Man of Steel answers insight commentary episode 30 tornado part one I will ask the obvious question start asking questions and answers welcome to Man of Steel answers insight commentary on your Man of Steel apologist Dr. awkward I cover a mosaic of topics for fans who love Man of Steel and the DC cinematic universe together will endeavor to answer the questions criticisms and controversies raised by Man of Steel like the infamous tornado scene this episode it's the conversation in the car what safe means and how the past primes the present this podcast dives deep into Man of Steel to answer the critics and the confused the show is not meant to convert anybody meaning it's not my mission to convince you or to ignore the subjectivity of taste but the celebrate a film that will lead us into the DC cinematic universe reasonable minds will differ which means you may reach your own valid conclusions especially on subjective matters like moral dilemmas but this is a show intended for open-minded fans who love Man of Steel and who love to chew their food we finally come to the notorious tornado scene if the controversy oh and highly criticized scene apart from dietetic considerations as to whether the scene has internal logic and makes sense there are creative criticisms about the intentions themes efficacy and execution of the scene with so much controversy over just three minutes of film I'm not planning on tackling every conceivable criticism instead will explore the underlying assumptions of the critics and the intentions of the scene that said I know that this is a tough scene even for some of the most stalwart Man of Steel fans and DCC you optimists nonetheless we can address some of the underlying assumptions relied upon by the critics and discuss the creative intentions of the filmmakers I just briefly and temporarily expanded the intro to this episode because reasonable minds will differ especially in the realm of moral dilemmas and subjective taste and I'm not attempting to convince anybody that there is an objectively correct choice in the moral dilemma anymore than I intend to convince you that your taste is wrong with it mine is right however what I do like to do is to try to provide a little insight commentary and maybe some answers which will fill out and explain the scene more so that we can understand the choices and the intentions without necessarily having to agree with them if we keep an open mind user compassion and empathy I think the scene isn't too hard to understand similar to working out all the nuances of kryptonian powers the scene actually works better if taken at face value and the problems arise mostly from people introducing their own interpretations to the scene the hygienically just taken at face value of the scene is quite simple and it works Clark expresses his frustration to his parents but the conversation was interrupted by an emergency decisions are made under duress and Jonathan doesn't want Clark to save him if it means that he must reveal himself to the world Clark reluctantly honors Jonathan's request at the expense of his father and whether Clark agrees or disagrees revealing his secret has to be weighed against Jonathan's conviction and sacrifice which gives Lois caused to ask the story for now that's what you get from the scene that understanding is all you need for it to work in the film it only gets problematic when you try to fight those basic precepts when people start to challenge the decision-making is not carefully thought out or they don't believe the Jonathan's fears have any justification or the assume powers and abilities that Clark hasn't even demonstrated yet the scenes logic suffers but it's almost entirely based on unfounded assumptions imported expectations and unspoken presumptions not established in the film at this point said to give you a roadmap of how it in a tackle this I think we can use a past present future framework starting with the past within a break down the dialogue in the station wagon and see how it informs the situation in the choices will look into the four years from the bus rescue to the tornado scene to find insight into their mindsets and lives up to that point then will analyze the present situation and really break down some of the facts and the assumptions people have about the situation how do people make decisions during emergencies with a dog stay in the car what's the rational decision in that situation even if you had all the time in the world to make a choice was Jonathan suicidal how is this scene different from the bus rescue in preserving Clark's secret will tackle those kinds of questions present in the scene finally will look into the future and how this scene and situation informed Clark's life until he found Jor-El how did it affect his character and his approach to heroism from ages 17 to 33 with a die Jette interpretation of what's going on for during after and around that scene within the film then we can take a step back and look at the creative choices made outside the film why did the filmmakers put Clark into the situation in the first place why did Jonathan save a dog instead of the kid why did they make a seminal moment about Clark not saving somebody close to him something that's so hard and difficult the sympathize with when they're trying to make Clark relatable why did they insert a tragedy into a traditionally well-adjusted character what were they trying to accomplish