Superman as Metaphor

Arie Kaplan's book "From Krakow to Krypton" discusses the role many Jewish individuals played in the comic book industry from its inception. I discovered as I read the first section ("The Golden Age") that the history of comic books is quite fascinating. I must confess I never thought comic books or their history were something that would be interesting, but I have been pleasantly surprised. In fact, I think I would enjoy reading some of the early comic books that are discussed in this section.

Kaplan discusses many aspects of the early comic book industry in this section of his book, including the creation of Superman and how Superman has "recently been seen by pop culture scholars as the ultimate metaphor for the Jewish experience" (13). There are several reasons for this. One is that there is a similiarity between the extermination of people on Superman's home planet and the Holocaust (14). Another is that Superman's real name is Kal-El which approximately translates to "All that God is" in Hebrew (15). A third reason is that the name Superman uses to hide his true identity is Clark Kent, which is an average sounding American name, devoid of any ethnic identity. This third reason is a lens through which to view the Jewish experience because some Jewish people did change their names to hide or downplay their Jewish heritage (anti-Semitism was a problem for Jewish people, including in the area of employment). The example Kaplan mentions is that of Hollywood actors altering their names (15) . I believe the idea of Superman being used to think about the Jewish experience has some merit. However, I feel that it's a stretch to an extent for a few reasons. For starters, the Holocaust had not yet taken place when Superman was first created. Secondly, what exactly is "the Jewish experience"? While there are many aspects of historical life that can be used (and Kaplan does) to discuss this, I do not think it is fair to use such a blanket term. "The Jewish experience" would not have been the same for everyone, and using broad general terms such as that always make me nervous because some important things will be overlooked.