Steve Horton: We could all use Superman's ‘poptimism' of hope

Chicago Tribune

3 days ago

The world is a pretty bleak place at the moment.
Around the globe, it doesn't seem much better. Amid all of this turmoil, with humanity seemingly at one of its lowest points, we could really use a Superman in our lives. In fact, we've never yearned for such a person to be real as much as we do now.
Instead, we got the next best thing: James Gunn's 'Superman,' a bastion of hope on the silver screen, about the best example of what analysts call 'poptimism' that we're ever likely to find: optimism in pop culture in the face of doom all around us. See him stop wars! See him rescue kids and squirrels! See him take down a bald technocrat billionaire! (Whose look predates a couple of egg-shaped billionaires we're contending with now.)
And soon after, we've got Superman times four, with 'The Fantastic Four: First Steps,' featuring Marvel's beloved First Family. This one's an equally optimistic throwback story with the fabulous foursome up against Galactus, the devourer of worlds, who could be seen in this day and age as a metaphor for climate change.
In the recent past, superheroes on the big and small screen have tended to be quite dark and cynical, perhaps as a contrary response to the 'hope and change' Barack Obama era. 'The Boys' and 'Invincible' are deliberately satirical and bloody. The 'Spider-Verse' movies are on a yearslong cliffhanger with the hero captured by his dark alternate self. Even Superman was not immune: 'Man of Steel' featured a dark blue suit and a neck-snapping climax.
It seems that as the world makes a running dash down a Slip 'N Slide toward fascism, much of our pop culture, from music and television to streaming and big-screen movies, is going hard toward bright and sunny, to shine a little light in the darkness, provide a much-needed escape and show all of us how things could be, if only we tried a little harder. Even shows such as 'Ted Lasso' deal with the concept of toxic positivity or going too far toward being positive that you fail to deal with real problems.
In the yawning void that is the absence of Superman in our own world, and in between forays into fiction where he exists, it behooves us to act more like Superman in our own little corners of the world. What would the Fantastic Four or Superman do? Superman's three pillars these days (revised in the comics after it seemed a bit jingoistic to have him care at all about the American Way, whatever that is):
Seeing an uplifting film about an immigrant refugee who gets the job done or a fantastic foursome that watches over humanity makes us look for bright spots elsewhere in our current worldview. For example, the undeniable rizz of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. It inspires us to try to look for silver linings wherever we can, no matter how tiny.
In the absence of much leadership from the resistance side of things against creeping authoritarianism, or many real-life role models or leaders who are interested in anything other than holding on to their own jobs, pop culture like 'Superman' shows us the way.