What came before MOS?

I want you to know that I actually am a fan of DC comics, DC animation, I even have a warm spot in my heart for all the silver age fun and Batman 66.  So when I heard about Man of Steel and then saw the trailer, I thought, “Wow, Superman is getting the grounded treatment that Smallville, and the Nolan Batman trilogy paved the way for.”  I had also just read All Star Superman, my personal favorite story because of how smart, inspirational and tragic it was.  And Lex Luthor finally experiences omniscience by human standards.  He humbly realizes that his petty ego has kept him from altruistic pursuits.  That story inspired me to consider that empathy is my power.  I can see a person who is only a few perspectives away from extending their compassion to others and that their hate is a product of their environment. 

The Krypton experience.

So, with an eager heart and an open mind I dove into Krypton, like I had never seen.  HR Geiger eat your heart out because this is a world where everything is designed after genitals.  Like some sort of a subconscious effect from an entire population without the ability to procreate (well until Jor-el and Lara produce our main character Kal-el.)  In the film Children of Men, you see the despair that falls over the population by the amounts of suicide, civil unrest, dilapidated buildings in ruin with trash in the streets. Children are the future, a time capsule that against all odds is a chance to be passed on into wonders we won’t experience but dare to dream.  The last son of Krypton is hope, is the Man of Tomorrow.   The comics have been giving us this message and as an adult I look back at how reductive people are by stating that it’s just the Moses story and Superman is boring, but not really.  Superman asks the questions what if a God was raised by humble folk from modest means but taught humility, compassion, and selflessness to serve their community whenever they can. 

Man of Steel in the hands of Zach Snyder did not give us that version of the Kents.  It was kind of weird hearing Jonathan Kent tell Clark maybe you should let people die to protect your identity.  That’s the fork in the road for Clark as his father, clearly an Ayn Rand libertarian believes that his noble sacrifice to easily be saved from a Tornado causes Clark, the man of Tomorrow to feel guilt and reluctant obligation as he saves people as Superman. 

Neutral judgement on my part.  That is definitely a choice. It is a far departure from love thy neighbor and keep in mind this is someone’s first Superman.  And so now I’m just watching this film have Zod and the other cloned Kryptonians freed from the Phantom Zone colonize and terraform Earth while wondering if Kal-el will make the decision that benefits humanity or not.  Because his moral compass is from his indifferent Father.   So he fights them.  I’m guessing because of his proximity to his coworkers, his gullibility that the citizens of Smallville knew his secret, further cementing that his paranoid dad was triple wrong about the consequences of saving people.  He closes the movie by killing Zod while decimating Metropolis, and then having a cinematic kiss with Lois Lane feels psychotic. 

Embracing the Destruction

At the site of Pompei there are corpses called the lovers holding each other as the Volcano destroys them, we see it in Rogue One as the two protagonists Jyn Erso and Andor hold each other in those last moments.  This scene was not that.  This was standing on a mass grave minutes after resolving it with an unearned sense of forced killing.  And what’s strange is that if you imagine Lois Lane and the people who kept Clark’s secret identity secret as constantly under threat of what he might do all of this tracks.  This is the natural progression of this version of Superman.   Personally it already is a horror movie and we didn’t need the Brightburn film.  As for philosophy majors who have a low emotional intelligence and a strong emphasis on victim blaming it all comes from short sightedness and projection.  You don’t have to be a good person and take care of others.  I can only hope that you do.  It’s what that “S” stands for.  Spoilers, the next films keep that fear mongering going.