{"id":900,"date":"2006-08-04T22:10:06","date_gmt":"2006-08-04T20:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larshvidberg.dk\/blog\/?p=1049"},"modified":"2006-08-04T22:10:06","modified_gmt":"2006-08-04T20:10:06","slug":"who-is-superman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/?p=900","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWho Is Superman?\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"superman_teaser\"That’s the central question asked – and almost answered – in Bryan Singer<\/strong>s quite satisfying rewriting of the Superman-legend, Superman Returns<\/a>. Is he alien Superman from the planet Krypton, or is he human Clark Kent? Will he be able to bridge the two worlds – and how? Here is my little essay on the main conflicts in the Superman universe.<\/p>\n

Many people think that Superman is a boring character, and consequently Superman movies are about as emotionally interesting as watching paint dry. And granted, Superman does not have the potential maliciousness of, say, Batman<\/a> or the evil past and explosive temper of Wolverine<\/a>. Superman is basically a good guy and as good as they come. Clean cut, clean shaven, white bread all the way through. The all-american farmboy from Iowa<\/a> who only exists in comics and has nothing to do with the real world. Moreover, since Superman has superpowers, nothing can really go wrong for him. Batman can be hurt, and even though Wolverine regenerates really fast, he can be killed if hit hard enough. Superman, on the other hand, is invincible. And that’s more or less a defining recipe for boring characters: No challenges and consequently no development. In some ways he’s like a Steven Seagal<\/a> character: Never hurt, never challenged, always winning (except he doesn’t excess in breaking people’s arms and legs, which Seagal seems to think is really, really cool).<\/p>\n

But merely pointing out that superman is just a good guy with no doubt or secrets in his heart and that he is invincible and consequently a boring character, is overlooking some interesting ironies concerning the Superman character, which when played well – and they are in Superman Returns<\/a> – can work very effectively. Actually his whole character is full of ironies, resulting in three important conflicts which plays like an archetypal Robert McKee<\/a> triangle of conflicts: External Conflict, Interpersonal Conflict, and Internal Conflict. And then there is a foruth conflict, rarely touched upon\/delved into by the Superman stories, which could – if taken to its logical conclusion – only result in tragedy and madness. In fact, it is a conlict so mind boggeling and horrible, that it would be worthy of H. P. Lovecraft (which is exactly why the Superman stories never try to delve into this conflict). What is it? We’ll come back to that later…<\/p>\n

The external conflict<\/strong> is the obvious, rather boring conflict of superpowers versus cryptonite<\/strong>. Superman derives his powers from being from the planet Krypton (where he theoretically just would be the Average Joe, or Average Jo-El, if you prefer), which gives him superpowers on Earth, more or less like gravity is different on the Moon and the Earth. Consequently, if confronted with radioactive material from Krypton, he looses his powers and can then be killed and yada yada yada you know the rest… Lex Luthor is always coming up with new ways to produce cryptonite, which – considering it’s coming from a destroyed planet in another solar system – seems to be around in abundance in the Superman universe. Like all other external conflicts this conflict is really only interesting in the way it relates to character and development. When explored for the irony of the fact that a tiny bit of useless radioactive material can render the most powerful man powerless, this conflict has it’s uses dramatically, but it’s more or less a vehicle to keep the story going.<\/p>\n

The interpersonal conflict<\/strong> is where the emotional juices actually start flowing. This one is Superman’s (and alter ego Clark Kent’s) impossible love affair<\/strong> with Lois Lane. Impossible for two reasons: Even though Lois Lane is in love with Superman, she sees Clark Kent as a harmless, unromantic nerd. This might not be such a problem if Superman did not have so many problems of his own. After all, could he just trash Clark Kent and be Superman all the time? No. Like for many other superheroes, possession af superpowers is both a blessing and a curse: they are the reason why the heroes become who they are, but at the same time they are a real cross to bear. Lois Lane falls in love with Superman, but not with Clark Kent. But Superman cannot have a wife. That would make him vulnerable – and moreover, put her in mortal danger if his enemies knew they were in love. And yet, at the same time, Superman cannot stop being Superman. Not because he would then be stuck being boring Clark Kent, who doesn’t exactly gets Lois Lane’s juices flowing, but because it is his destiny to be Superman. Which gets us to the third, inner conlict<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In a defining scene in Superman Returns<\/em>, Superman takes Lois Lane on a beautiful flying tour up above Metropolis. Being human, she only sees the beauty and excitement of the vista and falls in love with Superman all over again. What power! Such possiblities! Such beauty! It’s a clich\u00e9 to tell your girlfriend that you’ll give her the moon or take her to the stars, but Superman can actually do that. What woman wouldn’t fall for that? But in the same scene, Superman asks her what she hears. And she hears absolutely nothing, only the quiet stilness of sublime beauty. Superman, on the other hand, hears everything. His superhearing is always tuned into all the evils of the world – robberies, rapes, all the horror and madness of the world, which he is constantly confronted with – and feels obliged to do something about. And this is exactly what seperates Superman from Lois Lane, and convinces them both that they can never be together. Because he is Superman, and cannot escape it. This is a really satisfying scene, extremely well written and I would say it goes right to the heart of the film and the grusome dilemma for Superman: He has human emotions, but he is not human, but bound to something else. The exact same thing that bind Superman and Lois Lane together is what draws them apart. Now, if that isn’t the source for high drama worthy of Shakespeare, I don’t know what is.<\/p>\n