and why is this scene arguably better than Jonathan dying of a heart attack and what does Clark learn I'm not sure how far into my notes were going to get this week but I think that's a reasonable plan and perhaps will dual mailbag or follow-up episode to tackle any remaining burning questions the listeners may have but let's just get into it while I don't think there's necessarily clear-cut answers to moral dilemmas before to have any hope of evaluating the situation fairly and with justice we need as much context as possible if you don't have the full picture of the facts or understand the mindset of the characters is going to be difficult to even attempt to fairly judge the predicament what the choices are in the reasons behind those choices whether you agree with them or not if somebody cuts you off while you're driving or knocks you over it's easy to feel justified in getting upset but if you learn that the driver was rushing somebody to the hospital or that the person knocked you over to save your life your attitude would change from anger to empathy your gratitude so we need to get our facts straight and get the context of the scene who knows what when and part of that is parsing the past to understand what's been going on in their lives up to this point and how it informs this moment the filmmakers understand that because the dialogue in the station wagon is a time machine that takes us back five generations through all of Clark's childhood in the past four years since the bus rescue these seven exchanges are densely packed with meaning intention and purpose in my life I have 55 generations your you know I listen to you to doing the best we can only as a vested there's a lot going on here but let's take it piece by piece I'm tired of six Clark is clearly expressing frustration which shows that he's in a negative mindset but it shows that he can communicate and be honest with his parents even at his worst that's a weird way to look at a tantrum but a lot of teenagers don't feel like it's safe to express negative emotions to their parents it's not something that we should take for granted the way that Clark is taking safety for granted Clark is upset with an abundance of something that others dream of having people who are impoverished sick hungry abused framed and insecure who live in areas ravaged by disease poverty crime and more they long for safe safe is a very good thing safe means being healthy having a roof over your head warm clothes and regular meals and knowing it will all be there for you tomorrow even if the Kents got nothing else write the Kents gave Clark a mostly peaceful childhood home a family a community and education a set of values the knowledge that they were going to be there for him and would protect him a sense of security and as much of a normal life as such a special child could have under that lens it's easy to turn on Clark and to consider him spoiled but he isn't he's just human the broad concept of Maslow's hierarchy of needs applies that the psychological theory about the motivations that govern behavior under different environments and developmental stages of one's physiological needs aren't being met air water food protection from the elements those needs will predominate and motivate over say artistic ambition if your needs are relatively satisfied safety then takes precedence and dominates behavior the hierarchy continues with love and belonging than esteem self actualization and finally transcendence basically the fact that the Kents were such good parents able to provide safety love and belonging meant the Clark had the luxury of an identity crisis wanting a sense of contribution or value and that's a completely normal part of teenage development and exactly what Clark says I just want to do something useful with my life however before we get there I just one highlight and heavily underlined the point of what safe means it's important to explore this because it addresses to criticisms surrounding the tornado scene first whether Jonathan could assume that Clark would be invulnerable in the face of the tornado and second whether Jonathan was justified in his fears if Clark secret was to be exposed looking at the implications of safe will reveal the faulty assumptions on which these criticisms are based well to be tired of it to have your fill means that's what he had so if you want to know what Clark's life was like during the four years after he nearly blew his secret until he became a nearly full-grown man all you have to do is ask yourself one question is that safe in my mind that means Clark basically didn't use his powers for the next four years he didn't explore his limits he didn't overtly explore his origins and he was in a holding pattern for the next 1500 days of his life as he went through puberty finished high school dated Lana and grew up now at 17 he's on the verge of becoming an independent adult unfortunately this is extremely counterintuitive to a lot of viewers were used to a more reckless superhero narrative they expect Clark to show off to have wacky small bill adventures to test his limits and learn that he's bulletproof faster than a locomotive and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound but that's not the story that were told and it goes back to our one question is that safe this theory and approach is supported in the film by the dialogue during the great school scene where we hear whispers