mego joe
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He hasn't been changed.
I disagree, and I'll go through the reasons in the following responses.
Truth is he's Clark also. He doesn't go too much for Truth in that aspect. He goes with a secret. To hide truth is not a very honest way to deal with truth. I'm saying that his stand for those ideals is not absolute for 100% of his personal life. That is necessary and it's not going against them.
Actually, I don't think he ever actually lies as Clark or SUperman in SUperman: The Movie or SUperman II. I think they went out of their way to make sure that he never actually told a lie and developed other things to distract Lois etc.., or had dialogue that avoided the question w/o him having to answer it directly, b/c then he would not be able to lie. I think this is the part where you can say he does subscribe to those ideals in his life as Clark as well as SUperman. If he didn't he would be a huge hypocrite, and Superman would not be much of a hero as a hypocrite.
I find it interesting that your view of truth and lying is so black and white. For example:
If I asked you do describe in detail your last sexual encounter, you would probably tell me to 'take' off, b/c it's none of my business. THe situation to Superman's id is similar. There are some things that are not other people's business, but not revealing them is not the same as lying. Nor is it being untruthful. It's simply choosing to whom you will reveal the most personal things about yourself. While the whole secret id thing is unique to superheroes, I don't think you can say that every superhero who maintains a secret identity is a liar in his or her personal life. That seems to be great misunderstanding of the whole concept of the superhero's secret id.
I'm actually watching for all implications. You're relativizing Truth. In worse of cases Superman is not what I'd call Super-honest. Superman going "Oh I put Clark in a safe place" is lying.
I don't think I'm 'relativizing' Truth, but simply putting it in it's proper context. YOur definition would mark every person in the world as untruthful or liars if the weren't forthcoming with a complete answer to every question they were asked by anyone ever. If Superman is not 'super-honest' why would they make such a big deal in STM about Superman never lying. Is that a lie? Can you see the contradiction in that?
"Oh, I put Clark in a safe place" is not lying. It's just not giving all the details in the answer. If Clark is now wearing the Supreman costume and doing the Superman thing instead of lying under the wreakage of a building doesn't that qualify as a safe place?
Superman doesn't work for Government or any other institution or person who he has to answer for respect of certain stuff.
He only has to answer to himself and since he has said publicly that he 'never lies,' he is giving a verbal promise to the general public so that they will trust him. And to maintain that trust he has to keep the promise.
He keeps a secret identity under his own will and his will only. I know it's necessary in order to keep his mission going on at least the way he wants to. But still is not being honest. He could choose to be Superman 24/7 and not being forced to have a secret identity but he went the other way. He has been Lois workmate for years and he hasn't "slowly" or "organically" come close to reveal who he really is. Same with Perry and Jiommy so he's not honest with people close to him.
I think you're wrong about classifying the whole secret id thing as not being honest, and I think that he is not as close to Perry and Jimmy as you would like to believe. Certainly in the movies the only characters that he has a close enough relationship in the movies that would be privy to his id are Lois (if they are going to be in a serious romantic relationship) and his mom. The rest of the character neither Clark or SUperman have let them into his personal life. The slow, organic reveal that you mention is exactly how it played out in the comics, btw. The movie presents it differently in that Lois figures it out on her own very early in their relationship. At the time of SII, they have probably only known each other for a few weeks, a month at the most. The timeline for SR is much more problematic and it makes even less sense why Lois doesn't know considering that they are in a sexual relationship.
So, here is a point that has changed from SII to SR. In SII when SUperman and Lois have a sexual relationship Lois knows that he is really Clark. In SR when they have a sexual relationship LOis does NOT know that he is Clark. So he has changed in SR.
And it's not like me not telling people on the street (strangers) my secrets. Is to have secrets with his friends and people who he loves and who love him.
The only movie where he has secrets from people who love him is SR. He and LOis are not in a relationship in S:TM or at the beginning of SII. As SII opens, they are still co-workers learining about each other, and Lois and SUperman are not in a relationship until AFTER she figures out his id. At that point he DOESN'T lie and instead shows her everything about him, including the FOrtress, b/c he is finally free to do so and share his feeling. Up to that point he had not been able to b/c they weren't in a close relationship and they were only acqaintances that had fallen in love through the old 'love at first sight' type of attraction.
He is never shown to have a personal realtionship with Jimmy or Perry, they are co-workers, and I challenge you to tell me how many of your co-workers know every intimate detail of your life.
And as for other heroes knowing his identity, since this is Donnerverse, there's no other superheroes.
At the point I wrote my respons I didn't know you were completely oblivious to the comic book version of the character, so I'm only focussing on the movies now.
Well, he did reveal it in Superman II, then he had sexual relationship with lois and then, without Lois' authorization... HE DELETED HER MEMORY.