This conflict of interest is the essence of the third conflict, Supermans internal conflict, and of course this is the really interesting stuff: Who Is Superman? It is a question of identity, his original world being destroyed beyond repair, his whole family dead. And yet he has this new identity as Clark Kent, farm boy with a journalism career. But he is not Clark Kent, he is Superman and cannot escape. I will not spoil the movie by saying how this conflict is resolved in Superman Returns<\/em>, just note thatI found it very satisfying, in that Hollywood feel-good kind of way (I mean that in a good sense).<\/p>\n

Often, the most interesting conflicts are often sidelined by action<\/em>, and never delved thoroughly into. Superman doesn’t have his Hamlet moment full of anguish and doubt, and thank you for that. This IS entertainment, and great entertainment at that, but I would argue that the really interesting stuff IS there, and that Superman Returns<\/em> does a great job of integrating it in a rollercoaster SFX-story.<\/p>\n

And yet, something is missing. Something horrible and maddening. The fourth conflict, another internal conflict: How can Superman stand being Superman withut going mad<\/strong>? The problem is this: Superman is almost All-Powerful. In almost all respects he is a God in Greek mythology, not all-powerful and omnipotent but powerful beyond measure. Superman can really do anything he wants, and being the hero, he can save anybody he wants. And he does so all through the movies and comics of his whole career. But his powers has one flaw that is human oh so human: Time. Superman cannot be at the same place at the same time. Very conveniently, accidents in Superman-movies happen in neat chronological order, so Superman – being super fast – can stop them and save people one at a time. Only once (in an older movie, I think it’s the first) something happens at the same time, and Superman has to reverse time by flying around Earth in reverse. But he can’t do that every time, can he? And this leads us to the central problem: How does Superman choose which people to save?<\/strong> In the real world murders and rapes take place every minute around the Earth, hundreds of people are crushed by earthquakes at the same time or blown to bits by rocket attacks. Superman can’t be around to save them all, because these horrible tragedies take place at the same time. So imagine this: YOU have the power to stop ALL misery in the world, but not all of it at the same time. Someone will eventually get killed, that you could have saved. YOU. How do you decide who shall live and who must die?<\/p>\n

The answer is that you can’t choose. It’s impossible, and the question would drive you mad with guilt for not saving everyone, for not doing a little more all the time (for example: While Superman is taking Lois Lane for a quick flying stroll above the city, some one will be killed or raped, and he could have stopped it. How will he explain his priorities here?). Lucky thing that the Superman movies never try to pose this question in full. Lucky for Superman, and lucky for us. For then the entertainment could only end in tragedy. But it’s an interesting irony on the fringe of the Superman universe, and one that, I would argue, helps to makes his story more interesting than it looks at first. The hidden curse of superpowers, one might call it.<\/p>\n

[A little aside: All of us in some way faces the same dilemma, that Superman does, and we’re all guilty. We buy coffee and computers, while our money could save life among starving children, and so on. But, opposed to Superman, we’re not heroes and can block it out (if that is wrong or not is an entirely different question). Superman on the other hand, clearly feels the obligation to do the right thing all the time, and he spends most of his waking hours doing heroic acts. How does he choose?]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That’s the central question asked – and almost answered – in Bryan Singers quite satisfying rewriting of the Superman-legend, Superman Returns. Is he alien Superman from the planet Krypton, or is he human Clark Kent? Will he be able to bridge the two worlds – and how? Here is my little essay on the main … L\u00e6s mere \u201cWho Is Superman?\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,28],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}