American Representations of the Romanian Man in 'Farewells'
Specs:
Title: Farewells
Genre: Superhero, Action, Adventure
Series: Green Lantern
Issue: no. 57
Artist: Darryl Banks, Romeo Tanghal
Writer: Ron Marz
Publication date: December 1, 1994
Publisher: DC Comics
Country: USA
Characters: Radu Stancu
Setting: New York
Outline/synopsis:
After making it back to Earth, Kyle Rayner visits his girlfriend’s grave and bids her goodbye. He then moves to New York as originally planned. After moving in his new apartment, he meets Psimon who takes over his body and uses Green Lantern to take revenge on the Titans.
Tropes:
The immigrant who made it in America/fulfillment of the American Dream = Radu Stancu;
The result of the melting pot;
The immigrant who, at times, speaks broken English.
Personal view:
After he gets lost on the streets of New York, while searching for his new apartment's address, Kyle Rayner gets directions from a friendly passer-by, and, eventually, reaches his destination. Soon after, he meets his landlord, Radu Stancu, a Romanian immigrant to the United States, who offers his warm greetings to the hero, and then welcomes him inside. After a short conversation, which reveals Radu’s inquisitive nature and curiosity, Kyle climbs upstairs and tries to unpack, though he is disturbed by Psimon who takes over his body in order to take revenge on the Titans.
The earlier conversation that Kyle had with Radu, reveals the middle-aged man as a friendly, yet cautious person, who is very talkative and kind. Even though, at first, he manifested a bit of reluctance when handing over the apartment keys to the young artist, fearing that he may not be able to pay his rent, after making sure that everything is in order, Radu softens and even offers Kyle a cup of coffee, for free.
So far, Radu is presented as an immigrant who overcame all language barriers (even though his English is not perfect, he can still make himself understood) and managed to fulfill the American Dream (he opened a coffee shop and he also owns the adjoining apartment building, meaning that he became a successful businessman). He also appears to have adapted well to the new customs and traditions, to be very confident and also proud of himself and his abilities, which, as Robert Kaplan indicated in his Balkan Ghosts, when talking about his Romanian translator, distinguishes him among others.
Radu is thus no longer the Oriental, the other, but rather the similar, because once he became a part of the melting pot, he grew into a new man, he was Westernized, and, as a result, he was assimilated into the American culture. In this issue of Green Lantern, old stereotypes of Romanians such as the primitive, uncivilized, or alien men, tropes that Maria Todorova also mentions in her Imagining the Balkans, are no longer used, and thus, Radu becomes a representative of the kind, mannered, and nice Romanian man.
Overall, the image of the Romanian man changes, acquiring more positive attributes than it is generally shown in various travelogues and critical works focusing on Romania, since, this time, Romanians are seen as friendly and kind people, who are talkative and able to adapt to new environments and cultures.
