by Christopher Barr
"I teach you the Superman. Man is something that should be overcome. What have you done to overcome him? All creatures hitherto have created something beyond themselves: and do you want to be the ebb of the great tide, and return to the animals rather than overcome man? What is the ape to men? A laughing stock or a painful embarrassment. And just so shall man be to the Superman: a laughing stock or a painful embarrassment". -NietzscheFrederich Nietzsche wrote this in his philosophical book Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Can man surpass himself? Reach beyond our belief structures and be more than a man? Master his moral compass and liberate himself from limiting value systems, maintain strength and independence while aspiring toward creativity and originality? Is this even possible for a man to rise to such heights that he overcomes himself?
These are some of the questions that Clark Kent, Superman aka Kal-El’s alter ego must ask himself in the new Superman movie "Man of Steel".
Nietzsche didn't believe such a man existed among us, other than certain historical individuals he thought could serve as models of this seemingly unattainable enlightenment, such as Socrates, Shakespeare, Goethe, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, among others. Like the Buddhist’s journey to Nirvana, it's likely that this form of enlightenment lies in the journey and not the destination. One must walk through the door as one must walk the path. Not to suggest that the journey to enlightenment is a pleasant one. Rather, it’s a destructive process where one eradicates one's previous notion of what one believed to be true.
Kal-El is an alien from the dead world, Krypton. As an infant he was launched in a spacecraft towards Earth, a distant planet with a suitable atmosphere, and where Kal-El's dense molecular structure ended up giving him superhuman powers. So the journey of Clark is to realize his potential, and like all mentally evolved beings, use it for the betterment of all livings things.
The film portrayed this journey quite aptly. The film is about bettering yourself beyond what you believe to be possible. Superman is a walking, breathing manifestation of this philosophy for life, iconoclastic freedom from the shackles of conventionalism and normality. Most are born unique and die as clones, copies of their environment and their parents inherited belief systems. The point is to walk your own path in a World that potentially kills such revolutionaries, mentally, spiritually and in some cases physically.
Superman, when fully realized, is also a surrogate parent to us all. Like how a child requires his or her parents to guide them toward their own independence, Superman, metaphorically, is there as protector. He is like a Doctor from Centers for Disease Control studying a highly infectious, deadly Ebola virus from the central African rain forest to protect the world from disaster. The world needs people like this simply because not everyone can do it.
Its only my optimistic hope, like the ‘S’ on Superman’s suit, that viewers see past the distracting explosions and chunky plot and rise to the heights that they can overcome themselves.
Wow, what a good review of the movie Man of Steel. I am a hardcore believer in the theory of the superman of Nietzsche. I would like to be a superman, i am trying to be stronger physically, mentally and emotionally, thru physical exercise and knowledge. Nietzsche is correct when he said this: "I teach you the Superman. Man is something that should be overcome. What have you done to overcome him? All creatures hitherto have created something beyond themselves: and do you want to be the ebb of the great tide, and return to the animals rather than overcome man? What is the ape to men? A laughing stock or a painful embarrassment. And just so shall man be to the Superman: a laughing stock or a painful embarrassment". -Nietzsche
ReplyDeleteDear friend of this great movie-philosophy website and blog. It is sad how most people in the USA and in many other countries do not grasp the theory, the philosophy, the revolutionary message behind movies, music lyrics and many other forms of art. For example many music bands have anti-capitalism messages in their lyrics. And anti-oppression, anti-slavery message in their songs. Like the music bands Rush, Tool, Rage Against The Machine, The Doors and other music bands and other types of artistic forms. But only a few try to use movies, music and art as a tool of motivational power. USA needs a superman, like Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Lenin, Che Guevara to overthrow the capitalist oligarchic political system and social order. And replace it with a humanist proletarian social order for the working class and poor peasants of the country. There are 2 types of revolutions. (Revolutions from below, done the orthodox marxist way. And revolutions from above, the stalinist, maoist, castro way). Revolutions from below done the orthodox marxist would be better, because it would lead to a pure liberation. But they are almost impossible in this world, because the majority people are slaves. Revolutions from below would require humans to be supermen. And that's why mankind has to evolve toward the supermen. Because from my own point of view, most revolutions from above (Done the castro, hugo chavez, maoist, stalinist, statist way) lead to concentration of power in the vanguard party and burocrats. While revolutions from below (giving power to peasants and proletarian) would lead to a complete liberation. But revolutions from below need the liberation of each human, not just those at the top. Thanks
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