Chronicles of the Daily Grind

I’m dying to see this film. If I only had the option and the means I would see this first in an IMAX 3D experience at SM Mall of Asia. Yet, there are factors and forces to consider, virtues and values to sustain. In my eagerness and impatient mode, I browsed through pages of newspapers and magazines and even internet search engines to update myself with reflections, issues and reviews about the film.

I don’t know precisely how the film starts, but from the reviews I’ve read, the film sets off with the world’s disorientation as its crises went unheeded after five long years of Superman’s mysterious disappearance. Crime eventually soared into heights in Metropolis, led by the destructive schemes of Lex Luthor who had sprung from the prison with the specific intent of using Superman’s technological secrets for his own personal gain and glory.

After Kal-El’s (Superman’s real and Kryptonian name) ship crash lands back in Kansas, he finds many thing about this world have changed. The world has moved on without him as evidenced by Lois Lane’s Pulitzer Prize Winning article, “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman.” Heading back at Metropolis under the guise as Clark Kent, he met his photographer-friend Jimmy Olsen who broke the devastating news about Lois who is engaged and now have a son.

The film indeed presents an existential voyage. Superman projects three identities as Kal-El, Clark Kent and Superman. His long search for his place in the universe ends back on Earth. He was believed to be the only Kryptonian who survives. And so as Kal-El, where is his place?

There are deeper meanings as to why Superman projects himself as Clark Kent. It is not just to keep his true identity to ward away from mass popularity and attention; or a prudent way of protecting those people who are closely connected to him. Clark Kent is his niche in this world by way of “relating” or “connecting.” In a deeper sense, through Clark Kent, he is regarded as “one among us.” Although Jor-El, his father, reminded him, “Even though you’ve been raised as a human being, you are not one of them.” Things are becoming more difficult for him when he learned that Lois Lane, the love of his life and the human connection he most needed, has also moved on from his absence.

“There is nothing stronger or more devastating to Superman than to be told by the woman he loves that he’s no longer relevant in the world and this thing he thought he was destined to be is not really appropriate anymore.” In his winning essay, Lois Lane had written to the people the need to move on, to learn for themselves, and not to rely on having a savior. Therefore, his third identity as “Superman” was put into malarkey.

Superman struggles not only for his identity, but more so for the meaning of his existence. With these three: Kal-El, Superman, Clark Kent in question, what or where is his place?

We have so much to learn from this. Oftentimes we are identified with the things we do. It would really be a devastating experience for one day to wake up to a reality when we can never perform. Can we live with that? Then we begin to ask the meaning of our existence. Existential philosophers would talk about “functionalism.” That is an enslaving concept. We call that inauthentic way of living. The meaning of our existence is not what one can do… but who we are….

In this regard, who is superman? Superman in reality is a myth, a product of one’s imagination, a non-existential being. Yet, we can learn existential things from him.

*****

Superman is different among other superheroes. If Batman’s true identity is Bruce Wayne, Spiderman’s true identity is Peter Parker, and Daredevil’s true identity is Matt Murdock; Superman’s true identity is not Clark Kent. He is Superman. The song by Five for Fighting beautifully captures the inner struggles of superman. And we can relate to this. Human as we are, we can identify with the emotion of superman. In the external toughness and strength, deep within is the vulnerability one’s being (true self). Borrowing from Anotoine de St. Exupery’s line from The Little Prince, “What is essential is invisible in the eye.”

SUPERMAN
Five for Fighting

I can’t stand to fly;
I’m not that naïve;
I’m just out to find
The better part of me.  

I’m more than a bird;
I’m more than a plane,
More than some pretty face beside a train;
It’s not easy to be me. 

Wish that I could cry,
Fall upon my knees,
Find a way to lie
About a home I’ll never see. 

It may sound absurd
but don’t be naïve;
Even Heroes have the right to bleed;
I may be disturbed,but won’t you concede?
Even Heroes have the right to dream;
It’s not easy to be me  

Up, up and away, away from me;
Well, it’s all right.
You can all sleep sound tonight;
I’m not crazy or anything… 

I can’t stand to fly;
I’m not that naïve;
Men weren’t meant to ride
with clouds between their knees.  

I’m only a man in a silly red sheet,
Digging for kryptonite on this one way street,
Only a man in a funny red sheet,
Looking for special things inside of me…

Inside of me… 

I’m only a man in silly red sheet,
Only a man looking for her dreams…
I’m only a man in a funny red sheet…
It’s not easy…
It’s not easy to be me.

Posted by brodiz on Thursday, June 29, 2006 at 1:11 PM | Permalink