Man of Steel (Movie)

A familiar tale,

reconfigured for our time.

More Man than Super.

A familiar tale,

I'm willing to bet that if you asked 10 people who Superman was, 9 out of 10 would be able to tell you something.  The golden boy of Krypton has reached the milestone of 75 years in pop culture, he's been the star of countless comics, a handful of movies, television shows, and children's cartoons.  His story is familiar, and without a doubt one of the most retold stories of our time.  The movie was very enjoyable and though it did not give me the chills I experienced from the trailer, it was a very good movie that is worth seeing in theatres.

reconfigured for our time.

As I left the theatre I overheard a conversation one young man was having with another.  He was complaining about the use of flashbacks in the movie.  His complaint was that they didn't "tell the story like he knew it."  He wanted every detail of minutiae he knew about Clark's childhood.  This is something I often hear when coming out of a comic book movie.  Having been a reader of comics for as long as I can remember, I have to say that I would not enjoy a movie that told me the same story I've read over and over.  I'm always excited to see how a story is retooled, reconstructed, and reworked.  It's thrilling and far more satisfying for me when I see a clever spin on original material, and makes me feel as though I didn't just waste my time and that the writer didn't just set his keyboard to auto-pilot.

There are many plot points in the film that have changed from what you would expect coming to this movie from an elementary understanding of the Superman mythos.  Without giving too much away for people who haven't seen the film, here are some bullet points.

• Lois Lane is far more resourceful.  She's what you'd expect from a tough-as-nails reporter.
• A view into Kryptonian society adds fantastic and philosophical elements to the movie and fleshes out Kal-El's people.  They are more than merely a extinct society that Clark is the last descendant of.
• Clark and Jonathan's relationship is a strained one.  While still being a loving father, he's too cautious with his invulerable son.  I suppose that's how all good father's are meant to be, and Clark become his own man when he understands his father and then makes his own decisions.

More Man than Super.

Beyond the fact that this a superhero movie, the subtext is far more interesting to me.  It's appropriate that I'm writing this on Father's day because at its the core Man of Steel is the story of fathers and sons.  It's undeniable and often taken for granted that the way a boy is raised will dictate the way he will interact with others and how he will exist as a man in his society.  

Not to become overly philosophical, but as Friedrich Nietzsche wrote in Thus Spoke Zarathustra, he urges humanity to turn away from the promises of an afterlife where all the torments of this world are forgotten.  Nietzsche champions what's called "This-Worldliness" because "Other Worldliness" (found in religions such as Catholicism and Islam) draws us away from this world.  We set our hopes on the other world, to the detriment of this world.  He expounds the thought that all men should strive to be Übermensch: Overmen, Above-Human, Superhuman... Supermen.  He entreats humanity to do this, not as Christianity teaches to gain entry into heaven, but for the greater good of the society.  

I've read before somewhere that the Übermensch that Nietzsche wants might only be attainable through a societal program of eugenics.  This is interesting when juxtaposed against one of the plot points in Man of Steel.  It turns out that Krypton had done away with natural childbirth and each child was produced in pods, genetically engineered for specific tasks and thus set for specific lives: warriors, workers, politicians, scientists, etc.  Kal-El is the first natural childbirth in centuries and is sent from the dying planet to a new world.  It's interesting because the fall of Krypton is blamed on an empire that obviously installed this eugenics based society.  Nietzsche wants a good world, a sustainable world; Krypton is obviously not that.

In parallel to Krypton we have the Kents.  Jonathan instills in Clark the need for him to control his power, and he does this because he fears what will become of Clark.  And while Clark is an exaggerated example of the power a being can wield, Clark's mythos can be a parable for us all.  I was raised catholic and growing up I always believed that God would change things for the better when it needed to happen.  How could I think other when in all the stories of Jesus, he comes and solves problems for everyone?  It's very easy to fall into the trap that we need to be saved, that we need to be helped by someone that can do extraordinary things for us that we cannot do for ourselves.  It's easy.  It's comforting.  

The truth is this:  Each of us has the ability to be more than our fathers before us were.  In fact, it is our duty to be better than they were, to take the good in them, make it ours, magnify it, and add our own.  We are all Men, but we can be Super, and not for ourselves, but for those in our lives that need us.

Happy Father's Day everyone.