Perfection is in the eye of the beholder.
I'll take an imperfect Bo Derek anytime.
.the American way.
.the liberal way
Posted on 07/07/2006 8:46:07 AM PDT by Incorrigible
BY JAMES LILEKS
Outrage of the summer: The new "Superman" movie edited out "The American Way" from the Krypton immigrant's rally cry. The Daily Planet editor says Supe's now all about "Truth, Justice and all that stuff."
Makes perfect sense. Consider the foreign markets, where "the American Way" means Abu Ghraib and McDonald's. Don't remind them! They might burn the theater. (If that's their way.) Besides, it makes sense to have a newspaper editor treat the line with gruff dismissal, since hard-bitten editors don't get starry-eyed over patriotic hogwash. Except when discussing the people's right to know the GPS coordinates of Superman's secret fort.
As it turns out, however, the omission was intentional. "The American Way" sounds Krypto-fascist. The movie's authors are the usual moderns, serenely above rude jingo pride:
"We were always hesitant to include the term `American way' because the meaning of that today is somewhat uncertain," said co-writer Michael Dougherty. "I think when people say `American way,' they're actually talking about what the `American way' meant back in the '40s and '50s, which was something more noble and idealistic."
Ah. Of course. Well, in the '40s, the American Way included incinerating German cities, nuking Japan, installing occupying armies with remnants to this day, and imposing our form of government -- all the while referring to the enemy with hurtful ethnic slurs. All this plus forced relocation. If these actions are deemed noble and idealistic now, it'll be a handy sentiment the next time the U.S. gears up for total war.
But the inconstant left doesn't believe any of this is permissible in the service of a noble goal. The right, after all, can't lead the war on terror because they don't "walk the walk" on human rights: witness those POWs slaving away in the cane fields of Gitmo. Unless we lead by example, no one will choose the American Way. Never mind that the internment of the Japanese didn't keep the Germans -- or the Japanese, for that matter -- from following our example after World War II. (Note to the dense: The above is not an endorsement of internment. Just a reminder of which party has more practice.)
It's also odd to see the '50s held in high esteem. The '60s will be ever bathed in the holy glow of boomer self-regard, a mystical era of great causes and cheap weed; the '70s have become the decade equivalent of a sitcom running in eternal repeats.
The 50s, however, have long stood for stifling conformity, the Mandatory Gray Flannel Suit Act, the forced relocation of future folk song writers to treeless suburbs, duck-and-cover nuclear paranoia, and of course the communist witch hunts, which, history recalls, turned up no communist witches. It all ended when Saint Elvis performed the miraculous Swiveling of the Hips, loosening mores that had been cinched tight since Ike banned premarital soul-kissing by executive order.
Now it's noble? Really? Do the '50s get to be cool again? And not Fonzie-cool, but cool in the sense that confidence, optimism, technological progress, increasingly sophisticated mass culture and the rise of the suburb are now seen as fascinating elements of a complex, hopeful era?
Well, that's a start.
But of course that's not what the screenwriter meant. To right-thinking people, the "past" -- that nebulous era where everyone wore hats and blacks couldn't vote but cars had fins -- was a time where one could say "The American Way" without irony, because they were uninformed, and Bush hadn't invaded Iraq yet. Nowadays you cannot tout "The American Way" without adding footnotes about slavery and the Philippines war and pre-FDA meat safety and women's suffrage and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Did you know they blocked the fire exits? Women jumped to their deaths. And you think we're something special?
Well, yes. Especially given the alternatives. Especially when considering the vast record of oppression, lawlessness and miserable inescapable poverty that has characterized most of human civilization up to, and including, noon today. When compared against some ideal country -- say, a solar-powered pan-ethnic secular Switzerland with a socialist economy based on bartering hemp -- the messy realities of America past and present come up short.
But this has always been an imperfect nation. Accepting our faults, correcting our wrongs and using the revolutionary founding concepts to improve ourselves further: That's the American way.
If you can't say it without choking, practice. If you can, please write the Superman sequel.
July 6, 2006
(James Lileks can be contacted at newhouse@lileks.com)
inconstant - adjective - likely to change frequently without apparent or cogent reason
That the libs!
Lileks Bump!
Wonderful, excellent, and as usual, superb! Thanks for the ping! Lileks has such a way with words, using them with the right touch of deft sarcasm to puncture the over-inflated egos of the left.
