... and the American Way
Watching Superman Returns I was struck by a thought. Ok, two thoughts really.. the first one was "God, this sucks" but the one I want to talk about was inspired by a line from Perry White in the film. He wants everyone to find out where Superman went and why he's back. "Does he still stand for truth, justice... and all that other stuff?" That's how I remember it, a word or two might be wrong but the omission drove a point home for me. The line has always been "Truth, justice and the American way" but Perry makes a point to leave the third part out.
Why?
I think it's obvious.
Superman CAN'T stand for the American way anymore. If he did, he wouldn't be Superman.
Stick with me here, kiddies.
Superman comes from the 30's. He's changed over the decades but still, the IDEA comes from the 30's. A time when men WANTED to feel super and able to DO something about their lives. War, poverty, hunger, disease... all running rampant. Fear of different socio-political philosophies and the like causing concern. The general populace wasn't yet aware enough to be scared of the bomb but they understood MAN enough to be scared of him. They got the point that life was hard and, of course, fatal. Through the years Superman would be used to combat Nazis, the Japs, the Koreans, the Vietnamese (more indirectly but still), the hippie movement, any extremist way of thinking and even terrorism. But along the way he's grown from simply protecting America and its interests to defending the world (even the universe in some stories).
Some of this can be blamed on changing times and the changes those changes had on the creators. But some of it wasn't so much a change WITH the times as much as a change in RESPONSE to the times.
America isn't what it once was.
We were the land of opportunity. A place to go for jobs and a life undreamt of in your home country. Superman IS, after all, the perfect immigrant tale. But now those jobs are going to other countries to find the employees instead of the other way around. Now a company can go to Mexico or India and find all the cheap labor it wants.
We used to be the beacon of democracy. Now we can't even manage to elect our leader without incident. Americans used to respect the office of the president enough to still follow the man a majority elected. Now we can't even let it go that the man was or wasn't fairly and legally elected (yes, I'm talking W here!). Party politics makes it so we've been spending more time trying to keep each other from accomplishing anything than actually realizing what is needed for us to be prosperous again.
We used to lead the way in scientific discoveries (or at least run a close second) and scientific investment/support. Now we can't even get kids to give a shit about science beyond computer jobs.
We used to fight only when provoked and only in order to truly DEFEND something. Now we're losing too many good kids for a bullshit war we can't win because our "leadership" messed up and declared a holy war. Don't they understand we can't WIN a holy war? We won our OWN revolution by using terrorist techniques and yet our "leadership" can't figure out we're now the red coats fighting in a foreign land we CAN'T control and losing?
Yes, we're losing. For every life lost in this continued half-assed occupation is another point for THEIR team.
What are we fighting for again? Oil? Revenge for a retard's father? Faked intelligence of WMD's? Misinformation about their involvement in an actual attack on our country? Seriously, what ARE we fighting for? Knowing this would help EVERYONE understand what the NEW American way is.
Sadly, it's not something Superman can stand for.
Truth is pure and simple and noble.
Justice, in its purest form, is the same.
The American way? Doesn't really support truth and justice anymore, does it? Torturing captives. Lying to the public about what we know and when. Deliberately attacking civilian targets. "Allowing" a "fair" trial for the deposed leader (as long as he's found guilty so we can kill him).
So Perry, being the wise editor of a non-biased major metropolitan newspaper, knows that someone as heroic as Superman couldn't possibly stand for the "American way". Not how it is NOW.
Shame.
Shame we can't look to the ideals of a fictional character spawned from a 'simpler' time to help guide us back to where this country was. Shame, instead, the country has warped the character to become what he is.
Instead of having someone to look up (in the sky) to, we have made him more human. Interesting... I didn't think there WERE any more parallels to draw between Supes and Jesus but there you go.
Shame.
(Comments are always welcome. Encouraged even!!)
Why?
I think it's obvious.
Superman CAN'T stand for the American way anymore. If he did, he wouldn't be Superman.
Stick with me here, kiddies.
Superman comes from the 30's. He's changed over the decades but still, the IDEA comes from the 30's. A time when men WANTED to feel super and able to DO something about their lives. War, poverty, hunger, disease... all running rampant. Fear of different socio-political philosophies and the like causing concern. The general populace wasn't yet aware enough to be scared of the bomb but they understood MAN enough to be scared of him. They got the point that life was hard and, of course, fatal. Through the years Superman would be used to combat Nazis, the Japs, the Koreans, the Vietnamese (more indirectly but still), the hippie movement, any extremist way of thinking and even terrorism. But along the way he's grown from simply protecting America and its interests to defending the world (even the universe in some stories).
Some of this can be blamed on changing times and the changes those changes had on the creators. But some of it wasn't so much a change WITH the times as much as a change in RESPONSE to the times.
America isn't what it once was.
We were the land of opportunity. A place to go for jobs and a life undreamt of in your home country. Superman IS, after all, the perfect immigrant tale. But now those jobs are going to other countries to find the employees instead of the other way around. Now a company can go to Mexico or India and find all the cheap labor it wants.
We used to be the beacon of democracy. Now we can't even manage to elect our leader without incident. Americans used to respect the office of the president enough to still follow the man a majority elected. Now we can't even let it go that the man was or wasn't fairly and legally elected (yes, I'm talking W here!). Party politics makes it so we've been spending more time trying to keep each other from accomplishing anything than actually realizing what is needed for us to be prosperous again.
We used to lead the way in scientific discoveries (or at least run a close second) and scientific investment/support. Now we can't even get kids to give a shit about science beyond computer jobs.
We used to fight only when provoked and only in order to truly DEFEND something. Now we're losing too many good kids for a bullshit war we can't win because our "leadership" messed up and declared a holy war. Don't they understand we can't WIN a holy war? We won our OWN revolution by using terrorist techniques and yet our "leadership" can't figure out we're now the red coats fighting in a foreign land we CAN'T control and losing?
Yes, we're losing. For every life lost in this continued half-assed occupation is another point for THEIR team.
What are we fighting for again? Oil? Revenge for a retard's father? Faked intelligence of WMD's? Misinformation about their involvement in an actual attack on our country? Seriously, what ARE we fighting for? Knowing this would help EVERYONE understand what the NEW American way is.
Sadly, it's not something Superman can stand for.
Truth is pure and simple and noble.
Justice, in its purest form, is the same.
The American way? Doesn't really support truth and justice anymore, does it? Torturing captives. Lying to the public about what we know and when. Deliberately attacking civilian targets. "Allowing" a "fair" trial for the deposed leader (as long as he's found guilty so we can kill him).
So Perry, being the wise editor of a non-biased major metropolitan newspaper, knows that someone as heroic as Superman couldn't possibly stand for the "American way". Not how it is NOW.
Shame.
Shame we can't look to the ideals of a fictional character spawned from a 'simpler' time to help guide us back to where this country was. Shame, instead, the country has warped the character to become what he is.
Instead of having someone to look up (in the sky) to, we have made him more human. Interesting... I didn't think there WERE any more parallels to draw between Supes and Jesus but there you go.
Shame.
(Comments are always welcome. Encouraged even!!)
posted by wmjwatson at 8:58 PM
1 Comments:
Here are some links that I believe will be interested
Post a Comment
<< Home