Dear Superman

Dear Zach Snyder, Director and Christopher Nolan, Producer,


Zach, I am going to preface this letter by saying that I have never seen one of your films. I am aware that you have some experience with adapting comic books to the movie screen, and I will admit that this is something I will never attempt to do myself. As an experienced filmmaker, you have been entrusted with the next chapter of the Superman legend and I am sure you will do your best work in bringing Clark Kent and Kal-El to the silver screen in The Man of Steel. Chris, I have seen many of your films, including the excellent adaptations of the Batman stories that you have told. You redefined the depth that a superhero film can bring, and the characters you crafted with your actors are more captivating than most Hollywood can boast of. Now that you understand I hold you both in respect for the positions that you are in, I come to my plea: DON”T SCREW UP SUPERMAN!!!!

I have many friends who say they are bored of the story of Superman. “He’s too perfect. He’s one-dimensional. He’s too powerful.” Many of the arguments I hear against Superman are especially loud in response to the darker, grittier tone that the Dark Knight films achieved, and people want to see Superman receive this treatment. And that frightens me.


Superman is not Batman. Bruce Wayne is a creature of his surroundings, a man with a dark past and a darker future, who uses fear and intimidation to bring his enemies to justice. Although he does not kill, and refuses to use guns, his nature is much darker that that of Clark Kent, mild mannered reporter. Batman allows himself to be painted a villain for the greater good. This could never happen to Superman.


Superman is an icon. He is a beacon of morality and light that stands out from the world he lives in. He is meant to be infallible, a shining example of what we should strive to be. Superman is a being with no obligations. He is not from Earth, he is not subject to our laws of nature, and he literally has the power to do anything he wishes. Yet he chooses to dedicate himself to helping the less fortunate. How many of us would choose to be completely selfless in that situation?


Superman is not, however, a one-sided character. He suffers from the knowledge that he is, for all intents and purposes, immortal. He will outlive everyone he knows, and there is nothing he can do about it. He can spend all of his time saving people, particularly those he cares about, and yet there are many things that even he cannot stop. Disease, age, and the simple fact that he cannot be everywhere at once force him to confront the fact that these mortals he protects will fall and fade and even die no matter how hard he fights for them. And yet he fights on anyway.


That is the Superman story that needs to be told. And I believe it is the Superman story our world needs to hear. Perseverance, in the face of impossible circumstances even though he can, at any point, stop fighting and still remain untouched, is a trait that we need to learn. He chooses to protect us, with no tangible benefit to himself, even though he will ultimately fail. The world he protects can be as dark and gritty as you want, but Superman must not fall. Even if he must die for his cause, he must fight for it with all that he has and never waver, or what he symbolizes will lose all of its power, and he will be nothing more than we are. Unlike Batman, who is still a man, Superman must be more. He must be a symbol for the qualities we all should strive for, not just a costumed powerhouse that cannot be defeated. He must be the dream we hold, and we hope to become by defending those we love. Please keep Superman above us, where he belongs.

How should I celebrate Ramadan?

According to the calendar hanging in my cubicle at work, Friday is the day that Ramadan begins. Also The Dark Knight Rises comes out in theaters, and I jokingly suggested to a friend that we use our Muslim neighbors’* holiday as an excuse to go to a midnight showing. Since he is a little more responsible than me and prefers to be conscious for work on Friday he declined, and after I realized that the showings are already sold out and confessed my plan to my wife I decided (she decided) that I had better things to do.


However, it did get me thinking. I have absolutely no idea what Ramadan is. I remember something on the news when I was in high school about us bombing Iraq during Ramadan, and that it requires fasting for a month. Pretty skimpy information, and the only reason I remember that much is that I thought it was dumb of us to bomb them when they were already punishing themselves by fasting. Starving and I have a poor history of getting along.

So I turned to the greatest source of unbiased and accurate information on other cultures, the Internet! (For those of you without internal sarcasm monitors, if I end a printed sentence with an exclamation point, that’s usually a good indication that sarcasm is creeping around that statement somewhere.) Apparently fasting during Ramadan is meant only during daytime, with two meals being eaten each day, one before dawn and one after dusk. The family also gathers and eats their evening meal together, as the purpose of the holiday is to achieve a closer family relationship.

Now I don’t have any intention of fully celebrating Ramadan, largely because with my limited, Wikipedia enforced understanding I probably wouldn’t do it justice, and also because I do not relish the fact of cutting out a meal everyday, particularly the one that makes my stomach stop rumbling halfway thought my work day. But I do want to understand better and maybe observe one or two parts of the holiday because I’m weird like that. Another friend of mine and I have observed Passover in the past, cooking a traditional dinner (to the best of our very limited abilities) and observing some traditions with the intention of learning more about the holiday. The end result probably looked nothing like a Jewish Passover, but it ended up being a lot of fun, and his family earned a new appreciation for the taste of lamb and horseradish.

I’m not sure what part of Ramadan I will observe, but the little I read indicated there is a celebration at the end of the month that involves food and family and giving thanks. I’m familiar with similar celebrations; since I do gravitate towards any celebration with food, and with a little more research I think I will probably see if my little is interested in a traditional Muslim meal and party. It probably would pass as a real Ramadan celebration for anyone, but I’ll learn something and have fun, which is about all I am striving to achieve in life anyway. Let me know if you are interested in learning a little and having some fun with me.




*to my knowledge, I do not actually have any Muslim neighbors. If you do, they can probably tell you more about what Batman and Ramadan have in common than I can. I’m sure there’s something.