Niagara Falls Scene: Deformed Dream-Deity?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Superman II
abishai_gangulee — 9 years ago(December 19, 2016 10:07 PM)
In the scene at Niagara Falls, a young boy fooling around on the railing slips and starts falling into the raging falling waters and Clark sees it in time to change in to Superman and dive into the pit and grab the boy and fly him back to safety.
This scene illuminates the grandeur and humbling quality of the raging waters of Niagara Falls (not unlike the humbling gorges and pits and dives of the Grand Canyon) and also a human being's sensitive encounter with the scale of nature a scale that requires Superman to save the day!
When I think of Superman saving that boy at Niagara Falls, I think about how we fantasize about heroism in very strange circumstances.
That's one of the reasons
Superman II
is so entertaining it inspires us to think about the contours of 'magical accidents' (whether you're an atheist, Christian, Muslim, or whatever!).
The Niagara Falls scene makes me think about why we would dream about a hero like Superman rescuing us from strange mishaps and/or ominous evil (e.g., General Zod).
Perhaps therefore the Niagara Falls scene reflects a human fascination with 'guardian gods' who are not necessarily good or beautiful but certainly dystopia-preachy (e.g., Medusa, Icarus, etc.) in a colorful way!
In fact, the Christopher Reeve Superman films were far more intelligent and imaginative than the earlier stuff we saw on TV and arguably even some of the later stuff (e.g.,
Smallville
,
Man of Steel
, etc.).
Medusa:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa
Icarus:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus -
mcdemuth — 9 years ago(December 20, 2016 02:40 PM)
Great Caesar's Ghost What are you going on about?
Military Soldiers protect cultures from being annihilated. Police officers protect people from Criminals. Firemen protect people and our property from Fire, and Medical Services heal the sick. We call these people heroes.
Superheroes just take heroes to the extreme by infusing them with special abilities, that allowed them to do more, that normal human beings. That is all.
Sigmund Freud used to say, "sometimes a cigar, is just a cigar."
A boy fell into a Pit, and Superman saved him before he died End Of Story.
Superman II wasn't meant to explain the meaning of life to the world It is just a simple "Popcorn" Flick meant for entertainment purposes. You grab a tub of popcorn, and watch a movie for two hours, and just have fun.
Quit trying to pick everything apart. Not everything is supposed to have some deep meaning or contain hidden messages.