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Yellowdog's avatar

Superman aficionados: Discussion -- In your opinion, could Superman, Metropolis and Smallville be Canadian?

Asked by Yellowdog (12216points) May 8th, 2020

Maybe the main area—the city of Metropolis, could be Canadian, and the American side of the border, the darker Gotham City.

A lot of stuff could go on with a border like that—maybe they could form a special District of Metropolis.

The co-creator and original artist of Superman, Joe Shuster, modeled the city of Metropolis after Toronto, where he was born and lived until he was ten. Since then, however, the look and feel of Metropolis has been greatly influenced by New York City, as has Batman’s Gotham City,

Then, the T.V. series Smallville (2001–2011) is filmed in British Columbia, Canada – with Metropolis obviously being Vancouver.
The Smallville setting, with its rural but Art Deco overtones, and coziness, obviously seemed much more Canadian

Although the Smallville T.V.. series setting is said to be Kansas, a true city in Kansas would probably feel more like Saint Louis, Mo or Dallas/Fort Worth – but its not so out of character to have a huge city in the center of the country in the middle of the corn – with crop circles and other strange things in the corn.

Superman may stand for Truth, Justice, and the ‘American’ way – but why shouldn’t he and Metropolis and Smallville be Canadian?

The Smallville T.V. series was an artistic blend of hygge (a Scandinavian word for coziness, cozy places and time with friends) and Noir (shadowy, mysterious urban and Twin Peaks type scenes) – both of which seem more Canadian. Even if Metropolis is kinda like New York than Vancouver, Toronto, or Montreal,

Superman and Metropolis go with Art Deco, Art Moderne, and Art Nouveau – and I think they all fit better on a coast, near the American border, but in Canada.

Maybe Gotham City can be the American side of the megalopolis

What do you think?

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8 Answers

kritiper's avatar

I always thought Metropolis was fashioned after a city like Indianapolis, Smallville was somewhere in Iowa. Gotham, naturally, is New York City.
(The sun is always shining in Metropolis, and it’s always dark in Gotham.)

SQUEEKY2's avatar

Are you going on about this because one of Superman’s creators was born in Canada?

Patty_Melt's avatar

Smallville is in Kansas.

Yellowdog's avatar

@SQUEEKY2 The original artist (Joe Shuster) lived in Toronto until he was ten, and based Metropolis on that city. And the Smallville series, one of the best series’ ever made, did very wellbeing filmed in British Columbia with Vancouver as Metropolis, even though it was supposed to be Kansas—Kansas is not all tat exciting in my opinion. Canada is a better choice than anything—second choice would be a U.S. coastal or Canadian/U.S. border city.

I am not a diehar han of the D.C. Comics canon, however.

Yellowdog's avatar

Apologies—I was writing on a tiny screen with tiny keys. I am not a diehard fan of any particular canon of any science fiction or comic book series.

The Smallville T.V. series was supposed to be Kansas, but was actually filmed in British Columbia, which is far more picturesque than Kansas or Iowa.

Although Kansas and Iowa and other corn agricultural states have plenty of potential for weirdness—crop circles, corn mazes, things whispering in the corn, and meteor rocks with alien properties that cause metahuman mutations.

For some, Superman is as American as Apple Pie. But I think the Canadian angle is acceptable.

SQUEEKY2's avatar

A lot of TV shows are shot here in BC, one reason is your dollar is worth so much more, and BC has such a diverse scenery up here in the interior you can get a desert type landscape that can double for parts of the middle east. the A team movie was shot in our area.

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