"Truth, Justice, and that other stuff."
This is the phrase of the new Superman. In a scene about 30 minutes into Superman Returns Mr. White, the editor and chief of the Daily Planet is addressing his staff... find all pictures of Superman he says, see what he eats, he says, find out if he's still all about "truth, justice, and that other stuff."
Funny, that other stuff used to be really important.
It's still important today actually, so important that politicans the world over try to force that "other stuff" on citizens. Owning a home is part of it, so the government's going to find a way to bailout those that can't afford one. Having health care is part of it, so the government's going to give that to you too.
It is so funny to me that this "other stuff" is oh so conveniently rolled off the tongue when talking about paying more taxes, but is hidden away under a not very well written piece of dialogue when they are afraid it might offend someone. When talking about defending something.
Superman, of Christopher Reeve and Comic book fame use to stand for truth, justice, and the American way. He was faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound ... He was a super man. He was a super American, man, he was on the "same team" as public officials and military men and women who fought for the same things he fought.
Now, you might be wondering, why now Stacy? This movie came out over a year ago. Well yes it did. And I heard that it was terrible and I'm just now watching it for free (sort of) on HBO.
And the story on this has honestly been done ... in an interview by the Hollywood Reporter, writer Dan Harris says ...
I'm sorry Dan ... maybe you've spent too much time in fiction. Superman may be a character from outer space, but he was written by and for Americans. Superman himself said he fought for truth, justice and the American way. If Harris was interested in creating an international superhero, he perhaps should have created a new one. Because Superman is a part of American history. I don't think I'll be seeing a lot of Superman memorabilia in a British history museum anytime soon.
In the same article Harris calls the expression, "antiquated." Superman in general must be "antiquated." Oh wait ... not if he can earn big box office draw.
In the end it's always about money.
They spit on the history that Superman belongs to, yet they cling to it if it will make them rich.
And if it will make them rich in Europe and Asia. So sorry Superman, you used to be an American. Now you've gone international in the hopes of bigger sales.
Superman the comic was first published in June of 1938 as part of Action Comics. He became his own comic one year later. He came to America when we needed a hero. Between world wars, under a demoralizing depression, and watching fascism spread across Europe like a plague ... Superman was everything we needed. Someone to keep the boogieman away while Americans tried to hold everything together.
This in and of itself makes Harris's comments about the "American Way" referring to the 50s and 60s obsolete. Clearly the writers of this latest sequel weren't very up on their comic hero lore. Or maybe they got all their historical information from Smallville. The comment makes me think they believed Superman reached prominence with the baby boomers. And that just isn't so. He was part of the Greatest Generation.
Superman was in his late 20s and 30s in the 50s and 60s. He doesn't stand for a lost ideal. He stands for the ideal. He stands for blue collar folks who work for a living and want a safe place to call home. He stands for exactly what he says he stands for. Truth. Justice. The American way.
We idolize everything about our heroes from World War I and II, rightly so. Why would we not do the same for the other hero of that era?
And why is Lois Lane so ... so ... slutty? I hate to say it. I really do. But if you don't know who the father of your baby is? Come on now ... what else am I left to think? And since when is she against marriage? The Lois I knew pinned for marriage, or maybe not marriage, but for love! And she was a good role model for kids. I've very sorry to say that I don't think I'll be pointing to Kate Bosworth's depiction of Lois as a strong, female role model. She's just ... awful.
Anyway - all a mute point now. The box office in America spoke. The movie received mixed reviews and was out of the top ten by week four. It made money, over $200M stateside, and I don't even want to know what it made overseas. There will be another, presumably in 2009 after another bad script is written.
The great thing about freedom is I have the freedom not to watch garbage. And granted, to most it's just a movie. A nice entertaining visual for a Saturday evening or afternoon.
But for those of us who grew up with comic book heroes and who still like to fall into a world where the good guys always win, and justice is attainable, these kinds of remakes make my heart sick. But the only Superman movie I'd like to see is where my American hero is helping us fight Islamic extremists that want to destroy our way of life. That's something I think Superman would have helped us with. And it'd make for a much better movie. Do we think that when Superman was fighting the Nazis we worried about what German's would think?
More....
Okay so now I've finished it completely. I'm going to go out there and say, as far as movies go, it's not the worst I've seen. It may even beat X-Men 3 for movies I really loathe.
But it's not my Superman. Hopefully it's no one's Superman. The plot was okay, but none of the Supermans (save the first one) really had that great a plot. The thing that gets me is what they did to the franchise, the icon. At the end Superman learns that the irritating kid who needs a haircut is his son. What does he do? He stalks him in the night and passes on what his Daddy told him. One assumes that he'll stop back by and visit.
And here again, society further diminishes the role of the Dad in the lives of children. So unimportant, that just the real mom will do. The dad can go fly to outer space and visit on weekends or inbetween saving some tower in Dubai and freeing hikers in Antartica. He is the world's Superman after all. It won't matter to his son if he's there or not. And I wonder ... did this happen in the comics? It could have ... I'm just curious ...
The other thing that bugged me was the music. It sounded to me like they got the rights to the main theme, and nothing else. Because the love theme was there for like a bar, and then made into something else. And it really threw me off.
Anyway - Superman, my Superman, stands for Truth. Justice. The American way. This new airbrushed, pretty boy Superman can keep his make-up and his maroon, brown cape. (What was up with THAT?) And did you notice how they had to move the camera around Lois's face all the time? It's cause Kate Bosworth has two different colored eyes, one brown one blue. And they only did close ups on her right side (the brown side) and the straight face shots were always done in the dark, or far away so you couldn't tell. I could be being paranoid, but I bet that's true.
