a vendor with a reusable water bottle, making it easier for them to access cold water on hot days.