that Clark is an allowed to play with others when Clark is still learning to control his powers even if normal kids get to play with one another is that safe this wasn't some arbitrary cruelty forced onto Clark this was the rationale behind how the Kents would parent and protect Clark this theory makes it unlikely that Clark knew or would meaningfully test his limits and that's consistent with Clark not learning to fly in till meeting Jor-El and Jor-El having to encourage Cal into testing his limits that would be an unnecessary exhortation to Clark had already been doing so throughout his life people who make the assumption the Clark had a full understanding of his vulnerabilities when confronting the tornado are making a profoundly unrealistic assumption the film goes out of its way to show the Clark doesn't know his vulnerabilities repeatedly Clark had never been stung by kryptonian Sentry robot before Clark doesn't know what the black zero's atmosphere is doing to him Clark had never fought a kryptonian before Clark had never been shot by an A-10 warthog or a kryptonian dropship before he had never been through a gas station blast he doesn't know how much or whether the world engine will affect him Clark and never struggled with liquid Geo before he had never faced a gravity beam before Clark had never fought against the pole of the singularity before in other words it's empirically proven the Clark has been confronted by situations that reveal either his weaknesses or his limits meaning that he didn't or couldn't have known them before the situation in Batman be Superman we know that there's at least one more similar factor that it's going to be entered into the mix in the form of kryptonite now since most of these are kryptonian the audience readily into it's the unknowable nature of the risk of course Clark couldn't know about the kryptonian atmosphere with a century robots the dropship guns and so on before he encountered them and so the jeopardy of the unknown was very real however for whatever reason they don't realize how alien extreme and unknowable it is to predict your invulnerability to military grade weaponry or the forces of nature like a tornado the completely sympathize and except Clark crumbling under a kryptonian atmosphere then turn around and condemn Clark for not assuming his invulnerability in the face of a tornado packing the punch of 10 tons of TNT there's just no reasonable safe or logical way to generalize barnyard experiments into the global assumption of absolute invulnerability on that scale when you're powers defy the known laws of physics to begin with and you're starting with the resources tools and education of a farmer Jonathan feared the government and the military and he wouldn't have the capability or the willingness to learn whether Clark was invulnerable to bullets bombs tanks chemical weapons and more it's easy to have hindsight bias and assume that every experiment will work out because we know Clark's invulnerable so of course from our biased perspective that something that you would want to know and the sooner the better however they don't know the Clark is bulletproof and such experimentation runs afoul our baseline test is it safe no of course not and so much more modest expectations of durability are completely reasonable think about it in some traditional stories Superman could just be harmed by a bursting artillery shell well within military capability speaking of the Superman tradition in Superman confidential number two in the storyline Superman kryptonite by Darwyn Cooke best known for the award-winning DC the new frontier he reminded readers that Superman doesn't and can't know all of his limits by relating a gripping story of a seasoned Superman tackling a volcano for the first time I read some excerpts I had another vein of love and all hell broke loose I'm scared now it is in the heat I can't find a wall or surface all I see is orange light there is no air I'm suffocating I pulled the flaming liquid down into my lungs madness and like I'm drowning in a sea of fire later Clark relates the trauma to his parents and Martha comforts her son go headgear it's okay I was trapped down there I got scared the more I fought the more I panic I knew the lava wouldn't hurt my skin but my lungs I couldn't believe I was scared and I thought will you know this was it I'd run out of air and my body involuntarily tried to pull in oxygen I felt my head in my throat my lungs bill with lava I guess I just kind of lost it was out of my mind with beer and then later Jonathan says to the newspapers and the TV you're just the mighty Superman nothing can harm him he bends deal with his bare hands they play it like you're indestructible but tonight he hit me how do we know your mother and I always just assumed that you can take anything that this world can dish out but what if you can't what if one day you find something that really can hurt you maybe even kill you based on the title of the story Superman kryptonite it should come as no surprise what that thing is the story illustrates something so easy for audiences and critics to take for granted even if it's unlikely that cautious and caring parents would make those assumptions in the real world of course were kind of skirting around the larger question of safe say from what well honestly we don't concretely know in fine detail in the creative reason for this is because most of the fears would