Must Smallville be in Kansas?

[TruerToTheCore]

Answer to the OP: No, it doesn't have to.

[RachelDawes]

Smallville doesn't have to be in Kansas, but I can't think of any good reason to move it there either.

[pr0xyt0xin]

I never minded it in Kansas, I also always thought Metropolis made more sense as a Chicago substitute. Then its a believable driving distance.

And Gotham is pretty obviously the east coast. Coast City and Star City would be Southern Cali and Northern Cali respectively...

Thats just how it fits inside my head.

[StarvingArtist]

Traditionally it's always been Kansas. Shouldn't just be arbitrarily changed unless it improves the story/mythology

[TruerToTheCore]

Originally Posted by StarvingArtist

Traditionally it's always been Kansas. Shouldn't just be arbitrarily changed unless it improves the story/mythology

Since 1986 perhaps or S:TM. Moving it away could improve the story because at this point we have to do everything to distance Superman from the farmboy simp image.

[StarvingArtist]

Originally Posted by TruerToTheCore

Since 1986 perhaps or S:TM. Moving it away could improve the story because at this point we have to do everything to distance Superman from the farmboy simp image.

.... What in heaven's name are you talking about?




First, who is "we?"
Second, what is a "farmboy simp image"
Third, why do "we" have to, "do everything to distance Superman from the farmboy simp image?"

[Binker]

Do you want the original location: Smallville, Maryland? Keeping it in Kansas has become the norm to the point where changing it would be a mistake.

[Dr.]

If being close to Metropolis somehow served the story then perhaps “Smallville, Maryland” (e.g.) might be justified. But that doesn’t appear to apply to MOS.

I believe there were a few Smallville set pics with Kansas signage. Also - a tornado scene rather implies “tornado alley” (Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska). Kansas is a done deal, methinks.

[TruerToTheCore]

Originally Posted by StarvingArtist

[IMG]

First, who is "we?"

The Superman fans.

Second, what is a "farmboy simp image"

The lame Post-Crisis Superman.

Third, why do "we" have to, "do everything to distance Superman from the farmboy simp image?"

Because the Post-Crisis Superman must die so the real Superman can live.

[Krumm]

Originally Posted by TruerToTheCore

Because the Post-Crisis Superman must die so the real Superman can live.

Awesome answer.

[metaphysician]

Because, of course, Superman is defined above all else by his impossible omnipotence and his desire to marry his friends off to gorillas. *rules eyes*

Man of Steel was probably the best thing to come from Crisis on Infinite Earths.

[TruerToTheCore]

Originally Posted by metaphysician

Because, of course, Superman is defined above all else by his impossible omnipotence and his desire to marry his friends off to gorillas. *rules eyes*

Superman is definitely more defined by making porn movies with Big Barda. You are right.

Man of Steel was probably the best thing to come from Crisis on Infinite Earths.

To someone who prefers crybaby Superman, stalker Superman, ****-off-Krypton Superman and outsmarted-by-Batman Superman this might be a valid opinion

[StarvingArtist]

Originally Posted by TruerToTheCore

Superman is definitely more defined by making porn movies with Big Barda. You are right.



To someone who prefers crybaby Superman, stalker Superman, ****-off-Krypton Superman and outsmarted-by-Batman Superman this might be a valid opinion

So, if you wouldn't mind roughly outlining your ideal superman that might help, at least myself, better understand what you're talking about. Floor is yours, sir.

[ThePowerCosmic]

Originally Posted by Rodrigo90

I think Metropolis must be quite near Smallville. Otherwise you'd ask the question, "why would Clark choose to move to that city in particular anyway?".

There are many answers however, depending on the writing.

He get's a job offering.
He (eerily) follows Lois to Metropolis.
Like Gotham City, it's a hot-spot for unethical goings on...But from Aliens, Clones, Lex Luthor, etc

The reason REALLY needs to have weight to it.

Just have him move there for the Daily Planet job offering. People move for jobs all the time.

[Baramos]

Smallville is in the midwest because of people's notion that middle-America is the heartland of our most traditional, sacred values.

Since that's all a lot of crap, it can be anywhere, for all I care. Plus, the trailer for some reason gave me the impression Clark in this movie grew up on the coast--lot of sea imagery and gulls and crap, he's working on a fishing boat, and that house he grew up in looked like it might be on the beach for all I could tell. As such, Smallville could be in Maine for all I care.

Anyway, if Smallville is in Kansas, then Metropolis might as well be Chicago. It makes more sense than New York and avoids the overlap with Gotham.

