And if this film is really the unofficial sequel to Superman II (I didn't realize that before reading your review, actually), don't we still have the Larry Niven "Man of Steel, Woman of Tissue" problem?
I *hate* that Larry Niven article, so I pretty much discount it in its entirety (and really, as a Clark/Lex slasher I can't reasonably countenance it because what's okay for Lex is okay for Lois). SV helped with this, too, since Jor-El clearly slept with Louise without any problem. And in general, Superman has the same capacity for proprioception that you and I do. Niven's article has never been a part of my understanding of Superman, so it's just not an issue for me.
(And that isn't me being ranty at you; it's me hating on Niven's article (partly because there's a vaguely misogynist undertone to it that makes my teeth itch)).
When I think about it, though, I wonder if Superman could raise a son?
It's certainly an interesting question and one I don't have an answer to. Of course, that's what's heartbreaking, to me, about Superman: he has all these amazing powers, and he chooses to use them for Good, but in doing so, he necessarily must cut himself off from any number of normative connections he could otherwise have.
I mean, Lois is clearly not a model mother (who the hell takes your 4 year old kid into dangerous situations like that?), so it's not like she would be compensating for all the times he had to fly away and save the world.
In Lois' defense, she had no idea that Lex Luthor was behind that situation. For all she knew, it could have been some teenager whose science experiment got really out of hand. I agree that it didn't make a lot of sense to try tracking down a lead when she obviously had somewhere else to be right then *and* had Jason in tow, but I can't condemn her for being heedless with Jason's well-being because I didn't see anything to suggest that she knew, or should have known, someone dangerous was going to answer the door.
no subject
I *hate* that Larry Niven article, so I pretty much discount it in its entirety (and really, as a Clark/Lex slasher I can't reasonably countenance it because what's okay for Lex is okay for Lois). SV helped with this, too, since Jor-El clearly slept with Louise without any problem. And in general, Superman has the same capacity for proprioception that you and I do. Niven's article has never been a part of my understanding of Superman, so it's just not an issue for me.
(And that isn't me being ranty at you; it's me hating on Niven's article (partly because there's a vaguely misogynist undertone to it that makes my teeth itch)).
When I think about it, though, I wonder if Superman could raise a son?
It's certainly an interesting question and one I don't have an answer to. Of course, that's what's heartbreaking, to me, about Superman: he has all these amazing powers, and he chooses to use them for Good, but in doing so, he necessarily must cut himself off from any number of normative connections he could otherwise have.
I mean, Lois is clearly not a model mother (who the hell takes your 4 year old kid into dangerous situations like that?), so it's not like she would be compensating for all the times he had to fly away and save the world.
In Lois' defense, she had no idea that Lex Luthor was behind that situation. For all she knew, it could have been some teenager whose science experiment got really out of hand. I agree that it didn't make a lot of sense to try tracking down a lead when she obviously had somewhere else to be right then *and* had Jason in tow, but I can't condemn her for being heedless with Jason's well-being because I didn't see anything to suggest that she knew, or should have known, someone dangerous was going to answer the door.