I'm not completely sure that Martha without Jonathan is the moral paragon we all think she is, or that she's likely to be more open to Jor-El. Oh, I agree, but I don't think it matters. I think the fact that she's not a moral paragon would allow Clark to develop his own morality earlier, and I think Clark's craving for a father would take care of her resistance to Jor-El. We saw him seek out contact with Jor-El despite her feelings in Season 2--I think that urge in him was very very strong. I don't think it would be the easiest family dynamic in the world. But I think it would ultimately teach Clark more and make him more of an independent adult at a younger age.
Why, exactly, do you think it would have been a good thing for Clark not to be influenced by Jonathan? I'm not sure I've ever heard your opinions on that. 1. Anger management: Clark's anger mirrors J's so perfectly I can't help but feel that he imprinted on this behaviour pattern at an early age. He's reckless, he flies into rages without thinking things through, and he sees violence as a solution--all VERY unhealthy things for a future Superman to learn. 2. Prejudice: Jonathan accepts the surface as truth--we see this most clearly with the Luthors. He has one fixed idea of them and he denies any complexity in the picture, even when there is some. This is still Clark's failing today. Clark doesn't uncover the real truths of Lex's evilness because he's been too busy throwing accusations that aren't completely accurate. The Luthors are not black and white--they justify what they do, they act out of multiple motives, sometimes it would pay to work with them. But thanks to Jonathan, Clark's forever stuck in open adversary mode. He'll have to rely on others to sneak under Lex's radar and find out the real truth. 3. False moral superiority and self-righteousness: Again, learnt from Jonathan. Apart from the obvious limitations of these attributes, I think there's a subtler issue for Clark: he finds it very hard to accept personal failure. Jonathan did nothing to teach his son that failure is part of life, that sometimes you can't control fate. He was so smug and felt so entitled to being viewed as a good man, that he made Clark fear admitting you're not, admitting you make mistakes. 4. Football. Partly Clark's drive for it came from his ridiculous idealisation of his father as high school football hero.
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Oh, I agree, but I don't think it matters. I think the fact that she's not a moral paragon would allow Clark to develop his own morality earlier, and I think Clark's craving for a father would take care of her resistance to Jor-El. We saw him seek out contact with Jor-El despite her feelings in Season 2--I think that urge in him was very very strong. I don't think it would be the easiest family dynamic in the world. But I think it would ultimately teach Clark more and make him more of an independent adult at a younger age.
Why, exactly, do you think it would have been a good thing for Clark not to be influenced by Jonathan? I'm not sure I've ever heard your opinions on that.
1. Anger management: Clark's anger mirrors J's so perfectly I can't help but feel that he imprinted on this behaviour pattern at an early age. He's reckless, he flies into rages without thinking things through, and he sees violence as a solution--all VERY unhealthy things for a future Superman to learn.
2. Prejudice: Jonathan accepts the surface as truth--we see this most clearly with the Luthors. He has one fixed idea of them and he denies any complexity in the picture, even when there is some. This is still Clark's failing today. Clark doesn't uncover the real truths of Lex's evilness because he's been too busy throwing accusations that aren't completely accurate. The Luthors are not black and white--they justify what they do, they act out of multiple motives, sometimes it would pay to work with them. But thanks to Jonathan, Clark's forever stuck in open adversary mode. He'll have to rely on others to sneak under Lex's radar and find out the real truth.
3. False moral superiority and self-righteousness: Again, learnt from Jonathan. Apart from the obvious limitations of these attributes, I think there's a subtler issue for Clark: he finds it very hard to accept personal failure. Jonathan did nothing to teach his son that failure is part of life, that sometimes you can't control fate. He was so smug and felt so entitled to being viewed as a good man, that he made Clark fear admitting you're not, admitting you make mistakes.
4. Football. Partly Clark's drive for it came from his ridiculous idealisation of his father as high school football hero.
That enough? ;-)