I walked out of inception with a confused audience in tow... Not that Zack has done anything of that sort with his comments. The point is that the number of people understanding something when it comes to art isn't the same as with a science lecture. We all take different things away.
As for the my interpretation of what he's saying. I could try and share, just as I've tried to share my interpretation of MOS with folks here...seems like a fool me once scenario tbh
Still, why not:
I wanted the movie to have a mythological feeling
-Wanted to make a modern myth. From the various analogies in the picture to the scale and impact.
In ancient mythology, mass deaths are used to symbolize disasters. In other countries like Greece and Japan, myths were recounted through the generations, partly to answer unanswerable questions about death and violence.
Traditionally the events in myths, take on a metaphorical meaning as that helps explain history or science through generations. Demeter's story explaining the seasonal shifts, The japanese fujin stories explaining to the various winds etc. In this particular myth, disaster is being used to symbolize death and the myth of superman as told by Snyder is heavy on the death(without actually showing any), thus we are given "disaster".
In America, we dont have that legacy of ancient mythology. Superman (who first appeared in Action Comics in 1938) is probably the closest we get.
Unlike in Greece/Japan/Africa. America doesn't have much myths or rather the myth tradition(probably because America only a few centuries old). What we do have is Comic Books, Action Comics to be more specific.
*I should add, he's explaining American society to foreigners right now. Not giving rabid fanboys the answers they so violently deserve.
Its a way of recounting the myth
Comic books are the closest thing to Western mythology(outside westerns), and along with mythology you have symbolism. The killing of his family by his own had. This symbolized the largely significant theme of the mythic rage in the Hercules mythology.
Applied to Superman and you have mythic levels of disaster symbolizing death.
Now if you want to argue that death has no place in the superman myth, that's fine. I'm just sharing my interp of what say is saying in this instance. Take it for what you will.