Is There Superman In Russian TV And Movies?

By Julia Gilichinskaya

A superhero is an independent type of hero in art and media. Father of all superhumans is Superman.

Superman was created in America in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, when it was almost impossible to believe in justice. From ancient times, people knew the plot about the hero who saves humanity. But the image of Superman contains a strong religious and ideological core, and a fundamentally new type of hero was born.

The biography of this character is filled with religious allusions.

Superman is the savior who has been sent to earth by representatives of the perfect race. He is almost a divine son. Superman's father knew about the death of his civilization and sent his son in a mega-cradle into outer space. The boy landed on earth, where he was found, adopted and grew up under an assumed name.

This story is like the plot of Moses’ rescue from Pharaon's genocide. Superman's adoptive parents are Jonathan and Martha, which is an allusion to the biblical characters Joseph and Mary.

The postmodern era introduced a fragmentation of the image of Superman, with a kind of schizophrenia or dual-personality. Clark Kent and Superman are two different persons in one body. Shy Clark is not just Superman’s mask, it is his second personality.

Clark Kent does not pretend to be clumsy and awkward, he actually is. He cannot build a relationship with his girlfriend, and Superman can. Fragmentation of personality became a sign of a new type of heroes and superhumans. The double life is invariable part of their images. They are ordinary people without a super costume.

The image of a superhero is not fully realized in the Russian media. In 2009, the movie "Black Lightning" was released. It was positioned as the first Russian movie about a superhero, but the main character in it is not a superhero. His image does not contain fragmentation. The hero did not become a new person when he received his magical attribute.

But Russian image makers use fragmentation for creating politicians’ images and placing them in a heroic context. We not only know about the work life of politicians, but also about their private life. We hear about their successes in sports, and we see their hobbies. They become ordinary people without their superhero costume—jacket and tie. But that is just a manipulation, neither creating the actual Superman.

There are several superhero images in different television programs in Russia, but they all are only comics.

Russian media makers do not exactly understand the force of this image and that is why they do not pay enough attention to it.