Not good enough! I demand realism in my stories about an invincible alien spandex-clad demigod! Seriously, though - Superman must save the cat for the same reason that Picard, Kirk, Sisko, and Pike can make brilliant speeches on the fly and always find the moral high ground somehow. It isn't about literal reality! These characters are aspirational heroes. Superman is who we wish we could be if we had those kinds of powers, in the same way that Star Trek tells a story about what mankind *should* be, not who we are. But it is who we might become. That's the point. If I had the powers of Superman, I hope to God that I'd be humble enough to still rescue cats, and still listen to a kid that no one else will listen to. This is the essence of Superman. And that's why he's been a beloved hero for nearly a hundred years, and will remain a hero for a hundred more. Goodness never goes out of style.
Id argue it is realistic though, superman isnt a slave hes just a normal kryptonian whos mentally a human really. He cares about individuals, has biases and the true feature of hom that makes him great is as steve says, caring about small people he csn relate to and ser not just vague cosmic level threats. Also not being omniscient or even omnipotent even if hes powerful he csnt save everyonr and has no way of knowing who and where is in trouble. The other dad aspect is even superman a man who could out muscle any obstacle cant punch away the problems in the us health care sysytem or fix education, at best he could subjugate a large group and aytempt to rule as a dictator but even then he couldn't magically fix a problem that bit on his own. And one could argue societal problems are high priority problems.
It’s really telling that this Twitter user is *already* mapping out their own self-importance for when they develop superpowers and are “burdened” with making all of the biggest decisions for everybody else. There is a *reason* why people will say that Homelander is actually the perfect “hero” for modern Americans.
@@PanozGTR2oh but hilariously pale moonlight WAS the moral high ground, that's how shitty the war was at that point. The federation was going to lose.
This person seems to misunderstand why Superman does the things he does in his stories. The person contemplating suicide didn't "need" to be rescued from jumping. They needed _someone to hear them,_ and knowing that difference is what makes him Superman.
Its a lot like the people who misunderstood the latest Batman movie, where the point was that Bruce learns its not enough to simply punch a villain. He must show Gotham that he actually cares about the people in it by consoling the victim.
you can rescue someone against their will and keep doing it time and time again, or you can listen and help them become strong enough to rescue themselves next time.
@@lkeke35 Someone once said that, if you can't imagine a Batman going from punching the Joker to consoling an upset or frightened child...he's not Batman. What made the Pattinson Batman so good is that he *starts off* being incapable of doing that, and we get to see him go from "Vengeance" to *Batman.*
I just think of the incredible sense of empathy inherent in a scene where the strongest person in the world waits patiently for a single suicidal person to let him help them. We need more empathy like that.
Yet, people like who wrote that callous comment don’t seem to care because “it’s just fiction.” I say they’re missing the point and have no empathy, they might as well be machines - Borg from Star Trek even. Of course, some would take to being called a machine, Borg even, as compliments, and some actually did.
I haven't read that story in more than five years. Again, I'm a blubbering mess. If Superman cares about Regan, maybe I'm important too. (I'm fine btw)
There's a scene in the animated series, "Justice League Unlimited". I'll link the scene here directly so you don't have to go looking for it. th-cam.com/video/C3wBvxGrdz8/w-d-xo.html I look at that scene, where Batman sits empathetically with a little girl. And in this video by Mr. Shives, we see this scene play out in the comics where Superman stops everything to be with this one suicidal woman. Both scenes are incredibly emotional. The feelings are real, sincere, not played for laughs or as a distraction of any kind. And I have to wonder, why couldn't the DCEU build itself on this sort of thing? While Marvel had been more jovial and light-hearted, DCEU could have used this to distinguish itself - superheroes who show sincere empathy, emotion, and connection to the population they are protecting. Those would be DCEU movies I would want to watch.
They're also not bad people. In their minds superman saving the cat is an immoral action if he could be elsewhere doing a greater good. This line of thinking may be flawed for all the reasons above but at its heart it still comes from a place of good.
Honestly, these are the people who says we shouldn’t care about emotional depth situation in stories, movies, shows, games because they’re fiction. To that I ask where’s their empathy, if they don’t care about things in real life because it’s far from them? These type of people may not care if they harm someone because they don’t know that person.
@@captainyossarian388They probably think that Superman should be out there "Making America Great Again" and using his super-powered x-ray vision to stop the Dems from stealing the election!!
In a deleted scene from Superman The Movie, Jor-El actually covers this issue by explaining to Kal-El that he can't try to fix every single problem that faces Humanity, that he would be taken advantage of. As Jor-El explains, Kal-El needs to be the light for Humanity, inspiring them with his deeds to be the best, to become the great people that Humanity wishes to become. Saving a cat or talking with someone in distress are those deeds. If Superman can take the time to do that, why can't we?
Really a great scene, especially where he admits how it made him feel. I know that Christopher Reeve said that he wasn't a fan of Brando's style, but they both nailed that scene.
Not only that... This premise is SO DUMB, that if you try to apply it to real life, it falls by it´s own weight: "Why is this doctor attending a patient with fever? There is people dying in this city, right now". I mean, where do you stop xD
One of my other favorite scenes in this style is Superman sharing lunch with a construction worker atop an unfinished skyscraper. We see from the conversation that he is an ex-con struggling to keep his son out of trouble, with Superman offering encouragement that he is the right person to do so, much more than himself because he has lived the consequences of such decisions. Superman hears Jimmy's watch signal or other summons, and prepares to depart. The worker says, "You don't need to keep checking up on some old con, you know." Superman smiles and says, "I know, but I try my best to make time for friends" before soaring off to some new crisis. Something much more important, no doubt.
It also has at it's core a zero sum philosophy. The idea that helping that cat or that suicidal person isn't 'worth it' because of the hypothetical loss of someone else's benefit treats Superman as a commodity rather than a person. A limited time commodity when he isn't sleeping, having dinner with his wife, visiting his parents, attending a friend's birthday party, writing news articles, etc. It places the author of the tweet as the arbiter of who is 'worth' more. It's as fallacious as it is widespread and denigrates the good that someone can do just because it isn't 'big enough'. It ignores the point of the second mentioned example of a suicidal person who lamented that she feels listless and useless and unable to change the entire world. It's Superman specifically rebuking the thought process of people like the tweeter when he wordlessly stays an entire day in order to say "YOU matter enough for me to make the time for you." Also, doesn't someone on the level of a literal GOD also NEED that connection to realize the countless people he saves from exploding volcanoes are individuals and are worth it? HE needs those moments, just as much as the suicidal person. Good video.
A common phrase used around political movements is that "perfect is the enemy of good" - basically that seeking only a perfect solution will result in merely good solutions being cast aside as not good enough. It seems to match how the tweeter views Superman, in that simply doing good isn't enough, it needs to be the biggest and most impactful good possible at all times.
This. And suicides can have devastating ripple effects through the loved ones of the deceased, as well as the larger community. When my grandma was 7 years old, (near the end of the Great Depression) she witnessed a suicide. It damaged her for life, and she passed that trauma onto her children, and my mother passed it onto me. I'm very resentful of the person who killed himself (jumping off a roof) even as I pity him, and wish very much someone had saved him or that he'd found the courage to push through. A long-winded way of saying, Superman didn't just save one person with that action. He saved generations of people.
There's a lovely episode of the 90s animated Superman cartoon called "The Late Mr Kent" in which, through various plot shenanigans, it appears as though Clark Kent has died and in order to reveal that he is still alive, he would have to reveal that he is Superman. He talks it over with Ma and Pa and Pa says, "it's not so bad, you just won't be able to be Clark Kent any more." Supes is very agitated in response to that possibility. He is more afraid of that outcome than almost anything else we've seen. To him, losing that identity, losing that life, that connection to humanity, would quite possibly be more like death than actually physically dying. That's why Superman saves cats and talks suicidal people down. Not because a fireman or counselor couldn't do that job just as well, but because he WANTS to be the one to do it, if he can. Because it reinforces his connection to the humanity that he loves.
“And over the last few years we have heard a lot about something called ‘family values’. And like many of you, I have struggled to figure out what that means. And since my accident, I've found a definition that seems to make sense. I think it means that we're all family. And that we all have value.” Christopher Reeve, speaking at the Democratic National Convention in 1996. What a Super Man.
"my anger might be justified, but my kindness speaks volumes" I will never forget the scene in a Superman comic I read a long time ago where Superman notices a child with bruises and takes the time to give the child a way to reach Superman in the future and makes eye contact with the abusive dad and says something to the effect of "ill come back and fix it" if he hits you again. warning the dad AND supporting the child before he dashes off to the next thing. this is superman. ❤
The cat doesn't need saving. It's a cat, it can get itself out of that tree, in fiction as well as in real life, just fine. Superman didn't rescue the cat for the cat's sake, he did it for the little girl's sake.
cats claws are great for climbing up a tree, not so much the other direction. cats can be very dumb and can sometimes legitimately get stuck in trees or hurt themselves trying to get down from said stuck spot.
Then the same can be said about every disaster. Why did they build a city next to a river that floods, a volcano that erupts or a fault line that quakes?
I think you missed the point here. They aren’t saying “it’s the cats own fault, it should deal with it itself” they’re saying Superman saved the cat even though he wasn’t needed, because it was the right thing to do.
"900 years of time and space and I've never met someone who wasn't important." - The Eleventh Doctor A hero character who doesn't have time for "small" individual scale stories is a boring, badly written hero. At that point you don't have a character, you have an archetype. Superman saving the cat is WHY he's Superman and not Dr. Manhattan.
“Never Be Cruel. Never Be Cowardly. Hate Is Always Foolish. Love Is Always Wise. Always Try To Be Nice, But Never Fail To Be Kind.” - The 12th Doctor. Couldn' agree with you more.
I wouldn't generalize that much about the story itself being boring/badly written, that part only comes with the story somehow not acknowledging the hero's imperfections. But if you for example have a story where the protagonist has delusions of grandeur and thinks he's too important to actually help the people who are in front of him, or a story where he does care but the story does give him something more important to tend to, you've still got an interesting plot and a consistently written character - just not a character with perfect power or personality.
Superman without powers would still try to save people, still try to do as much good as he can because that is what is super about him. It is sad when that is forgotten
There's a fantastic ep of Supergirl where she gets depowered but keeps on being Super, standing up to a man with a gun even though she knows she's not bulletproof today.
