Curious Mementos
In my post “What Superman Inherited from his Father,” I discussed how, in the Superman movie of 1978, Superman inherited all that his father learned, including “the total accumulation of all literature and scientific fact” from Krypton, Earth, and “dozens of other worlds” as well his father’s moral principles. After receiving an education in the best of his father’s culture, Kal-El/Clark Kent is ready to become Superman.
Eight years after Superman was released in theaters, a similar storyline was developed in Superman’s comic book adventures, but was handled very differently.
In 1986, DC Comics published The Man of Steel, a comic book limited series written and drawn by John Byrne that “rebooted” Superman and retold his origin. In the concluding issue #6 of that series, titled “The Haunting,” Superman learns about Krypton. Like in the movie, he encounters a “holographic projection” of his Jor-El. This “ghost” of his father transmits Krypton’s accumulated knowledge to Superman’s mind. At the end of the issue, Superman has the following thoughts (emphasis added):
"All that world's history is now within my memory, placed there by the last act of my real father. I can quote from the great literature of Krypton's ancient culture. I can summon before my mind's eye the great works of art. I can speak the seven languages of Krypton's proudest epochs. I can sing ballads of its heroes. I know the name of Krypton's God, and all the prayers that praised His name. All this is the last gift of Jor-El to his son.
And all of it is ultimately meaningless.
I may have been conceived out there in the endless depths of space. But I was born when the rocket opened on Earth, in America. I'll cherish always the memories Jor-El and Lara gave me...
...but only as curious mementos of a life that might have been.
Krypton bred me, but it was Earth that gave me all that I am. All that matters.
It was Krypton that made me Superman...
...but it is the Earth that makes me human!!
Whereas in the 1978 movie, the lore Superman inherited from his father was profoundly formative, in the 1986 comic, it was “ultimately meaningless” and no more than “curious mementos.”
The former approach is much truer to life. There is something to learn from every culture, whatever its flaws. In fact, a culture’s flaws themselves are instructive. Cultural progress is largely about amalgamating the best of several cultures. An immigrant, like Superman, would be wise to assimilate the good parts of the culture of his new home, while preserving the good parts of the culture of his family’s original home. Immigrant families should revitalize the culture of their adopted communities as well as vice versa.
To dismiss a precious gift from your elders as having no value is ungrateful and unwise.