Superman Kills: Hollywood’s Deconstruction of the Hero

If you’re anything like me, you had high expectations for the latest Superman movie, Zach Snyder’s “Man of Steel”, the first Superman movie without the word “Superman” in its title.  This movie promised a modernized re-imagining of the iconic character who first appeared in Action Comics #1 way back in June 1938.  Superman has long been considered by many the paragon, the idealized hero, who inspires the common man not only with his superhuman feats of strength and speed, but also with his super-morality; a hero who always found a way to win through peaceful means and perseverance, without senseless death and killing.

Enter Zach Snyder and the new Hollywood agenda.

Spoilers ahead

The origin story is permeated in the social consciousness by now, baby Kal-el arrives on Earth via rocketship after the death of his home planet to be adopted by Ma and Pa Kent of Kansas.  These kindly folks raised him as a son and taught him to always do the right thing, at least that has long been the precedent.  ”Man of Steel’s” Pa Kent however teaches his son to hide his differences, to closet his powers, and chastises his son after he uses his strength to save a bus full of children.  This was not the Pa Kent from over 70 years of comic book history.  No, this was Hollywood’s new Pa Kent father figure, played by Hollywood star Kevin Costner, who teaches the audience that with great power comes the responsibility… to stay in the closet.

Only once in the movie is the hero referred to as “Superman” and even then its as if the director and writer (David Goyer) are ashamed to say the word.  True, this hero bears little resemblance to the virtuous moral paragon established archetype, most evident when our protagonist steals clothes from a car without so much as a note or coal-crushed diamond left behind.  Superman does not steal; this is an act of irresponsibility, even immorality.  And when Diane Lane’s Ma Kent sees him in his stolen clothes, he is complimented for his good looks.  Surface appearance matters more than substance in this movie.

it is interesting to note that Hollywood has recently begun trending towards casting British actors in quintessentially American superhero roles:  Henry Cavill’s Super(powered)Man of Steel, Christian Bale’s Batman, Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man, just to name a few.   A Ben Affleck Batman/Superman sequel has been promised – dude is U.S.A. all the way (see: “Argo” and Iran’s accusation that Ben was C.I.A. tasked with directing an Osama Propaganda and Oscar-Winning movie).  So look forward to the big team-up British Alien Superman and C.I.A. agent Batman in the near future!

But back to the deconstructing of the superman archetype: when the villain of “Man of Steel” arrives on Earth, the audience is treated to a violent showdown with billions of dollars of collateral damage and countless bacground deaths, all of which fail to concern our “hero”, he’s busy fightin’!  So when he brings the fight away from the fields into the city (more 7-11 in-film advertising that way), we realize this is not a peaceful loving inspiring Superman, just a Man of Steel.   One who uses his fists, never words.  The U.S. military has more lines in this movie than the protagonist himself.  And of course directly before the movie started, the audience was treated to those wicked cool army recruitment ads with the helicopters.  The movie becomes a thinly veiled military recruitment ad, with viewpoint characters for every demographic.  The young white guy who runs the computer screen who gets to say the word “superman” in an embarrassed tone, the young white girl who says “he’s kinda cute tee-hee”, and many many more.  They even got Morpheus himself (Lawrence Fishburne) to teach the audience about media ethics – he tells Amy Adams’ Lois Lane, ace reporter, that his newspaper will not be running any story that frightens his readership, the editor of Metropolis’ biggest paper is afraid of the people higher-up, the elite who control the news.

The climax comes when the villain, Michael Shannon’s Zod, threatens to kill some trapped helpless people after the big fight with our hero wherein together they destroyed half of the city with no regard for civilians nor 7-11s.  The villain insists the only way to stop him is to kill him, so our crafty hero proves the villain wrong by using all of his wits to… snap the bad guy’s neck?  Keep in mind this is a character with myriad powers, such as breath that literally freezes bad guys in their tracks.  So we are treated to our moral paragon killing the bad guy.  Thanks Holywood!

Hollywood movies consistently use predictive programming to educate the audience.  ”Man of Steel” delivers all of the disaster porn prevalent in so many of the latest blockbusters, preparing us for a mass de-population event and the necessity for a police-state run by our military, and excuses the media for failing to report the truth to the common man.  Superman becomes an agent of the U.S. military by the end.

Government and military-registered heroes is the new paradigm, a popular premise to the point where tonight we get the premiere of “Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.LD”, a show about the law enforcement necessary to live in a world with deconstructed superheroes.  Disney has turned its Marvel properties into agents for the police-state.  DisneyXD’s animated Spider-Man works as an agent of Strategic Homeland Intervention, it’s for the kids.

The world needs heroes to inspire us to be better.  Our real-life heroes end up inevitably falling, from the Lance Armstrongs to the Tiger Woods, the O.J. Simpsons and the Michael Jacksons.  In a world without a Superman, we created him.  Created as an inspiration by two persecuted young Jewish boys pre-Holocaust for the downtrodden, this Superman has now been co-opted by Hollywood, his power to inspire eliminated in favor of his powers to inflict mass damage.

We’ll remember you Superman.

R.I.P.

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