be speculative and generally people don't live there day-to-day lives speaking aloud their fears which exist in the realm of speculation to their children however we do know a lot in broad strokes we know that both Jonathan and Martha were afraid of Clark being taken away Jonathan expected the government to show up at their doorstep and Martha expressly says she's afraid that Clark's people will take him away from her into justifiable fear when the only basis for their adoption is their desire to have him the government with the kryptonian's could arguably lay more justifiable claim on their adopted son we know that Clark believes that Jonathan thought the world would reject him out of fear and there's a certain amount of support for this throughout the film since Jonathan points out the fear of Pete's mom and Perry supports Lois and not going forward with the story Zide debuts to the world in a manner that's like a horror film and then Perry talks about the panic in response to sod however Clark is far from infallible and actually misinterprets his parents intention more than once certainly in the argument in the station wagon but also with Martha believing that she was worried about his secret getting out before she corrects him but that's another episode the point is that Clark may not have completely understood Jonathan's intentions 100% correctly and perhaps keep his own spin on it in the ensuing years again that's another episode but the point is that Clark's interpretation isn't the gospel truth is very much an unreliable narrator in that sense which comes up later in this conversation but I've completely gone off track we were talking about the dangers of the Kents for saw aside from their loss of Clark and being subject to persecution Jonathan specifically cites how the world will be dramatically changed and with it he suggesting significant upheaval personhood under the law might change religious tenants might be challenged scientific theories and understandings of the universe would be unraveled on a much more practical level clearly they were afraid of Clark exposing his secret or harming people with his powers whether accidentally harming his teacher with heat vision or being a hair's breadth away from using his strength against bullies so much so that Clark wasn't allowed to play with anyone and based on those broad fears and concerns we can speculate on a few of their concerns is a bit esoteric but concrete knowledge of viable life on other planets and STL technology could hinder environmental preservation if humanity followed in krypton's path of trying to spread out and consume rather than conserve and protect the Kents wouldn't think of it in those explicit terms but something along those brought ideas of course we know the fear of emotional damage to Clark based on being rejected hated or feared earlier we talked about the potential of physical damage they wouldn't and couldn't have tested Clark's physical limits so who knows what the government has in its arsenal which might harm their son or which they might concoct Batman be Superman puts that fear into stark relief it shows weapons can be developed against their son further rumors about Batman be Superman put another fear into focus that the use of themselves and any other emotional attachments Clark might have may be used against him if his parents or others are held as hostages even if Clark is impervious to conventional weaponry he could be bent to the will of others through the Kents or others again when exactly be realistic or make sense anywhere in the film for the characters to start listing off the speculative fears in such a concrete nature because they're not concrete they don't know whether any of these things can will or might happen it's just so speculative that the vague terms that Jonathan uses makes sense because to enumerate these kinds of fears would just make you look unduly paranoid or even cruel son every time you use your heat vision you might be giving off a signal that the government can track son twisted individuals may use your love for us to weapon eyes you under duress son your people might return one day and take you from us and they may judge humanity based on how you were treated is generally don't list their worst fears about what might happen to their children to their children the filmmakers a reasonably stepped around making such explicit declarations which are awkward and unrealistic and sound crazy without a clear and present danger yet nonetheless that the kinds of very practical and possible fears that they easily could of had the things that they meant to keep Clark's safe from Yanks we haven't gotten past the first four words when we pick up the pace so Clark says that he wants to do something useful with his life which is admirable and what is more only expected of young people transitioning into adults Clark's frustration is understandable because he's obeyed his parents all this time Clark cooperated with being safe he wouldn't be tired of safe if he wasn't safety wasn't out there having wacky small bill adventures and yet he's no closer to his answers and the promises Jonathan made in the barn is a lot like teenagers who know their dissatisfied but they don't know how or what will answer that lack of purpose are calling the job superhero doesn't publicly exist in this universe and without flight response time is an issue so nearly any job which might use