Re: Review: Superman Returns (2006)
- From: "Mark Leeper" <mleeper@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 30 Jun 2006 09:41:02 -0700
George Peatty wrote:
On 29 Jun 2006 14:38:23 -0700, "Mark Leeper" <mleeper@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Well, I have been a Superman fan since the 1950s. Not as big a fan as
I once was, but still I know the original sources.
Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris's screenplay lays on the
Christian symbolism a little thick.
I disagree only here. If anything this story is more fairminded than the
Puzo original about Supe's place in the grand scheme of things.
We have that in common. The first comic books I ever bought were Adventure
Comics #253 and Action Comics #245.
Well here there are the references ot the Earth being given Jor-El's
only son. Toward the end they call him a "savior" using that word.
They also say he is the savior who will always be there. I am not sure
the original creators of Superman would approve since they were both
Jewish. :-)
True, but Lois says explicitly at one point, "The world doesn't need a
savior. And, neither do I." The whole point of this statement was to
clarify the point of her award-winning editorial, "Why the World Doesn't
Need Superman." This editorial wasn't written in a fit of pique because
the guy she was hot for disappeared suddenly with no explanation and no
goodbye. This wasn't "good riddance" petulance. Pulitzers are not awarded
for petulance, it can be assumed.
What makes this movie different from the original in one very important
point is that the issue of whether the world *needs* a savior was never
mentioned, let alone resolved. When you compare the two movies, and you see
how faithful Returns is to Superman I in so many other respects, it seems
unmistakably clear that Lois's raising the point here is the means of
distancing the character from that understanding of him.
It may be too strong to say that Singer and the screenwriters repudiated
Mario Puzo's original dialog, but they certainly cast doubt on it by even
raising the question ..
I hadn't even thought of him returning from the dead, but you are
right.
Were there such strong references in the original?
The strongest one was the declaration by Jor-el. Here's what the
Smithsonian Book of Comic Book Comics has to say: ".. One does not have to
look for conscious sources for Superman or look too far to account for his
appeal. The promotional material for the 1978 Superman movie made the
matter virtually specific in the blurb, "with Maron Brando as Jor-el, who
gave his only son to save the world." Intended or not (and the allusion
would npot have to be conscious) only the word "begotten" appears to be
missing from the sentence."
ME: I disagree with the parenthesis above. There is no mistaking the
meaning or derivation of that allusion. The book goes on to say: "Unlike
his more developed analogues in the world's great religions, Superman does
not offer love or goodwill, self-knowledge or contemplation as keys to man's
salvation. He offers his own physical powers . Ultimately, Superman's
message for man rests only in his own superior strength and lies in his
power to be an enforcer of his own judgment of what is good and what is
evil." END EXCERPT
This statement is offered in support of an implied claim that the Man of
Steel is really not a religious figure, but I think it makes the opposite
case quite convincingly. The sentence beginning "Ultimately .. " is
charactertistic of the meaning of prophecies related to Christ's second
advent, when he returns to the rule world "with a rod of iron" and enforce
his judgment on what is good and what is evil on that world.
It should be noted in closing that all of this is a retcon. As someone in
this group has pointed out just today, Jor-el sent his son to earth to save
his *son*, not the earth ..
You've given this more thought than I have. Poor Superman seems to get
further and further away from his Jewish origins. :-)
<http://tinyurl.com/lontn>
.
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- From: George Peatty
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