Zack Snyder sort of doesn’t get SYMBOLISM; Thinks ‘Man of Steel’ destruction “enhances the myth.”
Zack Snyder continues to amaze me. It really blows my mind how he continues to blow my fucking mind. Frat Boy Rock has come out to discuss the endless destruction in Man of Steel and spends most of the time puking all over himself with terms he wields clumsily. (I’m an idiot too, don’t think I’m feeling superior.)
Snyder said the following to the Japan Times:
I wanted the movie to have a mythological feeling. In ancient mythology, mass deaths are used to symbolize disasters. In other countries like Greece and Japan, myths were recounted through the generations, partly to answer unanswerable questions about death and violence. In America, we don’t have that legacy of ancient mythology. Superman is probably the closest we get. It’s a way of recounting the myth.
Two things.
First: mass deaths are disasters. They’re not symbolic of disasters. Good lord. Now this is probably just a raging brain fart from your moronic dome, because I know that you know symbolism. How? ‘Cause there are roughly 9,000 instances in Man of Steel where you use heavy handed symbolism to drill into our minds the fact that Kal is a Christ figure.
Second, what exactly is the myth of Superman? I always understood him as a savior. You know, someone sent to us from Krypton-Heaven to unfuck our shit in our darkest hours. Daring us to strive for better. I’m not exactly feeling that sense of mythos in your movie, Snyder. The endless destruction, the gray-palette bullshit everywhere. It’s not inspiring. It’s not hope. It’s decadent ruin porn.
And what “questions” could that fight scene answer? What unanswerable questions could this new dumb myth serve?
“Oh Mom, why is Metropolis a ruin? A steaming pile of corpses, fires, and destroyed buildings?”
“…because Superman.”
Oh.
I didn’t know that was the Super-Myth. Some dick head slugging it out with some other asshole from his planet while hundreds of zillions of people die in 9/11 imagery. He saves one lady (Lois Lane) because he loves her or something (that thread is never developed) and then ends the movie by trashing a satellite. Cool. This is the guy handling The Dark Knight Returns homage, folks.