his physical gifts also comes with physical examination and testing or high risk of blowing his secret in the field the line follows the frustration with safety because implicit in doing something quote unquote useful means that he's doing something less safe in other words Clark wants to do something which might put his secret a jeopardy and uses abilities which is what everyone wants is how were built and that's a sympathetic impulse everyone wants to find fulfillment using their gifts and their abilities to their utmost it's what Jonathan wants to and perhaps what he takes umbrage at Clark's unspoken implication so farming feeding people that's not useful I didn't say that here we see the Jonathan and Clark agree upon the meaning of useful they're talking about the greater good helping people not just personal fulfillment and this tells us what Clark's assumed occupation would be up to this point Clark was learning and expected to become a farmer and that's clearly the safe choice taking on the family business needs no paperwork testing or curveballs if Clark was content to work on the farm his secret would probably be safe for the rest of his life since this was Clark's default destiny Clark's statement implies that farming isn't useful and that's Jonathan's calling and he gets defensive about it no to that Jonathan is doing what he always does he's looking at the bigger picture and the implications which is how he chooses to infer Clark's unspoken meaning it's a logical conclusion but a misunderstanding since Clark wasn't thinking about that he clearly doesn't say that and likely doesn't mean that instead he means that he wants to do something that usefully uses his unique abilities nearly every occupation is useful but not every job is meaningful to everyone Jonathan derives satisfaction and pride from his profession he says our families been farming for five generations nothing about that Jonathan saying that for over 100 years their family has been in the same occupation that the legacy of constancy and stability of conservative safety if you consider the changes in society transformation in technology the rise and fall of governments revolutionary discoveries and so on which might've happened over the course of the last five generations there's a certain level of timelessness to farming for all that time there's also an incredible amount of inertia to overcome if you think about things that have lasted 100 to 150 years most of them are going to change overnight and perhaps that's what gives Jonathan the ability to see things from a larger perspective and to look at the long view and not just the here and the now not just our lives Clark or the lives of those around us to look at the really big picture the things that really change history on the other hand it's a miracle the Jonathan has that perspective because it would be really easy to just focus on his plot of land for the next five generations Clark is declaring his intentions to break that chain which initially upsets Jonathan but if we think back to the barn it's not like Jonathan didn't know that this was coming even back then Jonathan knew the Clark was going to stand before the entire human race to challenge and change their beliefs and the nature of humanity even back then Jonathan knew that Clark wasn't going to be just a farmer he was meant for something else instead Jonathan had mostly been biding his time running out the clock and waiting for something to change for something to happen but more on that in a bit note that Jonathan includes Clark within this line without a second thought our family including Clark and Clark throws that right back into Jonathan's face your family not mine I don't even know why am listening to you you're not my dad you're just some guy that found me in the field of this is brutal and probably one of the most hurtful things a child can say to their adoptive parent certainly Clark is frustrated but this is over the line and Martha calls Clark out on it immediately saying his name in a shocked and scolding tone just as a quick aside this suggests that Martha is the disciplinarian and that gets supported by the deleted scene where Jonathan takes Clark fishing without telling her so hopefully we'll get more scenes of Martha being strong and tough in Batman be Superman this shows that they discipline with words and deeds and that works with Clark you can tell the Clark regrets what he says as he swallows hard and he takes it back soon after the very is look dad meaning that he does acknowledge the Jonathan is his father within the framework of this flashback Clark has just met Jor-El and in describing the story to Lois he says twice my father both times referring to Jonathan Clark's last line in the flashback is the anguished cry dad Jonathan is Clark's father there's no question about it yet frustrated and confused teens they say these kind of things writer David Coyer indicated that the scene was informed by his own experiences with his stepson and will scenes between Clark and Jonathan Kent is 101 I related to a lot of them also stepfather and a lot of essays were informed by conversations that I have done so these lines show that teenaged Clark isn't ready if frustration causes him to lash out and say things that could hurt the people that he loves most in the world but with true anger hatred and rage mean for the world as much as Jonathan is afraid that Clark will be taken