Superman vs Captain Jack

This week, movie goers will decide who will win the contest for ticket sales between Superman Returns (Brandon Routh) and The Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest (Johnny Depp). The consensus along Disneyland’s red carpet last week seemed to indicate that Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) was already out of the running when it comes to the question of which character the female fans would most like to spend time with.

Who are these characters and why are movie fans and readers drawn to them? Superman definitely wins the contest for longevity, having been around regularly, although in many formats, since his inception in the early 1930s. Captain Jack Sparrow has only been with us since the first Pirates movie in 2003. However, characters like these two have been part of literature forever.

Superman represents the refined, pure, and perfect gentleman, the Ashley Wilkes of Gone with the Wind, so to speak. His values are virtue, honor, and protecting society. Jack Sparrow is a rogue—unprincipled, unreliable, a scoundrel, like Rhett Butler. Both a bit of a romantic, Superman saves women from danger, while Captain Jack pulls them right into the middle of it, and the women don’t seem to mind. Yet, in reality, both men stand for the same thing, they will do anything for the love of a good woman.

Why are readers drawn to characters who are like Captain Jack? Perhaps it’s the sense of danger and survival that draws us, like the real experiences of Jon Krakauer in Into Thin Air. Maybe it’s a longing to help the character overcome his pain that led to this disposition, like Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre.

Why do readers like Superman? Well, he’s Superman. Who wouldn’t want to be indestructible, able to fly, and stand for all that’s right in the world? Although when a twenty-five year-old Christopher Reeve (Still Me and Nothing Is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life) first donned his Superman cape, he had no idea that his life would one day require him to overcome the odds like his famous character, Chris proved that all of us can make the world a better place, super-powers not required.

So, whether you choose to see Superman Returns or The Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest, remember that these two characters are archetypes of other heroes we see around us, both in literature and in life. Perhaps that is why we are drawn to the same kinds of characters when we read. We know these people and they are who we want to be.

(Article originally published 7/7/06)