Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,608
edits
Superman (film): Difference between revisions
added new trope
mNo edit summary |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (added new trope) |
||
| (13 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{work|wppage=Superman (1978 film)}}
[[File:superman-movie-poster.jpg|frame]]
Line 6:
Produced (concurrently with its first sequel) in the late 1970s and released in 1978, ''Superman'' almost wasn't even made, since the studio feared it would be two hours of campiness in the vein of the 1960s [[Batman]] [[Batman (TV series)|TV series]]. Once a screenplay written by Mario Puzo (''[[The Godfather]]'') was approved, Richard Donner was hired to direct and history was made.
''Superman'' had a star-studded cast -- ''except'' for the two main characters. Casting the titular hero was a real hunt, but the studio hit the jackpot with [[Christopher Reeve]], who is likely the best actor ever to play the role. (Watch the scene where he transitions between the character's identities on camera in Lois' apartment if you need convincing.)
''Superman'' established a standard superhero film format: Origin of Hero, then Introduction of [[Arch Enemy]] (and other important characters), then First Conflict. The film starts on Krypton, with brilliant scientist Jor-El ([[Marlon Brando]]) sentencing [[Chekhov's Gunman|a trio of treasonous villains]] to spend eternity in [[Sealed Evil in a Can|The Phantom Zone]]. Following this scene, the film follows Superman's origins -- Krypton's explosion, baby Kal-El's trip through space, getting his adoptive name of Clark Kent, and the first appearance of Superman -- before he becomes a mild-mannered reporter for the ''Daily Planet'' as Clark, rescues Lois Lane ([[Margot Kidder]]) and others as Superman, and finally has to stop a plot by the self-proclaimed "greatest criminal mind of our time", Lex Luthor ([[Gene Hackman]]), to destroy the West Coast.
The film was followed by 1980's ''[[Superman II]]'', 1983's ''[[Superman III]]'', and 1987's ''[[Superman IV]]'', as well as the related (and unsuccessful) 1984 spinoff ''[[Supergirl (film)|Supergirl]]''. The last two films did poorly with critics and the box office, which caused a planned fifth film to sit in [[Development Hell]] for nearly two decades. Writers and directors such as [[Tim Burton]] and [[Kevin Smith]] attempted to reboot the franchise with their own unique takes, but had no success in convincing Warner Bros. to greenlight the project. In 2006, the fabled fifth film was finally released: ''[[Superman Returns]]'', both a sequel and a [[Spiritual Successor]] to the first two films, was released. 2013 saw a reboot of the film franchise, titled ''[[Man of Steel]]''.
----▼
The original movie was named to the [[National Film Registry]] in 2017.
▲----
{{tropelist}}
* [[Adaptation Distillation]]
* [[Aliens of London]]: Kryptonian characters have a refined English accent with a veneer of antiquity, which seems to be the equivalent of the Kryptonian tongue for the viewer's convenience.
* [[All Men Are Perverts]]: Although it ''is'' in response to a direct challenge from Lois to identify the color of her underwear in the first movie, to prove he has X-ray vision.
** Arguably subverted, in that he was visibly embarrassed by Lois's challenge. Lois clearly believes [[All Men Are Perverts]], and Superman's genuinely pure-as-the-driven-snow character isn't something she remotely knows how to deal with.
* [[All There in the Manual]]: Although it is never made entirely clear in the film, the reason Zod rebelled was established in the DC continuity as being because of Jor-El's prediction that Krypton was doomed. Jor-El could not tolerate Zod's methods, and so foiled his plans. The reason the
* [[Ambiguously Jewish]]: Miss Tessmacher.
* [[Artistic License Physics]]: To this day, you can send scientifically knowledgeable folks into a boiling rage by mentioning the "spin the Earth backwards to reverse time" ending of the first film.
** Or the
*** More believably, it's an illusion: the Earth ''appears'' to turn backwards because we are watching Superman's travel into the past from ''his'' frame of reference. Sadly, this doesn't explain why he had to do a couple orbits in the other direction to get the Earth turning correctly again.
