{"id":1707874,"date":"2022-10-23T08:18:53","date_gmt":"2022-10-23T12:18:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1707874"},"modified":"2022-10-23T10:22:59","modified_gmt":"2022-10-23T14:22:59","slug":"why-christopher-reeves-superman-still-matters-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-christopher-reeves-superman-still-matters-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Christopher Reeve\u2019s \u201cSuperman\u201d Still Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">12<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhy-christopher-reeves-superman-still-matters-2%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1707874&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/superman-1978-Christopher-Reeve-2.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p><strong>I was four years old, and I had wanted to go to the movies my whole life (well, it was probably only a year or two, but it felt like a really long time).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My older brother and sister could go to the movies, but I couldn\u2019t. I was too young. Sure, they could see \u201cJaws\u201d and \u201cStar Wars\u201d and all the good stuff, but I couldn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>So, suffice it to say I was thrilled when my older brother, who would have been about 18 at the time, said I could go and see \u201cSuperman\u201d with him.<\/p>\n<p>It was in the days of single-screen movie houses (the town where I now live still has one that\u2019s 101 years old, and it\u2019s a gem). I remember the movie poster hanging in a glass case outside the theater (I had always been, since I can remember, a fan of movie poster art. And if I had the money, I\u2019d blow it on collecting authentic movie posters.)<\/p>\n<p>I remember the fancy lobby interior, my brother telling me to smack his hand if he dips into the popcorn before the movie starts, hearing a lot of shushing from behind me as I didn\u2019t know the etiquette of movie-going yet.<\/p>\n<p>The film starts by bringing us back in time\u2013\u2013the movie screen curtains opened in front of you as a boy started reading the Superman story from Action Comics. And then, as if you\u2019ve just entered into it, the comic book comes to life.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodintoto.com\/pop-confessions-superman-v-film-critics\/\"><strong>RELATED: POP CONFESSIONS \u2013 SUPERMAN VS FILM CRITICS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As we journey to Krypton, and even though I couldn\u2019t read yet, the names on the screen blasted straight out at us and from behind. Accompanying our journey through space was John Williams\u2019 terrific score, which I\u2019m listening to as I write (and just purchased an original vinyl copy).<\/p>\n<p>All-in-all, the whole experience was magical. And that is what movies are supposed to be, a magical experience for any age&#8211;especially when it comes to superheroes. It\u2019s why I have found myself disappointed with the retelling of Superman since then.<\/p>\n<p>As a storyteller, my aim is to bring stories to life in that same way. Of course, there are those things in movies that grab the senses&#8211;like the sound and special effects and costuming that you can\u2019t quite experience in the realm of the written word.<\/p>\n<p>Then again, there are things in the written word that you can\u2019t experience in a movie&#8211;which is why the books are often better.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Watching the opening titles of SUPERMAN (1978). I wish you could understand what the experience that was in a theater with the John Williams score. (His best, I think.) But we were lucky. We had STAR WARS, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, SUPERMAN, EMPIRE, RAIDERS\u2026.. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PNsS6vCNWv\">pic.twitter.com\/PNsS6vCNWv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 James Oliphant (@jamesoliphant) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jamesoliphant\/status\/1581137029026709505?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 15, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Superman was America\u2019s first real mythic hero. His story is ironically reflective of the Christmas narrative, and one wonders if it was done on purpose. Kal-El is sent from the heavens by his father to earth as a baby, was brought up by earthly parents, lived a humble life among the people, and then as a thirty-or-so man heard his calling and went out to save the world.<\/p>\n<p>Having \u201cThe Hero\u2019s Journey\u201d become a standard collegiate study, the Superman narrative seems to have gotten a bit mature over the years&#8211;and taking itself too seriously, also embracing the Christ figure too much.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Zach Snyder\u2019s \u201cMan of Steel\u201d is fraught with all sorts of Christ-symbolism\u2013\u2013Kal-El contemplating saving the earth in front of a stained glass window of Christ at Gethsemane, rising from the dead, and hovering over the earth in a cross-like manner.<\/p>\n<p>While I don\u2019t mind the comparison in a subtle manner, I suppose doing so in such an obvious way allows one to sort of subconsciously further the argument that the Christ story is just a myth.<\/p>\n<p>But I digress (Or do I?)<\/p>\n<p>For Superman, the point is to give kids of all ages a hero that stretches the imagination, that gives us a sense of wonder, awe and adventure while teaching us goodness, kindness, truth, justice and The American Way (boy, that\u2019s not very PC, is it?).<\/p>\n<p>It gives children an example to follow&#8211;and perhaps another reason why the Christ-symbolism could be more than a coincidence, but also why the modern approach has been bland.<\/p>\n<p>In the Reeve films, one would leave the theater having felt good. And if you weren\u2019t a child, you\u2019d have left the theater having felt like a child again. But that\u2019s not the feeling one gets when leaving a Snyder film.<\/p>\n<p>We leave a Superman film feeling depressed now.\u00a0Not what we came in for, is it?<\/p>\n<p>Hollywood has made Superman into a conflicted hero instead of a character of character, which results in nothing to teach children. It\u2019s not fun. It\u2019s just about fighting a bad guy and Kal-El\u2019s own inner struggles of how and why he should continue to be that hero, and his temptation sometimes to just quit.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, in 2006\u2019s \u201cSuperman Returns,\u201d our hero did just that\u2013\u2013left earth for a while to find the remnants of Krypton, only to find that the earth (and Lois Lane) has more or less moved on without him.<\/p>\n<p>While that\u2019s not all bad, and lends the story some dramatic elements that the Reeve and prior versions did not have, I\u2019d rather have an old-fashioned hero with an old-fashioned, uplifting story and a little more innocence and charm.<\/p>\n<p>And from the responses I\u2019ve heard from others, I think just about everyone else would rather have that, too.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jeff Miller is a husband, dad, pastor, artist, writer and all-around good guy (for the most part). He lives in the Western Finger Lakes Region of New York State with his wife, Diana. He has three grown children. Jeff has two blogs of his own, <a href=\"https:\/\/acloserlookjm.wordpress.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A Closer Look<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/flashbackfridaychristianmusicreview.wordpress.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Flashback Friday Christian Music Review<\/a>.\u00a0Jeff is also a contributor to <a href=\"https:\/\/kingdomwinds.com\/author\/jeff-miller\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kingdom Winds<\/a>, where you can read his sermons online.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was four years old, and I had wanted to go to the movies my whole life (well, it was probably only a year or two, but it felt like<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1707882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1707874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1707874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1707874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1707882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1707874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1707874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1707874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}