Why Superman is Obviously A Mexican-American Character
Illegal alien that left his home at a young age and becomes a farmer. Sound familiar?…
Ever since I was a little kid, I have loved super heroes and to this day I think they’re one of the best things that has ever happened to this earth. They teach us to believe in ourselves, be kind, and to always be better. I loved superheroes so much I would even watch the bad cartoons because I was so desperate for content. Cartoons like Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends which is from the 1970s and The Mighty Thor that came out in 1966. And it wasn’t like these cartoons were just playing during the day, I had to wait until eleven at night to watch them. At five years old it might as well had been five in the morning.
I grew up in Tijuana, Mexico, which is only a border away from sunny San Diego, California. To me the United States was grocery shopping, beaches, and visiting some family. I had no real interest in the US of A, until I was forced to. In seventh grade my father left. My mother and I, had no money and we felt the doors of opportunity closing in Mexico, so my mother enrolled me at school in the United States. I am a born US citizen, but going to school in America is reserved to residents which I was not. I didn’t even know English when we did the switch and I was failing my classes because of it. I had to learn the language fast; one of my favorite ways of learning was through comic books and manga and while a lot of people’s favorite DC superhero is Batman, mine had always been Superman.
What makes Superman interesting to me, is what makes him so boring to other people: He’s a boy scout, he is too strong, he never does anything wrong. They are right, but they fail to understand the fundamentals idea of Superman. He is not a good person because he’s a super hero, he’s a super hero because he’s a good person. If he was chasing money and fame he could have been the best athlete in the world. Gaining riches beyond compare, instead he decides to help those in need. Another important idea nobody else seems to see is the fact that Superman is Mexican-American just like me.
If we take the Mexican-American experience and condense it to a few major points, those points would be
- Illegal Alien risks his life to come to the United States for a better life
- Once inside the country they can’t tell anyone of their illegal status for fear of deportation, or being treated differently
- Usually gets a job as a farmer, cook, or any type of factory
- People rally against immigrants ultimately making them feel like outsiders.
Superman fits all of those experiences. He was sent from Krypton, a failing dangerous planet, to a place where he would be able to flourish and be safe. He became a farmer. While growing up he could not tell anyone of his powers or where he came from, for fear of being taken away, or being treated differently. Lastly there has been various comic book storylines and adaptations where people rally against literal illegal aliens, ultimately making them feel as outsiders even if they come in peace.
If those reasons are not enough to convince you of his Mexicaness, even the media treats him like one. In the article by The Huffington Post named Fox News Host Has A Meltdown Over ‘Illegal Alien’ Superman Defending Immigrants it details how a Fox news radio host called Superman a propaganda tool for illegal aliens. Even some people in the media treats him like an outsider that falls more closely to the immigrant group than white America.
Different comics and adaptations have also used the Mexican-American experience as inspiration for their stories. In 2016 Supergirl did an episode called Undocumented Aliens. The basic premise of the episode is the fact that POTUS which is played by OG Wonder Woman Lynda Carter is offering safety and citizenship to any alien that comes in peace. Inside the show, the president is letting literal illegal aliens who are fleeting dangerous home planets to come to the United States. While it is not easy to get citizenship in real life and they are not being received with open arms, the idea is still the same. Immigrants risk their life for the possibility of a better one. Unsurprisingly not every one was a fan of this storyline inside the show.
I know Supergirl is not the same character as Superman, but this type of narrative has also been used in Superman comics and lore. One of the main reasons Lex Luthor hates Superman so much is the fact that he is an Alien that may or may not be trustworthy. This type of distrust was also in Batman V Superman. In that movie Batman is biased against Superman because he is an illegal alien. That type of bias is a huge part of the Mexican-American experience.
I know in reality Superman was written as the Jewish immigrant experience. There is an incredible article named Superman Is Jewish: The Hebrew Roots of America’s Greatest Superhero that details of all this. But the focus has certainly changed from its inception. Throughout the years Superman writers have been taking cues from the real world and implementing them into their stories. What started as something Jewish, has now transformed into something Mexican-American.
Superman is a character that has a secret he can’t tell anyone for fear of being taken away to a facility. Just like immigrants today are afraid of being taken away. He becomes a farmer to support his family. He grows up and people inside and outside of the comic book page are against him because of his illegal status. Superman is Mexican-American or at the very least gets treated like one.
What do you think? I don’t want to alienate anyone by putting their favorite super hero in a box, this is just merely why I love Superman so much and why I identify with him.
