What’s better than writing a solidly researched piece on Anne vs Superman, I think, is writing one based on imperfect memory and half-realised impressions. At the end of the day I’m just not a research person, really big libraries are haunted.
Let’s begin with Anne. She roams free and wild in her imagination, desperately seeking to be anyone but herself, even after she ends up on the idyllic island with the flowering trees and the chance at a good life. Even though almost every girl ever has spent at least a few hours so immersed in reading and being Anne that they stare in the mirror and wish their hair was red. This isn’t going very well so far. What I mean to say is that Anne’s mind is wild and free and this is one of the things that sets her apart, one of the things that makes her determinedly Other.
Now Superman by the simple fact of being a super man and non-human is clearly Other from the start. So we have our first obvious parallel between our two competitors, they are Other. They are not who they are supposed to be. Superman was meant to be an ordinary boy who would grow into an ordinary farming man and help them with running the farm, they ordered him from heaven. Matthew and Marilla also ordered a boy from heaven to help with running the farm, but they used, in addition to praying, the more practical method of filling out forms to get one. What both families got was something unexpected, something both better and worse than what they wanted. Here is the first part of the downfall of Superman. Anne was not able to help Matthew in the fields, note here it is more to do with gender roles in society than with actual physical ability, whilst Superman was capable of doing all the farm work by himself without breaking a sweat, but didn’t. Farm work is in my eyes the pivotal part of this examination.
They were needed on their farms because of the declining physical power of the male in the household. There were clear expectations of who they should be and how they should work. Someone was holding out shadow coats of routine, shadow straight jackets of every morning, every day, every evening. It almost cannot be explained how the Other simply cannot wear this coat in comfort. It results in soul crushing constriction. In this case by good fortune neither competitor took on the farming task. Anne’s foster family were constrained by social norms and did not send the girl to work in the fields, they were bewitched by her wild and free mind and did not ask for a refund. Supe’s earth-parents allowed him the chance of going off and becoming his own self-made man, let him go off to do what he had to in the big city. Which was an odd combination of journalism, superhero duties and Lois teasing.
The parent figures sacrificed their own needs to those of the Other figures. The result of these sacrifices is what interests me because ultimately both households paid the ultimate price. In my mind both Anne and Superman are running across fields, running as desperately fast as they can towards their collapsing father figures. Running faster and faster across bucolic scenes far from the madding crowd, running across the idyllic landscape and lifestyle craved by millions, running straight into heartbreak and tragedy caused at least in part by them. Their father figures worked themselves to death while they struggled with their inherent identity of being Other. This is the artist as areshole. This is the end of Superman vs Anne part I.
Well my whole theory has just been blown out of the water. It seems that Matthew died from shock at the bank going bust and losing all of his money then Anne gave up going back to college in order to stay home and help Marilla manage Green Gables and teach at the local school. That shadow jacket seemed to fit Anne nicely in the end. Superman is the winner. I thought that Anne would definitely kick Superman’s arse because he had to go off to his fortress of solitude and sit about going Oh no I’m Super, I wish I wasn’t Super, whereas Anne knew all along that her mind was something precious but then in the end it was her mind that saved the farm whilst sacrificing her higher ambitions. Now I am beginning to wonder if this is my problem. I am beginning to wonder if I am Anne of Green Gables.
Let’s begin with Anne. She roams free and wild in her imagination, desperately seeking to be anyone but herself, even after she ends up on the idyllic island with the flowering trees and the chance at a good life. Even though almost every girl ever has spent at least a few hours so immersed in reading and being Anne that they stare in the mirror and wish their hair was red. This isn’t going very well so far. What I mean to say is that Anne’s mind is wild and free and this is one of the things that sets her apart, one of the things that makes her determinedly Other.
Now Superman by the simple fact of being a super man and non-human is clearly Other from the start. So we have our first obvious parallel between our two competitors, they are Other. They are not who they are supposed to be. Superman was meant to be an ordinary boy who would grow into an ordinary farming man and help them with running the farm, they ordered him from heaven. Matthew and Marilla also ordered a boy from heaven to help with running the farm, but they used, in addition to praying, the more practical method of filling out forms to get one. What both families got was something unexpected, something both better and worse than what they wanted. Here is the first part of the downfall of Superman. Anne was not able to help Matthew in the fields, note here it is more to do with gender roles in society than with actual physical ability, whilst Superman was capable of doing all the farm work by himself without breaking a sweat, but didn’t. Farm work is in my eyes the pivotal part of this examination.
They were needed on their farms because of the declining physical power of the male in the household. There were clear expectations of who they should be and how they should work. Someone was holding out shadow coats of routine, shadow straight jackets of every morning, every day, every evening. It almost cannot be explained how the Other simply cannot wear this coat in comfort. It results in soul crushing constriction. In this case by good fortune neither competitor took on the farming task. Anne’s foster family were constrained by social norms and did not send the girl to work in the fields, they were bewitched by her wild and free mind and did not ask for a refund. Supe’s earth-parents allowed him the chance of going off and becoming his own self-made man, let him go off to do what he had to in the big city. Which was an odd combination of journalism, superhero duties and Lois teasing.
The parent figures sacrificed their own needs to those of the Other figures. The result of these sacrifices is what interests me because ultimately both households paid the ultimate price. In my mind both Anne and Superman are running across fields, running as desperately fast as they can towards their collapsing father figures. Running faster and faster across bucolic scenes far from the madding crowd, running across the idyllic landscape and lifestyle craved by millions, running straight into heartbreak and tragedy caused at least in part by them. Their father figures worked themselves to death while they struggled with their inherent identity of being Other. This is the artist as areshole. This is the end of Superman vs Anne part I.
Well my whole theory has just been blown out of the water. It seems that Matthew died from shock at the bank going bust and losing all of his money then Anne gave up going back to college in order to stay home and help Marilla manage Green Gables and teach at the local school. That shadow jacket seemed to fit Anne nicely in the end. Superman is the winner. I thought that Anne would definitely kick Superman’s arse because he had to go off to his fortress of solitude and sit about going Oh no I’m Super, I wish I wasn’t Super, whereas Anne knew all along that her mind was something precious but then in the end it was her mind that saved the farm whilst sacrificing her higher ambitions. Now I am beginning to wonder if this is my problem. I am beginning to wonder if I am Anne of Green Gables.
Comments
Then again, fucking SpongeBobSquarePants could probably kick my ass.
Oh well.