Overstreet’s Comment
“Isn’t it odd that Superman is here to save the world, but the things that end up threatening the world are elements he brought with him to earth? Isn’t it strange that a guy who could, perhaps, save the world, spends eight hours a day sitting around in an office where everyone is obsessed with celebrating him, and then a few hours performing a few random acts of rescue instead of addressing the world’s fundamental problems?” — excerpted from a response to the “Superman Again” feature, written by Looking Closer‘s Jeffrey Overstreet
Aren’t these people aware that IT’S ONLY A MOVIE, for Christ’s sakes?!
I love movies too, but folks, get a grip.
This is an excellent point. I have ALWAYS wondered this about Superman; why is he so passive? He always dilly-dallies around, WAITING for some jerk to fall somewhere, or for Margot Kidder to fall off Niagara, and he’s up, up and away. Where’s the aggression, the drive, the ambition to fight warlords, or create an alternative energy source by flying around real fast?
It is an interesting philosophical connundrum. If Superman truly represents the ultimate in moral certitude, doesn’t he have an obligation to wage preemptive war against dictators? I imagine a contrite and sheepish Superman having a press conference with Tony Blair after, even with his x-ray vision, he doesn’t find any WMD in Iraq after kicking the crap out of Saddam.
An aside: What the new movie desperately needs is Kidder’s energy. Bosworth’s not real spunky.
Rachel McAdams would have been better suited to Lois Lane, no?
Didn’t McAdams turn down Jessica Alba’s role in “Fantastic Four”? Maybe superhero movies aren’t her thing.
Besides, she’s all but retired from the movie business. No scheduled releases in 2006 and only one film in 2007. She’s certainly employing an interesting strategy to hold onto that “it girl” status.
I would have LOVED to see Rachel McAdams as Lois Lane. For one, she could probably kick the shit out of Kate Bosworth, whose post-Blue Crush body has started to resemble that of a starving 12 year old boy. But moreover, Rachel just has better acting chops– she can do funny, sexy, heroic. She would have been perfect.
The first Harry Potter film had the same problem. He investigates to find out what the problem is, but it turns out the bad guy needs Potter to do his bad deeds. If Harry had just stayed in bed, nothing would have happened.
I think the most important adjective for McAdams vis-a-vis Lois Lane would be “spunky”. To me, spunky evokes a certain gung-ho, sexy intelligence that goes hand in hand with a knowing, sly, but passionate outlook on things. I haven’t seen the movie yet, so I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think think Bosworth has it, and I think McAdams could do that in her sleep.
“Isn’t it odd that Superman is here to save the world, but the things that end up threatening the world are elements he brought with him to earth?”
The same way it’s odd that the bad guys in the “Mission: Impossible” movies always end up being rogue MI agents. Is MI’s existence worth it given how many bad guys the agency generates?
This has been addressed in an Alex Ross graphic novel. Where Superman does attempt to fix all of earth’s severe problems and isn’t able too. Without reading that graphic novel I’m going to go on my own guess…. politics…. it’s always politics.
But surely there are political ideals that everyone, including Superman, would agree on, such as……..
Shit.
Unfortunately, young American actresses don’t seem to be bright, charming or “spunky,” in general. It’s almost like all the smart young actresses are pushed aside to make room for boneheads like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, etc. It’s interesting that Canada — a country with a radically different, less commercially-minded (or successful) movie industry — produced both of the ideal Lois Lanes in question here (Kidder and McAdams).
Yeah, but Canada is also responsible for Tom Green, so that cancels out any good deeds.
I think part of Superman’s original “charge” from his father was that he was forbidden from changing the course of human history (although his mere presence probably does just that). So I don’t think it would be consistent for the character to start solving real world problems (Imagine all the problems with having a Superman movie based in “our” world. Terrorism probably couldn’t exist.) And I don’t think he has absolute moral certitude, because he was raised as a human being.