away by his calling his people with the people of this world he's also afraid the Clark can be hurt not just physically but emotionally he's afraid of the world isn't ready and here Clark shows that he isn't ready he knows the Clark doesn't mean it and he's already forgiven Clark in an instant but even if this is how any teenager might act he also knows the Clark is going to be on the world stage he's not can have the luxury of forgiveness or grace for outbursts like these what's remarkable is that Jonathan has this insight compassion and love and gives an amazing response it's all right Martha he's right Clark has a point were not your parents but we've been doing the best that we can and we been making this up as we go along so maybe may be our best isn't good enough anymore I don't know about you but how often do people turn the other cheek when you just tried your hard to start them you want to know in practical terms where Clark learned to forgive to give people like people Ross or Col. Hardy a chance to come around right here with the example his father sets Clark has slighted Jonathan's generational profession and legacy he seems an grateful for the safety and the security provided by Jonathan and Martha he then goes on to say the most hurtful thing that attacks the heart of their adoptive relationship and yet instead of escalating any further getting into a shouting match getting angry hurt and frustrated and return Jonathan recognizes how much Clark is hurt and frustrated in the immediately diffuses the situation in circumstances where many of us might just blowup or turn inward and lick our wounds justifiably Jonathan remarkably forgives Clark and focuses on his needs and issues in this charged moment Jonathan acknowledges Clark's point showing that Clark's been heard and understood he's being listen to and then he technologies that their approach was improvised and perhaps lacking Jonathan is conceding that Clark may need more with the implication that they'll help him get it to me if there's no tornado the drive home together and they start to plan out Clark's future and how he might use his abilities for the world that's a tough question with no easy answers but I think they commit to some sort of exploration without the tornado think they arrive at an understanding that's essentially some variation of birth right or Superboy this allows Clark to spread his metaphorical wings remember he still can't fly beyond the small bill and actively start using his powers for good under the guidance of Jonathan and Martha I think before this moment Jonathan felt like he was running out the clock Clark is 17 about to turn into a legal adult so the clock has run out on its own if they didn't compromise on this point Clark might go and be reckless on his own that's not what Clark wanted to go without the blessing but he couldn't stay trapped with safe why didn't Jonathan and Martha explore this earlier because it wasn't safe I think Jonathan was waiting for something to happen something that would give them clarity he would've been first in the stories of Moses and Jesus and perhaps he's waiting for something like Clark's burning bush moment Jonathan was literally expecting Clark to find his biological parents someday and he just wanted to keep Clark's safe until Jor-El would find Clark and answer all the questions that Jonathan couldn't surely the alien with the power to send his son across the stars could protect and provide for Clark in a way that would keep him safe from the world at the same time Jonathan was preparing Clark to think for himself and to make hard choices would've been easy to always tell Clark what to do because Clark would've done it the problem with that approach is that Jonathan wouldn't always be there to tell Clark what to do Jonathan was helping Clark to be a decision-maker all parents do that the difference is that Martha and Jonathan practically had no margin for error few children can impact the entire world all of humanity with their choices overnight whether it's to save a few people or in a moment of vanity or rebellion choosing to declare himself to the world Clark revealing his secret would be an irreversible error of planetary magnitude most parents and children or allowed the luxury of many mistakes but not here and Jonathan understood that almost immediately contrary to my theory if Jonathan and Martha did have a grasp of what Clark's powers were could be there would be an extra layer of importance of decision-making with their parenting unlike other parents even if they're not there to instructor discipline their children ultimately society will and must that is normal people can be controlled by law enforcement government and societal structures if a normal person breaks the social contract and tries to rob a bank or wreak havoc generally the rest of humanity is able to stop them however who can stop Clark if he doesn't want to be stopped if he doesn't have his parents to tell them what to do and if there are no fetters on his decision-making Jonathan might've seen lawlessness in Vietnam whether serving or in how the war was being reported they needed to raise Clark to make the right decisions even if no law cage court could bind him and he did through the Socratic method through lots of talks in time through illustrations and examples Clark's extraordinary senses means that he could be alerted to a consider the needs of people well beyond