OSCK Superman Fans of Smallville
A Hero Embraces His Destiny
![[image]](http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y113/loisclark/OSCKBanner.png)
What does Clark Kent mean to me?
This one is simple. Clark Kent is synonymous to Superman. After all, aren’t they one and the same? Therefore, what Clark Kent means to me is what Superman means to me.
What does Superman mean to me?
This one will take a little more exposition. Why? He’s been part of the American culture since his introduction in Action Comics in the year 1938. His story has been told and re-told countless of times. He’s had many incarnations in all types of media. He’s been so ingrained in popular culture that, not only his name but his symbol are known throughout the world. He is a lot of things to a lot of people.
But to me… if I had to sum up what Superman means to me in one word, it’ll have to be ideal. According to my copy of Webster’s New World Dictionary, ideal means – n. 1) a conception of something in its most excellent form 2) a perfect model 3) a goal or principle.
In an imperfect world, Superman is what it means to be an ideal. In a world where almost everything is questionable – from religion to politics to morality to just being… an ideal is sometimes just a word too faint to be defined, too complicated to understand, too far away to grasp, too foreign to accept, too imaginary to believe. But in the midst of chaos, ideals are born all the time. In the midst of adversity, ideals are held onto and never let go. In the midst of despair, ideals often are the only hope we cling to.
Superman is Kal-El. He’s an alien from another planet who was so loved by his parents; he was sent away that he may live. Through his biological parents’ ultimate sacrifice, he was saved from a far away world doomed for destruction. He is Kal-El of Krypton.
Superman is Clark Kent. On earth, discovered by Jonathan and Martha Kent, he was raised in a home full of love and hope. Through the lessons and examples he’s learned from his upstanding parents, he grew up and knew earth as his only home. He is Clark Kent of Smallville.
In embracing himself – the legacies of both his biological and adoptive parents as a whole has shown him what is to be who he is. He has traversed what we’ve all been through… the search for the meaning of life, the journey to self-discovery.
Superman is an ideal. He is someone we all hope we could be. He is someone who as Clark Kent is far from perfect but who as Superman, strives to be against all odds. He has embraced what is to be human because he has seen the potential of humanity… that we are good, that we have the capacity to be the best of what we can be. We only lack the light to show us the way.
Actually, I could go on and on. But since we have a limit, I think an exposition about a one-word description for what Superman means to me will have to suffice. I love Clark Kent and Superman. But sometimes, when I see and watch CK in Smallville, I come close to really despising him. I truly don't want to feel like that. And that's why I'm here.
- MrandMrsKent, CA. USA
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![[image]](http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/9458/supermanbanner26kn3.jpg)
A) What Smallville's Clark Kent means to you.
Clark Kent is all of good. He is a symbol of constancy, after all, he is the kind of man and friend you can always rely on. Even if he did not have powers, he would be the man to help old ladies cross the street or help a person he has never seen before in a moment of trouble. In other words he is an idol Men and Women have to look up to in their every day actions.
B) What Superman means to you.
Superman, altough one and the same as Clark Kent, is a different kind of Idol. He is similar to doctors, police and firemen, who put their lives at risk on a daily basis in orther to help and protect other people.
He is also an idol to be looked up too, he never lies, he believes in truth and justice and he would die to save mankind, even if he is not human. Therefore. He represents Hope.
In a world where violence and deceit is in constant growth, the image of a man that can fly and save people on a daily bases can give us hope that there are GOOD people in this world still, and that we can act as this idol and create the better world Clark Kent/Superman has created.
So Superman and Clark Kent are, to me, symbols of constancy, hope and the possibility of a better world and a better humanity.
- Elen, Brazil
What does Clark Kent mean to me?
Clark Kent has always symbolized hope, purity and and goodness to me. A stable and morally upright character with a clear understanding of right and wrong.
What does Superman mean to me?
Well, all of the above plus an iconic symbol of hope, love, honor, trust and strength.
(Pretty simplified but that's what he's meant to me over the years and this CK is lacking....
)
- Denise
Clark Kent is all of good. He is a symbol of constancy, after all, he is the kind of man and friend you can always rely on. Even if he did not have powers, he would be the man to help old ladies cross the street or help a person he has never seen before in a moment of trouble. In other words he is an idol Men and Women have to look up to in their every day actions.
B) What Superman means to you.
Superman, altough one and the same as Clark Kent, is a different kind of Idol. He is similar to doctors, police and firemen, who put their lives at risk on a daily basis in orther to help and protect other people.
He is also an idol to be looked up too, he never lies, he believes in truth and justice and he would die to save mankind, even if he is not human. Therefore. He represents Hope.
In a world where violence and deceit is in constant growth, the image of a man that can fly and save people on a daily bases can give us hope that there are GOOD people in this world still, and that we can act as this idol and create the better world Clark Kent/Superman has created.
So Superman and Clark Kent are, to me, symbols of constancy, hope and the possibility of a better world and a better humanity.