Has happened several times in comics and tv shows… when superman and Lois got married in the 90s comics he didnt have powers but was shown actively trying to help… when the sun went out he carried on for as long as he could knowing that his powers would fade the more he used them… and after he returned from the dead he went off with steel and superboy to fight cyborg superman again without any powers….his greatest gift is his compassion, yet often people write him off, or say he’s boring because he’s too powerful… I often find these are the same people that fawn over Batman and his infinite plot armour….
And it takes Superman, like, ten seconds to save the cat. How efficient does Superman need to be, that he's not allowed a few moments to engage in the society he cares for? Somebody wants Superman to be a slave and martyr for society every minute of every day......
They must be horrible bosses! They sound like the type who wants every Mensa genius and child prodigy to cure cancer! I've gotten that speech, myself, because I'm a child prodigy and amateur cartoonist. I never became an oncologist because the math's too hard, the medicine's gross, and too stressful, because your customers die if you mess up or their condition's too far gone. If you screw up a cartoon, you just erase the pencil line or cover the ink line with Pro White! The only pressure is deadlines!
Yea I was thinking that as well. How much does Superman have to give? How many lives is he *required* to save in one day? Physically, he is capable of living his whole life as a blur too fast for humans to see, solving problems nonstop at inhuman speed without rest or pause. Are we going to ask that of him? Even if it's not the most efficient way he could be saving lives right at that particular moment, Superman can save cats from trees and talk down suicidal people if he wants. And in the long term, both from a watsonian and doyalist perspective, those moments that remind him and everyone else what the point of Superman is are vital.
There's a good storyline in the series "Worm" about a cape called Panacea who faces this problem. Her power pretty much lets her cure any possible physical ailment, and because of this she's pushed to constantly spend every waking hour doing so. It doesn't end well.
The scene with the suicidal woman hit me harder than I thought it would. I remember once I was deep in a bad place, and my friend said they understand - if I want to call them while I do it so I'm not alone, they're there for me. And that rattled me so hard back to a more balanced place. Probably one of the most loving compassionate things anyone's ever said to me. I've never been a big fan of Superman but goddamn, that scene alone just made me respect him a lot more, that's some of the realest shit I've seen from a comic
Wow. Your story hit me hard. I don't think I could do it. I said earlier that Superman saving Felicity didn't take any superpowers, but I'm going to have to rethink that.
@@kingbeauregard Well not funny,... more, realistic. The majority of folks at that time: you tell a lie you get a smack, its how it was. Usually on the bottom. The kid wasn't lying though and we hope that later when it hit the papers there was a heart to heart apology in there.
@@kingbeauregard Yeah, they had a similar "joke" in Superman II (I think only the Lester version), and both times are not easy to rewatch. But at least they're the low points in otherwise good movies (especially the first movie, and Lester's II may not have been as good as Donner's, but it was fine at least).
In an outline for My Superman Movie that no one asked me for I wrote a scene where Clark and Lois are walking down a street and a girl is worried about her cat that got out from a ledge, so Clark decides to climb up there and rescue the cat... without revealing any of his super powers of course. It was years later I realized I literaly wrote a Superman Saves the Cat scene.
The mugging comment really gets at me - it's maybe not intentional but it's super cold to imply that saving a suicidal person's life is less important than saving a tourist's wallet.
I'm late to the party on this video, but I'm glad someone articulated this. Even if, in the narrative, there were a crime in progress within earshot, how could anyone assert that stopping that crime is even close to being as valuable as saving the life of a person in crisis. I've always viewed that the smaller-scale, "good Samaritan" actions (like preventing a mugging) are the incidental things that superheros do when they happen to be in the right place at the right time. If Superman were to just dump the suicidal person into a crisis center as if it were the same weight as stopping a run-of-the-mill mugging or a bank robbery, not only would it risk that woman still committing suicide later (as the underlying depression is unresolved), but it would be illustrating to the audience that perhaps she is right to have lost faith in the goodness of the world.
I feel like those moments where Superman "saves the cat" are the ones where Superman looks most like the superhero equivalent of Jesus as presented by Christianity's intent. Those moments where he doesn't just care about the life of the person, but their soul. Superman counsels the suicidal person to save their soul, not just their life. He saves the cat because it helps protect the innocence of the child. These are actions of love, not just care.
I've had people complain to me here and there over the years that they don't like when superhero movies focus on the heroes saving people, they want to stay on the good stuff, fighting the bad guys. It makes me a bit sad every time I hear that, because it tells me a lot about how they see "heroes" in popular culture.
The entire point - THE ENTIRE POINT - of superheroes is that they save people. Supervillains sometimes show up as the source of the threat, yes; but what makes them villains is that they are going to hurt people. Not every comic has to revolve around some random person in need of saving, but you know, I would enjoy that a lot more than the converse.
Overly Sarcastic Productions has a really good video about this. In recent years, superhero stories have become so focused on the personal reasons that the hero has for fighting that specific villain that it seems like the notion of saving people is an afterthought at best, and if there is someone being saved, it's usually someone the hero knows personally, such as Lois Lane. Combine that with a number of recent films basically ignoring collateral damage, and you get a superhero movies where it seems less like the superhero is trying to save people from the villain, and more like everyone nearby is being caught up in a personal rivalry between two uncaring demigods. It's a really big issue and I think it's one of the things that has messed up a lot of people's perception of superheroes.
"There's no feat to big or too small for the man of steel" ( This is what makes him more relatable and down to earth knowing he's all powerful; Godlike even) despite he takes a moment to simply rescue a cat out the tree. It's not a waste of resources on his behalf. It was simply a kind gesture, that is all.
Superman saving the cat, or being there for someone in a time of crisis, shows that Superman is the hero we all wish we could be. And if he didn't sweat the small stuff, you get Kingdom Come Superman, a Superman who has forgotten his humanity and reduced his empathy.
This is like getting pissed at Batman for comforting a crying child, these small moments are what makes a hero a hero. Not just seeing the big picture but also carrying for the little guys from the neighbourhood. Also isn't it Ironic to say the Fire Department should safe the cat, don't they have more important things to do aswell?😅
Canonical fact about Batman: he keeps candy in his utility belt, lollipops if memory serves. Dude has to comfort children on a regular basis and he knows what works. That is both heartwarming and heartbreaking.
This is why I adore that scene in Epilogue when Batman just sits with Ace. Holds her hand and... sits with her. It's such a beautiful moment. So powerful.
@@kingbeauregard Batman himself was once a child who needed comforting on the worst night of his life. The hero who comforted him was a rookie patrolman on his beat: Officer Jim Gordon.
Having once been on that ledge, metaphorically, having that one person that talks to you and is there, really there, is the greatest version of a hero someone can have. I cannot see that scene without feeling a roller coaster. To see that scene and not realize that in that time he saved someone in the only way that works and best way possible is to never have been that low and to have zero empathy for those that have. That story is a masterpiece.
I saw that tweet and the problem is that if you take that thought to its logical conclusion, every single thing Superman does that isn’t stopping a bridge collapse or a plane crash is him neglecting his duties. Every time he goes to his job at the Daily Planet, every time he visits Ma and Pa Kent in Smallville, every moment he spends will Lois, every second he spends sleeping. If Superman really existed he would have a tortured existence of being blamed and feelings for guilty for every single thing he doesn’t stop and any moment, no matter how short, he isn’t out saving people. And that’s a story you could tell, and indeed has been told I’m sure. But it isn’t the only story we want to tell with that character. And if we accept the view of the author of that tweet, that’s exactly what it is: the only story, an exceptionally hopeless and sad story, of a man not allowed any life but as an instrument of our salvation, that we can tell.
It's interesting. This kind of attitude is why people can get burnout from caring about everything. Just because everything you do isn't stopping climate change, or preventing famine doesn't mean that listening to your mate complain about their bad day at work or making time to spend with your kids isn't important because there are things you could do that could help *more* people. In many ways, because you are the *only* person who can parent your kids properly. Or you may be the only person your friend can talk to in that moment. Those things might be more important than utilitarian actions that could be useful to 300 strangers.
There is actually a great episode about that in the new My Adventures with Superman cartoon. Superman discovers his superhearing for the first time, then nearly kills himself trying to help everyone.
That's the thing that people who think that way miss: it's fiction, in the world of the DC universe, if Superman is working his day job or doing anything besides stopping calamities, it's because they're not happening at that moment, or because SOMEONE ELSE has it handled because he's not the only superpowered person on the planet. He's the big gun the Justice League call in when the threat is too much for Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl and Green Lantern to handle together, but he can't be everywhere at once. Even he has limits both physically and mentally. The best thing about fiction is that _there doesn't have to constantly be conflict_. You can allow your characters time to breathe and trust that any disasters that would be going on elsewhere are being tended to either by other heroes or by the officials that exist to manage these crises.
In my opinion Superman's actions in his stories inspirational. He should be someone to emulate. This makes his small acts of kindness even more important to show. I can't cut a tank in half with heat vision. I can spend time listening to a troubled person contemplating suicide, even if there are other things I could be doing.
Speaking of which, do you think this would make a good premise for a minor superhero: Super Cat Rescuer Subcontractor Man". His powers are pretty much limited to rescuing cats, but he takes his responsibilities seriously. He's also a big fan of Superman, and has a standing offer with him to take over cat rescuing duties any time Superman is otherwise unavailable. He even uses a Superman disguise, because he understands the importance of maintaining Superman's public image as a paragon of virtue. Super Cat Rescuer Subcontractor Man is also the founder and leader of the Superman Subcontractor League, where, along with pals such as Super Suicide Councilor Subcontractor Man, minor superheroes keep constant vigil, ready to spring into action to fill in for Supes with such minor side quests in case he has his hands full battling Brainiac or is stuck in the Phantom Zone or something. The thing is, the Superman Subcontractor League wouldn't exist if Superman didn't inspire others to do good deeds by setting an example. Thoughts?
I like it. Also, it's kind of the premise of Mystery Men, which, I hasten to add is not intended as a criticism of your idea at all. It's a good story idea and I wouldn't mind seeing it crop up in other places.
