Superheroes, Idealism, and the Case for/against War

Sometimes history moves faster than a speeding bullet.

Superman appeared on the cover of Action Comics #1 in April 1938. The character caught on with readers: a new kind of pulp hero, dressed in bright colors and blessed with superhuman powers, dedicated to making the world a better place. Within months, he had his own comic title; a year later, competitors were horning in on the action with other superheroes: Batman, Captain Marvel, Flash, and many others now forgotten.

Meanwhile Hitler began to rapidly expand Germany’s borders to the south and east, annexing Austria in March 1938 and the German-speaking parts of Czechoslovakia a few months later. German troops partitioned the remainder with Hungary in March 1939, and in September Hitler invaded Poland as part of a secret agreement with Russia’s Stalin, triggering the start of World War II.

While Great Britain and France were the first to declare war, Germany was the first to act, successfully occupying Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands and two-thirds of France in the spring of 1940. This left Britain isolated and under aerial bombardment, as detailed at the Churchill Museum.

How would America’s new breed of costumed idealists respond to this aggression? Superman’s creators, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, weighed in shortly before Germany’s series of spring 1940 offensives with a story imagining their hero bringing a swift end to the conflict. Interestingly, they published this story in Look magazine rather than an ordinary comic book—certainly a detail worthy of conversation.

Other comics creators weren’t so sure about the wisdom of getting involved in “Europe’s troubles.” In the late spring of the same year Don Shelby gave a principled argument for isolationism in a science-fiction story featuring Gary Concord: the Ultra-Man.

In short, the debate between Isolationists and Interventionists wound up being carried out not only on the editorial pages of America’s newspapers, but in the comic-books sold at those same newsstands. Perhaps the most forceful instance was the cover of the first issue of Jack Kirby and Joe Simon’s new hero, Captain America, who’s shown punching Hitler’s lights out.

Reading:

• Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, “How Superman Would Win the War,” Look magazine, Feb 27, 1940. (Focus on the comic.)
• Don Shelby (aka Jon L. Blummer), “Gary Concord, the Ultra-Man,” All-Star Comics #1, Summer 1940. (Focus on the first two interior pages of the comic-book story, and the last panel on the final page.)
• Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, “Case No. 1. Meet Captain America,” Captain America #1, March 1941. (Focus on the cover as well as the first two pages of the comic-book story.)

Writing: Respond to ONE of the following prompts. Keep your response short, posting as a reply under the appropriate heading in the comments section:

1. How do these comics characterize America’s purpose in the world? If possible, call attention to a continuity rather than to a disagreement.
2. How do these comics imagine the role of the superhero in society/history? Call our attention to a continuity or to a disagreement.

Everybody Comes to Rick’s

Casablanca was released in November of 1942, almost a year after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought an abrupt end to the political debate over whether America should intervene in the war. Yet that debate plays a central role in the movie, thematized in Bogart’s bitter declaration that he sticks his neck out for nobody.

That thematic focus can be traced to the screenplay’s origins as an unproduced stage play written in 1940, Everybody Comes to Rick’s. Warner Brothers purchased rights to the play in January 1942, shortly after the US declaration of war. Interestingly, the pair of screenwriters who adapted the play were around the same time working on series of seven propaganda films for the US Department of War titled Why We Fight.

Casablanca also provides us with the opportunity to dip a toe into a musical tradition very different from Beethoven, jazz. The movie features Dooley Wilson in the role of Sam, Rick’s loyal confidante who plays the piano in his saloon. Jazz is a distinctively American style of music; without Wilson’s presence at the piano, it’s hard to see how the place could properly be called “Rick’s Café Américain.” But jazz is also distinctively African-American, and Wilson’s relationship with Rick introduces American racial dynamics into a movie that is otherwise focused on what, if anything, America owes to the wider world.

Listening: Both of the following songs are classics, and date from the era of the movie. While both songs are upbeat, they also can be seen as offering sly commentary on race in America.

• Duke Ellington, “Take the A Train,” clip from 1943 movie Reveille: YouTube.
• Louis Armstrong, “Shine,” 1942 performance: YouTube.

Viewing: Michael Curtiz, Casablanca, available via BOB. (If this link doesn’t pull up the playlist, come back here and click on it a second time after you log in.)

Writing: Respond to ONE of the following prompts. Keep your response short, posting as a reply under the appropriate heading in the comments section:

1. Call our attention to a moment in the movie that can be read as advocating for American intervention in WWII.
2. Focusing on Rick’s relationship with Sam, what does Casablanca have to say about race? Call our attention to a particular moment and what it implies. (Feel free to reference the music of Louis Armstrong and/or Duke Ellington as well.)
3. Focusing on the movie’s love triangle, what does Casablanca say about the role(s) of love and passion in society? Is love a force for order or for chaos?