Double Like the Comic Books

¶ … Double

Like the comic books on which it was based, the film Superman explores the nature of the double. From the opening scenes on Krypton to the central symbol of Clark Kent transforming into America's superhero, Superman employs strong visual imagery and storyline to reveal the various expressions of the double. The film opens on Superman's home planet Krypton, during a time of actual and symbolic darkness. A political upheaval has taken place on the planet, and three revolutionary leaders are being tried in front of a council of elders including Jor-El (Marlon Brando). Their white robes glow in stark contrast to the darkness that surrounds them. The contrast between light and dark within the opening scene sets the stage for the remainder of the movie. Opposing truth with deception, tyranny with justice, and good with evil remain the central thematic focus of the film Superman. Interestingly, one of the co-writers of the screenplay was Mario Puzo, best known for the Godfather story in which good and evil often blend into each other seamlessly. In Superman, however, good and evil are binaries. Their staunch opposition allows the idea of the double to emerge in various manifestations throughout the film, most importantly in Superman himself.

Born Kal-El on the planet Krypton, Superman lives a double life for nearly the entire film. His father Jor-El and mother Vond-Ah (Maria Schell) fear the immanent destruction of the planet and therefore send their infant child in a special space capsule directly to earth. Knowing Kal-El will have extraordinary powers compared to earthlings, Jor-El also sends with him a holographic instruction manual warning his son about his powers and advising him on how to use them judiciously. His parents know that Kal-El will have a hard time on Earth, and could possibly be "isolated and alone" because of his physical invulnerability.

Keeping his powers secret defines young Clark Kent's (Jeff East) childhood and adolescence. He is able to readily adopt a dual identity since his adoptive parents provide him not only with a new name but with a caring and supportive emotional environment. Their understanding of his unique background enable the young Kent to accept his special powers without feeling so ostracized as to turn his powers against the world. Nevertheless, leading a double life as a child prevents him from being socially accepted, let alone popular. For example, being himself would enable him to be the star of the football team and a cheerleader's boyfriend. Keeping his identity hidden turns Kent into a nerdy type, an identity he sticks with when he moves to Metropolis as a reporter. His nerdy double stands in stark contrast to his hyper-masculinity. Although it is obvious that Kent is a large man in his business suit, he manages to appear weak and meek to compensate for his extraordinary strength. The most telling scene in which Kent's double nature is revealed comes when Lois Lane is mugged in the alley behind the Daily Planet offices. Kent whimpers and tells Lane that she should surrender her purse. He doesn't put up a fight, knowing he could easily kill the man if he did. When Lois fights back herself, Kent seems even more emasculated until he catches a bullet with his bare hands. Holding a woman in his arms and not being able to brag to her about what he just accomplished must have taken a man of steel.

Thus, Kent became adept at living a double life. He was raised to accept duality as an inescapable part of his nature. Although his parents Jonathan (Glen Ford) and Martha (Phyllis Thaxter) understand their adopted son is not of this earth, they raise him as a human child to help him to maintain humility and composure. Clark Kent develops his double life even as he occasionally longs to use his powers to impress others and win friends. He even asks his father why he can't be himself, claiming that showing his true colors is theoretically not at all egotistical. Yet both Clark and his father know that his case is a special one. To reveal his true powers would be catastrophic, preventing Clark from even attempting to pass as an ordinary human being. Living a double life enables him to at least put on a human mask to fit in. Clark Kent cannot help but overcompensate and develops a double that is almost too humble, too extremely plain. The filmmakers could have made Kent's character more realistic by having him capitalize moderately on his prowess at least to impress the ladies. However, to do so would have significantly detracted from the central theme of the film: good against evil. The greater the contrast between Superman and Clark Kent, the more salient the difference between the forces of good and the forces of evil becomes.

Kent turns humility into an art. He carefully crafts his Kent persona so that not even Lois Lane (Margot Kidder) can detect the truth. Because Superman is actually his real self, Kent does not suffer overly much when he can only win over Lane in his cape. Ironically, his Superman uniform is not the disguise; the Clark Kent business suit is. Kent's awkwardness partly stems from his having to suppress his whole identity. Yet his double is the only part of himself he can reasonably show to the world without causing any cataclysmic disruptions or raising eyebrows. Furthermore, Superman's double is genuine, a natural product of his sociological development within an ordinary American salt-of-the-earth family. His double did not arise from psychological trauma, self-hatred, or any other pathological reason. Quite the contrary, his need to craft a double identity stems from his desire to be a superman while walking among the people. Kal-El could have used his unearthly powers for self-aggrandizement but instead followed his father's advice and wisdom.

