Smattville: Clark Vs. Superman

Friday, July 28, 2006

Clark Vs. Superman

With the "Superman Returns" movie just out, the Superman hype of the '80s has been kick-started all over again. But while watching the movie, you can't help but wonder, how did Clark Kent get to be Superman? What was his childhood like? He couldn't have been a journalist at the Daily Planet forever.
That, my friends, is where "Smallville" comes in.
When you think about it, it's a great premise. Superman fans know all about the villains Superman's fought, his powers and adventures, and some bare-bones information about his background. But how did a Super-man get that way? We knew some things about his childhood, but not in fleshed-out detail — not, that is, until the 2001 debut on The WB of "Smallville."

The plots are really complex; in one recent episode Clark goes to Jor-El to try to save someone he loved who recently died, but in doing this, he sacrifices his previous happiness and his father ends up dying instead. But at the same time, the overall story is simple, because we know how it's going to end. But this doesn't make it any less exciting. Far from it, it makes the show almost even more exciting because there are certain characters that you just can't imagine how they turn out the way they do, or how they wouldn't be a part of Clark's life as a grown man.

Clark remains pure and good, despite his list of problems. He struggles to fit in at high school just like everybody else. He has girl problems, goes through hormone swings, gets teased and bullied. In short, someone so good has a life that's so hard; a life in which very few people actually know who you are. A life in which you struggle every day to protect your family and friends, feel the weight of the world every time somebody gets hurt. Where you put everybody else first — despite a friend like Martha saying, "Clark, it's not your responsibility to save everybody!" — and never think once about what is best for you."Smallville," manages to touch the viewer intimately, and makes you want to reach out and help Clark to make his life OK — because he deserves it more than anybody else.

posted by Matt @ 2:24 PM

1 Comments:

At 10:22 AM, Anonymous said…

Good Job. Cant wait for the Ramblers postings to start.

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