Sunday, June 9, 2013
Myopic heat vision? The glasses disguise of Superman
With Man of Steel set to fly into theaters this week and the promise of the most "realistic" Superman film to date, there is something that I'm looking forward to Synder, Goyer, and Nolan and addressing: the glasses disguise.
Superman has been disguised as bespectacled Clark Kent since the comic book hit shelves in 1938. People have always just accepted it as a matter of course that Superman is disguised merely by glasses. I for one have never bought it. Are we seriously expected to believe that someone wouldn't see through the disguise of mere glasses? When you think about it, it's a little bit of an insult to the audience's collective intelligence.
Now I know that the Clark Kent disguise is more than just the glasses. He's bumbling, he's unsure of himself, clumsy, bookish, shy--pretty much the complete opposite of Superman. The idea that Clark Kent could be Superman therefore becomes ridiculous.
Enter the 21st century. With facial recognition software, Facebook, cell phones, YouTube, and of course the recent NSA reveal, everything we do is captured and collated. It is virtually impossible to hide who you are any more. Somehow, someway, somewhere "they" will find you. Because we live in the world of 2013, it makes the conundrum of the glasses in Man of Steel all that more intriguing because you can't simply gloss over Superman's disguise with glasses. And if this is going to be a Superman movie set in the real world, the glasses topic has to be addressed.
Now I know this is just speculation but I have a theory on how the glasses will play a role: Kryptonian technology. It's that easy. Keep the glasses. They are an iconic part of the Superman/Clark Kent mythology. However, I speculate that Kryptonian technology will somehow make it so that when Superman puts on the glasses, it will prevent people from seeing him as Superman. Perhaps it will manipulate brainwaves or something along those lines. Who knows? Or maybe they won't address it at all because from the previews, I can't recall one time where we see Henry Cavill dressed like the traditional Clark Kent.
One way or another I'll find out on the evening of June 13th.
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