Oliver Willis

3 Responses to “Men’s Business”

1. 1 ian
   Feb 1st, 2006 at 7:02 pm

   Oliver, you’re a sexist pig.

2. 2 HandJob
   Feb 1st, 2006 at 7:02 pm

   I am not sure about you, but just about everybody else has made a few simple observances about Superman, but many would agree that he’s the archetypal “Alpha-male” who is sensitive also. That has carried over from his first appearances on screen. He is strong, powerful and fights for those that are oppressed. He is a man to be admired by all men…a real man’s man. However, there are a few secrets that have been locked away about this character that should be further explored, the most important of which is that Superman is gay. The first guy to play Superman in the black and white television series was gay. That, in essence, is what led to the cancellation of the show in “ultra-conservative” 1940’s America. It’s one of those things that much of America balks at, refuses to admit to itself due to his popularity today. Kirk Alyn, the first person to play Superman in movies in 1948 and 1950 was the man that pretty much shaped the mold of what we know of Superman today. “Born John Teggo, Jr. in Oxford, New Jersey, Alyn played in vaudeville acts and also danced in chorus lines in the 1930s.”(Bo Jaworsky) The character Alyn plays as Superman is strong, conservative, nice, neat, and accommodating to others. He is also a hiding a secret. Kirk Alyn never consummates the relationship with Lois Lane with good reason…he refused to kiss her on screen. He also used the character of Superman as a medium by which he could subtly promote his own lifestyle, through his screen presence with Clark Kent’s demure personality and Superman’s quite openly gay costume. These personality traits continue through the line of Superman movies and comics even as recent as Christopher Reeve’s portrayal of Superman, though quickly quashed by conservatives and Warner Bros alike. However, they kept the personality traits that Kirk Alyn had brought to the character that most Americans admire and find so pleasant about Superman today. Kirk Alyn succeeded to show early post-war gay America that gays exist and can be normal, can be exceptional, and can even be your co-workers without even suspecting it. It led to a cultural explosion for gay America that slowly crept into the mainstream and continues to this day. Eventually, history will come to terms with the reality of Superman’s presence and influence on an America struggling to come to terms with homosexuality, despite still being suppressed to this day in 2006.

3. 3 HandJob
   Feb 1st, 2006 at 7:02 pm

   What is truly exceptional about Superman is that he is universally admired and revered as one of the ultimate heroes for defending American values, despite his beginnings as a homosexual character that was stigmatized as unacceptable for America at the same time. It only lends to the hypocrisy of American movie production companies in trying not to offend the conservative status quo in terms of acceptable on-screen content.