tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633480297352890314.post642977237387470621..comments2024-03-28T03:28:11.926-11:00Comments on Kinemalogue: Super Week, part II: So this is Planet HoustonHunter Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10925220178171355473noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633480297352890314.post-13697762877215123812023-09-11T17:06:06.704-11:002023-09-11T17:06:06.704-11:00Let the record show that you're a very good sp...Let the record show that you're a very good sport, Hunter! (especially since reading over my comment again I think I come off weirdly aggressive and I really didn't mean that...)<br /><br />I recall the first time I saw this movie I pretty much felt the same way you did about the seemingly bullshit black-and-white choice Supes is presented with, but at some point over the years it hit me that with his supersenses he must be perpetually "on call" whenever he's not in the fortress of solitude, living a life of endless triage, and that we can already see that Clark is just barely able to be a good co-worker as he is and he's downright shitty as a friend, and suddenly I understood just how hopeless having a significant other must seem to Clark.<br /><br />Anyhow, I appreciate you putting up with pesky time traveling blog commentators like me! To contribute something, Mario Puzo's original draft for what would become Supermans I & II recently made its way online, and it features a surprisingly relevant "fantasy sequence" in which Lois dreams she is a Super Woman and lets Superman know in no uncertain terms she can handle whatever he dishes out, if you get my drift...!<br />https://archive.org/details/superman-puzo/page/176/mode/1upDafnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633480297352890314.post-1202354622078539382023-09-11T11:46:15.975-11:002023-09-11T11:46:15.975-11:00Oh, and I was, even then, being *mostly* facetious...Oh, and I was, even then, being *mostly* facetious about the sex stuff, but--bearing in my mind I haven't seen it since then--it honestly kind of felt like they were openly courting that idea, along with it being necessary for the plot and emotions of the story they wanted to tell, whether they had to force it a bit or not.Hunter Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10925220178171355473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633480297352890314.post-72593978140528566962023-09-11T11:43:38.326-11:002023-09-11T11:43:38.326-11:00Man, I wonder if I'll look back in seven years...Man, I wonder if I'll look back in seven years and feel the same way about things I write now, and what that would say if I did.<br /><br />Anyway, I do still think the depowering is a plot necessity in search of a convincing rationale. (Superman needing to give up his powers to have off-hours feels overly binary in its approach, especially given that he clearly must already, since not literally every crime and accident on Earth is prevented.) But I can accept it makes more sense in the context of the first half of Superman II before he's aware that the choice isn't between heroism and selfishness but between heroism and being enslaved by alien gods.Hunter Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10925220178171355473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633480297352890314.post-40008609696809456932023-09-11T04:19:28.768-11:002023-09-11T04:19:28.768-11:00I feel like too many of my comments on your blog i...I feel like too many of my comments on your blog involve me trying to correct or disagree with you about some specific thing so I apologize that I'm going to once again nag at you for something you wrote years ago!<br /><br />But no. No, Superman's potentially lethal super orgasms are not the reason he surrenders his powers in order to be with Lois Lane. No, I actually thought you were joking at first, but no. No, and I'm sure Supes and Lois have enough imagination to work something out even if that were an actual concern. So, no. No.<br /><br />It's a valid critique that the film takes it as too much of a given that Supes simply must become mortal to take a lover (I think the most compelling thing would've been to let us see him try to make it work and *show us* why it's not a good idea), but much like how the whole franchise takes for granted that Superman should have a secret identity, that's because it's frankly trivially easy to think of any number of reasons why Superman and his parents would think this the only correct option.<br /><br />I forget if it's made explicit, but my understanding is that Clark simply does not think he can be a true lover to Lois while also living the life of a superhero, so he wants to retire the latter. Going from there, his parents believe that so long as he has superpowers he has a moral imperative to use them as a superhero, and therefore the only way to honor his free will is to give him the option to give up those powers if he really wants to.<br /><br />Personally, I don't think I'd agree with that so reflexively if I were in his shoes (like I said, I don't think it'd hurt to give it a shot first, at least), but I can absolutely buy that Clark/Superman would, and that's the important part for watching the movie.<br /><br />In any case, you're not missing anything with the Donner Cut if you still haven't seen it. That is, unless you just really, really love Marlon Brando in anything and can enjoy a few awful 2000s special effects trying to look like awful 80s special effects and in the process looking like awful 90s multimedia CD-ROM effects. It turns the story from one about removing your training wheels and dealing with the world on your own (even if that means sometimes you're only saved by blind luck) to one about a 30 year old man having to be bailed out by his father for foolishly going against his wisdom. It's a little distressing how many people seemed to rave about it when it came out!Dafnoreply@blogger.com