Superman's diametric double as the nerdy Clark Kent therefore facilitates the development of the film's central theme of good vs. evil. The title character is portrayed as a force of pure good in a world filled with evil. Likewise, Superman exudes primordial strength in the body of what appears to be an ordinary human being. Although he deceives others by not telling them who he really is, Kent would not lie if confronted. For example, if Lois Lane had asked him straight out if he was Superman Kent would not have been able to lie because he is committed to telling and living the truth. He finds living a double life to be easy because his superpowers are so beyond ordinary human nature that no one would ever suspect that a nerdy news reporter could possibly be Superman.

Moreover, a double is not an opposite. Lex Luthor (Gene Hackman) is Superman's nemesis, his genuine opposition. A double is an alter-ego, similar to a shadow self but one that is wholly owned and acknowledged. Nothing about Clark Kent inherently conflicts with Superman's inner nature. Both Superman and Clark Kent are humble and honest humanitarians. Clark Kent's personality reflects his true self rather than conflict with it as it does in other stories with the theme of the double, like Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde. His alter ego is not something that develops in response to low self-esteem or suppressed desire either. Superman's double grew out of his upbringing with the Kent family and he is as much a Kent as he is a Kryptonian. Like any adopted child, he is equally a product of his birth parents and his adoptive ones. He was born with his physical traits, which he can never change. Yet Kent was raised as a human being from the time he was a toddler. Nature and nurture commingle to make Superman what he is and thus, his double is not a false identity.

Interestingly, if Kal-El had never left Krypton he would not have developed a double. On Krypton he would have been an ordinary individual with average powers. He is only a superman on Earth. The film therefore suggests that personal identity does not develop in isolation of social surroundings. Identity is a combination of innate characteristics and sociological realities. Similarly, Superman is like a quintessential American immigrant. As a foreigner, he is different from everyone else. Yet he hides his differences in order to fit in: Superman assimilates. The film capitalizes on visual imagery to further the theme of the double. For instance, Clark Kent wears only black suits. He is monotonous in his dress as well as his speech. Kent moves clumsily, bumping into desks at the Daily Planet. He doesn't seem in control of his body or his words. The Daily Planet editor criticizes Kent for lacking confidence. Clark Kent's persona is the exact opposite of his image as Superman: a graceful, confident, muscular man who wears as colorful a costume as could be.

When he comes out of the closet wearing an outlandish red and blue uniform and cape, Superman unabashedly asserts his differences. Superman can only be himself when he completely sheds his role as Clark Kent, as in the scene in which he leaps from the Daily Planet window in his suit and turns into Superman as soon as he soars through the air. As Kent he can never save lives. Superman maintains a total separation between his two selves and this allows Superman to avoid any incongruity between his two identities. Kent remains the newspaper nerd, never hinting at what he is physically capable of. His ability to keep his double hidden from the world becomes evident when he is still in school and manages to resist capitalizing on his strength to become the school's starring quarterback or on his hyper-masculinity to get girlfriends. Kent keeps his double hidden from the world just as Superman keeps his mundane identity secret. Superman never sullies his image by wearing a monkey suit and does not appear weak even in the face of doom or disaster.

The only time Superman compromises the integrity of his double identity is by getting close to Lois Lane. In fact, she begins to suspect that Clark Kent might indeed be Superman when it dawns on her that the two have never been seen together. She quickly dismisses the thought as absurd, though, because Superman so artfully crafted his double. The differences between Clark Kent and Superman are sharp enough to help him avoid conflict. Yet Kent can change into Superman and back instantly and with little effort. The ease at which he can transform back and forth between Kent and Superman mirrors the fact that the double identity is superficial only. Beyond the externalities of his physical appearance, Kent and Superman are the same person.

Lex Luthor facilitates the development of Superman's powers, providing the superhero with a primary purpose. Kal-El told his son that he would be fulfilling a specific function as a super-being on Earth and that his powers would be put to good use. Kent therefore develops his double identity with his higher purpose in mind, sublimating his powers for the greater good of humanity rather than channeling them into mundane possibilities like wooing women. His double neither helps nor hinders his goal, but if Superman had never cultivated his alter-ego as Clark Kent he would never have met Lois Lane and would have been truly alone and without friends. Although he can never fully reveal himself to Lane, Kent's identity allows Superman to at least pass for being an ordinary person.