* [[Audible Gleam]]: Jor-El's crystal during General Zod's sentencing hearing. Also, the crystal Clark found in his old spaceship at the Kent farm and took to the North Pole to build the Fortress of Solitude.
* [[Bald of Evil]]: [[Played for
* [[Bat Deduction]]: [[Lex Luthor]] not only correctly deduces that pieces of Krypton came to Earth, but that they would be harmful to Superman, with no explanation given.
* [[Bus Full of Innocents]]
* [[California Collapse]]: Caused by Luthor's plan to hit the fault line with a nuke. Luckily Supes can lift up the whole state.
* [[Can Not Tell a Lie]]: Miss Tessmacher's sole reason for freeing Superman is that if he promises he'll save Hackensack, NJ first (saving her mother in the process), she knows he'll keep it.▼
* [[Clark Kenting]]: Christopher Reeve made Superman's switch between identities incredibly convincing and less dependent on [[MST3K Mantra]] than in the comics. It's especially apparent during the scene where he nearly reveals himself to Lois in her apartment, and shows the audience what Superman would look like in Clark Kent's suit.
* [[Comes Great Responsibility]]: Jor-El teaches this trope to Superman.
** Pa Kent, too: "Been showing off a bit, haven't you, son?" He follows it with a lecture that Clark is "[[Comes Great Responsibility|here for a reason]]." And then suffers a fatal heart attack.
*** Played beautifully by [[Glenn Ford]]. Yes, ''[[The Blackboard Jungle|that Glenn Ford]]''.
* [[Cool Old Guy]]: Perry White, the editor of ''Daily Planet''.
* [[Crystal Prison]]: The Phantom Zone.
Line 49:
* [[Fight Off the Kryptonite]]
* [[Flight of Romance]]: Every single movie.
* [[Heroic Dimples]]: Ironically lampshades the dimples the eponymous character had in the comics (albeit [[Depending on the Artist]]). When Lex Luthor's assistant/henchwoman Miss Teschmacher describes their enemy by pointing them out and calling him cute, it seems to convince Luthor to begin Superman's torture.
* [[High Heel Face Turn]]: Miss Teschmacher.
* [[Hot Reporter]]: Lois Lane.
* [[Human Aliens]]: [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by Jor-El when he talks about sending his son to Earth:
{{quote|
* [[Ignored Expert]]: Jor-El
* [[I Let Gwen Stacy Die]]: During the earthquake that threatens to destroy the state of California, Superman races against time to seal the fault before catastrophic damage is unleashed. While successful, several aftershocks occur, and as Superman is busy saving others from being killed (e.g., saving a school bus from careening over the railings of a crumbling Golden Gate Bridge), Lois Lane is caught in one of the aftershocks while driving on a little-used road. The car -- which stalls after running out of gas -- begins to fall into a large crack, and the car is caught in an avalanche of debris and dirt before Lois can escape; she is eventually suffocated. Superman eventually finds Lois' car, finds her dead and screams in [[Wangst]].
Line 61 ⟶ 62:
* [[Kryptonite Factor]]: Also the [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Large Ham]]: Lex Luthor.
* [[Laser-Guided Karma]]: As with the comics, the karma gods are not mocked by the council [[I Reject Your Reality|deliberately ignoring]] Jor-El's warnings and as punishment, they end up dying along with the majority of Krypton.
* [[Line-of-Sight Name]]:
{{quote|
* [[Load-Bearing Hero]]: Superman bench-presses the ''entire San Andreas Fault Zone''.
* [[Look Ma, No Plane]]: Superman saves Air Force One by doing this to it.
* [[Loves My Alter Ego]]: The Lois Lane/Superman or Clark Kent dynamic is one of the best known examples of this.