On the other hand, I've heard fans say, "Metropolis is New York in the day time, Gotham is New York at night", which is a neat way of looking at it.

[godisawesome]

As someone who's lived next to Kansas City on both sides of the border...

...yes, yes it does.

My justification is that I know there are parts of Kansas way the heck out in the middle of podunk-nowhere where Clark could crash-land in his ship (which really applies to most other farming areas as well-Smallville does need to be rural), it's my home region, you're still close to the major transportation hubs of St. Louis and Kansas City while still being considered (to my dismay) as "fly-over country," it's my home region, I've always loved the idea of deconstructing the idea that his mid-western background was the source of his morality since Lex hails from the same place (plus this is the area that gave birth to Wyatt Earp the lawman and Jesse James the psycho criminal), it's my home region, I think it does add some resonance to Superman's place as protector of Metropolis if he chose to move there as opposed to having grown up there, it's my home region, And I like the idea that Clark's midwestern -though not necessarily predictably traditional- roots contrast with Lois' tomboy city-girl attitude, it's my home region, and I like the idea that Clark speaks with a Midwestern/Great Lakes style American accent that he disguises when he's Superman.

AND DID I MENTION IT'S MY HOME REGION?

Ah, sorry. It's just I'm a big Superman fan, and I grew up thinking that Superman was raised right across the river.

[Lead Cenobite]

Originally Posted by TruerToTheCore

Since 1986 perhaps or S:TM. Moving it away could improve the story because at this point we have to do everything to distance Superman from the farmboy simp image.

He's been a farmboy for longer than that, regardless of where Smallville is located. I also find it idiotic to assume that being raised on a farm makes one a simp.

[DavidTyler]

If Metropolis is NYC then Smallville should be Upstate New York. There is plenty of farmland and good proximity to Metropolis. It just never made sense to me that Smallville would be such a great distance since the characters used to go back and forth between them fairly often (and I don't mean the one that flies). Smallville being in Kansas was Donners doing btw.

[Jochimus]

Personally, I'd probably put Smallville and Metropolis about 40 or so miles from each other, in the same state (probably Illinois, as a nice little nod to the real-life Metropolis, Illinois, far more sizable and spectacular though its fictional counterpart is), along the same stretch of Interstate, with a massive lake or bay separating Metropolis from Gotham. Not only would this parallel things that have been done in past incarnations and comics, it's also an echo of my own real-life locale (I'm in a small town in southwest Iowa which I-80 runs past all the way to Council Bluffs, with Omaha just beyond it across the river).

[Joe]

The Fanboys will not be pleased. However, it's irrelevant. Smallville is Smallville as long as it's a small town. (Hence the name) The geography should not matter.

[The Shield]

As a "fanboy", I personally wouldn't care. What I would like is some kind of tell of where each area is in relationship to each other. It's always been, here's Smallville and then wham you're in Metropolis. A map that they could glance at in the movie for instance. Maybe a map on Lois' wall where she's marking all of the "Super hero" sightings. That would be cool, imo. Lord of the rings style for the Blue-ray dvd.

[AntMan]

Wasn't Cavill seen with a Kansas Jayhawk shirt on in a set pic?

[Thundercrack85]

Originally Posted by The Shield

As a "fanboy", I personally wouldn't care. What I would like is some kind of tell of where each area is in relationship to each other. It's always been, here's Smallville and then wham you're in Metropolis. A map that they could glance at in the movie for instance. Maybe a map on Lois' wall where she's marking all of the "Super hero" sightings. That would be cool, imo. Lord of the rings style for the Blue-ray dvd.

The only time that really bothered me was in Smallville (the show), where Metropolis was in Kansas. Which got downright bizarre when they showed it with a waterfront.

But I do like the map idea.

They could do a lot by just showing Clark having newspaper clippings of his heroics from his younger years, before he became known.

[Dr.]

Originally Posted by Jochimus

Personally, I'd probably put Smallville and Metropolis about 40 or so miles from each other, in the same state...

Except… Metropolis is supposed to be a giant city - on a par with NYC. And travelling 40 miles from Manhattan (for example) doesn’t get you to the type of rural isolation that we typically associate with Supes’ home town.

Kansas is often cited as the geographic center of America (or at least the Lower 48). So it’s a good symbolic location, I think, for Smallville.

[UaalaDan]

Originally Posted by AntMan

Wasn't Cavill seen with a Kansas Jayhawk shirt on in a set pic?

Bingo. Smallville is in Kansas in this movie as it should be.