Superman Returns

DJ PIMP

Well-known member
When I saw SR I was fairly stunned, and its good to see it being discussed:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5223302.stm

SR is interesting in the way it ties the myth of the Christ to purported American ideals. Freedom, liberty, and all that stuff (theres no need to call it The American Way any more - its implicit). The shots where he uses his x-ray vision or floats above the Earth and listens alludes to the surveillance capabilities of the US... then he shoots off around the world to help people do the right thing - which they'd do themselves if only they knew how. So theres this conflation of naive Christian idealism with the geopolitical actions of the US. It expresses the myth that the US is a benevolent figure ushering in an age of global freedom and well-being; a purpose granted by God, or in the movie, the disembodied voice of the unseen Heavenly Father who explodes in The Big Bang.

From the BBC article:
"Using it as evangelism for adults is completely ridiculous. It is making Christianity into this rather wholesome nicely, nicely affirmation of American values, the morphing of Jesus into the American hero."

AKA SuperJesus the fascist. The negative human aspects of the self (personal and social), i.e. greed and violence, are relegated to Lex Luthor and yet there is still a schism in Superman between his mythic and personal self. Or thinking about it now... Clark Kent is the expression of the personal-individual, and Superman the expression of the mythic-social. So we can all be a Clark Kent, an amiable bumbler, and thats OK, because the mythic narrative is expressed through societies actions. Pass the Freedom Fries.

Amazing movie and social expression...?
 
Top