* [[Magic A Is Magic A]]: [[Richard Donner]], the director, used the word "verisimilitude" as the production motto in scripting and crafting the film. They devoted a lot of their effort to figuring out how to have things make sense within the ludicrous framework of the premise and plot. Why doesn't Superman solve all the world's problems? Jor-El's dialogue explains (piecemeal) that there is an intergalactic rule that Superman is bound to not to interfere in the course of another planet's history, this rule having been put into place as the result of the early history of "the 28 known galaxies" being rife with warfare due to interference (presumably resulting in stringent vigilance for that sort of thing now, creating the potential for the intergalactic equivalent of an international incident). He is already bending the rules just being Superman in the first place. If the name "Superman" was invented by the media, why is there an S-logo on the outfit? The fancy traditional attire of Kryptonians included family crests in a chest insignia, and the symbol on the seal of Jor-El's clan coincidentally happens to look somewhat like an S. And so on.
** That last issue, that the S logo was the seal of the House of El, was apparently Marlon Brando's idea. Donner liked the idea and went with it.
*** It went over so well that it was re-used in other adaptations (''[[Lois and Clark]]'' and the late-80s ''Superboy'' series), in ''[[Smallville]]'', and later as a retcon in the comics, it was established to be a modification of a letter of the Kryptonian alphabet, coincidentally (?) the first letter of the Kryptonian word for "Hope".
* [[The Man With No Name]]: It seems Supes was going to go nameless, til Lois names him "Superman", which he bemusedly endorses.
* [[Master Actor]]: Clark Kent. On top of making audiences believe a man could fly, Christopher Reeve proved that a [[He Really Can Act|really good actor]] can make you believe that [[Clark Kenting]] could actually work.
Line 87 ⟶ 89:
* [[Ret Canon]]: The first movie established Smallville as being in Kansas and that the Superman crest was a Kryptonian family symbol, both of which were eventually adopted into the comics.
* [[Rouge Angles of Satin]]: Despite being an accomplished reporter, Lois is ''terrible'' at spelling.
{{quote|''Lois, "rapist" has only one "P"!''}}
* [[Rule of Sean Connery|Rule Of Marlon Brando]]: His presence in the original ''Superman'' movie, the Richard Donner cut of the sequel and
* [[Rule of Symbolism]]: Lots of [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory|Christ symbolism]]:
{{quote|
* [[Saved for the Sequel]]: At the beginning of the movie, General Zod is roaring to Jor-El, "[[Kneel Before Zod|You will bow down before me, Jor-El! Both you and, one day, your heirs!]]" However, he is then cast into the [[Phantom Zone]] and we have to wait for the next film to see him carry out that threat.
* [[Spandex, Latex, or Leather]]
* [[Tagline]]: As seen in the page image, "You will believe a man can fly."
* [[This Is Reality]]: [[Invoked Trope]] with Jor-El's first words in the movie. He is actually speaking about the clues that prove Zod and his henchmen guilty of sedition, but the phrase can be easily interpreted as [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|talking to the audience]]:
{{quote|
* [[Time Travel]]: Near the end of the film, Superman flies around the world backwards so fast -- presumably, [[FTL Travel|faster than light]] -- that time runs backwards, allowing him to
* [[Took a Shortcut]]: It is made clear by Jor-El's narration that Superman's journey to Earth took thousands of years but he only aged a few years due to the effects of relativity.
* [[Un Confession]]: Clark Kent starts to tell Lois Lane that he's Superman, but loses his nerve at the last minute.
Line 101 ⟶ 105:
* [[Weaksauce Weakness]]: Of course people will argue the [[Kryptonite Factor]], but at least it's [[Unobtainium|supposed to be rare]].
* [[Whooshing Credits]]: The [[Trope Maker]]. Reportedly the credits for the first movie alone cost $1 million, more than a lot of movies of the time.
▲* [[
{{reflist}}
{{AFI's 100 Years 100 Heroes and Villains}}
[[Category:Roger Ebert Great Movies List]]▼
[[Category:Superman]]▼
[[Category:Epic Movie]]
[[Category:Films of the 1970s]]
▲[[Category:Hugo Award]]
▲[[Category:Superman]]
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:Films With Recuts]]
[[Category:Hugo Award]]
[[Category:National Film Registry]]
▲[[Category:Roger Ebert Great Movies List]]
| |||