Man or Superman?

Superman Returned (at least on DVD) a few weeks back, though it appears many people didn’t notice. The irony of this is tremendous because I think that originally the movie aimed to answer the very question that audiences answered by staying away, the question of, ‘Is Superman still relevant?’

In 1938 Superman appeared for the first time, rocketing from Krypton into the hearts of millions who post depression, and pre-WWII, needed a hero to believe in. With gang related crime taking over many large Metropolises and the world on the brink of a society changing war, many viewed Americans as morally and physically crippled. We needed someone to not only change how the world saw us, but how we viewed ourselves. At that time the strongest man to stand for truth, justice, and the American way couldn’t even stand. With all due respect, there was a man in a wheelchair leading Americans at that time. We needed someone that could match Roosevelt’s strength of character with vitality and brute force if necessary.

We needed a hero.

Superman changed that faster than a speeding bullet.

And in his brief Golden Age, we were reminded of why our country was founded, what we stood for, and what sacrifices we needed to make as we entered WWII.

But Superman, like America, needed to evolve. And so came the Silver Age of Superman. Post WWII, in the early 50’s, American’s were forced to face up to a new challenge. Nuclear Winter.

With a Cold War staring us in the face Superman’s story changed, ever so slightly, to warn us of an impending danger. Delving into his origin in earnest, for the first time, we learned that his home planet of Krypton was destroyed in an explosion of great magnitude that could have been avoided had scientists only reacted differently. And so, even before the Cuban Missile Crisis, Superman preached to us a great lesson about the dangers of science influencing politics.

And it was by then that I feel Superman flew to his greatest heights. It is at this point that something occurred. Something that Superman, the myth and the legend, has never recovered from.

We went to space.

By de-mystifying the heart of this hero, the American space program managed to do the one thing that Lex Luthor has never managed. Defeat Superman.

When Superman was created man had barely to the skies in earnest, and prolonged flight, let alone space seemed a lifetime away. Soaring high above, Superman stood for a future where our civilization finally took to the stars and the stars came to Earth to meet us.

But as Armstrong took one small step for man, his giant leap for mankind man have sounded the death knell for one of our greatest heroes.

We will always see ourselves in Batman, his dark side and his anger; the sides of ourselves that we rarely acknowledge in public, but often privately give into. Violence has often made its way into many of our lives and through Batman we often find an outlet for the thoughts and fears we often attempt to bury.

Women often see themselves in Wonder Woman, once and always a symbol of feminist strength in an often male-dominated society. Projecting strength, as well as beauty, she still stands tall as a figure of what all women can aspire to, whether it be brains, brawn, beauty, or all of the above.

Children will always see themselves in Spiderman, a kid granted power in the world at an age when adults rule their worlds. Awkward and battling not just super villains, but school yard bullies, Spiderman was true to a life we could envision had we been granted super powers sometime between Chemistry and Gym class.

But what of Superman?

It wasn’t just our space program that demystified his flight. DC Comics assisted in that as well, creating countless Pseudo-Supermans like Captain Marvel, Green Lantern, as well as watered down members of the Superman family like Supergirl, Superboy, and even Krypto the Superdog. Yes, a flying, super powered dog.

And as our society moved towards communicating in satire and sarcasm, his earnestness became almost threatening, his core values almost corny. His strong mid-western values, which were bred in Smallville USA, have become less of the idea of American morality and strength of character, and have practically become a rallying cry to a religious right who envision Superman as their next vision of Christ. As so just like his very costume Superman himself is the next border to be fought over by red and blue. Ironically, we find ourselves fighting over a (Super)man whose values most of us have come to stop understanding and relating to. But it’s not just his values that are troublesome.

Superman is bulletproof in the age of vests and armor, flying in the age of space travel, and writing for a newspaper in the age of the Internet. His very presence seems as obsolete as Clark Kent’s typewriter.

And yet to me, it was not until September the 11th, 2001 that he truly died.

To me, Superman did not die in that famous comic at the hands of Doomsday. No, he died early on a beautiful fall day when terrorists we never knew of changed not just the landscape of New York City, but of the soul of America.

Superman wasn’t there to save us that day. And forgiving him will not come easily. It was on that day we finally understood that true heroism isn’t a matter of super powers, in fact it’s the opposite. What takes more courage, rushing into a burning building when you could be easily crushed, or when you could simply hold the building up while others casually saunter out?

I’m not sure how many of you could watch that day as people left with no alternative leapt from the towers. I for one, like them, hoped for a miracle. For a Superman to soar from the skies and bring them to safety. For a Superman that never arrived.