- Elen, Brazil
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![[image]](http://img512.imageshack.us/img512/3761/saveclarkkent1bt3.png)
What does Clark Kent mean to me?
Clark Kent has always symbolized hope, purity and and goodness to me. A stable and morally upright character with a clear understanding of right and wrong.
What does Superman mean to me?
Well, all of the above plus an iconic symbol of hope, love, honor, trust and strength.
(Pretty simplified but that's what he's meant to me over the years and this CK is lacking....
)- Denise
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![[image]](http://img85.imageshack.us/img85/9706/opsckbanner1pb8.jpg)
What does Clark Kent mean to me?
Clark Kent, to me, symbolizes purity; kindness... he's the idea of a perfect man. To me, even if he uses glasses, work suits and bumbling attitude to mask his incredible powers, he's the true person hidden behind Superman's costume, not the other way around. He's soul, he's heart. He is, as somebody once described, all brains hidden behind a warm heart. He's extremely clever, yet modest, humble and sweet.
He has two different sides that, eventually, merge together. There's the confident, strong side that's represented by Superman and there's the shy, bumbling, vulnerable, kind side, represented by Clark.
To me, Superman is what he can do. Clark Kent is who he is and, even being from another planet, he represents pure and simple humanity.
What does Superman mean to me?
Superman, to me, represents strength. Will. Bravado.
He's symbol of hope, and, as I've already said, to me Superman is one side of Clark Kent. The free, confident and powerful side.
Superman symbolizes power - and not just the amazing abilities he has. Also, he symbolizes one power we all have. The power to help mankind; the power to help things change for the best; the power to help this world become a better place to live.
- Rachel, Brazil
Clark Kent, to me, symbolizes purity; kindness... he's the idea of a perfect man. To me, even if he uses glasses, work suits and bumbling attitude to mask his incredible powers, he's the true person hidden behind Superman's costume, not the other way around. He's soul, he's heart. He is, as somebody once described, all brains hidden behind a warm heart. He's extremely clever, yet modest, humble and sweet.
He has two different sides that, eventually, merge together. There's the confident, strong side that's represented by Superman and there's the shy, bumbling, vulnerable, kind side, represented by Clark.
To me, Superman is what he can do. Clark Kent is who he is and, even being from another planet, he represents pure and simple humanity.
What does Superman mean to me?
Superman, to me, represents strength. Will. Bravado.
He's symbol of hope, and, as I've already said, to me Superman is one side of Clark Kent. The free, confident and powerful side.
Superman symbolizes power - and not just the amazing abilities he has. Also, he symbolizes one power we all have. The power to help mankind; the power to help things change for the best; the power to help this world become a better place to live.
- Rachel, Brazil
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Ah. I was ready with this whole list, about how Clark Kent is the eternal Boy Scout, the kind of guy that will do good no matter what happens. About how Clark Kent- the post-Crisis version, anyways- is just a normal guy who happens to have powers beyond people’s wildest dreams, and goes against what human nature is and chooses to use those powers selflessly. And that he’s the epitome of goodness and naïveté, in the form of a guy trying to make his way through the world.
But it’s not about the iconic Clark Kent, but Smallville’s Clark.
He is the only one that has been created after the advent of 9/11- an event that has definitively changed the face of the world. People forget about this event, brushing it off into the past, but it has affected the world in almost every aspect. Including how the world views Clark Kent, and therefore Superman.
He shows that while there can be all this destruction in the world, with people senselessly killing each other in the name of religion, there can still be hope that some good will come out of it. That Clark Kent can and will survive growing up during this period of uncertainty in the world and still be able to become Superman.
B) What Superman means to you.
Superman- even saying that out loud gives it a purpose. It has become a name affiliated with hope and good, along with Truth, Justice, and the American Way. As we are approaching the seventieth year after his inception, Superman is still a prominent icon in popular culture- one of the longest-lasting figures, joining Mickey Mouse as a symbol of time-tested goodness.
His constant presence in the world gives a sense of protection, giving us the feeling “Oh, Superman is still a hero, he still stands for all the same things that he used to. The world must not be completely bad, if we are able to envision such good.”
While Clark Kent is the epitome of good, Superman is the epitome of greatness. He always strives to save everyone, to be the guiding light of the human race. He is larger than life; that perfect man that everyone should want to be like. His morals, what he stands for- it’s so different, so comforting that there is someone in the world who sees things in black and white, with no shades of gray.
What Superman ultimately symbolizes is that there is always hope in the world- that good will always triumph over evil, and that even when things seem at their darkest hour, you will be able to bounce back. He is the prevalent optimist in the pessimistic society.
But Superman cannot be Superman without being Clark Kent- he cannot be the savior of the world without being the mild-mannered newspaper reporter. He symbolizes the duality of man, how someone so seemingly normal can also be the most powerful man in the world, and also how that powerful man likes to put his feet up on the coffee table, just like everyone else.
To me, Clark Kent, along with his Superman persona, exemplify the ultimate good.
- Ann, California
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