Man of Steel (2013)

Zack Synder

Figure 1. Film Poster

Cast

Henry Cavil … Clark Kent/Kal-El

Amy Adams … Loise Lane

Michael Shannon … General Zod

Diane Lane … Marther Kent

Russell Crowe … Jor-El

Kevin Costner … Jonathan Kent

Man of Steel is the Journey of Kal-El on his road to becoming a Hero and the savior of Humanity, directed by Zack Synder; Man of Steel

is a visual masterpiece, it creates atmosphere and sells a convincing alien planet to the viewer “Nolan utilizes the same technique he

used in Batman Begins, grounding everything the character does in a semblance of believable reality” (Gilchrist, 2013), this could be

seen as a negative, because though they go a long way to make the film as real as possible, they lose, the fun and outlandishness for

Superman, with that said the film still shows off beautiful scenes with a lot of atmosphere.

Superman archetypically has all the qualities of a Hero, he’s powerful and stern, to a point where he’s become an archetype which

other Superheroes follow, he’s presented as a person who’ll advocate for the Human race, and this very fact may be Superman’s main

floor as he’s considered to be too perfect and too clean, the audience is presented with someone whose gifts surpasses any average

Earthling, faster than a speeding bullet, and more powerful than a locomotive, one has to question why someone of such God like gifts

would stay on an Alien planet and live like a civilian instead of ruling it as it’s dictator; all the answers are on his Hero’s Journey, and

how he’d being raised.

Man of Steel is the typical Hero’s Journey film; the story starts from the characters birth and continues to the evolution and growth a

Hero. The Hero’s Journey or the Monomyth is a basic story pattern found in many narratives, first introduced in Joseph Campbell’s

“The Hero with a Thousand Faces”, the Journey begins with a call to Adventure and ends with a the Hero returning back his home. In

terms of Man of Steel the Journey begins quite late on in the film, as his call to Adventure comes when Zod threatens earth, and his

return back home was his decision to live amongst Humans as Clark Kent.

Figure 2. Superman's Call to Adventure

Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey starts with a Call to Adventure which specifically need the Hero’s impute, the Hero later gets aid

and has to get past his guardians/parents to continue, on his journey he encounters a threshold which would be himself and he would

have to go through a personal transformation at this point, after his the Journey to Death and rebirth begins and on the way he would

get help from people and gain a mentor(s), after the death and rebirth, they’ll be another transformation in character and he would

have to pay atonement, and this would be last leg of the Journey before the hero returns back home.

Apply the Monomyth to the Man of Steel film and it’s almost identical, Superman’s called to adventure when Zod calls him out and in

the process threatens the Human race with imminent destruction, he gets aid after he discovers his biological father and the fortress

of solitude, his earthly Mother was his first threshold as he was worried for her safety and felt the need to protect her, his second

threshold was himself; he had to face his destiny and at this point he’d just found out his birth name is Kal-El, growing up as Clark Kent

the farm boy, it was big transformation to come to terms with the fact that his name was actually Kal-El and he was an alien, Lois Lane

is his helper and his father (Jor-El) plays the role of the Mentor, The big death and rebirth comes from the epic battle between Zod and

Superman, at this point he’s known as Superman and is this symbol of hope to the earthlings, this was an important part of the

characters journey, but it’s seems that not everyone feels the same as Anthony Quinn from the Independent says “The film loses itself

in the last 45 minutes, with fist-fights between Superman and his foes” (Quinn, 2013) he describes it as the point where the film loses

itself, but when put up again the Monomyth this now becomes an important part of the story. At this point in his Journey Clark’s gone

from being Clark Kent, to Kal-El and now to be recognized as Superman, at the end of the battle Superman kills Zod, this can also be

recognized as another transformation in character as this marks his first intentional kill. His atonement could be the closure he had

with his father at his grave, and his return is his decision to go back and live as Clark Kent on Earth.

Figure 3. Superman's helper

List of Illustrations

Figure 1: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/12/03/heres-the-new-man-of-steel-poster

Figure 2: http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/10/4412958/man-of-steel-review

Figure 3: http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/10/4412958/man-of-steel-review

Bibliography

Gilchrist, T. (2013) Nolan utilizes the same technique he used in Batman Begins, grounding everything the character does in a

semblance of believable reality. In: theverge.com (online) http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/10/4412958/man-of-steel-review

(Accessed on 08/10/2013)

Quinn, A. (2013) the film loses itself in the last 45 minutes, with fist-fights between Superman and his foes. In: Independent (online)

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/man-of-steel-review-henry-cavill-plays-superman-with-a-

squarejawed-introspection-8655024.html (Accessed on 08/10/2013)