I volunteer for the job as "Super Cat Rescuer Subcontractor Person"! (I'm nonbinary. 🙂) I have to admit that I'm not the hugest Superman fan, but I'm a massive fan of cats, and superpowers based entirely on cat rescue? I want that gig. Just let me design the uniform, because I'm not so hot on the undies-on-the-outside look! Irl, I'm kinda already Super (I hope) Suicide Counsellor Subcontractor Person, since I work as an art and talk therapist with an intensive crisis and trauma recovery program. It can be tough work, but it's also the most rewarding way I've found to use my art degree, and an actual understanding work environment for my own ASD and queer self, which has often been rejected from more conventional employment. Too bad that we really do need a Superhero Subcontractor League, isn't it?
Stuff like that shows the type of character Superman and Clark are. Yes there are subjectively more important things to do than saving a cat but to Superman, to Clark saving a little girl's cat is as important as stopping a robbery or a murder. It's important to him because it's important to her. The new cartoon had this moment where after a fight with a super villain he quickly cleans up the damage the fight caused. It worked because it fit the character the writers were building. That Superman would clean up his own mess after a Super fight, because that's the type of person Clark is.
To me, the point of Superman is very much that while he might be "Superman", an alien from another world, what makes him "Super" is that he is a human, he is the guy who stops earthquakes, saves lives of the world and millions, but, in the end what makes him a Hero, is not so much those things, but that humanity, that understanding that it's not just the big things that can make differences in daily lives, sometimes...sometimes you need to sit and listen to someone who needs help, sometimes you help that girl, sometimes, we need to remind ourselves, that the "small" things are often those that matter the most to most people.
It's not just about the alien planet where he was born, but also about that amazing couple in Kansas took him in and raised him as their own. They did a darned good job of it too.
I am reminded of one of my favorite moments from Matt Smith's run on Doctor Who: "Nobody important? Blimey, that's amazing. D'you know that in nine hundred years of time and space I've never met anyone who wasn't important before?
The two instances of stopping suicide mentioned in this video are my favorite Superman moments. When Superman spent hours simply hovering over empty air, waiting for a jumper to be ready to make her decision, he demonstrates why he is a superhero and not just super powered. But, in All Star Superman, he has more power than he's ever had but is on a timer until his death comes, he stops to help a girl about to jump, yet again, he shows us what really matters to him. He has the power to do literally anything, but only so much time to do it. What he does now is the legacy he'll leave behind in the world. I don't think he stopped to consider it, but that's the inevitable outcome here. The legacy he leaves behind is a message for humanity. It's never as bad as it seems. You're stronger than you think you are. The author of the tweet is clearly thinking that a good guy with that much power should be doing bigger things. But in a world without Superman, the most important thing is knowing that we don't need him. That all along humanity could be doing the things Superman does, but for ourselves. There is nothing more important that Superman could be doing.
Well said! When I saw that tweet come up (on a repost) the first thing that jumped to mind was a quote from the Eleventh Doctor: In 900 years of time and space I've never met anyone who wasn't important. The incredulity of the Doctor saying that I feel really sums up both characters and why we love them. You know, in the context of the stories, when you look up and see the blue and red streak across the sky, or turn a corner and find a police box, that it isn't just the big stuff that concerns them. EVERYONE matters to them. And that's beautiful and why their stories have endured and continued for decades when others have faded into obscurity.
To be honest, if the tweeter wants Superman to have done those things instead of helping the suicidal person they can simply believe he did. Maybe in between each frame he moves so quickly to prevent other catastrophes that it's just not worth depicting it. Also, I got a bit emotional reading the scene. I'm not a huge fan of Superman but that's a really cool thing to have a hero do.
Loved this video, Steve. This is what makes Superman great. Anyone with super powers could stop crime, but it takes someone great to truly care about people.
My earliest memory is watching Superman the Movie at the drive-in, age 2, and it's the cat in the tree scene that I remember. You can sum up why we love Superman with the words of Terrence Stamp's General Zod in Superman 2: "He cares."
This reminded me of 2 things: 1. Leo Tolstoy's short story "The Three Questions". 2. This scene from Doctor Who's "A Christmas Carol": The Doctor : Who's she? Kazran Sardick : Nobody important. The Doctor : Nobody important? Blimey, that's amazing. You know that in nine hundred years of time and space and I've never met anybody who wasn't important before.
I think one of Superman's greatest powers, greater than his strength or his invulnerability, is his power as an icon. Him spending a day saving one person could make someone else having a hard time reconsider and get help. Someone seeing him do that could inspire them to check in on a friend and make sure they're okay. He's far more needed as a beacon of compassion and humanity than he is as a crimefighting utility knife.
Imagine being convinced that nobody cares about you and your life is meaningless, and then the "world's greatest hero" unceremoniously grabs you off the ledge and dumps you off at the hospital because he has more important things to do than deal with you. Grade A heroing right there.
Lovely work, Steve. It chimes with what I think about both Superman and Wonder Woman; for all their spectacular abilities, their greatest powers are their endless supply of hope and compassion, and their complete inability to give up on people. That's why Kal saves cats, and talks to suicidal young people, and why Diana stopped in the middle of a firefight to help a dying Jewish man with his prayers. Mechanically realistic? No. Emotionally real? Revealing of character? A representation of an ideal worth aspiring to? Hell yes, times three.
I used to "ship" Superman and Wonder Woman when I was a little girl in the early 1970s. I thought they really belonged together and should get married. I either hadn't learned about Lois Lane yet, or maybe I thought that superheroes belonged together. 😊
@@dawnkindnesscountsmost5991 I can't remember which or when, but there *was* a storyline where they were. It was brought up when conservatives (not knowing what they were talking about in their "outrage" as usual) were making some of the most ridiculous and accidentally *way more* hilarious statements when they heard about a superman series depicting a non-het relationship. I recommend Jessie Gender's video on this 1. So you can see and hear about the really cool exploration of the Wonder Woman/Superman childhood dream you had being actualized and 2. Have a really good laugh over that "scandal".
Amen, Steve! Superman as a modern mythological character is beloved by people like us because despite his character’s immense powers he still chooses to take time out to help a little girl get her cat out of a tree. In a world when power corrupts, it means so much in our imagination that someone with ultimate power chooses to help the least of us, much to do with his humble and wholesome Smallville upbringing by his wise and loving adopted parents.
people who say that stuff seem to forget that superman is always going to save someone, and he's literally fast enough to do both the more important thing and save the cat at the same time
8:56 agree with the “who says that saving 1 person or cat is less important?” Coincidentally, I was just this morning reminded of an 11th Doctor line: «Nobody important‽ Blimey, that’s amazing! You know that in 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anybody who wasn’t important before.»
Honestly those small moments are what gets me to love superman. That best part of Batman:TOS is where he sat with the woman from the Royal Flush Gang, Baby Doll, helping Mr. Freeze with his wife Nora. These are some of the best episode of B:TOS, and the same in the Superman series
I always thought the scene of saving the cat in Superman 78 was a perfect example of the screenwriting framework "Save the Cat" - it humanizes and makes him likable to the audience.
Saving the cat and being there for the person who is suicidal may seem like an over-response for Superman, who is capable of physically doing much more. However, those actions are authentically heroic. Nobody is going to read about those actions in a newspaper, but that little girl and that woman will always remember how he helped them. These moments connect us to our humanity. I've been lucky enough to be both that anonymous hero and that person in need. Even better, I've had a chance to witness my young daughter rushing to comfort an older child she didn't know who had fallen off a swing. As a teen, a group of people at a music festival jumped in to bring her water and an ice pack when she was overheated and dehydrated. That moment wasn't forgotten. During rough times, she remembers the kindness and compassion that these people had for her. Although they were quiet and unannounced, those were the important moments. Superman being there during those times shows that he understands the importance of those moments and the true value of human life.
I lost a co-worker to suicide. I concluded that my best chance to intervene was probably months earlier when she expressed an interest in dancing (but I had to work the next day and did not want to stay out late). A suicidal person is able to bring their entire mental capacity to bear on carrying out the act. To put not too fine a point on it: Superman "rescuing" the suicidal person from a ledge, to go do something "more important" would have sent exactly the wrong message. Not even Superman can be everywhere at once.
Tarantino did so much harm to the interpretation of Superman in the monologue in Kill Bill vol2. Clark is the personification of a Rockwell painting, and that’s not a mask it’s his truest self. So many people who never really understood the character took their understanding from that stupid monologue. Bill didn’t understand Superman, he was using his interpretation to justify his own shitty behavior. But people also think that Fight Club is saying that dudes should literally have fight clubs, when it’s lambasting toxic masculinity as well as the society that breeds disconnection.
The scene in question with the cat was part of Superman's introduction to Metropolis int the movie. It bookended a series of events during the evening that began with the helicopter falling off the roof of the Daily Planet. Saving the cat was simply his last task.
Yes. I most wholeheartedly agree. Superman caring about a person contemplating suicide or caring about a cat stuck in a tree ARE what makes him Superman. And I find it sad that some don't see that...
Superman is a friend. A friend who will protect humanity from Darkseid if the help is needed or a friend who will help get a cat of a tree if the help is needed.
the best Superman film is The Iron Giant, for a lot of reasons, but one in particular is the scene where the titular character discovers the devastating power of the Gun and mourns the death of a woodland creature.
It was always one of the best parts of the Superman story was the fact that your hero was both a super powered flying demigod and a very human guy who grew up in Kansas.
also, if we want to inject realism... This isn't Superman's job. He doesn't clock in and fulfill a certain quota of good deeds. He has chosen to be a hero on his own time, and sometimes the Daily Planet's time. Point being, if Superman was real, it's his business only to decide how his time is spent and what is worth doing.
I don't understand how someone can't grasp why Superman dealing with personal, small-scale problems is just as important as the big ones. It's so blatantly obvious that it's about his compassion and love for people. These small moments speak volumes. That someone can't grasp that is disturbingly shallow.
Actually, the one thing that sticks with me about that cat rescuing scene in the movie is not the idea of what is a priority for a fictional superhero, but that afterwards, the little girl runs into her house, tells her mother that a man flew down to rescue her cat, her mother scolds her for telling stories... and then you hear the sound of the child getting slapped. And it's played for laughs.
It is so frustrating to me how many adults aren't mature enough to understand comic books. Superman has all the power of a god and still he cares about everyone. Batman was struck by tragedy and wants to keep other people from experiencing tragedies. Captain America wants to create a world where people are free and can live their lives how they want. None of this is complicated, except that people want to project their own limitations onto heroes.
