Once again, a rant about pop culture and our common cultural heritage (similarly ranted about HERE). The video below is a general breakdown of how and why 1978’s “Superman” is Really That Good of a movie. But among the discussion of how casting and cinematography and writing came together to produce a movie that still stands up more than 40 years later, there is also the recognition that Superman is more than just another comic book character. Superman is, to an important degree, vital to American culture, informing us of who we are, who we can be, who we should be, who we want to be.
Personally, I like the likes of Iron Man and Batman more, morally conflicted imperfect Normal Humans who are able to save the day from bigger threats due to their use of engineering, technology and smarts. And… money. Lots and lots of money. Because, while hideously unlikely, I theoretically *could* become Stinking Rich, but gaining superpowers ain’t gonna happen. Still: Superman is much more distinctly “American” than either Batman or Iron Man, despite the fact that all three were created by Americans, for Americans, as Americans. Superman, like the founding documents of the US, is a vision of idealism. Heck, think back to the climax of “The Iron Giant.” That is one of those few movies in the pantheon of Guy Flicks where it is universally accepted that it is perfectly acceptable for Manly Guys to shed a tear at the end. At the climax, the Iron Giant sacrifices himself to save a town full of people who fear and hate him, and as he does so he murmurs “Superman” and you know *exactly* what that means. It would have made precisely no sense for him to have murmured “Batman” or “Green Lantern” or “Iron Man” or “Spawn” or virtually any other hero, real or imagined. The phrase used in the video below, “guiding moral philosophy,” applies to Superman in a way that it doesn’t to a great many other characters. But of course, Superman is not exactly unique there.
History is full of characters, real, fictional, mythological, who a great many people have built their own moral philosophies around. Not just Superman, but the likes of Luke Skywalker, Captain Kirk, Spock, Robin Hood, King Arthur, John Galt, Sherlock Holmes, Doc Brown all have their adherents, along with more archetypical “types” like Cops and Cowboys and Space Captains. Characters that kids want to dress up as and pretend to be, and as they grow up, continue to wish to be or at least be like.
And so when people come along and take a dump on those beloved characters, either by just doing a poor job of writing/portraying them, or intentionally “subverting” them, they are doing more than putting their own brand on a fictional character. They are burning the flag, defacing the statue, scrawling a mustache on the Mona Lisa. There are certain things that Superman (or Luke Skywalker, Spock, etc.) *has* to be , or it ain’t Superman. And it’s fine to not be Superman. The Punisher isn’t Superman. Wolverine isn’t Superman. Blade and Judge Dredd and Doctor Manhattan aren’t Superman. But then… they’re also not pretending to be. If you want a “subverted” Superman… go for it. Just don’t say it’s Superman. This would seem obvious. But some people don’t get it, and some people don’t get it about a whole range of things. They don’t get it in such a consistent way that you can now see well in advance what “subversion” there’s going to be. A businessman shows up? Oh, he’s the bad guy. A scientist? Either a pawn, a villain or a dumbass. Is it even faintly an allegory about America? America will be portrayed as corrupt, immoral, evil, racist… all the things that by *any* rational metric, we are not.
Feh. Rant over. Enjoy the video.