Funny, that other stuff used to be really important.
It's still important today actually, so important that politicans the world over try to force that "other stuff" on citizens. Owning a home is part of it, so the government's going to find a way to bailout those that can't afford one. Having health care is part of it, so the government's going to give that to you too.
It is so funny to me that this "other stuff" is oh so conveniently rolled off the tongue when talking about paying more taxes, but is hidden away under a not very well written piece of dialogue when they are afraid it might offend someone. When talking about defending something.
Superman, of Christopher Reeve and Comic book fame use to stand for truth, justice, and the American way. He was faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound ... He was a super man. He was a super American, man, he was on the "same team" as public officials and military men and women who fought for the same things he fought.
Now, you might be wondering, why now Stacy? This movie came out over a year ago. Well yes it did. And I heard that it was terrible and I'm just now watching it for free (sort of) on HBO.
And the story on this has honestly been done ... in an interview by the Hollywood Reporter, writer Dan Harris says ...
The world has changed. The world is a different place," Pennsylvania native
Harris says. "The truth is he's an alien. He was sent from another planet. He
has landed on the planet Earth, and he is here for everybody. He's an
international superhero."
I'm sorry Dan ... maybe you've spent too much time in fiction. Superman may be a character from outer space, but he was written by and for Americans. Superman himself said he fought for truth, justice and the American way. If Harris was interested in creating an international superhero, he perhaps should have created a new one. Because Superman is a part of American history. I don't think I'll be seeing a lot of Superman memorabilia in a British history museum anytime soon.
In the same article Harris calls the expression, "antiquated." Superman in general must be "antiquated." Oh wait ... not if he can earn big box office draw.
In the end it's always about money.
They spit on the history that Superman belongs to, yet they cling to it if it will make them rich.
And if it will make them rich in Europe and Asia. So sorry Superman, you used to be an American. Now you've gone international in the hopes of bigger sales.
Superman the comic was first published in June of 1938 as part of Action Comics. He became his own comic one year later. He came to America when we needed a hero. Between world wars, under a demoralizing depression, and watching fascism spread across Europe like a plague ... Superman was everything we needed. Someone to keep the boogieman away while Americans tried to hold everything together.
This in and of itself makes Harris's comments about the "American Way" referring to the 50s and 60s obsolete. Clearly the writers of this latest sequel weren't very up on their comic hero lore. Or maybe they got all their historical information from Smallville. The comment makes me think they believed Superman reached prominence with the baby boomers. And that just isn't so. He was part of the Greatest Generation.
Superman was in his late 20s and 30s in the 50s and 60s. He doesn't stand for a lost ideal. He stands for the ideal. He stands for blue collar folks who work for a living and want a safe place to call home. He stands for exactly what he says he stands for. Truth. Justice. The American way.
We idolize everything about our heroes from World War I and II, rightly so. Why would we not do the same for the other hero of that era?
And why is Lois Lane so ... so ... slutty? I hate to say it. I really do. But if you don't know who the father of your baby is? Come on now ... what else am I left to think? And since when is she against marriage? The Lois I knew pinned for marriage, or maybe not marriage, but for love! And she was a good role model for kids. I've very sorry to say that I don't think I'll be pointing to Kate Bosworth's depiction of Lois as a strong, female role model. She's just ... awful.
Anyway - all a mute point now. The box office in America spoke. The movie received mixed reviews and was out of the top ten by week four. It made money, over $200M stateside, and I don't even want to know what it made overseas. There will be another, presumably in 2009 after another bad script is written.
The great thing about freedom is I have the freedom not to watch garbage. And granted, to most it's just a movie. A nice entertaining visual for a Saturday evening or afternoon.
But for those of us who grew up with comic book heroes and who still like to fall into a world where the good guys always win, and justice is attainable, these kinds of remakes make my heart sick. But the only Superman movie I'd like to see is where my American hero is helping us fight Islamic extremists that want to destroy our way of life. That's something I think Superman would have helped us with. And it'd make for a much better movie. Do we think that when Superman was fighting the Nazis we worried about what German's would think?
More....
Okay so now I've finished it completely. I'm going to go out there and say, as far as movies go, it's not the worst I've seen. It may even beat X-Men 3 for movies I really loathe.
But it's not my Superman. Hopefully it's no one's Superman. The plot was okay, but none of the Supermans (save the first one) really had that great a plot. The thing that gets me is what they did to the franchise, the icon. At the end Superman learns that the irritating kid who needs a haircut is his son. What does he do? He stalks him in the night and passes on what his Daddy told him. One assumes that he'll stop back by and visit.
And here again, society further diminishes the role of the Dad in the lives of children. So unimportant, that just the real mom will do. The dad can go fly to outer space and visit on weekends or inbetween saving some tower in Dubai and freeing hikers in Antartica. He is the world's Superman after all. It won't matter to his son if he's there or not. And I wonder ... did this happen in the comics? It could have ... I'm just curious ...
The other thing that bugged me was the music. It sounded to me like they got the rights to the main theme, and nothing else. Because the love theme was there for like a bar, and then made into something else. And it really threw me off.
Anyway - Superman, my Superman, stands for Truth. Justice. The American way. This new airbrushed, pretty boy Superman can keep his make-up and his maroon, brown cape. (What was up with THAT?) And did you notice how they had to move the camera around Lois's face all the time? It's cause Kate Bosworth has two different colored eyes, one brown one blue. And they only did close ups on her right side (the brown side) and the straight face shots were always done in the dark, or far away so you couldn't tell. I could be being paranoid, but I bet that's true.
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