Here was our greatest symbol. A man who always fought for truth, justice, and the AMERICAN way. And he was invisible at perhaps our darkest hour.

Is it unforgivable? Time will tell, but the early returns are not good.

I wish not to attack Bryan Singer for remaining true to the vision of Superman he embraced with Richard Donner’s classic 1978 film. Enchanted by that film, Singer returned our hero to THAT society, one that exists now as a jumble of time and space. Not quite Donner’s New York, not quite the Chicago it’s modeled on. With costumes and cars that mixed time periods, but an evolved Space Shuttle of years to come, I assume that Singer aimed for timelessness. What he accomplished was the opposite, a man out of time.

And this man out of time, who once stood for truth, justice, and the American way? He returned, a father out of wedlock through premarital sex and a man who ran out on his love with nary a goodbye. (And yet Christian right figures still pull out the Christ depiction. I love how they pick and choose what they see.)

This was the Superman that returned. Singer took two chances, one that we would want to witness the return of a Superman, rather than the birth of one, and also that we wanted to see this Superman, a flawed and HUMAN Superman. And ultimately, I feel that his first gamble was correct, but that his second, while admirable, was poorly constructed.

While just one man’s opinion, this is what I believe we needed to see:

To believe in Superman we don’t need to see him be born again. We all know the story by now. We all understand what he stands for. What we need to understand is where he fits in modern society. And so we needed to see Superman returning to America, post 9-11, having abandoned us in perhaps our greatest hour of need.

We needed to see Superman returning to the previous vision of Metropolis, as seen through New York, only now so obviously missing two of its greatest structures. We needed to see a Superman returning to Earth upon seeing two bright and stark lights shining straight into space from a place he once called home. You want a vision to behold, imagine Superman flying into New York City, around the Stature of Liberty, and finding the Towers replaced by their anniversary light display.

And when this Superman returned he would not so easily have been welcomed. No, not by our culture. Families who lost loved one would find another source on which to place blame. Police and firefighters who had laid down their lives would feel overlooked for their valiant efforts. And our government would remember how it once placed its faith in another and would begin to envision a threat to our security from a former friend.

The story we all need to see isn’t about old lovers reunited or love triangles that formed in absence. It’s about society coming to understand what heroism is. It’s about accepting the limitations of being human. And its about rediscovering the idea of values, without any preconceived notice that values must equal religion.

We needed to see Superman through the eyes of a police officer that survived 9/11. Someone not easily forgiving. Someone that lost a loved one or a partner. Someone who was quite able to save lives in extreme circumstances. And someone who would eventually have to admit that there were instances beyond their control where a Superman was needed.

We needed to see Superman through Lois’ eyes. Not star struck eyes, or jealous eyes, but those of a reporter mired in today’s questionable media age. Someone highly skeptical, someone hungry for the story and perhaps not as objective as the public needs.

We needed to see Superman through a terrorist’s eye. Through Lex’s terrorist eyes. Kevin Spacey’s grandest line about Gods not sharing their powers held no weight to me. It held no weight because there is a cave in Afghanistan from where I’ve heard that rhetoric more times than I can count in the past 5 years.

And we needed to see Superman through Clark Kent’s eyes. We needed to understand the humanity of Superman not as a weak and feeble clod, but as a man burdened by the weight of a world. Imagine the guilt, the fear, and anger this returning Superman would feel.

Now imagine what he might think it would take to win over the people again. That Superman would need to perform epic feats of strength just to get the ball rolling. More than that you must imagine the courage, determination, and hard work that it would take to face up against a culture bred upon disbelief. To fight for something he forgot, that we’ve all forgotten, even against odds that seem monumental and insurmountable, that is what makes a Superman. And the character that would be necessary would portray a set of values that have nothing to do with the Bible, the Torah, or the Koran. And yet they would be relevant to readers of all of them.

So why didn’t anyone care? Not because he didn’t look good flying through the air. And not because Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, and Kevin Spacey failed. Not because Bryan Singer didn’t have a vision.

No one cared because in a culture desperately seeking a hero, and willing to put anyone up on a pedestal for only as long as takes to tear them down, it is not enough for Superman to merely return.

He must make us believe. And I for one, did not.

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If you made it this far (and weren't bored to death about superheroes) then I would like to point out Steven Wells' recent, absurdist take on Superman and Jesus, which I think both avoids everything I write and yet proves it at the same time (you may have to squint real hard and listen to Du Hast by Rammstein, but trust me it's there).

Science vs. Religion