It’s not the lack of maturity, but rather the lack of empathy, especially with fiction, often calling us out for caring about someone or something fictional. Try calling them as unemotional machines, Borg even, and they’ll take that as compliments, some already have.
I mean a lot of this is because they’re characters created by people without systemic power telling stories about how they think power should be used. Superman has a lot of parallels to a golem, he was created (by his authors- two Jewish men who wrote comics because they couldn’t get a job writing for anything else as Jews) to be an almost invincible protector, and his “S” curl and his insignia cam both be easily seen as references to the mark which gives a golem life. Cap was created (by two Jewish men) to be Hitler’s ideal, but stands against everything Hitler stood for. The context of the creation of these characters is so important to who they are and what they do.
I believe a cat-rescued-from-tree situation happened in the new animated Superman series (the one where Jack Quaid voices Supes). It's kind of his thing -- to the child, it's Superman saving the kid's best friend. And maybe we should try to do some of that instead of rushing inside to tweet complaints about the story, making someone's day a little better or even if possible making a difference. But hey, I'm typing a comment on a TH-cam video.
Amen, Steve! I think the thing that folks forget is that Superman is a reflection of our own humanity. And that when Superman stops to help a child who has fallen off their bike, or rescue a cat stuck in a tree, that it's a reminder for us to slow down and remember that the smallest kindnesses are just as important as saving the entire world.
That story with Supes is moving. One part of how much he shows he cares about her is while he's floating there, when night falls the police put a spotlight on her, and she says something to the effect of, "can you ask them to turn that off" and he just looks down at the power cord and melts it with heat vision. He said he wasn't going to leave her. He didn't leave. Not only that he said to her with that action, "I will do anything that will help you be more comfortable." Not verbally, but he turned her request into an order. "You will stop giving this poor woman a migraine while she works through her thoughts."
Over the years with many conversations with friends and others who all insist that “Batman is better” I’ve always tried to emphasise that the most important part of the character isn’t the “super” it’s the “man” as you rightly said in your video, it’s not the powers that make him superman, it’s what he does with them. This is something that I think so many people miss, and why I never understand hollywoods insistence on playing up jor-els role in the superman story while down playing the Kent’s. The reason we care about superman, isn’t because he can save the world, it’s because he also saves the cat
There's a reason that All-Star Superman is, without doubt, one of the best Superman stories ever told. "You're much stronger than you think you are. Trust me."
Here's another "suspension of disbelief" explanation you can just pretend is true: there were other crimes to address but the cat in the tree was directly below superman and he gauged the time it would take to stop the crimers and allotted his time accordingly, successfully saving the cat, then addressing several other essentially simultaneous issues. He's real real fast
1. I hate the word "realistic" in conversations about superheroes in general and Superman in particular. The word is "believable" as in Grant Morrison's quote "The more you realistic you try to make superheroes, the less believable they become." 2. I love your notion of Superman knowing the names of people who work at an animal shelter. 3. Just a few days ago, I replied to a tweet going on about Superman killing Zod in MAN OF STEEL. It was, like, the 235th variation on "He had to kill Zod, there was literally nothing that could've been done!" I answered with "You know this stuff is written, right? By, like, writers who make the stuff up? LITERALLY ANYTHING could've been done." Great video. Keep up the fine work. And Happy New Year!
Your reading of the comic made me tear up quite a bit, actually. Imagining that someone like Superman made the time for a person in need like that is part of how grand that story is.
Maybe the most charitable version of this take is that people want to see Superman struggle with the choice to stay with the suicidal person when he can hear other people that he's choosing to ignore. It might get a bit dark for a Superman story though, so that might be better for a different type of story and a different super hero.
It reminds me of Hitchcock's "refrigerator test." In the moment that "waiting all night" is a really touching scene. On second, sober reflection, If Superman's world is anything like ours, there were definitely multiple ways for him to save multiple lives in those hours. Even if it occured to me, though, I don't think I'd bother twitxing about it.
Superman is meant to be an inspirational character. He's not there to be the world's "savior", he's meant to be a perfect example of how human beings should treat each other.
One of the most important aspects of Superman's character imo is that even under all those layers of powers and tragic alien backstory, he's still just one guy who has feelings and limits. he does what he can because he's there. if he was perfect he wouldnt be romancing lois lane and working a desk job as clark kent.
Another aspect to this, I think, is that the character of Superman acts as an inspiration. In the city, where there's a lot going on, it's all too easy to walk past people who need help. Superman acts as a reminder to take the time and do what you can.
There are plenty of Superman facsimiles that feature a "Superman" either growing tired and disillusioned, or down right crazy by all the emergencies he has to stop. On top of that, the questions of "WHY WOULD HE HELP THE AVERAGE PERSON?! HE MUST BE UP TO SOMETHING!" is some Lex Luthor brain.
One of the big dilemmas of Superman I picked up on through watching the recent animated films and Smallville is that he refuses to stop believing he can save everyone. It's a fascinating dilemma that shows he's a powerful man as opposed to a powerful god. Does he beat himself up if some people in Tokyo died because he was too busy putting out a fire in Metropolis? Sure, but what's important is that he is trying to be the best version of himself and that he is doing it for the benefit of humanity more than just himself. If he went to save those people in Tokyo then the people in the fire might've died instead (if you want to nitpick we'll say the Fire Brigade wouldn't have made it in time) and this is where he becomes more like a human as he's faced with situations where people have to die for him to save other people. So, bringing this back to the cat in the tree, sure, the worst thing that might've happened if he ignored that cat and the little girl is the cat died and the little girl who owned the cat gets upset. It'd be a tragedy but not as bad as whoever else might've died in a more serious emergency. Does this mean Superman should never save cats if he gets the chance or talk to people who are feeling suicidal? No, why? Because he was raised as a decent and caring human being; he wasn't raised to be some cold hearted robot that takes a calculated approach towards saving lives.
This is Superman. There are other heroes in his world who can stop robberies and collapsing infrastructure, but there may not be anyone else who can help that one person who he's saving right then and there.
This exact sentiment is how I feel when people complain about Spider-Man taking the time to stop and help someone cross the street, or set up a romantic evening for a high schooler to ask his crush to prom, whatever "small" thing he may be doing. He's the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man for a reason
I would argue that Superman saving the cat was very important to the story that they were trying to tell, it was their way of showing Superman cares about everyone and that no one is too small to be beneath his notice.
Reminds me of a couple lines from an episode of Doctor Who... I don't recall the exact episode or context, but the Doctor and the villain are talking, and the Doctor points to someone else and asks who she is. The villain dismissively responds, "Nobody important." "Nobody important?" the Doctor replies, astonished, "Blimey, that's amazing. You know, in 900 years of time & space, I've never met anybody who wasn't important."
In Kurt Busiek's Astro City #1, we're introduced to Samaritan- a Superman type hero. He dreams about flying- he loves flying, and because practically all he does is save people (even a kitten) - he has a cover identity, but he's so unhappy- I don't want my heroes to be unhappy heroing, I want Superman and Samaritan and all the flying heroes to have plenty of time doing what they love, and stay willing to help those in need.
If you get too realistic, then everytime Superman sneezed, his exhale and his snot would cause huge amounts of property damage, and sometimes he'd accidentally kill people.
Superman's humanity has always been more compelling to me than his SUPER-humanity. He's not really my role model when he punches a literal god or bench presses an island. He's my role model when he sits with a struggling person to let them know they matter to him; when he stops an abused child from living in fear; when he makes a place in the world for immigrants and aliens; when he slows down to see people instead of super-speeding past them; and yeah, when he rescues a cat from a tree. (Yes, I like the Grounded arc. I also like Birthright, which makes Supes a vegetarian because of his respect for all life.) Bottom line for me is that I can follow in my hero's footsteps when he shows me the best of humanity; less so when he becomes transcendent and simply soars above us as an unrelatable ubermensch.
I love the irony of saying that Superman shouldn't save the cat because he has better things to do. Then immediately, they follow it up with call the fire department to save the cat... because they don't have anything better to do? Oh, I have another question for the Superman universe. When Superman lands in front of the bad guy, the bad guy unloads the entire gun at Superman and he just stands there completely unphased, then when the bad guy in a desperate last ditch, chucks the empty gun at Superman, why does Superman duck? Superman's ultimate super power is compassion.
Not good enough! I demand realism in my stories about an invincible alien spandex-clad demigod!
Seriously, though - Superman must save the cat for the same reason that Picard, Kirk, Sisko, and Pike can make brilliant speeches on the fly and always find the moral high ground somehow. It isn't about literal reality! These characters are aspirational heroes. Superman is who we wish we could be if we had those kinds of powers, in the same way that Star Trek tells a story about what mankind *should* be, not who we are. But it is who we might become. That's the point.
If I had the powers of Superman, I hope to God that I'd be humble enough to still rescue cats, and still listen to a kid that no one else will listen to. This is the essence of Superman. And that's why he's been a beloved hero for nearly a hundred years, and will remain a hero for a hundred more. Goodness never goes out of style.
I don't think Sisko always found the moral high ground...
Thank you ! Thank you for saying this. 😊☮️🍰
Id argue it is realistic though, superman isnt a slave hes just a normal kryptonian whos mentally a human really. He cares about individuals, has biases and the true feature of hom that makes him great is as steve says, caring about small people he csn relate to and ser not just vague cosmic level threats.
Also not being omniscient or even omnipotent even if hes powerful he csnt save everyonr and has no way of knowing who and where is in trouble.
The other dad aspect is even superman a man who could out muscle any obstacle cant punch away the problems in the us health care sysytem or fix education, at best he could subjugate a large group and aytempt to rule as a dictator but even then he couldn't magically fix a problem that bit on his own. And one could argue societal problems are high priority problems.
It’s really telling that this Twitter user is *already* mapping out their own self-importance for when they develop superpowers and are “burdened” with making all of the biggest decisions for everybody else.
There is a *reason* why people will say that Homelander is actually the perfect “hero” for modern Americans.
@@PanozGTR2oh but hilariously pale moonlight WAS the moral high ground, that's how shitty the war was at that point. The federation was going to lose.
This person seems to misunderstand why Superman does the things he does in his stories. The person contemplating suicide didn't "need" to be rescued from jumping. They needed _someone to hear them,_ and knowing that difference is what makes him Superman.
Its a lot like the people who misunderstood the latest Batman movie, where the point was that Bruce learns its not enough to simply punch a villain. He must show Gotham that he actually cares about the people in it by consoling the victim.
