Man of Steel: Prospects and Potential

Rating: 7/10 (13 December 2015)

This is white nationalism in its purest form in that the image and the message that emanates from that image is clear: white people are universal and there are other planets with whites on them. Jor-El, Superman's father, makes this clear when he tells the Kryptonians who will listen that he's scanned the galaxy and found a planet that will not only sustain Kryptonian life, but also has a population of people "similar to ourselves." Later in the movie Jor-El, speaking to Kal-El (Superman's real name) through a high tech archive of some kind, tells him, in preparing him, that he will be able to "fit in among the earthlings." Clearly he was talking about white folks.
It's a combination of "Romeo and Juliet" and "Hercules." Superman falls for a white woman and no matter how busy he is, he finds time to "rescue" her. And this gets into another issue.
What they show is this white man who can fly, has x-ray vision, heat vision and super breath, rescuing people, keeping planes from crashing, saving giant ships that are sinking and so on. But ask yourself this: what are the bases for his choices? How does he make his selections regarding who, all over the world, is in the worst situation? You know thee answer. If a hundred white folks are dying say, in Boston and ten thousand Africans are dying in Botswana, you know he's going to choose the white people for two reasons: first, they're white and secondly, they're Americans. This is the unspoken message that I don't hear anyone discussing. Super man would have to be a "race man" and as such, a racist based on his decisions.
Superman's presence would go directly against the Military-Industrial Complex. He could stop the war in the Middle East and make the Jews back off. He could straighten out Syrian civil war and deal with all those warlords in Africa. But if he did, this would threaten weapons sales and that would affect America's economy. This was an issue regarding weapons sales that was raised in "White House Down." If there are no guns, tanks, missiles, mines, grenades and rocket-to-air missiles to sell, tens of thousands of people would be out of work. There might be less war, but America would not be able to tolerate it. Superman would eventually become the enemy of "G.I. Joe"! Throughout the movie, from Jor-El's lectures, the beliefs in the baby by his mother, Lara and the on-going prompting from his "adopted father," Pa Kent (Kevin Costner) to the cheer leading claims of Ma Kent (Diane Lane), Kal-El (Superman) is told that his presence, if discovered, is going to change the world. Jor-El claims that the child will grow up to enable Earth to avoid the mistakes made by the doomed Krypton. There are references to the fact that growing up under a yellow son (Krypton's is red), he will be strong, have incredible powers and in fact, "he'll be a god." And it is here is where the racist message is most entrenched. Since Superman represents the "American way," that means that he represents American interests. And since, throughout this two hour and twenty-three minute movie, it appears that he has no interest in battling racism, then that means that he has accepted it as part of the fabric of America! There is not a single mention of the glass ceiling (gender discrimination in employment against women) although Lois Lane has to be underpaid although Perry White (played by Laurence Fishburne of all people) uses the fact that she's "under contract" to keep her from quitting. There is not a single mention of racism even though Perry White is a black man running a white newspaper in a major city.