I don’t remember and don’t care to check if I did or never got around to it. But it’s been a blur. It’s hard to keep up with all the casual cruelty, and the “business as usual” doubling down by the perpetrators.
I’ve always been the black sheep of the family and never big on get togethers and celebrations. Hanging around a few people in my immediate family I care about. Never knowing if one of the others is a potential problem, just waiting to explode. Better to just not go, or it least have a ready excuse to leave ASAP. Fortunately, for the past several years if there has been a get together for the 4th of July I haven’t been invited. And I think it’s more likely that there wasn’t even one.
What I do like to do is to take my dog for a walk. And it’s because of the new Superman movie that these thoughts bubble up to the surface again. And we'll get to that soon enough. And I’ll even take a break here to point out that there will be spoilers. So get ready to skip after this if you can’t handle that.
So, because of fucking climate change, if I’m going to walk my elderly dog it’s got to be early in the morning. Which just like a 4th of July barbecue not happening suits me just fine. Less contact the better. And as I went on my roughly four block route, my superior pattern recognition skills noticed something. An extreme lack of flags on display. Three in total which included two at the same residence. Two houses out of dozens. Whether it’s a repeat or this is the first I mentioned this: There’s no longer a need to display the Confederate flag as your symbol of hate. The standard Stars and Stripes will do just fine. And the double downers are maybe a little more cautious in public with the overwhelming evidence that something is seriously wrong with this administration. And the incorrectly labeled “loony leftists” don’t want to be instantly associated with… those other people.
SUPERMANRemember, spoilers. Lots of them.
I’ve read a lot, mostly cheap horror novels in abundance. And spy novels including big names like Ludlum, MacLean, John Gardner’s Bond But my real passion is film. Movies either served as my escape from what was my escape from the cruelty and injustice of the world. Where the good guys win in the end, precisely because it doesn’t happen enough in real life. Either the escape, or movies with a commentary on culture focusing on the current issues. Think of it like an hour and a half to two hour long version of some Star Trek TOS or TNG series where they sneak in a message about racism or the no win proposition of war. Think…you know the word…woke.
I wasn’t necessarily planning to watch the new Superman in the theater. At least not until I heard about the right wing uproar over it. That made me say to myself, “Oh hell yeah, I HAVE to see it!” Like a blog where you can immortalize your thoughts a movie is a combination of seeking profit and the opportunity to relay a message. Successful movies do both. Come to the theater to watch Barbie, leave laughing and if you’re paying attention you might just finally have your pattern recognition skills pick up on the message about the evils of stereotypes. Unless you’re more into doubling down and trolling on the internet because you think Kevin Sorbo has more relevance.
James Gunn has pretty rapidly acquired a deserved reputation for knowing what he’s doing. Guardians of the Galaxy was heavy on the quirky escapism and a surprise hit. Would that be what was going on with Superman? It’s difficult to believe the fascist furor would be over that. There must be a message. And Gunn leaned into it. He leaned into it fucking hard.
Sure there’s escapism, hell it is Superman after all. But traditionally Superman and Captain America have been popular for escapism as well as being firmly anti-Nazi. Lex Luthor, a well written for the first time and a very believable Luthor, is clearly all about the money and power. <Trump>. There’s a war between officious countries boiling over. Funded by Luthor, the aggressor not above committing human rights violations, and the poorer neighboring country just trying to survive. <The US, Ukraine and Russia. Or maybe Israel and Palestine. Or maybe both>. Krypto the dog is a bit of an asshole. But Superman loves him more than he’ll admit and gives himself the excuse for modesty by having promised his cousin Supergirl that he’d take care of the mutt. <Cooperation and empathy>. Superman’s Kryptonian parent’s message get’s twisted and weaponized against him. <Social media influencers suck -but see below>
And loads of other little stuff along the way to remind you that this is the right Superman to address Summer of 2025. The Superman we need now, and more. A movie so woke that you may need to really think about flying your flag and if you’re doing it for the right reasons.
The Supergirl reclaiming the dog bit is an epilogue to provide some last comic relief after good, of course, triumphs over evil. But there’s one last tear jerker moment to follow. Artistic license gave the writing team a chance to tweak the origin story. The original story is the planet Krypton is dying. Supes parents send him away to save him. In this version, that’s not quite the reason. He’s given a message from his parents that he was sent to Earth to…. and the sappy first part about how they adore him breaks off. The real message which didn’t even need to be lied about was he was better than Earthlings. He should easily be able to subjugate them with his powers. But since he was raised right by human parents, he doesn’t know this. He grew into being a good person, nurtured properly with love instead of a quest for power and money just because he could do that.
An early scene shows the Kryptonian parents half of the message as inspiration for Supes to heal. Later the damaged message is restored and this crazy powerful god among mortals has self doubt. Later when in need of a hiding place Supes returns to his human parents for love. And coming full circle at the end Superman has rebuilt the earlier damage to his Antarctic Fortress of Solitude, the robo-nannies ask if he wants to hear if he wants to hear his parents message. Oh yes, please. And the play the clips from his earthly parents. The ones that supported him and nurtured him and he now realizes his Kryptonian parent’s message was irrelevant. He grew into a good person because he always was a good person. He just needed a push in to the right direction.
And wrap it up with a nice end credit scene. Very brief, very simple. But you get the point.
He’s fine. Superman is doing just fine.
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