Chances are they LOVE "Man of Steel."
That was my thought. It took a day and a night to convince that person they weren't completely alone, so that's how long Superman spent doing it.
you can rescue someone against their will and keep doing it time and time again, or you can listen and help them become strong enough to rescue themselves next time.
@@lkeke35 Someone once said that, if you can't imagine a Batman going from punching the Joker to consoling an upset or frightened child...he's not Batman. What made the Pattinson Batman so good is that he *starts off* being incapable of doing that, and we get to see him go from "Vengeance" to *Batman.*
I just think of the incredible sense of empathy inherent in a scene where the strongest person in the world waits patiently for a single suicidal person to let him help them. We need more empathy like that.
That empathy is his greatest strength.
Yet, people like who wrote that callous comment don’t seem to care because “it’s just fiction.” I say they’re missing the point and have no empathy, they might as well be machines - Borg from Star Trek even. Of course, some would take to being called a machine, Borg even, as compliments, and some actually did.
I haven't read that story in more than five years. Again, I'm a blubbering mess. If Superman cares about Regan, maybe I'm important too.
(I'm fine btw)
There's a scene in the animated series, "Justice League Unlimited". I'll link the scene here directly so you don't have to go looking for it. th-cam.com/video/C3wBvxGrdz8/w-d-xo.html
I look at that scene, where Batman sits empathetically with a little girl. And in this video by Mr. Shives, we see this scene play out in the comics where Superman stops everything to be with this one suicidal woman. Both scenes are incredibly emotional. The feelings are real, sincere, not played for laughs or as a distraction of any kind. And I have to wonder, why couldn't the DCEU build itself on this sort of thing? While Marvel had been more jovial and light-hearted, DCEU could have used this to distinguish itself - superheroes who show sincere empathy, emotion, and connection to the population they are protecting. Those would be DCEU movies I would want to watch.
Yes!
Honestly, when people complaint about superman saving a cat or a suicidal person, my faith in humanity demised
They're loud and obnoxious, but they're in the minority.
They're also not bad people. In their minds superman saving the cat is an immoral action if he could be elsewhere doing a greater good. This line of thinking may be flawed for all the reasons above but at its heart it still comes from a place of good.
Honestly, these are the people who says we shouldn’t care about emotional depth situation in stories, movies, shows, games because they’re fiction. To that I ask where’s their empathy, if they don’t care about things in real life because it’s far from them? These type of people may not care if they harm someone because they don’t know that person.
Always remember, for every loud jackass that complains about something like there, there are probably 10 more quieter people ready to rebuff them.
@@captainyossarian388They probably think that Superman should be out there "Making America Great Again" and using his super-powered x-ray vision to stop the Dems from stealing the election!!
In a deleted scene from Superman The Movie, Jor-El actually covers this issue by explaining to Kal-El that he can't try to fix every single problem that faces Humanity, that he would be taken advantage of. As Jor-El explains, Kal-El needs to be the light for Humanity, inspiring them with his deeds to be the best, to become the great people that Humanity wishes to become. Saving a cat or talking with someone in distress are those deeds. If Superman can take the time to do that, why can't we?
Really a great scene, especially where he admits how it made him feel. I know that Christopher Reeve said that he wasn't a fan of Brando's style, but they both nailed that scene.
I love that scene so much!
They can be a great people, Kal-El, they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way.
Truly a symbol of Hope.
Not only that... This premise is SO DUMB, that if you try to apply it to real life, it falls by it´s own weight: "Why is this doctor attending a patient with fever? There is people dying in this city, right now". I mean, where do you stop xD
One of my other favorite scenes in this style is Superman sharing lunch with a construction worker atop an unfinished skyscraper. We see from the conversation that he is an ex-con struggling to keep his son out of trouble, with Superman offering encouragement that he is the right person to do so, much more than himself because he has lived the consequences of such decisions.
Superman hears Jimmy's watch signal or other summons, and prepares to depart. The worker says, "You don't need to keep checking up on some old con, you know." Superman smiles and says, "I know, but I try my best to make time for friends" before soaring off to some new crisis.
Something much more important, no doubt.
It also has at it's core a zero sum philosophy. The idea that helping that cat or that suicidal person isn't 'worth it' because of the hypothetical loss of someone else's benefit treats Superman as a commodity rather than a person. A limited time commodity when he isn't sleeping, having dinner with his wife, visiting his parents, attending a friend's birthday party, writing news articles, etc. It places the author of the tweet as the arbiter of who is 'worth' more. It's as fallacious as it is widespread and denigrates the good that someone can do just because it isn't 'big enough'. It ignores the point of the second mentioned example of a suicidal person who lamented that she feels listless and useless and unable to change the entire world. It's Superman specifically rebuking the thought process of people like the tweeter when he wordlessly stays an entire day in order to say "YOU matter enough for me to make the time for you."
Also, doesn't someone on the level of a literal GOD also NEED that connection to realize the countless people he saves from exploding volcanoes are individuals and are worth it? HE needs those moments, just as much as the suicidal person.
Good video.
A common phrase used around political movements is that "perfect is the enemy of good" - basically that seeking only a perfect solution will result in merely good solutions being cast aside as not good enough. It seems to match how the tweeter views Superman, in that simply doing good isn't enough, it needs to be the biggest and most impactful good possible at all times.
This. And suicides can have devastating ripple effects through the loved ones of the deceased, as well as the larger community. When my grandma was 7 years old, (near the end of the Great Depression) she witnessed a suicide. It damaged her for life, and she passed that trauma onto her children, and my mother passed it onto me. I'm very resentful of the person who killed himself (jumping off a roof) even as I pity him, and wish very much someone had saved him or that he'd found the courage to push through. A long-winded way of saying, Superman didn't just save one person with that action. He saved generations of people.
There's a lovely episode of the 90s animated Superman cartoon called "The Late Mr Kent" in which, through various plot shenanigans, it appears as though Clark Kent has died and in order to reveal that he is still alive, he would have to reveal that he is Superman.
He talks it over with Ma and Pa and Pa says, "it's not so bad, you just won't be able to be Clark Kent any more."
Supes is very agitated in response to that possibility. He is more afraid of that outcome than almost anything else we've seen. To him, losing that identity, losing that life, that connection to humanity, would quite possibly be more like death than actually physically dying.
That's why Superman saves cats and talks suicidal people down. Not because a fireman or counselor couldn't do that job just as well, but because he WANTS to be the one to do it, if he can. Because it reinforces his connection to the humanity that he loves.
“And over the last few years we have heard a lot about something called ‘family values’. And like many of you, I have struggled to figure out what that means. And since my accident, I've found a definition that seems to make sense. I think it means that we're all family. And that we all have value.”
Christopher Reeve, speaking at the Democratic National Convention in 1996.
What a Super Man.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! This kind of media illiteracy is killing our collective ability to tell and hear stories.
"my anger might be justified, but my kindness speaks volumes"
I will never forget the scene in a Superman comic I read a long time ago where Superman notices a child with bruises and takes the time to give the child a way to reach Superman in the future and makes eye contact with the abusive dad and says something to the effect of "ill come back and fix it" if he hits you again. warning the dad AND supporting the child before he dashes off to the next thing.
this is superman. ❤
The cat doesn't need saving. It's a cat, it can get itself out of that tree, in fiction as well as in real life, just fine. Superman didn't rescue the cat for the cat's sake, he did it for the little girl's sake.
cats claws are great for climbing up a tree, not so much the other direction. cats can be very dumb and can sometimes legitimately get stuck in trees or hurt themselves trying to get down from said stuck spot.
Tell that to cats who have been in trees for DAYS.
Then the same can be said about every disaster. Why did they build a city next to a river that floods, a volcano that erupts or a fault line that quakes?
I think you missed the point here. They aren’t saying “it’s the cats own fault, it should deal with it itself” they’re saying Superman saved the cat even though he wasn’t needed, because it was the right thing to do.
I forget who said it first, but "When was the last time you saw a cat skeleton in a tree?"
"900 years of time and space and I've never met someone who wasn't important."
- The Eleventh Doctor
A hero character who doesn't have time for "small" individual scale stories is a boring, badly written hero. At that point you don't have a character, you have an archetype. Superman saving the cat is WHY he's Superman and not Dr. Manhattan.
“Never Be Cruel. Never Be Cowardly. Hate Is Always Foolish. Love Is Always Wise. Always Try To Be Nice, But Never Fail To Be Kind.” - The 12th Doctor.
Couldn' agree with you more.
I wouldn't generalize that much about the story itself being boring/badly written, that part only comes with the story somehow not acknowledging the hero's imperfections.
But if you for example have a story where the protagonist has delusions of grandeur and thinks he's too important to actually help the people who are in front of him, or a story where he does care but the story does give him something more important to tend to, you've still got an interesting plot and a consistently written character - just not a character with perfect power or personality.
@shingallon exact quote my brain went to.
I was going to post the same thing!
It's a monkey paw in a way. A superhero that never 'wastes time' being kind and empathetic wouldn't be much of a hero at all.
Superman without powers would still try to save people, still try to do as much good as he can because that is what is super about him. It is sad when that is forgotten
There's a fantastic ep of Supergirl where she gets depowered but keeps on being Super, standing up to a man with a gun even though she knows she's not bulletproof today.
Has happened several times in comics and tv shows… when superman and Lois got married in the 90s comics he didnt have powers but was shown actively trying to help… when the sun went out he carried on for as long as he could knowing that his powers would fade the more he used them… and after he returned from the dead he went off with steel and superboy to fight cyborg superman again without any powers….his greatest gift is his compassion, yet often people write him off, or say he’s boring because he’s too powerful… I often find these are the same people that fawn over Batman and his infinite plot armour….
And it takes Superman, like, ten seconds to save the cat. How efficient does Superman need to be, that he's not allowed a few moments to engage in the society he cares for? Somebody wants Superman to be a slave and martyr for society every minute of every day......
They must be horrible bosses! They sound like the type who wants every Mensa genius and child prodigy to cure cancer! I've gotten that speech, myself, because I'm a child prodigy and amateur cartoonist. I never became an oncologist because the math's too hard, the medicine's gross, and too stressful, because your customers die if you mess up or their condition's too far gone. If you screw up a cartoon, you just erase the pencil line or cover the ink line with Pro White! The only pressure is deadlines!
Yea I was thinking that as well. How much does Superman have to give? How many lives is he *required* to save in one day?
