Discussion YMMV / SupermanPhillipKennedyJohnson

One of the trope entries that's listed under the YMMV page for this story is that of a Broken Aesop with regards to the idea of hero worship. As the entry points out, the character of Mongul is worshipped by his slaves and this is seen as wrong, but the admiration and respect that the other characters have for Superman isn't portrayed as a bad thing. Now I would like to contest this entry. It is true that Mongul's slaves worship him. But even the trope entry itself points out that this is done through brainwashing and manipulation. Mongul is pretty explicitly a tyrant. He conquers worlds and forces the people of those worlds to participate in combat on Warworld. This forces those people to believe that the only way to survive on Warworld is to participate in combat. Not only does Mongul wear his slaves down physically and mentally but he then has his minions constantly praise him and his philosophy. Mongul is quite literally brainwashing and gaslighting his slaves into worshipping him. That is not remotely comparable to the kind of admiration that Superman recieves simply by his actions of bravery and kindness. I know that this is a YMMV entry, but I think the entry flat out misses the point of what the story is trying to do. Mongul recives worship through propaganda and manipulation and even force. Superman recieves hero worship simply by his actions. He does not force people to worship him. Furthermore the entry states that the narration turns a blind eye to the hero worship Superman recieves. I don't think that's quite true. Throughout the story, the characters constantly disagree with Superman and some of his allies even turn against him. And all of these characters are still treated as sympathetic by the narrative - they have legitimate reasons to disagree with Superman. It should be noted that when the characters try to disagree with Mongul, they tend to be killed by him. Taking all the above into account, I don't think it's fair to compare the hero worship that Superman recieves and the worship that Mongul recieves. It is a misinterpretation of what the story is about. At the very least, I do not think that it qualifies as a broken aesop.

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