But hey, if you want to see a preachy Superman striving towards World Peace, just rent Superman IV, which actually becomes more of a disaster every time I watch it.
“It’s interesting that Canada — a country with a radically different, less commercially-minded (or successful) movie industry — produced both of the ideal Lois Lanes in question here (Kidder and McAdams). ”
Yes, but in Canada they would have to rely on government funding to make a film and Lois would be a necrophiliac who has a fetish for limp things and a boyfriend with a heroin addiction.
The climax would be the two of them realizing they are really pan-sexual at a Toronto based orgy for taxidermists. It would all be set to a fusion jazz score.
Trust me. You don’t ever want to emulate the Canadian film industry.
It is the one film industry on the planet where the public will not watch any of the home grown domestic films and the filmmakers from Bizzaro World (some call it Toronto) who make films like the ones I described can’t figure out why.
I’ll take Bryan Singer any day of the week over that junk.
Just a movie, yeah, but thought provoking.
Why should civic duty be the overriding focus of his, or anyone’s, life? Does he not also have a right to pursue happiness? Does great capability demand complete altruistic benevolence? Of course not. How many of us really have a ‘Mother Theresa’ inside ourselves? He is Super*man*, after all.
I think of Superman as an exceptionally dynamic fireman. Even the best and most dedicated of that gallant bunch spend more time “living” than fighting fires. And hell, most of them don’t need a fortress of solitude to unwind from their daily harrows and inner demons.
The world’s fundamental problems arise from innate human emotions. I doubt Kal-El’s photochemical gifts can do much to combat them…
I think the issue can be stated more clearly as the obligation versus the option to serve your fellow man. I haaaaate to bring it back to politics, but guess what?…based on his perfunctory attitude, it seems the only thing blue about Superman is his suit.
I always had a hunch E.G. Marshall’s ‘Mr. President’ was a Republican…
Nicol D, Canadian movies generally aren’t very good, but it’s a misnomer that all Canadian directors are like David Cronenberg. The Cronenberg-as-symbol-for-all-Canadian-filmmaking perspective is a lazy one perpetuated by people who can’t be bothered to watch any Canadian films unless they feature American stars. As someone who’s endured many questionable Canadian independent movies (and a few good ones, too), I have to say that there’s an equally annoying trend toward lightweight fluff in Canadian filmmaking.
The other big issue (and this is relevant to my thoughts on McAdams and Kidder) is that Canada’s best talents (ie. James Cameron, Norman Jewison, Jim Carrey, Mike Myers) make films in Hollywood. That doesn’t make them American, suddenly. I wasn’t defending Canadian movies, I was defending an otherwise defective national film industry that allows for the development of slightly less homogenized, generic talents than the American system, Tom Green included (and I hate him).
Finally, to clarify the nature of independent, personal filmmaking, movies that are made for less than a million bucks aren’t designed to carry the same broad appeal as superhero movies that cost $250. I’m just saying, it doesn’t make sense to compare the appeal of Superman Returns to the appeal of some hypothetical nymphomaniac movie.
Unfortunately, young American actresses don’t seem to be bright, charming or “spunky,” in general. It’s almost like all the smart young actresses are pushed aside to make room for boneheads like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, etc. It’s interesting that Canada — a country with a radically different, less commercially-minded (or successful) movie industry — produced both of the ideal Lois Lanes in question here (Kidder and McAdams).
Even though he’s probably capable of “fixing everything” wrong on Earth, if he did he would either have to set himself up as a dictator to maintain it or “the people” would set him up as one just because it’s easier. That’s been the standard answer from the comics whenever the question of “Why doesn’t Superman just ________?” comes up.
In the context of the film, since they replay Brando’s “expounding” on that theme from the first film a few times, the Donner-era explaination (in a nutshell, at least) still applies: That he’s supposed to help only when it serves an immediate, absolute good OR when it’s something that we can’t possibly take care of on our own.
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