Physically, he is capable of living his whole life as a blur too fast for humans to see, solving problems nonstop at inhuman speed without rest or pause. Are we going to ask that of him?
Even if it's not the most efficient way he could be saving lives right at that particular moment, Superman can save cats from trees and talk down suicidal people if he wants. And in the long term, both from a watsonian and doyalist perspective, those moments that remind him and everyone else what the point of Superman is are vital.
Man of Steel lovers when Superman visits a dying child instead of stopping War crimes 24/7: 🤬
There's a good storyline in the series "Worm" about a cape called Panacea who faces this problem. Her power pretty much lets her cure any possible physical ailment, and because of this she's pushed to constantly spend every waking hour doing so. It doesn't end well.
@@darlalathan6143 Well said! We need more genius cartoonists in our world. Herge and Charles Schulz, to name two of them, would be proud of you!
The scene with the suicidal woman hit me harder than I thought it would. I remember once I was deep in a bad place, and my friend said they understand - if I want to call them while I do it so I'm not alone, they're there for me. And that rattled me so hard back to a more balanced place. Probably one of the most loving compassionate things anyone's ever said to me. I've never been a big fan of Superman but goddamn, that scene alone just made me respect him a lot more, that's some of the realest shit I've seen from a comic
Wow. Your story hit me hard. I don't think I could do it. I said earlier that Superman saving Felicity didn't take any superpowers, but I'm going to have to rethink that.
I don't mind Superman saving the cat, I just wish he would have done something about that girl's abusive mother.
You've got a point there. But, 40 years ago, abusive parents were funny.
@@kingbeauregard Well not funny,... more, realistic. The majority of folks at that time: you tell a lie you get a smack, its how it was. Usually on the bottom. The kid wasn't lying though and we hope that later when it hit the papers there was a heart to heart apology in there.
I'm kinda surprised and disappointed that the abusive mother part wasn't cut from the 4k remaster.
@@kingbeauregard Yeah, they had a similar "joke" in Superman II (I think only the Lester version), and both times are not easy to rewatch. But at least they're the low points in otherwise good movies (especially the first movie, and Lester's II may not have been as good as Donner's, but it was fine at least).
I don't think he knew about the slap. He was a mile away by then and wasn't focusing his super-hearing that way. He's not God:
In an outline for My Superman Movie that no one asked me for I wrote a scene where Clark and Lois are walking down a street and a girl is worried about her cat that got out from a ledge, so Clark decides to climb up there and rescue the cat... without revealing any of his super powers of course. It was years later I realized I literaly wrote a Superman Saves the Cat scene.
Not Jeff here. I'm asking for that Movie!
The mugging comment really gets at me - it's maybe not intentional but it's super cold to imply that saving a suicidal person's life is less important than saving a tourist's wallet.
I mean, it lines up with their worldview. Capital >people.
It's a weird example, when there would presumably be far worse things Superman would be ignoring in this hypothetical
I'm late to the party on this video, but I'm glad someone articulated this. Even if, in the narrative, there were a crime in progress within earshot, how could anyone assert that stopping that crime is even close to being as valuable as saving the life of a person in crisis.
I've always viewed that the smaller-scale, "good Samaritan" actions (like preventing a mugging) are the incidental things that superheros do when they happen to be in the right place at the right time. If Superman were to just dump the suicidal person into a crisis center as if it were the same weight as stopping a run-of-the-mill mugging or a bank robbery, not only would it risk that woman still committing suicide later (as the underlying depression is unresolved), but it would be illustrating to the audience that perhaps she is right to have lost faith in the goodness of the world.
Wow. That scene you described with Felicity was so powerful. Exactly who Superman is and should be.
I feel like those moments where Superman "saves the cat" are the ones where Superman looks most like the superhero equivalent of Jesus as presented by Christianity's intent. Those moments where he doesn't just care about the life of the person, but their soul. Superman counsels the suicidal person to save their soul, not just their life. He saves the cat because it helps protect the innocence of the child. These are actions of love, not just care.
@cliftonchurch6039 Yes, you're right. But, they also do these things because they are simply the right things to do.
I just had a nightmarish mental image of Superman as an "effective altruist" and decided you're right
I've had people complain to me here and there over the years that they don't like when superhero movies focus on the heroes saving people, they want to stay on the good stuff, fighting the bad guys.
It makes me a bit sad every time I hear that, because it tells me a lot about how they see "heroes" in popular culture.
The entire point - THE ENTIRE POINT - of superheroes is that they save people. Supervillains sometimes show up as the source of the threat, yes; but what makes them villains is that they are going to hurt people. Not every comic has to revolve around some random person in need of saving, but you know, I would enjoy that a lot more than the converse.
Overly Sarcastic Productions has a really good video about this. In recent years, superhero stories have become so focused on the personal reasons that the hero has for fighting that specific villain that it seems like the notion of saving people is an afterthought at best, and if there is someone being saved, it's usually someone the hero knows personally, such as Lois Lane. Combine that with a number of recent films basically ignoring collateral damage, and you get a superhero movies where it seems less like the superhero is trying to save people from the villain, and more like everyone nearby is being caught up in a personal rivalry between two uncaring demigods. It's a really big issue and I think it's one of the things that has messed up a lot of people's perception of superheroes.
To be fair, the modern versions of these characters tend to be more about follies of power than the ideal use of it.
"There's no feat to big or too small for the man of steel" ( This is what makes him more relatable and down to earth knowing he's all powerful; Godlike even) despite he takes a moment to simply rescue a cat out the tree. It's not a waste of resources on his behalf. It was simply a kind gesture, that is all.
Superman saving the cat, or being there for someone in a time of crisis, shows that Superman is the hero we all wish we could be. And if he didn't sweat the small stuff, you get Kingdom Come Superman, a Superman who has forgotten his humanity and reduced his empathy.
It's the small kindnesses that define Superman. We could learn from that.
This is like getting pissed at Batman for comforting a crying child, these small moments are what makes a hero a hero.
Not just seeing the big picture but also carrying for the little guys from the neighbourhood.
Also isn't it Ironic to say the Fire Department should safe the cat, don't they have more important things to do aswell?😅
Canonical fact about Batman: he keeps candy in his utility belt, lollipops if memory serves. Dude has to comfort children on a regular basis and he knows what works. That is both heartwarming and heartbreaking.
This is why I adore that scene in Epilogue when Batman just sits with Ace. Holds her hand and... sits with her. It's such a beautiful moment. So powerful.
They rescue pets from burning buildings, too.
@@jimmyrrpage It's something people get wrong about Batman all the time. He's only supposed to scare criminals.
@@kingbeauregard Batman himself was once a child who needed comforting on the worst night of his life. The hero who comforted him was a rookie patrolman on his beat: Officer Jim Gordon.
Kindness, caring, compassionate, and understanding. Those are Superman's true superpowers.
No he doesnt have anything better to do, his superman, teaching the audience how to be better human beings is the most important thing he can do.
Having once been on that ledge, metaphorically, having that one person that talks to you and is there, really there, is the greatest version of a hero someone can have. I cannot see that scene without feeling a roller coaster. To see that scene and not realize that in that time he saved someone in the only way that works and best way possible is to never have been that low and to have zero empathy for those that have. That story is a masterpiece.
I saw that tweet and the problem is that if you take that thought to its logical conclusion, every single thing Superman does that isn’t stopping a bridge collapse or a plane crash is him neglecting his duties. Every time he goes to his job at the Daily Planet, every time he visits Ma and Pa Kent in Smallville, every moment he spends will Lois, every second he spends sleeping. If Superman really existed he would have a tortured existence of being blamed and feelings for guilty for every single thing he doesn’t stop and any moment, no matter how short, he isn’t out saving people. And that’s a story you could tell, and indeed has been told I’m sure. But it isn’t the only story we want to tell with that character. And if we accept the view of the author of that tweet, that’s exactly what it is: the only story, an exceptionally hopeless and sad story, of a man not allowed any life but as an instrument of our salvation, that we can tell.
That's probably why Metroman retired in Megaman! Overwork and job burnout!
It's interesting. This kind of attitude is why people can get burnout from caring about everything. Just because everything you do isn't stopping climate change, or preventing famine doesn't mean that listening to your mate complain about their bad day at work or making time to spend with your kids isn't important because there are things you could do that could help *more* people. In many ways, because you are the *only* person who can parent your kids properly. Or you may be the only person your friend can talk to in that moment. Those things might be more important than utilitarian actions that could be useful to 300 strangers.
@@darlalathan6143 It doesn't help that Metroman doesn't have a secret identity: no private life.
There is actually a great episode about that in the new My Adventures with Superman cartoon. Superman discovers his superhearing for the first time, then nearly kills himself trying to help everyone.
That's the thing that people who think that way miss: it's fiction, in the world of the DC universe, if Superman is working his day job or doing anything besides stopping calamities, it's because they're not happening at that moment, or because SOMEONE ELSE has it handled because he's not the only superpowered person on the planet. He's the big gun the Justice League call in when the threat is too much for Wonder Woman, Hawk Girl and Green Lantern to handle together, but he can't be everywhere at once. Even he has limits both physically and mentally.
The best thing about fiction is that _there doesn't have to constantly be conflict_. You can allow your characters time to breathe and trust that any disasters that would be going on elsewhere are being tended to either by other heroes or by the officials that exist to manage these crises.
In my opinion Superman's actions in his stories inspirational. He should be someone to emulate. This makes his small acts of kindness even more important to show. I can't cut a tank in half with heat vision. I can spend time listening to a troubled person contemplating suicide, even if there are other things I could be doing.
Speaking of which, do you think this would make a good premise for a minor superhero: Super Cat Rescuer Subcontractor Man". His powers are pretty much limited to rescuing cats, but he takes his responsibilities seriously. He's also a big fan of Superman, and has a standing offer with him to take over cat rescuing duties any time Superman is otherwise unavailable. He even uses a Superman disguise, because he understands the importance of maintaining Superman's public image as a paragon of virtue.
Super Cat Rescuer Subcontractor Man is also the founder and leader of the Superman Subcontractor League, where, along with pals such as Super Suicide Councilor Subcontractor Man, minor superheroes keep constant vigil, ready to spring into action to fill in for Supes with such minor side quests in case he has his hands full battling Brainiac or is stuck in the Phantom Zone or something.
