1. Superman - "Superman Returns"Did you spot my deliberate mistake? I realised yesterday that all the entries were listed as number five. That wasn't me being egalitarian. It was me being a div.
But, yes, the greatest Messiah figure in popular culture has to be the Man of Steel himself. A celestial father sending his only son to Earth to be mankind's saviour? How much more biblical do you want? It's even an almost Christ-like pose in the picture here.
In hindsight, I think 'The Dark Knight' has spoiled us. It showed that you can marry intelligent character driven narrative to REALLY BIG EXPLOSIONS!!! But the action sequences in 'Superman Returns' are limited to him lifting a succession of increasingly heavier objects.
But that's the problem with Superman. By having a hero who's invincible, you can't have anyone fight him. Unless you have some Kryptonite. But then, he can't fight back. And if I wanted to just watch someone getting beaten up, I can go and stand in Aylesbury town centre on a Friday night and watch it for free.
Anyway, 'Superman Returns'. You've actually got him sacrificing himself for the good of humanity and his subsequent resurrection. It contains the line "The son becomes the father, the father becomes the son." and Jor-El, Kal-El and Annoying-Child-Actor-El becoming a holy trinity. It's Allegory 101.
So, the right choice?
Hmmm an interesting little piece you've done over the last few posts.
ReplyDeleteI was not a fan of superman returns and so cant remember what I thought of it exactly with reference to your post here.
BUT I would say, off topic, that this is why I liked superman 2 because he had to fight others who were superhuman (cant remember their) and so he had some real conflict (he was even outnumbered)
I also liked superman 3 as he had to make some real personal choices in that one, if I remember correctly.
Although to be honest none of them have really stood the test of time.
Neo was the clearest example of the messiahs journey in film, at the end he was even taken away in a christ like pose!
Even more so (in my opinion) than that superman pic.
Charles
Thanks for that, Charles!
ReplyDeleteYes, I personally think Superman 2 is the better film. It's a real journey for him. He's outnumbered, he loses his powers and has to make a choice to become Superman again to save the world, but lose the woman he loves. Textbook Hero's Journey! Textbook sequel. (Spider-Man 2 has an almost identical plotline)
(Oh, and the girl baddie went to my school)
Unfortunately, I think Superman: The Movie suffers from The Worst Ending Ever In A Film and that just tarnishes it for me.
I'm going to blather in a pretentious way over Neo and say that the Matrix films don't rely solely on the Judeo-Christian metaphors and chuck in pretty much every religious and spiritual idea from the last 2000 years.
No. That didn't work, did it? :-)
Is a div like a git?
ReplyDelete