American hero movies suck
Feb. 24th, 2007 02:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
theatokosWhile Adam is playing Halo with friends at our apartment, I have chosen self-imposed exile at a mostly bearable cafe on Piedmont. He may very well be done with video games and raucous hollering, but I am not going to risk it. I shall sit here and pontificate on a horrible film I watched last night, Superman Returns.
Oh lord, it was awful. On a strictly film basis, it was dull, insipid and just plain stupid. Pretty, sleek, sure, and there's no denying that Superman wasn't a certifiable hunk. Tres tasty. But that can't sustain 2 hours and 34 minutes of awful. Dear god. There was almost no plot. So much was filler, aimed I think at the five people in the world not familiar with the Superman story. Because the story is so iconic I think the writers assumed we didn't need any motivation for Clark Kent/Superman's undying love for Lois Lane. However, from this film I can't figure out what makes this woman worth pining over for 5 years. Sheesh. Move on. You're Superman and the world is just packed to the gills with more interesting women. Eesh. The baddies weren't that bad, Parker Posey just doesn't play weak and stupid well, Kate Bosworth has an enormous forehead and Superman is perpetually 18 years old.
Those opinions are separate from the theologian in me who watched the film and just wanted to throttle the makers. I am very glad that I saw all the Superman movies (the Christopher Reeves ones, he's also annoying, but charming in his stiffness) when I was young enough to just enjoy them as super hero flicks. Now, I watch them and can't help but recoil at the myopic, American, self-satisfied hero worship that fills them. If Superman can hear the cries of the world, why is he helping a dumb woman whose breaks have failed in her car? Sure, loads of potential damage and death, but the motherfucker could end Darfur, break the legs of child molesters, and make a compelling case against global warming! All we see is him saving people falling from buildings. Of course, each life is precious and all that, but Superman seems to save only the hapless white person from accidents in first world countries. There were some news reports in the film show him saving people in Germany, and even the Phillipines - not a first world nation, but mostly, we like seeing white Americans saved from impossible accidents. What's even more annoying is that people just stand around and watch Superman save the day - where's the incentive for the Average Joe to take a risk and save themselves or others?
And here is where my big beef comes in - the Jesus metaphors. There's Marlon Brando's voice telling Superman about how the father will see through the son's eyes and the son will see through the father's. It's trinitarian talk with out the holy Spirit! Then there's the mock crucifixion pose when Superman lets of his own burden (kryptonite embedded crystalline landmass) by throwing it into space (does he just toss everything out there??). Ugh, our Saviour is supposed to be some adolescent dork who takes the world on his shoulders but is basically is one giant people-pleaser? Our Saviour is a white male, only son, an exterior/alien being sent to us to show us the way. It's external saving, the white knight riding in, the fairy godmother granting us authority and power. Sounds like typical Jesus to me. But this ain't the Jesus I can get behind.
I know there are many Superman stories. To counter my severe annoyance with the movie, Adam gave me "Kingdom Come" - a graphic novel (?) about what happens when the world is filled with these Superbeings and humans have come to depend on heroes to save the day. I've only just started, but so far, so good. I am increasingly agitated with external saviour stories. We save our selves and each other. There is just no other way around it.
Oh lord, it was awful. On a strictly film basis, it was dull, insipid and just plain stupid. Pretty, sleek, sure, and there's no denying that Superman wasn't a certifiable hunk. Tres tasty. But that can't sustain 2 hours and 34 minutes of awful. Dear god. There was almost no plot. So much was filler, aimed I think at the five people in the world not familiar with the Superman story. Because the story is so iconic I think the writers assumed we didn't need any motivation for Clark Kent/Superman's undying love for Lois Lane. However, from this film I can't figure out what makes this woman worth pining over for 5 years. Sheesh. Move on. You're Superman and the world is just packed to the gills with more interesting women. Eesh. The baddies weren't that bad, Parker Posey just doesn't play weak and stupid well, Kate Bosworth has an enormous forehead and Superman is perpetually 18 years old.
Those opinions are separate from the theologian in me who watched the film and just wanted to throttle the makers. I am very glad that I saw all the Superman movies (the Christopher Reeves ones, he's also annoying, but charming in his stiffness) when I was young enough to just enjoy them as super hero flicks. Now, I watch them and can't help but recoil at the myopic, American, self-satisfied hero worship that fills them. If Superman can hear the cries of the world, why is he helping a dumb woman whose breaks have failed in her car? Sure, loads of potential damage and death, but the motherfucker could end Darfur, break the legs of child molesters, and make a compelling case against global warming! All we see is him saving people falling from buildings. Of course, each life is precious and all that, but Superman seems to save only the hapless white person from accidents in first world countries. There were some news reports in the film show him saving people in Germany, and even the Phillipines - not a first world nation, but mostly, we like seeing white Americans saved from impossible accidents. What's even more annoying is that people just stand around and watch Superman save the day - where's the incentive for the Average Joe to take a risk and save themselves or others?
And here is where my big beef comes in - the Jesus metaphors. There's Marlon Brando's voice telling Superman about how the father will see through the son's eyes and the son will see through the father's. It's trinitarian talk with out the holy Spirit! Then there's the mock crucifixion pose when Superman lets of his own burden (kryptonite embedded crystalline landmass) by throwing it into space (does he just toss everything out there??). Ugh, our Saviour is supposed to be some adolescent dork who takes the world on his shoulders but is basically is one giant people-pleaser? Our Saviour is a white male, only son, an exterior/alien being sent to us to show us the way. It's external saving, the white knight riding in, the fairy godmother granting us authority and power. Sounds like typical Jesus to me. But this ain't the Jesus I can get behind.
I know there are many Superman stories. To counter my severe annoyance with the movie, Adam gave me "Kingdom Come" - a graphic novel (?) about what happens when the world is filled with these Superbeings and humans have come to depend on heroes to save the day. I've only just started, but so far, so good. I am increasingly agitated with external saviour stories. We save our selves and each other. There is just no other way around it.
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Date: 2007-02-28 04:32 am (UTC)Word. Even if it's an unlikely Superman story that would show us that particular truth, I wish it would happen anyway. It's funny what a slippery character Superman is: so many writers tell crappy, empty stories with him. Not surprising, I guess.
To paraphrase Agnostic Front: "There's no Hall of Justice, there's just hall of us."
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Date: 2007-02-28 06:34 pm (UTC)