I wonder how he got the job at the Daily Planet. He probably put down he graduated high school, but how did he have any experience to work at the Daily Planet? I guess since he's the fastest typist Mr. White has seen that's how he got the job. That's my only guess.
shareBack in the day, you didn't need a university degree to be a reporter, and in any case, Clark is resourceful enough to blag any job he wants.
shareThat's a great point. Back in the day if you had a pulse you could get a decent job. How this country has changed. Today, this comes across as completely impossible. After spending 12 years in the fortress of solitude after high school, he'd be a 30 year old begging to even get an internship.
shareThis was 1978, not 1878. Even then you didn't just walk off the street and get a top reporter job and big newspaper in an major city without extensive work experience at lower level jobs in smaller towns/cities.
shareIt took more than just having a pulse. You had to have ability, and if you did, having a university degree wasn't important. As a result, journalism, editing, and writing quality were better. My dad dropped out of high school in the 1940s, graduated from night high school and took a handful of junior college courses in the 1950s, then went on to be a successful magazine writer and editor. In the late 1970s, he became an associate professor of nonfiction writing at USC. The replacement of talent with credentialism has not been good for journalism.
share"Back in the day, you didn't need a university degree to be a reporter, and in any case, Clark is resourceful enough to blag any job he wants."
People here forget there IS no 'Clark'. Clark isn't resourceful, Kal-El is. You can even say "Superman is".
Clark Kent is a figment of Kal-El's imagination. Listen to the end speech in the movie "Kill Bill Vol. 2" about how Superman is his real identity, and Clark just his idea of what a good simulation of Earthian might be (a wimp).
With super powers, anyone could get that kind of a job; think of the possibilities when you can see through walls, fly, and have super speed so basically you can even add 'invisibility' to that list, in a way.
To add, Kal-El has impressive 'charisma', there is 'something about him' that easily impresses people, and an editor that has power to hire people, can do so with any whim he damn well pleases, he doesn't have to require all kinds of crap if he doesn't want to.
It's not just his typing skills:
Not only does he know how to treat his editor-in-chief with the proper respect, not only does he have a snappy, punchy prose style, but he is, in my forty years in this business, the fastest typist I've ever seenshare
Not only that, but how could he afford to give his mother half his salary and still manage to live in New York City?
shareSuperman barely needs money. He doesn't really need to spend money on electricity, water, heating, etc. He doesn't drive, so he doesn't need to waste money on insurance, maintenance, petrol or any of that crap. I'm guessing he doesn't need to eat anywhere as nearly as often as regular person does. He could walk to work every day and not have to worry about getting tired. He seldom socialises, so that's a small fortune in itself saved. Even a modest salary can be stretched considerably if you're Superman. Even things like dental care aren't issues for him.
shareWhy couldn't he work at a million jobs to send more money to the mother?
--------------------------------------------
I own you.
I suppose he could, but to a woman of simple needs like Martha, even half of Clark's reporter salary is quite a bit.
shareBecause it'd be hard enough keeping one job and being Superman too.
Can't stop the signal.
he does need replacement clothes if the get stolen though, before he gets back to retrieve them
shareBut but that's Metropolis, not New York.
I collect dead pigeons then I press them between the pages of a book.share
" I'm guessing he doesn't need to eat anywhere as nearly as often as regular person does. H"
Well, he has the 'farm', that he can visit in a nanosecond any time he wishes. He can also fly to any jungle (or another planet) to pick fresh mangos and other fruit and such very easily, and he can wash and dry his own laundry efficiently with his powers.
He also has that Fortress of Solitude for entertainment and such, the crystals provide all the electric power he needs, so he doesn't really even need an apartment, except for 'disguise' purposes.
Of course he doesn't have to spend money for heating or water, because he can just melt snow from Alps mountains if he's thirsty, and he has a heat ray to heat any part of his body easily (though I don't imagine he gets cold or hot, either).
What does he really need money for? Clothes, that he already has - the rent .. plus, as Superman, he could probably easily make a fortune - he could use his vision powers to see where gold veins are and dig them out in a microsecond, build houses for people and such very cheaply and quickly, I mean.. if he used his imagination, he could be very wealthy very quickly, and not even need the job for any other purpose than a 'disguise'.
Not that he would ever really need the 'Clark Kent'-disguise, when you think about it - if he lives in the Fortress and has all conveniences there, he could just always be Superman - no actual human beings can find his fortress or get there (besides Lex Luthor, but it's a different story), so no one would know where he comes from and whence he goes.
The ONLY reason for 'Clark' (and the job), really, is that he wants to mingle and socialize with the people of this planet (who knows why.. I certainly wouldn't).
New York city wasn't nearly expensive to live in back in the 70s as it is today. Back then, NYC was pretty much a ton of different slum areas. It wasn't until Dinkins and Giuliani cleaned it up in the 1990s that it became a major tourist attraction once again, and started to become extremely expensive.
shareNew York city wasn't nearly expensive to live in back in the 70s as it is today. Back then, NYC was pretty much a ton of different slum areas. It wasn't until Dinkins and Giuliani cleaned it up in the 1990s that it became a major tourist attraction once again, and started to become extremely expensive.
You still had a lot of middle class and rich areas in all five boroughs. The Bronx was mostly working class even in the 30s. Drugs and the Cross Bronx Expressway condemned the Bronx.
shareGood point.
Now personally I think Clark would need a New York apartment, where he could keep his clothes and have a telephone, sleep if Kryptonians need sleep, and generally maintain a front as a human. But because he's bulletproof and has superpowers, he could live in the cheapest apartment in the worst part of 1970s New York, in perfect safety! The guy could sleep through a drive-by shooting, if the bullets riddled his apartment! Sure, the neighbors might give him some trouble at first, this dorky-looking guy with glasses, but not for long...
The Daily Planet must pay reporters a lot. Lois was living in a penthouse apartment that a hedge fund manager couldn't afford.
shareI remember a Superman comic from my childhood, where Superman picked up a lump of coal and squeezed it until it turned into a rough diamond! So if Superman needs enough money to pay for an apartment for Clark Kent, even if he only uses it the place to store Clark's clothes, then yeah. He can afford to give away half his Daily Planet salary.
It's Lois's fantastic penthouse that's totally inexplicable. A friend used to joke that she had to be screwing the publisher of the Daily Planet.
loads of people get jobs by not being qualified, maybe he worked 50 work experience jobs at once though, then cherry picked the best reference, he could easily drop in to each of them with some copy daily.
and he was always at the scenes of crimes quickly.
He was polished, and interviewed well and was able to accentuate his skills. Plus the boss needed someone to play the "Yes Man" roll to counter Lois and her independent/defiant behavior.
shareHe probably put together a really good writing portfolio.
shareDidn't he have a snappy prose style too? Something like that.
shareIts a plot hole
share