The thing is, the Superman Subcontractor League wouldn't exist if Superman didn't inspire others to do good deeds by setting an example.
Thoughts?
That's good. You should find someone to write it.
;)
That would have been awesome during the Silver Age (1950s-'60s)!
I like it. Also, it's kind of the premise of Mystery Men, which, I hasten to add is not intended as a criticism of your idea at all. It's a good story idea and I wouldn't mind seeing it crop up in other places.
I volunteer for the job as "Super Cat Rescuer Subcontractor Person"! (I'm nonbinary. 🙂) I have to admit that I'm not the hugest Superman fan, but I'm a massive fan of cats, and superpowers based entirely on cat rescue? I want that gig. Just let me design the uniform, because I'm not so hot on the undies-on-the-outside look!
Irl, I'm kinda already Super (I hope) Suicide Counsellor Subcontractor Person, since I work as an art and talk therapist with an intensive crisis and trauma recovery program. It can be tough work, but it's also the most rewarding way I've found to use my art degree, and an actual understanding work environment for my own ASD and queer self, which has often been rejected from more conventional employment.
Too bad that we really do need a Superhero Subcontractor League, isn't it?
@@thing_under_the_stairs You're Super in my book
Stuff like that shows the type of character Superman and Clark are. Yes there are subjectively more important things to do than saving a cat but to Superman, to Clark saving a little girl's cat is as important as stopping a robbery or a murder. It's important to him because it's important to her.
The new cartoon had this moment where after a fight with a super villain he quickly cleans up the damage the fight caused. It worked because it fit the character the writers were building. That Superman would clean up his own mess after a Super fight, because that's the type of person Clark is.
To me, the point of Superman is very much that while he might be "Superman", an alien from another world, what makes him "Super" is that he is a human, he is the guy who stops earthquakes, saves lives of the world and millions, but, in the end what makes him a Hero, is not so much those things, but that humanity, that understanding that it's not just the big things that can make differences in daily lives, sometimes...sometimes you need to sit and listen to someone who needs help, sometimes you help that girl, sometimes, we need to remind ourselves, that the "small" things are often those that matter the most to most people.
It's not just about the alien planet where he was born, but also about that amazing couple in Kansas took him in and raised him as their own. They did a darned good job of it too.
I am reminded of one of my favorite moments from Matt Smith's run on Doctor Who: "Nobody important? Blimey, that's amazing. D'you know that in nine hundred years of time and space I've never met anyone who wasn't important before?
The two instances of stopping suicide mentioned in this video are my favorite Superman moments. When Superman spent hours simply hovering over empty air, waiting for a jumper to be ready to make her decision, he demonstrates why he is a superhero and not just super powered.
But, in All Star Superman, he has more power than he's ever had but is on a timer until his death comes, he stops to help a girl about to jump, yet again, he shows us what really matters to him. He has the power to do literally anything, but only so much time to do it. What he does now is the legacy he'll leave behind in the world. I don't think he stopped to consider it, but that's the inevitable outcome here. The legacy he leaves behind is a message for humanity.
It's never as bad as it seems. You're stronger than you think you are.
The author of the tweet is clearly thinking that a good guy with that much power should be doing bigger things. But in a world without Superman, the most important thing is knowing that we don't need him. That all along humanity could be doing the things Superman does, but for ourselves.
There is nothing more important that Superman could be doing.
That tweet just prompts the response: Tell me you don't get Superman without saying you don't get Superman.
Well said! When I saw that tweet come up (on a repost) the first thing that jumped to mind was a quote from the Eleventh Doctor: In 900 years of time and space I've never met anyone who wasn't important. The incredulity of the Doctor saying that I feel really sums up both characters and why we love them. You know, in the context of the stories, when you look up and see the blue and red streak across the sky, or turn a corner and find a police box, that it isn't just the big stuff that concerns them. EVERYONE matters to them. And that's beautiful and why their stories have endured and continued for decades when others have faded into obscurity.
To be honest, if the tweeter wants Superman to have done those things instead of helping the suicidal person they can simply believe he did. Maybe in between each frame he moves so quickly to prevent other catastrophes that it's just not worth depicting it.
Also, I got a bit emotional reading the scene. I'm not a huge fan of Superman but that's a really cool thing to have a hero do.
Loved this video, Steve. This is what makes Superman great. Anyone with super powers could stop crime, but it takes someone great to truly care about people.
You just gave the best reason for superheroes to fight crime: empathy!
My earliest memory is watching Superman the Movie at the drive-in, age 2, and it's the cat in the tree scene that I remember. You can sum up why we love Superman with the words of Terrence Stamp's General Zod in Superman 2: "He cares."
Superman who doesn't care about people, but only saving them ... is Homelander ...
Jor-el said "your help will be called on endlessly. Even for things they can do themselves."
This reminded me of 2 things:
1. Leo Tolstoy's short story "The Three Questions".
2. This scene from Doctor Who's "A Christmas Carol":
The Doctor : Who's she?
Kazran Sardick : Nobody important.
The Doctor : Nobody important? Blimey, that's amazing. You know that in nine hundred years of time and space and I've never met anybody who wasn't important before.
I think one of Superman's greatest powers, greater than his strength or his invulnerability, is his power as an icon. Him spending a day saving one person could make someone else having a hard time reconsider and get help. Someone seeing him do that could inspire them to check in on a friend and make sure they're okay. He's far more needed as a beacon of compassion and humanity than he is as a crimefighting utility knife.
Imagine being convinced that nobody cares about you and your life is meaningless, and then the "world's greatest hero" unceremoniously grabs you off the ledge and dumps you off at the hospital because he has more important things to do than deal with you. Grade A heroing right there.
Lovely work, Steve. It chimes with what I think about both Superman and Wonder Woman; for all their spectacular abilities, their greatest powers are their endless supply of hope and compassion, and their complete inability to give up on people. That's why Kal saves cats, and talks to suicidal young people, and why Diana stopped in the middle of a firefight to help a dying Jewish man with his prayers. Mechanically realistic? No. Emotionally real? Revealing of character? A representation of an ideal worth aspiring to? Hell yes, times three.
I used to "ship" Superman and Wonder Woman when I was a little girl in the early 1970s. I thought they really belonged together and should get married. I either hadn't learned about Lois Lane yet, or maybe I thought that superheroes belonged together. 😊
@@dawnkindnesscountsmost5991 I can't remember which or when, but there *was* a storyline where they were. It was brought up when conservatives (not knowing what they were talking about in their "outrage" as usual) were making some of the most ridiculous and accidentally *way more* hilarious statements when they heard about a superman series depicting a non-het relationship.
I recommend Jessie Gender's video on this 1. So you can see and hear about the really cool exploration of the Wonder Woman/Superman childhood dream you had being actualized and 2. Have a really good laugh over that "scandal".
Amen, Steve! Superman as a modern mythological character is beloved by people like us because despite his character’s immense powers he still chooses to take time out to help a little girl get her cat out of a tree. In a world when power corrupts, it means so much in our imagination that someone with ultimate power chooses to help the least of us, much to do with his humble and wholesome Smallville upbringing by his wise and loving adopted parents.
Zod saw it and relayed it to Ursa in Superman II. "I've discovered his weakness. He cares. He actually cares for these earth people."
people who say that stuff seem to forget that superman is always going to save someone, and he's literally fast enough to do both the more important thing and save the cat at the same time
8:56 agree with the “who says that saving 1 person or cat is less important?”
Coincidentally, I was just this morning reminded of an 11th Doctor line: «Nobody important‽ Blimey, that’s amazing! You know that in 900 years of time and space, I’ve never met anybody who wasn’t important before.»
I couldn't imagine looking at the world, real or fictional where taking time to reach out to those in need is viewed as a negative.
Honestly those small moments are what gets me to love superman.
That best part of Batman:TOS is where he sat with the woman from the Royal Flush Gang, Baby Doll, helping Mr. Freeze with his wife Nora.
These are some of the best episode of B:TOS, and the same in the Superman series
I always thought the scene of saving the cat in Superman 78 was a perfect example of the screenwriting framework "Save the Cat" - it humanizes and makes him likable to the audience.
Saving the cat and being there for the person who is suicidal may seem like an over-response for Superman, who is capable of physically doing much more. However, those actions are authentically heroic. Nobody is going to read about those actions in a newspaper, but that little girl and that woman will always remember how he helped them. These moments connect us to our humanity.
I've been lucky enough to be both that anonymous hero and that person in need. Even better, I've had a chance to witness my young daughter rushing to comfort an older child she didn't know who had fallen off a swing. As a teen, a group of people at a music festival jumped in to bring her water and an ice pack when she was overheated and dehydrated. That moment wasn't forgotten. During rough times, she remembers the kindness and compassion that these people had for her. Although they were quiet and unannounced, those were the important moments. Superman being there during those times shows that he understands the importance of those moments and the true value of human life.
I lost a co-worker to suicide. I concluded that my best chance to intervene was probably months earlier when she expressed an interest in dancing (but I had to work the next day and did not want to stay out late). A suicidal person is able to bring their entire mental capacity to bear on carrying out the act.
To put not too fine a point on it: Superman "rescuing" the suicidal person from a ledge, to go do something "more important" would have sent exactly the wrong message. Not even Superman can be everywhere at once.
Tarantino did so much harm to the interpretation of Superman in the monologue in Kill Bill vol2. Clark is the personification of a Rockwell painting, and that’s not a mask it’s his truest self. So many people who never really understood the character took their understanding from that stupid monologue. Bill didn’t understand Superman, he was using his interpretation to justify his own shitty behavior. But people also think that Fight Club is saying that dudes should literally have fight clubs, when it’s lambasting toxic masculinity as well as the society that breeds disconnection.
The scene in question with the cat was part of Superman's introduction to Metropolis int the movie. It bookended a series of events during the evening that began with the helicopter falling off the roof of the Daily Planet. Saving the cat was simply his last task.
Yes. I most wholeheartedly agree. Superman caring about a person contemplating suicide or caring about a cat stuck in a tree ARE what makes him Superman. And I find it sad that some don't see that...
Superman is a friend. A friend who will protect humanity from Darkseid if the help is needed or a friend who will help get a cat of a tree if the help is needed.
the best Superman film is The Iron Giant, for a lot of reasons, but one in particular is the scene where the titular character discovers the devastating power of the Gun and mourns the death of a woodland creature.
