The International Day of Democracy is today, 15 September. I am curating my Conventional Wisdom post.
May 13, 2018
The world bid RIP to Margot Kidder, the sixty-nine-year-old actress who was Lois Lane for the seventies and eighties’ Superman films. For 1978’s film Superman, Kidder played Lois Lane near perfectly.
15 September
While there are no more new Discover Challenges for WordPress, I wanted to update this post for clarity.
Reflecting on their launch of the Superman origins series Krypton, one of the hosts of Innerspace in an episode from earlier this winter reflected briefly but pointedly that Man of Steel is a bad movie.
I take it Man of Steel is regarded many times as such and to counter the perception that it isn’t a good retelling of the thousands of Superman comics available in print, I want to include here from Jun 2, 2014, Exploring Man of Steel on YouTube TWITTER ► https://goo.gl/koijhV which is a go-to for a review in detail about a maligned film.
It is now known that Henry Cavill will no longer appear in the film role of Superman. You can hear thoughts on Man of Steel in a brief discussion piece about Superman and the rest of the DC Comics Universe. Henry Cavill Leaves Superman
Conventional Wisdom
My thoughts on the conventional wisdom of Man of Steel are presented here.
This week’s WordPress Discover Challenge presents the trial of posting a different point of view than what other people have, whatever POV. This appealed to me because I thought of Superman, as a matter of fact, from the films of the nineteen seventies and eighties about the popular comic book character, and also from the 2013 film Man of Steel, which is what specifically I have a different interpretation to write about than the casual interpretation it often gets otherwise (a great superhero film).
On Christmas Eve last year, December 24 of 2016, late in the afternoon my younger brother and his son went with me to my parent’s house for Christmas. My brother let me know that the two had been in the middle of complaining about Superman, in the movies, and I was surprised that they have this opinion, which is not the same opinion I have.
Man of Steel presents the Superman character as an alien, which I know he is, as in the story of his life told in the 1978 film about him (titled Superman). However, whereas in that film Superman is a very human character, who blends in with his peers, in Man of Steel (2013) Superman is almost an alien monster, considering that while he looks human, he has the mentality of an outsider. This is clear, for example, when he only takes his job as a reporter for the Daily Planet at the conclusion of the film (spoiler), which is unlike Superman (1978), in which his entire time in Metropolis is spent in the alter ego of Clark Kent.
What I think about Man of Steel is that Man of Steel is the story of an alien creature living among humans whose fate is to help people. This is like how in ancient Egypt, Egyptian workers built enormous pyramids, tombs for their leaders once deceased (the Pharaohs).
It is unknown how the ancient Egyptians were able to build these pyramids because there is no evidence that the Egyptians of ancient times had technology that could have made building those pyramids possible. It is a great mystery.
One theory is that, as in history when impossible feats were accomplished without the benefit of technology, alien forces could have visited Egypt and helped the Egyptians build the pyramids with the help of the alien people’s technology. It is a popular theory among people who believe in life among the stars (Erich von Daniken is one scholar who argues that the theory is based on the real history of Ancient Egypt).
Given that the pyramids would have been nearly impossible to build without technology, consider that aliens visited and lent a helping hand, with an interest in contributing to the prosperity of human beings (as a species). Man of Steel is a little like that, because Superman is an alien living among humans, helping preserve people from dangers that are inherent to people encountering alien creatures.
What I think is that when Superman reveals himself to human authorities, when he is given the ultimatum to surrender to his enemies, it is noted that Superman may be a hazard for human folk merely because his body may contain a disease that could be spread to humans. I say this because it is not immediately the fear of Superman’s powers as a superhero that bothers the authorities or the details of Superman’s past in Smallville, but whether Superman’s body could spread illness and death to the humans who meet him. I don’t think that the Egyptians, meeting aliens who gave them help to build the pyramids, stopped their alien benefactors to question whether they would become sick from contact.
What I am thinking about Man of Steel is the point of Superman’s existence among humans if he doesn’t succeed at guiding human beings to a better existence. Every time it is questioned if humans in ancient times visitors from other worlds among them were had, there is never evidence that the aliens caused devastation and ruin.
What if Superman’s role as a visitor to modern-day people of the world demonstrates good intentions on Superman’s part, but poor planning for the man from Krypton reduces the success of people to safely maintain conditions for life around the planet? When you sit down with Man of Steel, consider the possibility that while the strange realities that led Ancient Egypt to pyramids, in this film, when Superman is battling and causing destruction in both Smallville and Metropolis, this could be the beginning of events that challenge human’s mastery of Planet Earth and undermine them in a way that will end in cultural defeat and downfall. If Superman for once is the alien visitor closest to human beings in his physical form, could he likewise have the kinds of human weaknesses at the end of humanity’s reign over their blue and green planet?
Every other time in history that aliens might have come to help humans with the growth of their civilizations, are we, at last, to understand that there is no more? However, Superman feels about belonging to people, which is clearly passionate, consider the climax of the film when Superman is challenged by his nemesis as to how he feels about human life. If Superman is the final alien visitor to Earth, is it because he will eventually destroy us all? That is how I would understand Man of Steel, instead of interpretations that are more along the lines of a visitor from the stars who kindly brings the benefit of his superpowers to help us, folk.
Thank you for reading and good luck to you, whatever you do. Take care of yourself as always.
The Myth of the Independent Blogger and How I Learned to Love It 