Useful information
Prime News delivers timely, accurate news and insights on global events, politics, business, and technology
Apple cake. Baseball. These are things you think about when you think of America. Another thing that could be added to the list is the superhero. Since 1938, when Superman appeared on the cover of Action Comics #1Superheroes have become a major American export. And, since he was the first, Superman will always be a little more American than the rest.
Of course, Superman is not American at all. He is an immigrant. A foreign immigrant, too, and today, those words have a very different connotation than they did in the past. At a recent event attended by io9, writer and director James Gunn spoke about how his version of Superman fits into today’s politically charged America.
“When I see the trailer and the movie, at first we have a kind of battered vision of Superman. I think that’s our country,” Gunn said. “I believe in the goodness of human beings. And I think that most people in this country, despite their ideological beliefs (or) their politics, are doing everything they can to get ahead and trying to be good people, despite what it may seem to the other side and of what that other side may be. I think this movie is about that. It is about the basic goodness of human beings. And that can be seen as uncool, and it can be seen as under siege when some of the darker voices are some of the louder voices. That’s what happens when you let the Internet seem like the world, when it’s not the world. “The world is us.”
Gunn compared it to his own experiences. “I live in a very rural area of Georgia,” he said. “I see the kindness and beauty of people every day who don’t share the same political beliefs as me. But I think that’s what the movie is about, the basic and fundamental decency of human beings. By the way, all over the world.”
I mean, yes, Superman can be seen as a beacon of hope and goodness in America, the character’s home country, but also throughout the world the hero oversees.
Do you think Gunn is right with his reading of humanity? Willpower Superman Be a film accepted by all people? In a few months we will know when Superman opens in theaters on July 11.
Want more io9 news? See when to expect the latest releases from Marvel, Star Wars and Star Trek, what’s next for the DC Universe in film and television, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
