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January 23, 2007
Buddhist Channel Examines Superman (Buddhist Channel)
Yes, Superman (played by Brandon Routh) is not enlightened after all. He can only save physical lives, and not save individuals' spiritual lives - though he might inspire many with his compassion in action. Superman was featured almost in a god-like way with a host of archetypal comic book super powers, while Lex Luthor (played by Kevin Spacey) comments that "gods are selfish beings who fly around in little red capes and don't share their power with mankind." Well, it's not so much that he doesn't want to share, but that he can't share his power, it being his self-earned karmic birthright! Similarly, the enlightened cannot literally make us wise, but can only share with us their wisdom on how to become as wise as them. -Shen Shi'an
[Many of us graduate students choose Analyzing Visual Rhetoric as our first paper units when teaching freshman composition. Here is a brief visual analysis of the Superman Returns movie poster through a religious studies lens using Buddhism. BK]
Posted by kuechebj at January 23, 2007 12:48 PM
Comments
Dennis, good observation! Interestingly, considering Superman as his two selves independently raises questions about tragic heroes, thinking about Aristotle and his qualifications from _Poetics_ (one must not be too good or evil or else audiences fail to relate and thus experience no catharsis).
Although Superman without powers seems uninteresting, audiences remain intrigued when this event happens, partly because it reminds us that Superman is mortal or like a demi-god from greek mythology.
One scene depicting mortality with Superman I talked about in a paper from a modern rhetoric course last year is from the comics when Superman (as his temporary energy being self Superman Blue) phases to Clark Kent (who is completely human and vulnerable) as a means of stopping Metallo from using him as a power source. He is shown severely injured with bleeding and broken bones and such depictions are rare even though he loses his powers every so often.
Posted by: Bobby Kuechenmeister at January 26, 2007 10:11 PM
Fascinating analysis. I remember my high school Latin teacher, a nun, giving us a passage to translate that had the line "Supervir dormiet com Loisam" (or something like that -- my attempt to reconstruct "Superman slept with Lois"). She took some time to discuss Superman's choice to give up his powers as selfish and short-sighted.
It's been years since I've seen the movie, but as I recall, Superman minus the super wasn't really that much of a "catch" for Lois after all... The most recent movie picks up on the moral question that SIII and SIV completely ignored.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at January 26, 2007 09:33 PM