How is it that nobody sees past his glasses and that Clark Kent and Superman look exactly alike? Surely a pair of glasses and parting his hair wouldn't hide that he's Superman, but I would of thought at least someone woulda figured it out.
shareClark Kent just slips under the radar. Your not expecting Superman to be Clark Kent. In fact his Clark Kent disguise is just brilliant as he simply can hide in plane sight, and it always fascinated me how Lois was so head over heels for Supes, but not interested Clark at all. In fact i was so fascinated by this I did social experiments in public. I would go to stores in the mall where attractive girls worked and chat a little then ask for a number. I was actually looking kinda like Clark. I have black hair and blue eyes, although I am 3 inches shy of 6'4, and I didn't wear a full suit. I wore a dress shirt tucked into jeans, with a tie, and large thick rimmed glasses, and I basically acted dorky and not confident just like Clark.
I received 0 numbers and none of them seemed very interested. Several days later I show at the same stores and approach the same girls. This time I am acting very confident, and speaking like Superman. I lose the glasses and style my hair different, I didn't wear a Superman suit though. I wore some well fitted jeans, a tight T-shirt, and a leather jacket. This time 4 out of the 5 girls gave me a phone number and even the one that didn't was more receptive to me this time around, but more importantly none of them remembered me from before.
I wanted to experiment further and do it with someone who already knew who I was. There was a bar I use to frequent from time to time and shoot the breeze with the bartender. I knew the guy about 2 years and we would chat on a semi regular basis. One day after probably 3-4 months I show up again in my disguise and the bartender simply does not put 2 and 2 together. After about 5 minutes of chatting I decide to expose myself. I take off the glasses and in my regular voice say "you don't remember do you?" he then starts to laugh his ass off.
The whole point is people don't see what they don't expect. Who would expect a Demigod like Superman to be parading around as a somewhat goofy mild mannered reporter? Lois should have at least since she was in love with him lol. I guess Superman was just a master illusionist.
Interesting experiment. It seems to prove the idea that people make fairly instant judgments about other people based on their appearance.
shareImagine a big movie star such as Brad Pitt dressed in rags and sporting a big beard while roaming Hollywood Blvd begging for change. Is anybody going to actually believe this dirty homeless guy is Brad Pitt? The concept of a multi millionaire movie star begging for change is just absurd and illogical. Even if someone passing by looked at him carefully their left brain would automatically come to the conclusion this homeless guy kinda looks like Brad Pitt, but in no means would they pull out a pen and request an autograph because the man is dirty, poor, and homeless...
therefore there is no chance in hell he is actually the wealthy mega movie star known as Brad Pitt.
"Imagine a big movie star such as Brad Pitt dressed in rags and sporting a big beard while roaming Hollywood Blvd begging for change. Is anybody going to actually believe this dirty homeless guy is Brad Pitt?"
First, a big beard alone is far more of a disguise than the Clark Kent "disguise", and second, Brad Pitt's friends and co-workers would absolutely recognize him, immediately, if talking to him face to face.
Superman's Clark Kent disguise would be okay for the general public who might only see Clark Kent in passing, but it definitely wouldn't work on Lois Lane, who has talked to him face-to-face many times, both as Superman and as Clark Kent. Picture a friend of yours in your mind right now. How much of a disguise would that friend need before he/she could talk to you face to face and you wouldn't recognize them? I could recognize any friend of mine even if they were wearing a full face mask, if talking to them face to face.
Someone's been watching Nostalgia Critic.
shareTo those who say "it's not just the glasses, it's his posture, his way of speaking, and he looks people in the eye, etc.", if some shy, spectacle-wearing coworker of yours that you've known for months or years showed up without the glasses, standing up straight, looking everyone in the eyes, and talking loud are you saying you wouldn't know him?
Anyway, the glasses thing is just a Superman tradition the audience accepts. After all, it's a story about a guy from another planet who wears a leotard and a cape, flies, deflects bullets, can see through walls, and wears his underpants on the outside. It's not meant to be credible.