Blog Marathon Post 7. The Myth of Superman

Today I watched "Man of Steel". Loved the movie. Primarily because it is about Superman's conflict, his burden and how it handles it all, and not about how he is superior to the human race, as it was in all earlier Superman movies.

The focus is still on how he is different from the people of his adoptive planet, but they have told the story well enough to show his confusions and frustations. They have also made the character of Lois Lane more robust and really important rather than just being Superman's damsel in distress.

Though I did feel that his intensity of values about truth, justice and everyone deserves an equal chance to be good, which form the core of his mythology, were not properly highlighted. But then it was a reboot of the series and was about showing how Superman became Superman. He still does not know himself well enough, so I guess those values will get highlighted in the next movie of the series (I am assuming this, as trilogies have become the norm for all superhero movies).

In this movie, the deeper lessons for me were the themes of pre-defined purpose, choice, destiny and control issues.

Control issues: Superman says that he understands why people are afraid of him. Its not just because he different and too powerful, but because he cannot be controlled. The people and the Government will have to trust him, there is no other way. Now we all know the paranoid nature of politicians in general, so this was something.

Pre-defined purpose: The planet Krypton stopped leaving anything to chance by 'growing' new citizens to fill pre-defined roles, like warriors, leaders etc. Due to this pre-determination, General Zod is unable to let go of his design as a protector of his people. He feels that his soul is destroyed when there are no people left for him to save. His purpose was dependent on others.

Choice: Jor-El and Lara make a choice to conceive a child through natural birth. This choice makes Kal-El or Superman already different even on his own planet. Later Superman chooses to let go of his birth planet's legacy to save his adoptive planet. General Zod had had no idea of choice, and his purpose never evolved.

Destiny: Superman's destiny was always to be different. he was born different. So his soul's journey unfolded in the same manner, no matter where he grew up. General Zod's destiny was to experience a soul loss and frustation and die thousands of miles away from all that he cared for, alone, in pain and emptiness.

I would love it if they make a "World's Finest" movie with Superman and Batman, and of course, Lois Lane and Selena Kyle (Catwoman). I would love to see the conversations between Sups and Bats, in fact among all four of these, to come alive on the screen as it does on the comics pages or even in the JLA animated series.

Both these superheros have almost opposite mythologies and yet they have a friendship which is based on mutual trust and respect. They do not approve of each other's methods (Superman finds Batman way of dealing with criminals too brutal) or sentiments (Batman calls Superman 'Boy Scout'). They are still friends because of their deep desire to really help people, their heightened sense of justice and a shared dream of a peaceful world.

I always thought Superman to be a misguided optimist and a hero so powerful but so obsessed with or even fearful of never attracting the blame of misusing his powers, that he often loses touch with what is necessary and gets lost in conversations of how he will be judged by people, God, himself and of course his Kryptonian father, Jor-El (who is dead, but is always present as a shadow inside Superman's mind).

Batman and his myth are way cooler and more dramatic. He brings with him an edge, a darkness, which is very alluring. Superman, though so powerful, is not-so-easy to relate to as people often think, "Oh man! I would love to have his problems!". Though his feeling of being alone is something which touches a core with many, his perfection of character is resented just as much.

His issues with Kryptonite are also simply too frustrating for me as a reader. Here is this limitlessly powerful man, who can be brought to his knees by the tiniest of shards of a stone, from his own planet no less, and every supervillian worth their money seems to be able to get their hands on it way too easily! I mean, c'mon! Figure out a way to beat it already! In one comic, he collects every piece of Kryptonite from the entire Earth, with the help of Batman, and disposes of it all by throwing the lot into the Sun. That's not good enough! At least I thought so at one point of time.

But I came to rethink about his myth when I read the more evolved works from DC comics, especially, One Million and some more JLA titles. I understood that being that steadfast and obsessed with never crossing the line with anyone, he won friends among enemies, and became a deserving leader of many groups of superheros. He became a beacon of hope and trust.

I will not get into various story arc and versions of Superman as that is an unending discussion, but I came to accept this superhero an not so totally uncool. This acceptance was a part of my journey too where the usual and cliched things also had space and due importance. I started respecting the day-to-day, the ordinary, and usual things.

I enjoyed this movie, though I was expecting a deeper look into Superman's psyche, I guess it was too much to ask for form this movie.

I am also a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino's understanding of Superman's myth in Kill Bill Vol 2. The view that Clark Kent is a parody of the entire human race by Superman, the 'superior man' was quite...awesome, and maybe a little chilling as well.