Klaus Kent

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For those of you who never saw that 1978 "Saturday Night Live" skit that asked what might have happened if Superman/Clark Kent's Krypton meteor had landed in a village in Germany in the 1930s instead of the Kent farm in Smallville...here's a transcript. The idea was that Superman's gullibly nationalistic philosophy (i.e., equating "truth" and "justice" with "the American way") would have conformed to the realities of Nazi Germany, and he therefore would have been Uberman/Klaus Kent, and he would have been able to easily identify Jews-in-hiding with his x-ray vision, etc. I wonder if this bit is viewable on one of those SNL DVDs? I'm assuming it is.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on June 18, 2006 at 8:33 PM

comment #1

travis b. says ...

the same thing was shown in the comics in Superman: Red Son, only it was the Soviet Union instead of Nazi Germany. Kind of an interesting look at the character, but definitely not made for laughs as i'm sure the SNL skit was.

Posted by travis b. at June 18, 2006 9:04 PM

comment #2

Daniel Zelter says ...

Didn't the nazis co-opt Superman in their propaganda films?

Posted by Daniel Zelter at June 18, 2006 10:27 PM

comment #3

Anonymous says ...

the "here" link is dead.

Posted by Anonymous at June 19, 2006 5:01 AM

comment #4

Lewis Beale says ...

Given that Superman was the brainchild of two Jewish teenagers reacting to the anti-Semitism of the 1930s, this skit strikes me as insensitive at best. I know, I know, half the performers and writers on SNL were Jewish, but still - snarkiness is no substitute for cultural and historical sensitivity.

Posted by Lewis Beale at June 19, 2006 8:23 AM

comment #5

Michael says ...

I think you mean "culturally insensitive." You probably hate the Chappelle Show, too.

I just wish SNL did skits like this today.

Posted by Michael at June 19, 2006 9:25 AM

comment #6

Christopher Kaplan says ...

Lewis Beale:

People who complain about the insensitivity of satire bother me. Holier than thou. And they creep me out. They are usually the type of people who think Victorian-era literature is the pinnacle of the form. I bet the person named "Lewis Beale" gets his kicks staring at Thomas Kinkade paintings. Just because the subversive thoughts running through your head make your skin crawl doesn't mean there aren't other people who know how to process these thoughts and turn them into entertainment. Lewis: Being offended by the idea of satire joins you not to the people being persecuted but to the people who are doing the persecution.

Posted by Christopher Kaplan at June 19, 2006 10:32 AM

comment #7

Lewis Beale says ...

I have no idea who Thomas Kinkade is. And I love the Chapelle Show. I guess what I was trying to point out was the irony of a reaction to anti-Semitism being twisted in a weird way that seems to go against everything the original creation stood for.

Posted by Lewis Beale at June 19, 2006 10:59 AM

comment #8

Lewis Beale says ...

Posted by Lewis Beale at June 19, 2006 11:00 AM

comment #9

Lewis Beale says ...

Posted by Lewis Beale at June 19, 2006 11:00 AM

comment #10

Mark B says ...

Culturally and historically insensitive? Sorry, I just don't see it. It's satire that manages to successfully skewer Hitler, Marlon Brando and even Charlie Rich (gotta love that "reborn" throaway line) in a matter of a few short minutes.

As I read the script for the sketch I was reminded of just how incredibly brilliant SNL used to be once upon a time. Think of the "one joke stretched out to seven minutes" sketches that appear today and compare them to Uberman.

Posted by Mark B at June 19, 2006 1:18 PM

comment #11

Larry says ...

Truth and justice are the American way. Superman is a smart guy and would have recognized it was not the way of Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union.

Posted by Larry at June 19, 2006 7:12 PM

comment #12

Walker says ...

What if Superman had been an Englishman?
See the graphic novel "Superman: True Brit"
(cowritten by John Cleese) available from Amazon.
In the 1990's there was also a Soviet Union Superman series published.

Posted by Walker at June 20, 2006 12:02 PM

comment #13