I don't get too excited about this.
Hollywood makes far more money outside the USA than inside.
It was a pro-profit decision, not anti-American (although there's lots of that in H'wood.)
I rarely e-mail articles to my friends but am going to make an exception for this outstanding article.
Thanks for posting it, Incorrigible!
I looked for it yesterday on Newhouse but apparently it wasn't up yet.
"Now that we're done with the '80s, the '90s are gonna make the '60s look like the '50s."
---Dennis Hopper
Terrific.
I posted a Vanity entitled SUPERMAN RETURNS - TO A PATERNITY SUIT
Moderator put it on chat where it has had no play.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1660071/posts
The thesis follows hard on the central theme of this article. European morality is inconsistent with the traditional meaning of "The American Way." This is expesdially true about sexual morality.
The choice of a sexual libertine to direct the movie is consistent with the attempt to rewrite the foundations of the uniquely American icon, Superman.
We are now confronted with Superman the deadbeat dad.
especially - duh
Of course, it's anti-American.
Strangely, in years past the pro-American ideals of comic book characters like Superman didn't stop people all around the world from becoming avid consumers of American popular culture. Little wonder that today people in other countries are anti-American, they're just echoing what they learn from us.
"Little wonder that today people in other countries are anti-American, they're just echoing what they learn from us."
Exactly!
They are lucky that they made 134 million dollars because after the pirates get done with them this weekend, you will never hear from Superman again...
bttt
While I don't disagree with the spirit of Lileks' piece, I do disagree with his assessment of "the American way". I see the American way as one that opposes fear, tyranny and oppression. The American way supports feedom, equality and democracy. There is nothing wrong with those values; either today OR in the 40s and 50s.
The new Superman movie's creators are ignorant of their country's history and are practicing a weird form of Hollyweird revisionism as though "the American way" were synonymous with "the Third Reich". It isn't, and never will be. If they want to market to the global market, that's their choice. But, don't expect me to fork over MY cash to support their distorted view of America and their revisionism of a uniquely American creation (Superman).
If there is another movie out of this bunch, they may well continue their revisionism by trying to make Superman a product of the UN.
I understand your point, but that one statement seems to be getting way overblown. I saw the movie last weekend and it was awesome. Whatever the writers thought, the way they included the line in the movie made it more of an insult to the MSM, than anything anti-American. Superman is not a deadbeat dad in the movie. He is not even aware that he has a child. There is a whole Christian feel to the movie, with many references to the need for a savior etc.
what the writers said was pretty stupid. But, if you didn't know before you saw the movie, my guess is that you would have seen the line as an insult to the media, not anti-American.
I am not saying it is about the calibre of the film. I am saying that the line in the film is not presented in the context that these writers are presenting it.
There is nothing anti-American in this movie. (IMO) I actually thought the line was pretty funny. It worked well to illustrate how the press has no clue what America really stands for, and they are so shallow that they really don't care.
Perfection is in the eye of the beholder.
I'll take an imperfect Bo Derek anytime.
.the American way.
.the liberal way
They are making the movie for an international audience, so they need to consider what that audience will perceive as the meaning of 'the American Way'. What they themselves think is less important. There's plenty of doubt, though you obviously have telepathic abilities many of the rest of us lack. Perhaps we'll see you in the next X-Men sequel. :)
I have to wonder how many critics of this trivia have seen the movie.
Lileks nails contemporary Leftist thinking here. If any American ever did anything wrong for any reason then America's whole existence is invalid...worthless...might as well give up on it. In the meantime, Castro doesn't do one thing right in 40+ years and he is lionized.
Image borrowed from the Star Trib.
"To right-thinking people, the "past" -- that nebulous era where everyone wore hats and blacks couldn't vote but cars had fins -- was a time where one could say "The American Way" without irony, because they were uninformed, and Bush hadn't invaded Iraq yet. Nowadays you cannot tout "The American Way" without adding footnotes about slavery and the Philippines war and pre-FDA meat safety and women's suffrage and the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Did you know they blocked the fire exits? Women jumped to their deaths. And you think we're something special?
Well, yes. Especially given the alternatives. Especially when considering the vast record of oppression, lawlessness and miserable inescapable poverty that has characterized most of human civilization up to, and including, noon today."
Needed repeating.
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