The new Superman movie has a great nod to new media when the editor of the Daily Planet is looking at photos for the front story.
He shows iconic images of Superman holding loa car above his head — they pictures were taken by a 12 year old boy on his cell phone. Unfortunately Jimmy Olsen (representing old media) was only able to grab a quick blur of a photo. Is it a bird, a plane? They just can’t tell from his rushed photo.
Near the end of the film Jimmy gets his photo session when Superman making another daring rescue — keeping the score even.
But Superman is filled with nods to journalism in all its forms and stereotypes. Loise Lane, the fast-talking, smoking, in your face reporter. She single-handedly tracks the source of wrongdoings to Lex Luther. In this move Superman didn’t have to outwit anybody, Loise the reporter did all the work.
There is also the scene where Lois the reporter becomes part of a developing story, leaving the hospital where Superman was unconscious to a flood of paparazzi ala Judith Miller.
Then there is, of course, Clark Kent. The "mild mannered reporter." The
truth is, Superman uses this alter ego to stay in the know — to keep a
close eye on the world. Sometimes I joke that the real reason I want to
be a reporter is because it’s the closest to Superman that I’ll ever
be. Superman is one of the few images that is recognized around the
world (another being Mickey Mouse).
I loved the scenes inside the news room. People (extras) are buzzing about, presumably talking about important things.
There are lots of things to analyze in the Superman movie. The news
aspect is the only one that I am going to devote intellectual time to,
so now lets get to the fun stuff. (Warning — movie spoiler ahead)
1. Why is Superman a perv in this movie? I recall at least 3-4 shots
where Superman was directly starring at Loise Lane’s ass. Full on butt
shots. Then he follows her to her house and uses x-ray vision to spy on
her. WTF?
2. Let me get this straight: Lane’s semi-husband is played by the same
guy who was Cyclops in the X-Men movies. So basically Cyclops is boning
Louise Lane and helping her raise Superman’s baby. The only person who
really knows the truth is Prof. X.
3. Not to geek out on everyone but: How could Superman lift an entire
land mass (around the size of New York state) made of Kryptonite off
the ground and into space. I thought whenever he got near Kryptonite he
started to faint. But he flew the thing off the planet earth and only
fainted.
After a heated discussion me and a friend settled on the following: Lex Luther’s manufactured Kryptonite was not potent.
Yes, I am a geek.
Haven’t seen the movie.
1) There aren’t (m)any cameraphones available in the U.S. that are hi-res enough to produce photos fit for print.
2) It’s Lois, not Louise. Come on.
3) Excellent use of “boning.”
Once again, I thank Oliver for going over my lazy mistakes. The funny thing was, as I was writing it I knew I was spelling Lois wrong, I was just too lazy to look it up.
I think my blog needs more uses of boning in general.
For those not in the know, Oliver works for a photo magazine, so I trust his judgment on the types of camera cell phones out there.