Deadbeat Dad? Superman? *cries* Sometimes, fandom, I can't even.
I *know*.
I think what most kills me about the criticism -- aside from the burning stupid of it, mind you -- is that it's *so clearly* based on some supposition of what *might* happen in the future rather than what ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THE MOVIE. Sure, if, in the SEQUEL, Superman's all "la la la, could not care less that I have a son, la la la," then maybe I'd be able to see the argument. But like Sheila said, in *this* movie, the one on which he is ostensibly being judged, he FOUND OUT IN THE LAST FIVE MINUTES. And while he was IN A COMA. Once he woke up, he *went to see his kid*. That's not the action of a man who *doesn't give a crap*.
There is *zero* indication that he knew Lois was pregnant when he left (and by God, I'd think she'd be *even more pissed off* than she is if that had actually been the case), so it's just straight-up dinging the character just to ding him to act like not only did he know, but he didn't care both when he left or once he got back. And the thing is, people already ding the movie for being too long. Had the screenwriters decided that Lois and Kal-El needed to have the conversation right then and there of what it meant that he's really Jason's father, then the movie would have been *another twenty or thirty minutes long*. At least. 'Cause that's not a conversation you can have in two minutes.
And, and, *and*? The *entire point* of the Superman/Lois rooftop & flight around Metropolis sequence was her basically telling him "You left and I moved on" and him accepting that after apologizing. Some people have already given him grief for *taking her flying at all* because they apparently view that as some attempt on his part to wreck her new existence. If just *taking her flying* is allegedly him trying to mess with her life, then what, exactly, would immediately laying some claim to Jason be? *A whole lot worse* in terms of rocking the boat of her stable new life. This isn't the kind of situation people in *real life* are able to address in two minutes; it's ridiculous to expect Superman to deal with it that quickly. Of course he needs time to process the mere fact that he *is* a father, let alone what that fact actually means in terms of not just *his* life, but *Lois', Richard's and Jason's*, too. But I bet you good money that if he actually *had* laid claim to Jason in the last two minutes of the movie, people would be calling him a dick for *that* (even though him *not* immediately laying claim to Jason apparently makes him a deadbeat).
And, er, clearly, this is as much a sore point for me as it is for Sheila. *g*
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Date: 2006-07-27 02:46 pm (UTC)I *know*.
I think what most kills me about the criticism -- aside from the burning stupid of it, mind you -- is that it's *so clearly* based on some supposition of what *might* happen in the future rather than what ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THE MOVIE. Sure, if, in the SEQUEL, Superman's all "la la la, could not care less that I have a son, la la la," then maybe I'd be able to see the argument. But like Sheila said, in *this* movie, the one on which he is ostensibly being judged, he FOUND OUT IN THE LAST FIVE MINUTES. And while he was IN A COMA. Once he woke up, he *went to see his kid*. That's not the action of a man who *doesn't give a crap*.
There is *zero* indication that he knew Lois was pregnant when he left (and by God, I'd think she'd be *even more pissed off* than she is if that had actually been the case), so it's just straight-up dinging the character just to ding him to act like not only did he know, but he didn't care both when he left or once he got back. And the thing is, people already ding the movie for being too long. Had the screenwriters decided that Lois and Kal-El needed to have the conversation right then and there of what it meant that he's really Jason's father, then the movie would have been *another twenty or thirty minutes long*. At least. 'Cause that's not a conversation you can have in two minutes.
And, and, *and*? The *entire point* of the Superman/Lois rooftop & flight around Metropolis sequence was her basically telling him "You left and I moved on" and him accepting that after apologizing. Some people have already given him grief for *taking her flying at all* because they apparently view that as some attempt on his part to wreck her new existence. If just *taking her flying* is allegedly him trying to mess with her life, then what, exactly, would immediately laying some claim to Jason be? *A whole lot worse* in terms of rocking the boat of her stable new life. This isn't the kind of situation people in *real life* are able to address in two minutes; it's ridiculous to expect Superman to deal with it that quickly. Of course he needs time to process the mere fact that he *is* a father, let alone what that fact actually means in terms of not just *his* life, but *Lois', Richard's and Jason's*, too. But I bet you good money that if he actually *had* laid claim to Jason in the last two minutes of the movie, people would be calling him a dick for *that* (even though him *not* immediately laying claim to Jason apparently makes him a deadbeat).
And, er, clearly, this is as much a sore point for me as it is for Sheila. *g*