Anton Versluys

After its announcement, this project caused stir among fans when they realized their beloved action-adventure cartoon was reimagined as some kind of spoof. It's that bad? Not really, since arts and media are made of a plethora of ideas, and more or less versatile concepts available to find new forms of expressions, and updated contents and discourse. What's wrong then? Well, it seems there is a purposed attempt to mock on a group of canonical characters and a classic heroic storyline in order to made it laughable or silly. They could have made a legit parody (as much as Spaceballs is a good and funny take on Star Wars lore), but they did it over the title itself; the design of once heroic characters -of olympic canon- is purposedly naive, grotesque, very close to ridiculousness. Is there an ideology goal on that? It's part of an agenda? I'm not into these kind of conspiracy theories, but the almost unanimous bashing established an ethical bar not to be crossed againg: Respect. The makers made an attempt to be disrespectful to a cartoon which is canon in the popular geek culture. "Hey, let's see if its work, and if it goes well, let's go after every icon or classic". That's not only lazy, it's mean spirited; it's like going into a museum to cause damage because "it's fun". Do you wanna try your own aesthetics and storytelling? So do your own goddm'd characters, don't screw with the memories of a generation! Mediocrity, mean spirit, lazyness. People said no: take your garbage away, nobody wants it. A good use for social media is the way an spontaneous reaction could raise their voice and stop these kind of projects. I hope the lesson is learned: don't ever do that again, nor even think about it. Dixit.

Salkind's Superman movie, directed by former television craftman Richard Donner has long ago departed from its shelf of mere adventure movie and is now a pop culture phenomenon, deemed -however- as a bit too dated or campy for current audiences. This ambitious production is indeed far from the strong drama overtones from Fox's X-men series, the exaggerated misanthropy of (the good ones) Batman films or the cool cynism from Iron Man, just to mention some examples of what superhero genre has produced over the years. At the very begginning, when superhero productions were mostly adventure serials made for TV with lower budgets and campy effects, this initiative came mostly as a show-off statement from Alexander and Illya Salkind, who encouraged themselves to prove they can do a larger than life movie on one of the most conspicuous american characters. The well know story of the alien refugee who become Earth's biggest champion of justice is, at its best moments, a canvas to universal themes rendered as fun-driven adventure plot with, at the date of its release, sophisticated special effects.

That being said, the greatest virtue of Donner's Superman is not in the dated production design, the old-fashioned visual effects or the campiness that drags the second part of the plot. Superman is, above it all, a movie that installed a canon and serves as a multi-layered tale of themes on what makes a hero, that lead us from one to another interpretation after several viewings. Seeing this movie as a child at late 70's, we were mostly mesmerized by the visual effects; as an adult, in the other hand, we are more sensitive to the powerful subtleness of intimate scenes, like the iconic moral strenght of the Kents or the almost naive determination for good of the main character. The perennial magic of this movie lies on its soul, and the faithful translation of what Superman was meant to be: the greatest boy-scout who ever existed. At this point, this origin story it's a character driven tale which serves it's purpose with help from the sarcastic (without being too harsh or abrasive) counterpoint of Lois Lane, the cartoonish evil of Luthor and the casual cynism of any Metropolis citizen that depicts a funny snapshot of society at the end of seventies.

The religious alussions are subtle too, in the perfect balance of fantasy and symbolism without being too preachy, which is the most criticized point of the recent versions of the character; there's no another awkward "Jesus-Superman" parable here, just the adequate keys to install some universal conceptions to massive audiences about what Superman is. IMHO, perhaps one of the most notable and powerfully emotional scenes is when the big guy jumps outside Perry White's office and goes through the Metropolis skyline searching for Luthor's threat, while a bunch of office girls run and cheerish to admire her beloved guardian the instant he flyes near their window, and short later some pedestrians at the street are witnesses of his power while Superman seems to be unawared of what he inspires; that IS Superman: an unlikely force of good seen over the shoulders of astounded people who stares in disbelief, not only for the amazing nature of such outlandish powers, but also because he embodies an almost naive sense of willingness. Powerful and effective, a movie that wanted to be as big as life itself, but has become a classic because its most remarkable achievement relies on its light-hearted simplicity.