SO then if the character has not changed from STM or SII, shouldn't he have revealed his id to Lois before having sex with her in the SR storyline? Otherwise, the character has changed. He is doing the opposite thing in the exact same situation.
YOu are right, though, and I've always hated it... the amnesia kiss. I feel the Donner Cut of SII dealt with this situation much better. But then again, I never liked the idea of them having sex in the first place.
Not only about his identity but about having a sexual relationship with him. Quite an honest ethical fellow. At the end of Superman II Lois is forced to forget he made love with Superman so from then on, she will think she still hasn't been in bed with him when the truth is, she has. Again, truth is manipulated by Superman.
Exactly why the DC of SII is better, the whole thing never happened in the resolution of that cut of the film, and probably the one thing most fans dislike about the Lester cut of SII and feel is out of character for SUperman even in respect to the rest of the movie. So why make the same mistake again when it comes to Superman's character in SR? Why not get that part right.
And all of this, I insist, without her authorization in which I consider mind violation. He manipulated her mind just because he wanted to and not asking for Lois' permission in order to do so.
It's definitely not right, but it's not the type of mistake to repeat in another SUperman movie. NO ONE liked it in SII. The only differecne is that in SII it serves to reset the status quo at the end of that film, whereas in SR it is th BASIS for the entire plot of the film. His dishonesty with Lois that is. I can see how you can construe this as part of his character from this event in SII, but it doesn't mean that it is right for Superman. What it really is is an attempt by a filmmaker, Lester, to resolve a situation that will not change the status quo. THe fact is that you have to look at SUperman from the context of his whole history and not just 1 or 2 movies, that was a huge mistake on SInger's part.
Again, being this the vague sequel to STM and SII, I have seen Superman making pretty questionable moves when refered to his personal life. Therefore it's somehow consistent with what we've seen in this incarnation of the character.
The only questionable move is the amnesia kiss. However, you will notice that the one differnce is that he does not do it so that it hurts Lois, he does it to help Lois. His motivation is critical to accept the amnesia kiss on any level. However, his motivation in SR is purely for selfish reasons, to take the easy way out. The difference in the SR and SII is SUperman's motivation.
Again, I will reiterate that Singer made a huge mistake by focussing on the worst part of SII to create a sequel around. I clears shows that he doesn't get who SUperman is and that his only exposure to the character is the previous movies. It would be like doing the Batman movie in 1989 and basing it on the Batman TV show from the sixties and expecting the public to embrace it becasue it was the version most people were familiar with.
Again, motivation. In STM and SII SUperman's motivations are not purely selfish, but rather based on his love for Lois and not wanting to hurt her.
Plus, LOis knows that once he regains his powers he can't have a normal life with her. SHe learned all that at the fortress. She knows that something is going to happen, she just doesn't know what. I believe she even says something about 'not being able to live like this' in reference to knowing Clark's identity and trying to carry on a normal life. I think it gets into sloppy storytelling, but I think it is implied subtlely that Lois doesn't want to know if she not going to be able to have the 'normal' life with him. Certainly, she knows she not based on what she learned in the fortress when he depowered.
Yes it is. Very dishonest to play with Lois talking like a Superman who "doesn't know" who Clark is. "Who's Clark? Your boyfriend?" very funny Superman, but very dishonest too because he knows for sure she doesn't know, he's just making a little fun of her because she doesn't know the truth.
Well, I think it's really just misdirection. If you can't accept this type of thing in a superhero story, you just don't get the importance of the secret id concept. It would only be 'making fun' of her if he was having fun at her expense, but it is clearly just ensuring that Lois does not get a sense that there is a connection between Clark and SUperman.
You don't commit yourself to protect humanity and then quit because of personal reasons (Superman II)
Really? Ever quit a job? Take a new job? Change directions in your life completely? It has nothing to do with honesty or telling the truth though. In SUperman II, this situation is portrayed Superman finally getting the chance to choose his path in life instead of having it chosen for him by Jor-El. (See Misc. SUperman Films forum, Comics vs. Donner origin thread for a complete discussion on this topic.)
The question I am asking is "When did SUperman commit himself to protect humanity?" I say he never did in the movies until this point in SII when he has to decide if he's going to go back and try to regain his powers of if he's going to stay and have a life with Lois. At the end he promises the President it will never happen again. REmember, I and II were conceived as a single story, so they have to be viewed as such. You can see how this theme plays out to fruition when you view the two movies as 1 story.
The difference btw SII and SR in this case is that Lois knows that he is going back to the FOrtress to regain his powers, yet in SR he leaves Earth w/o a word to Lois. LOis in the know in SII, not in the know in SR.
