i’ve been on a bit of a superman kick recently. i partly blame this on netflix, and that watch instantly feature. i also blame this on the weather. there have been random bursts of snow/ rain/ hail/ freezing rain/ freakish sunshine/ crazy vicious wind since just before christmas, and i’m not interested in going out anywhere in that if i can avoid it at all.
anyway. superman.
i love that, out of all the superheroes in our movies and print, superman goes against the grain. most of them are regular people, who have to change into a costume to be that hero that stands aloft, squinting into the great unknown. or whatever heroes do on the last five minutes of their shift. batman is really bruce wayne, spidey is really peter parker, blah blah blah. but superman is really superman. his disguise is clark kent, the dork in the back of the room with the huge glasses. the one who reads dickens in his solitary apartment instead of going out, or watching the news, or writing a blog or whatever. he’s really this big bag of awesome, and he stuffs himself into a suit and those enormous glasses to go panting after margot kidder.
also, it’s great that, in order to fight crime, he parts his hair differently. love that.
yes, superman represents the warm little kernel of good that we mere mortals like to think resides somewhere in our dark little hearts. he’s such a boy scout, and i mean that in a kind way. there’s that bit in the second movie, where lois finally figures out that clark really is our boy in blue, and they take a little holiday at the ice fortress. which… okay, does anyone remember that weird bed he has? it’s like a giant silver hammock? i kinda covet such a strange thing. anyway, he changes into a mortal to have quiet time with lois, they go to a diner and super gets roughed up by that trucker, and then it’s on the news that the three criminals in bondage gear his dad imprisoned in a giant plate glass album cover have taken over the planet? and super sees that the people really need him, and he drops lois like a hot potato to go be the hero? there’s that bit at the end of the movie, where super is replacing the top of the white house, and he apologizes to the president for not being available. i mean, yeah, it’s the only thing a guy like superman can say. but dude… he should be allowed to take a week off every now and then. he’s superman. boy scout superman.
clearly, i don’t have a point in all this. other than, how much of that suit is christopher reeve? why does lois, who seems to be a smart and level-headed career girl when left to her own devices, trip over her own mortality when superman is around? has she always made such bad choices, like trying to get to a terrorist issue in the eiffel tower by sneaking onto some girders on the bottom of an elevator? and why does she take her purse with her? how many packs a day is she smoking, anyway? does he always wear that suit under his disguise suit? is it neoprene or something? is it machine washable?
much like highlander, there can be only one (i know george reeves was an awesome superman on tv. but this is my opinion here). yeah, i saw superman returns, and i didn’t care for it. none of it. i don’t know why, specifically. maybe the strange superman-as-jesus undertones? maybe it’s that what’s-his-name on the left there is simply not christoper reeve? it’s nothing personal. james bond will always be sean connery to me, and superman will always be mr reeves over there. besides, the new super is parting his hair on the wrong side. just saying.
Agreed, absolutely.
However, the Superman-as-Jesus thing was there in the first (and best) movie, too. His father gave up his one and only son to save the world; his coming to Earth was signified by a “star” moving through the sky; death and ressurection. It’s all there. I don’t mind it, and I’m an agnostic!