Good morning Mr Shives. Here at São Paulo, Brasil, are 6:40 AM. I am tired and a bit sad. Thanks for this video. That made by day better.
It was always one of the best parts of the Superman story was the fact that your hero was both a super powered flying demigod and a very human guy who grew up in Kansas.
also, if we want to inject realism... This isn't Superman's job. He doesn't clock in and fulfill a certain quota of good deeds. He has chosen to be a hero on his own time, and sometimes the Daily Planet's time. Point being, if Superman was real, it's his business only to decide how his time is spent and what is worth doing.
I don't understand how someone can't grasp why Superman dealing with personal, small-scale problems is just as important as the big ones. It's so blatantly obvious that it's about his compassion and love for people. These small moments speak volumes. That someone can't grasp that is disturbingly shallow.
Actually, the one thing that sticks with me about that cat rescuing scene in the movie is not the idea of what is a priority for a fictional superhero, but that afterwards, the little girl runs into her house, tells her mother that a man flew down to rescue her cat, her mother scolds her for telling stories... and then you hear the sound of the child getting slapped. And it's played for laughs.
It is so frustrating to me how many adults aren't mature enough to understand comic books. Superman has all the power of a god and still he cares about everyone. Batman was struck by tragedy and wants to keep other people from experiencing tragedies. Captain America wants to create a world where people are free and can live their lives how they want. None of this is complicated, except that people want to project their own limitations onto heroes.
It’s not the lack of maturity, but rather the lack of empathy, especially with fiction, often calling us out for caring about someone or something fictional. Try calling them as unemotional machines, Borg even, and they’ll take that as compliments, some already have.
I mean a lot of this is because they’re characters created by people without systemic power telling stories about how they think power should be used. Superman has a lot of parallels to a golem, he was created (by his authors- two Jewish men who wrote comics because they couldn’t get a job writing for anything else as Jews) to be an almost invincible protector, and his “S” curl and his insignia cam both be easily seen as references to the mark which gives a golem life. Cap was created (by two Jewish men) to be Hitler’s ideal, but stands against everything Hitler stood for. The context of the creation of these characters is so important to who they are and what they do.
I believe a cat-rescued-from-tree situation happened in the new animated Superman series (the one where Jack Quaid voices Supes). It's kind of his thing -- to the child, it's Superman saving the kid's best friend. And maybe we should try to do some of that instead of rushing inside to tweet complaints about the story, making someone's day a little better or even if possible making a difference. But hey, I'm typing a comment on a TH-cam video.
Amen, Steve! I think the thing that folks forget is that Superman is a reflection of our own humanity. And that when Superman stops to help a child who has fallen off their bike, or rescue a cat stuck in a tree, that it's a reminder for us to slow down and remember that the smallest kindnesses are just as important as saving the entire world.
That story with Supes is moving. One part of how much he shows he cares about her is while he's floating there, when night falls the police put a spotlight on her, and she says something to the effect of, "can you ask them to turn that off" and he just looks down at the power cord and melts it with heat vision. He said he wasn't going to leave her. He didn't leave. Not only that he said to her with that action, "I will do anything that will help you be more comfortable." Not verbally, but he turned her request into an order. "You will stop giving this poor woman a migraine while she works through her thoughts."
Steve, we need guys like you. 🖖
Over the years with many conversations with friends and others who all insist that “Batman is better” I’ve always tried to emphasise that the most important part of the character isn’t the “super” it’s the “man” as you rightly said in your video, it’s not the powers that make him superman, it’s what he does with them. This is something that I think so many people miss, and why I never understand hollywoods insistence on playing up jor-els role in the superman story while down playing the Kent’s. The reason we care about superman, isn’t because he can save the world, it’s because he also saves the cat
There's a reason that All-Star Superman is, without doubt, one of the best Superman stories ever told. "You're much stronger than you think you are. Trust me."
Remember the old TV show?... why would Superman take the bullets in his chest and dodge the gun after the villian emptied it into him and threw it?
This is why we need people who Understand Superman, to write and direct Superman.
Here's another "suspension of disbelief" explanation you can just pretend is true: there were other crimes to address but the cat in the tree was directly below superman and he gauged the time it would take to stop the crimers and allotted his time accordingly, successfully saving the cat, then addressing several other essentially simultaneous issues. He's real real fast
1. I hate the word "realistic" in conversations about superheroes in general and Superman in particular. The word is "believable" as in Grant Morrison's quote "The more you realistic you try to make superheroes, the less believable they become."
2. I love your notion of Superman knowing the names of people who work at an animal shelter.
3. Just a few days ago, I replied to a tweet going on about Superman killing Zod in MAN OF STEEL. It was, like, the 235th variation on "He had to kill Zod, there was literally nothing that could've been done!" I answered with "You know this stuff is written, right? By, like, writers who make the stuff up? LITERALLY ANYTHING could've been done."
Great video. Keep up the fine work. And Happy New Year!
Your reading of the comic made me tear up quite a bit, actually. Imagining that someone like Superman made the time for a person in need like that is part of how grand that story is.
There's a reason Batman calls Superman Boy Scout. He's the ultimate do-gooder.
Maybe the most charitable version of this take is that people want to see Superman struggle with the choice to stay with the suicidal person when he can hear other people that he's choosing to ignore.
It might get a bit dark for a Superman story though, so that might be better for a different type of story and a different super hero.
It reminds me of Hitchcock's "refrigerator test." In the moment that "waiting all night" is a really touching scene. On second, sober reflection, If Superman's world is anything like ours, there were definitely multiple ways for him to save multiple lives in those hours. Even if it occured to me, though, I don't think I'd bother twitxing about it.
Superman is meant to be an inspirational character. He's not there to be the world's "savior", he's meant to be a perfect example of how human beings should treat each other.
One of the most important aspects of Superman's character imo is that even under all those layers of powers and tragic alien backstory, he's still just one guy who has feelings and limits. he does what he can because he's there. if he was perfect he wouldnt be romancing lois lane and working a desk job as clark kent.
Very moving; cried a few times!
Another aspect to this, I think, is that the character of Superman acts as an inspiration.
In the city, where there's a lot going on, it's all too easy to walk past people who need help. Superman acts as a reminder to take the time and do what you can.
There are plenty of Superman facsimiles that feature a "Superman" either growing tired and disillusioned, or down right crazy by all the emergencies he has to stop. On top of that, the questions of "WHY WOULD HE HELP THE AVERAGE PERSON?! HE MUST BE UP TO SOMETHING!" is some Lex Luthor brain.
One of the big dilemmas of Superman I picked up on through watching the recent animated films and Smallville is that he refuses to stop believing he can save everyone.
It's a fascinating dilemma that shows he's a powerful man as opposed to a powerful god.
Does he beat himself up if some people in Tokyo died because he was too busy putting out a fire in Metropolis? Sure, but what's important is that he is trying to be the best version of himself and that he is doing it for the benefit of humanity more than just himself.
If he went to save those people in Tokyo then the people in the fire might've died instead (if you want to nitpick we'll say the Fire Brigade wouldn't have made it in time) and this is where he becomes more like a human as he's faced with situations where people have to die for him to save other people.
So, bringing this back to the cat in the tree, sure, the worst thing that might've happened if he ignored that cat and the little girl is the cat died and the little girl who owned the cat gets upset. It'd be a tragedy but not as bad as whoever else might've died in a more serious emergency. Does this mean Superman should never save cats if he gets the chance or talk to people who are feeling suicidal? No, why? Because he was raised as a decent and caring human being; he wasn't raised to be some cold hearted robot that takes a calculated approach towards saving lives.
This is Superman.
There are other heroes in his world who can stop robberies and collapsing infrastructure, but there may not be anyone else who can help that one person who he's saving right then and there.
This exact sentiment is how I feel when people complain about Spider-Man taking the time to stop and help someone cross the street, or set up a romantic evening for a high schooler to ask his crush to prom, whatever "small" thing he may be doing.
He's the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man for a reason
Betcha the author of that tweet absolutely loved Zack Snyder's Superman.
Sounds like this person's ideal Superman is Robocop. "Madam, you have suffered an emotional shock. I will notify a suicide crisis center."
I would argue that Superman saving the cat was very important to the story that they were trying to tell, it was their way of showing Superman cares about everyone and that no one is too small to be beneath his notice.
Reminds me of a couple lines from an episode of Doctor Who... I don't recall the exact episode or context, but the Doctor and the villain are talking, and the Doctor points to someone else and asks who she is. The villain dismissively responds, "Nobody important." "Nobody important?" the Doctor replies, astonished, "Blimey, that's amazing. You know, in 900 years of time & space, I've never met anybody who wasn't important."
In Kurt Busiek's Astro City #1, we're introduced to Samaritan- a Superman type hero. He dreams about flying- he loves flying, and because practically all he does is save people (even a kitten) - he has a cover identity, but he's so unhappy- I don't want my heroes to be unhappy heroing, I want Superman and Samaritan and all the flying heroes to have plenty of time doing what they love, and stay willing to help those in need.
If you get too realistic, then everytime Superman sneezed, his exhale and his snot would cause huge amounts of property damage, and sometimes he'd accidentally kill people.
To borrow from OSP: If the character you are writing wouldn't sit with a suffering person for as long as it takes, you aren't writing Superman.
Superman's humanity has always been more compelling to me than his SUPER-humanity.
He's not really my role model when he punches a literal god or bench presses an island. He's my role model when he sits with a struggling person to let them know they matter to him; when he stops an abused child from living in fear; when he makes a place in the world for immigrants and aliens; when he slows down to see people instead of super-speeding past them; and yeah, when he rescues a cat from a tree. (Yes, I like the Grounded arc. I also like Birthright, which makes Supes a vegetarian because of his respect for all life.)
Bottom line for me is that I can follow in my hero's footsteps when he shows me the best of humanity; less so when he becomes transcendent and simply soars above us as an unrelatable ubermensch.
I love the irony of saying that Superman shouldn't save the cat because he has better things to do. Then immediately, they follow it up with call the fire department to save the cat... because they don't have anything better to do?
Oh, I have another question for the Superman universe. When Superman lands in front of the bad guy, the bad guy unloads the entire gun at Superman and he just stands there completely unphased, then when the bad guy in a desperate last ditch, chucks the empty gun at Superman, why does Superman duck?
Superman's ultimate super power is compassion.
If Superman DID adopt a cat...I hope it would get along with Krypto.