This statement is from the TV-series of “Smallville” where superman, alias Clark Kent, lives as a young boy together with his family and friends. Being superman, or dream about being superman is not very rare, but it’s an escape from the real life!
“Superman” by The Kink’s or “I wish I could fly like Superman” is a song about social pressure and feelings of personal inadequacy; it’s about a man, who is very unhappy with himself when he looks in the mirror. He wants to change, in order to adjust himself to society and its expectations. He has dreams about being the biggest of all role models. He wants to fly, and be like superman! He believes that you must be a superman to survive today.
He wants to be free, to give his girl what she deserves, and he keeps telling her: There’s got to be something better. He wants to change the world, but it won’t let him. He lives in a dream, wants to be something he isn’t, and never will be. But he wishes, and who knows…?
I think this song is very up to date. It presents the society and the people who don’t know how to adapt to it. “Superman” is a good text, and I like it when the man in the song looks in the paper just to see: Robbery, violence and insanity. This is the daily news even today! I wonder: in the end, what will we become?
But the moral in the song is social pressure! Other songs that have the same moral and theme could be “The River” by Bruce Springsteen. The setting is placed in a time where you would become what your father became, and where your high-school love becomes your wife. It’s therefore about the expectations of the society. They had to marry, because she was pregnant, and it was not a happy couple who stood by the judge.
“The River” is about a 19 years old man (young), who gets his life ruined, because he makes his love pregnant, and have to deal with the following consequences. He got married, he got children and work, and he had to forget all the things that he felt were important to him. He sacrificed himself for his family (as the society expected him to do), but his happy memories and thoughts were now like a curse that haunted him.
Young people today are exposed to a lot of pressure; Internet, TV-shows, beauty magazines, online chatting and fashion. They want you to feel terrible about yourself, so you feel that you need to spend money on their products. This is the Modern World (under the surface). In addition, there’re expectations from school, work, and you must have time to your friends, your family and your love in your life. Quite a busy schedule!
But in the end, it’s up to you to decide what’s most important to you, not what everyone else think is important!
