Feb 15 2009
Superman Was Adopted!
I want to do a series on famous adoptees. Since I’ve been so super serious lately, I thought I would make an attempt at lightening up and talking about something more fun. So, I’m starting my famous adoptees homage with 2 of the most famous fictional adoptees I can think of.
Superman and Little Orphan Annie.
My son is fascinated with Superman right now. I think it’s more about the fact Superman can fly then anything else, but I still think it could be beneficial long term. Even those with only a casual knowledge of Superman knows he was born on planet Krypton, and was sent by his parents in a ship to Earth, right before the annihilation of his home planet.
Superman crash lands, is taken in by a kindly couple, and raised to adulthood.
Now think for a minute if Clark Kent’s adoptive parents hadn’t done a good job raising him, or if Clark had moped around feeling sorry for himself. What if he had decided to find a darker purpose to use his super powers? Lex Luther would be the least of our worries.
I’m sure most everyone knows the story of Little Orphan Annie, too. Poor Annie, living in squalor at a miserable
orphanage, and being mistreated by evil Miss Hannigan, but Annie still has a heart of gold. Surely her goodness will be paid off somehow.
Then it happens. The dream of every orphan for generations past and present. Mr. Moneybags himself rolls in and sweeps Annie away into a life of luxury and cute party dresses. Daddy Warbucks is THE MAN!
As cute and heartwarming as this story is, it bothers me just a little. It seems to send an unrealistic message to adoptees and potential adopters. As adoptees, the chances of a Daddy Warbucks are pretty slim. You don’t need money and a cool bodyguard named Punjab to find happiness in your adopted home.
For potential adopters, the story puts out a stereotype of orphans and other children needing homes that the only thing acceptable to THEM is a Daddy Warbucks. Parents may pause and not seek out a child to adopt because they think they don’t have enough to offer. You may not have a legion of servants waiting to serve a child, but you can offer them a warm and loving place away from Miss Hannigan. I don’t know about Annie, but if it were me, I’d take your small spare bedroom over Miss Hannigan any day of the week.
I think we all know we can’t really be Superman. It sure would be cool, but no one is going to be leaping tall buildings without the aid of some highly engineered jet pack. Well, that is unless some really cool advances are made in genetic engineering. Or X-Men becomes a reality.
**side note** If X-Men becomes reality, I want to develop a mutation like Storm. I think it would be really awesome to be able to manipulate the elements like that.
Annie is a slightly more dangerous fantasy. There is nothing about it that’s impossible, but an obsession with trying to achieve that perfect Annie-like adoption scenario could be crippling in the development of a child.
Regardless, even though they may be fictional, they have a lesson to teach to kids everywhere. Being adopted ain’t half bad.
Have you ever noticed how many superheroes are orphans, have lost their parents, often to violence? Many are raised by aunts or uncles, grandparents or, as in Batman’s case, a family retainer.
The unconditional love of someone who takes you in though “you’re not their own,” I think, is a big factor on why so many of these superheroes fight for good even though they see the worst of humanity.
Just food for thought.
right. Superman’s probably the best example. but also, there’s Spider-Man, who was also raised right by his wise uncle Ben and gentle (and loving) Aunt May.
I forgot about Spider-Man!
I suppose it helps add depth to their characters. I agree with stephanieebarr’s point. These heroes have known love that wasn’t expected or conditional.
I spend a lot of time thinking about what it’s like to be an adoptee. It breaks my heart when I hear from an adoptee about the relationship with an adoptive parent, that insinuates a necessity to be “grateful” to that parent for “rescuing” them from their biological beginnings.
In my opinion, this is absolutely wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Shame on any parent out there (bio or adopted) for insinuating that their child is lucky to have been saved. You’re just setting yourself up for failure.
So I suppose there is a lesson to be learned in these superhero stories for parents, too.