By Jessilyn Lancaster
Before SUPERMAN returns to the big screen this weekend, conservative commentators questioned if the plot potentially furthers a progressive agenda. But is that actually the case?
“How woke is Hollywood going to make this character?” former Superman Dean Cain asked. “Why are they going to change these characters [to] exist for the times?”
Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro released a video titled: “Superman is Going WOKE – You Know What That Means…”
To be fair, many of these comments feel justified given that SUPERMAN Director James Gunn said, “I mean, Superman is the story of America. An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country, but for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost.”
Gunn clarrifies, though, “On another level it’s about morality. Do you never kill no matter what — which is what Superman believes — or do you have some balance, as Lois believes? It’s really about their relationship and the way different opinions on basic moral beliefs can tear two people apart.”
Movieguide®’s thorough analysis found that feathers may be ruffled on both sides of the aisle.
“Ironically, the scenes with Superman’s father contradict the movie’s politically correct pro-immigration theme, which has been touted by Gunn and his movie’s star, David Corenswet, who plays Superman, in recent press interviews,” according to the Movieguide® review. “Their comments have generated some public controversy. Many liberals and radicals in Hollywood have virulently opposed the efforts of politicians like President Donald Trump to control illegal immigrants. ”
The review continues: “In the movie, however, a twist reveals that Superman’s parents had some ulterior, negative motives for sending their son to Earth. Not only that, but it turns out that Superman’s positive values and compassionate instincts to help other people come not from his biological parents from a foreign planet but actually come from the American parents who adopted him! Thus, the movie actually reveals there are good reasons for people to be concerned about the impact that immigrants can have on their homeland. It also reveals that the American heartland has a culture that fosters good values in the people who live there and in the children who are raised there.”
Related: James Gunn Changes SUPERMAN: LEGACY Title on First Day of Filming
Despite what SUPERMAN’s crew may say the movie promotes, the message that shines through is one that celebrates a “Strong moral pro-life worldview with a light redemptive tone promotes doing the right thing, compassion, justice, fighting and overcoming tyrannical evil, setting the captives free, and protecting and saving lives.”
While the message is diluted by “occasional but undeveloped Romantic notions about people being inherently good and by some politically correct and misguided and disingenuous if not deceitful arguments supporting immigration that are meant to send a message against any mass deportations of illegal immigrants, these arguments are contradicted by the fact that the movie also clearly shows that it’s the hero’s American, non-immigrant adoptive parents who are responsible for making the hero such a good, upstanding young man who’s always trying to do the right, compassionate and just thing.”
After all, isn’t Superman himself here to support truth, justice and the American Way?
Read Next: Christopher Reeve’s Son Cameos in New SUPERMAN Movie
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