To me, "the cape" does not "equal" American arrogance. It's a bit more subtle.
When you say to remove the cape would show humility what then would the converse be if not arrogance?
Superman represents America. Everyone knows that Superman has godlike powers. The cape serves no purpose beyond reminding us of this fact.
Superman has come to embody Americanism, true.
Superman has godlike powers, true.
This is my disconnect: How does the cape remind one of a)Americanism specifically b)godlike powers?
I see a cape, cloth. Its red with that legendary "s" shield, nothing reminds me of those two points.
We Americans (and I love my country) are all to often prone to arrogance, and equating our unequaled power with our dubiously unequaled greatness.
In all fairness Germans are proud people. The French are boastful. The British are equally proud. The Russians, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish are all very proud people to the point of arrogance at times also. Arrogance is not a uniquely American problem.
If it sounds as though I'm making a biased anti-cape statement, it's because I am biased. Superman/CK is not a god, and shouldn't act like one. Hence, he should drop the cape, imho.
If a cape shows arrogance and a godlike disposition does it hold for other cape wearers? Is Zorro arrogant? Godlike? His cape serves 'no purpose'. What about Supergirl, Powergirl, Huntress, Sentry, Storm etc or are you going to tell me the cape is
only an issue on Superman?
Remember I agree Superman as a whole represents American ideals.
You however orginally and specifically isolated the cape as
the issue.
I won't drag out the political parallels... beyond noting that we shouldn't elect presidents who appoint UN ambassadors who say that the headquarters building could lose ten floors and no one'd know.
If it weren't for so much US money the UN would be impotent but lets not digress. Afterall I don't think we should've elected a President who's never managed or governed anything in his life...which is becoming painfully obvious but lets stay on topic.
The cape.
But the political analogy is, in the end, superfluous. Superman doesn't need a cape any more than Clark needs a fedora. The character can outlive both fashion accessories.
Maybe the cape served a purpose originally, back when Supes could only leap tall buildings. Perhaps it was used as a glider and now is kept for the tradition of it all. Sill, its just a cape.
Why did you say fedora, glasses would've made sense there?
Thank you for responding.
