Archetypes: Cinderella and Superman

Kurt Andersen did almost an hour on Superman last week... and I found myself driving slower to hear it all. A&E did a special on the history of him as well... though he's hardly underexposed (except for the underwear part).

And today on Fifth Ave., women were falling all over themselves to spend $300 instead of $500 for $14 worth of fabric and a few cleverly applied cuts and stitches.

The Superman archetype drives sales of everything from SUVs to compensation consultants and personal trainers. And the entire multi-billion dollar fashion and cosmetic industries are driven by Cinderella.

The genius of Siegel and Shuster (who invented Superman and sold him for a few hundred bucks to DC) was in taking the stuff that was already in the water supply and turning it into the seeds of a "new media" empire.