Podcast # 442 - Superhero Films

[Rico]

A megasize edition of TSF this week talking all about superhero films.  Chris & I got together on Skye and reviewed the "Man of Steel" in a very spoiler-filled discussion.  We also discussed the 'modern' era of superhero movies.  Enjoy this extra long edition of the podcast!

Podcast Notes:  http://treksinscifi.com/podcast_notes/?p=3003

http://www.treksinscifi.com/podcasts/TreksinSciFi_442_Superhero_Films.mp3

[jedijeff]

Looking forward to this one, suspect I will be learning a lot :)

[Bromptonboy]

Same here!

[Jobydrone]

So good!  Great job guys!

[Rico]

So good!  Great job guys!

Thanks! It was a lot of fun to do.

[Bromptonboy]

+1 on the compliment - great job.  Thanks!

[ChrisMC]

Had a really great time doing it, barely noticed so much tone had gone by.

[fatfather_2005]

the podcast was great as always. i just wish i could have been on the chat live, lol 

[Jobydrone]

Me too!  Was yelling into my earbud mic the whole time!

[ChrisMC]

No need to yell, Joby, it's just a podcast. ;)

[Bryancd]

Yeah, really loved the conversation!

[Leighgion]

Good podcast! I have yet to see Man of Steel, but listened since I don't so much mind spoilers.

Rico, you started to make one analogy I feel strongly about for a couple reasons. Spoiler tag just in case.

[spoiler]
Rico, on the topic of killing Zod, you opined that Superman was most affected by the fact he had to kill anybody, not that he was killing the only other surviving Kryptonian. You started to use an adopted baby from China analogy before dropping it as being unsuitable.

Well, as a Chinese man born and raised in America, I feel the duty to say the analogy is excellent, but it argues for the opposite point of view as yours in this case.

While I am not adopted, I grew up in the Pacific Northwest with no Chinese families around me other than my own. I am thusly, culturally probably more than 90% American. However, upbringing doesn't do a thing to genetics. For my whole life, I've gotten questions about my heritage because I visually am obviously not part of the European-American melt. It was not possible for me to ever forget I was different, and all I am is a regional variation of the same species.

Superman is a genuine extra-terrestrial who, while able to blend visually with caucasian humans, has a completely different physiology that gives him superpowers he has to make efforts to conceal every day of his life that he lives around Terrans. He's much more different than I am, and he has to keep it a secret. The only way he can forget he's different for more than a couple hours probably would involve insanity.

Zod, whatever might be said about his personality and behavior, is one of Superman's actual people. Being raised on different worlds or not, Zod is like Superman in a quintessential way that no one on Earth ever can be. When Superman kills Zod, he's not just taking a life, he's being forced to choose to effectively commit genocide against his natural people in order to protect his adopted ones.

I like to think that if the chips were down, I could kill in order to protect many other people. It'd cause sleepless nights and I'd never quite be the same, but I'd have the comfort that it was the right thing.

Now, if somehow all the ethnically Chinese people in the world were wiped out but me and one other, and I was forced under the same circumstances the kill the only other one? That'd be devastating.

Many things can be said about Superman, but I refuse to believe that he's less sensitive to the significance of his heritage than I am. Upbringing shapes us, but it can't wipe out our blood and blood matters. It's the blood that makes Superman Superman and not Captain America.
[/spoiler]

[Meds]

Great episode lads, listened to day at work and you both made me want to get home pretty quick and put some films on. (Cap America is now on). Hope you both do more episodes together.

[ChrisMC]

Thanks Meds!

You're in luck, we are doing Conan the Barbarian adding my friend Chuck!

[Geoff G.o.B]

just finished this podcast and really wanted to watch the Avengers again. Turned on the TV that evening and guess what was on! Spooky  :skull

Watching the Hulk smash Loki is still the funniest thing I have seen in a movie for ages  :hulk