You don't make love with your girl and then erase her mempory about that (Superman II)
LOis knows that once he regains his powers he can't have a normal life with her. SHe learned all that at the fortress. She knows that something is going to happen, she just doesn't know what. I believe she even says something about 'not being able to live like this' in reference to knowing Clark's identity and trying to carry on a normal life. I think it gets into sloppy storytelling, but I think it is implied subtlely that Lois doesn't want to know if she not going to be able to have the 'normal' life with him. Certainly, she knows she not based on what she learned in the fortress when he depowered.
You don't interfere in human history just for personal reasons (STM)
So is everytime Superman saves someone's life wrong? If he stops a plane from crashing isn't he 'changing the course of human history?' It's not like this was completely self serving, he saved Lois's life and how many other's lives by reversing time. (Just wanted to point out that nobody likes this part of STM either.)
You don't manipulate your girl's mind when you want without her permission (Superman II)
Possibility her permission would have been implicit based on above argument. THis doesn't mean I like this part of the movie, just that it's not supposed to be as maliscious as you make it out to be.
Superman has made mistakes before. Nothing new under the sun.
However, what is different is that the whole premise of the film falls apart when you remove the mistakes from SR. There is no story at this point. If you remove the 'mistakes' from SII, you still have a story, it's just a little different. In SII, the mistakes are part of the story, in SR the whole concept of the character is based on him making mistakes in order to have a story.
Yeah, what about her right to know who she's really had sex with in uperman II? She can't remember because Superman deleted his mind and she wasn't even warned about it.
What about her duty to know who the hell is she having sex with? She got involved with Richard after Superman and she was never insterested in doing the maths so she knew who is Jason's real father?
That doesn't make any sense. When she got her due date from the doctor, based on an ultrasound she would have been able to pinpoint Jason's conception. If she realized it could have been either b/c she slept with both of them so close together then she should have been honest with Richard that she had been involved in a previous sexual relationship and the baby may not have been Richard's.
However, based on her portrayl I can't say I would be surprised to find out she 'wasn't interested in doing the math' b/c she comes off as irresponsible and vapid anyway.
So, how could she 'move on' so quickly from SUperman leaving?
At the end of SR he pretty much had an idea of who his real father was. Next step in Superman's life is to tell him officially I agree.
The thing is a 4 or 5 year old kid has no concept of 'real father' meaning biological father. His real father is Richard, the only father he's ever known and that's all a kid is going to be able to comprehend until he is old enough to understand how babies are conceived, otherwise it will be meaningless to him.
That next step is going to be an extrememly traumatic event for Jason to learn that Richard is not his real father and that SUperman is.
They have to tell him yes.
Or maybe they'll go by your way 'It's a secret and having a secret is not to lie.'
Every child deserves to know who his/her parents are. What you do with that knowledge defines you. The problem to me is that Superman should never be in this situation to begin with.
It was just a bad idea and makes it appear that the core of Supreman's character is one of hypocrisy and moral paradox. And that couldn't be further from the true essence of his character. That take on Superman's character is just wrong.
Even if singer took his inspiration from STM and SII to make SR and chose the worse parts to focus on doesn't mean that it is an accurate portrayal of the character. All it means is that he focussed on the marginal aspects of the character that the Donner films got wrong. Those parts are not essential to understanding the character, rather they are aspects that Donner changed to give texture and aspects that Singer amplified to being the essence.
Hence why SInger not starting fresh with a more comic book based take was a huge mistake. He amplified the worst parts of the Donner films to base his movie on, thus showing a basic misunderstanding of the character as he has been portrayed previously in comics, TV, films etc....
And being Clark but lying Lois about him being Superman puts us again out of the map on this one.
He's still a good person. Making mistakes doesn't turn him into a bad person as it could look from up there in your moral higness mountain. He has always been portrayed as a kind-hearted man and SR is no exception.
There's nothing kind about what he's done to Lois and Jason. It's more than a 'mistake.' It's a mistake that negatively impacts Lois and Jason for the rest of their lives. He has hurt Jason. NOw when does Superman make mistakes that hurt children? THere is a degree of severity of the mistake that needs to be accounted for here as well.
It is actually a little worse since it's murder.
Accidental death at the worse, if they actually died. Their fate was not explored. Footage from the Donner cut shows them being led off by Police. I don't think it was ever intended for the audience to think that Superman killed them.
Different, yes. Worse, not that much. Making the mistakes he did in SR doesn't make his mistakes in Superman II any better. His mission is to protect humankind. He quits that, he's pretty much stop being Superman, I don't know anything more against being Superman that not being him by your own will.
How about hurting people you love b/c of selfish motivations so you don't have to be hurt instead.
It is very much conclusive the ay it was showed. If they'd be on the Phantom Zone they would have showed that. There was a scene of them being taken to jail filmed by Donner but they decided to not to address that and left the scene out; they just left them falling into Fortress' precipices.
Exactly, their final fate was never shown, so you don't reallly know what happened to them do you?