the scope of what normal people would include in their kill lists the Jonathan encouraged him to think even bigger than that even beyond the lives of those around us are sense of right and wrong comes like these competing green systems Limited revisit the question our brains built to favor certain outcomes let's suppose that you are walking alongside the Lakeview see bug girl drowning writing fantasy screaming for help you're wearing a very expensive suit should you jump to the lake and savor now of course you question like a suit is the idea is because you know suppose you're walking down history mailbox and is a letter in the mailbox which is please give us $1000 we can help save girls on the other side of the goes to never meet girls who screams whomever here but there are girls in trouble on the other side of the world go help them as owing to the equivalence is that you jump in the lake he save the girl drowning one-on-one for you send the check and he save the girl whom is Reggie Harrell how you a girl not to a girl take on were on the other side of the glassy so the question is that the go to Josh if you do and give the thousand dollars would make you a bad guy right well. Something funny about these cases rain fed that most of us say that of course you have to do to rescue drowning child but you eat it's the you're not a saint if you don't give your money over to its it to save the children on the other side of the world but you're certainly not a terrible person or so it seems to us and it makes sense that we would have moral buttons are to speak they get pushed by the kinds of things that our ancestors might encounter they were is the idea of spending a minimal amount of money to save the life of some stranger on the other side of the world your never going to me that's a totally new modern phenomenon it's not something that our emotions are prepared for now that doesn't leave is funny place because I think it does what happens if the most important questions that we face as a species or as a group involve thinking abstractly out those problems pollution and global warming things like that those are really local problems the global pop exactly this is I think the gets right at the heart of the matter this is why I do this research I think of the kind of thinking that we apply to those problems will recall common sense is really Hunter gatherer common sense or at least a lot of it is and if were going to face these big problems that we or our minds were not designed by evolution to handle then we have to learn to turn off parts of our brain that are getting in the way and turn on other parts that may seem like the wrong parts to be using said he saying that we should down are printed is emotional instincts in our inner reptile brain and we should camp up somehow via the part of us that thinks more abstractly about the greater good and about people that aren't front as well I hope so mean the problem is that as a species we tend to learn from trial and error the problem with issues like nuclear proliferation and global warming is that we only have one earth and it are what I hope is that if we have to learn lesson from some kind of trial and error the errors are not so big that we don't get another chance Jonathan prepared Clark to approach the world abstractly using principles rather than given to just his senses but back to the station wagon Clark says look dad before their interrupted by the storm Clark acknowledges Jonathan is his father Clark has forgiven Jonathan for his improvised parenting and he's sheepish about his outburst and he wants to continue the dialogue okay so let's set the stage for the decision-making that's going to happen over these next two life-changing minutes in their lives next episode will talk more about how people make decisions under emergency circumstances and the difficulty of deciding a moral dilemma but I think it should be no surprise that it's difficult under those circumstances and pressures people don't always make the best decisions instead they tend to be guided by their experience their past their training and their got them in their guided by their got the tend to mean their subconscious stimuli in the recent past or immediate situation triggers activation of their semantic network heightening related concepts feelings thoughts and inclinations which in turn influence their behavior and their decision-making we call this priming simple way to look at it is that our minds are memory and our experiences are a network of linked ideas and pulling on one idea will recall a linked one and together they may influence behavior this is a well trod area of research and study but let me share some of the interesting experiments which all have a control group and then a group that unknowingly primed with stimuli to see how it affected them for example individuals would be told that they're doing a word search test but the word bank would be filled with words associated with the elderly individuals who are so primed would walk measurably slower out of the room that when they entered in another test subjects were told to get their answers signed by a professor at the end of the hall to turn it in the professor would be engaged in a conversation with an actor when they got there and the researchers would see how long it would take for the subjects to interrupt in order to submit their paper the subjects were primed with words associated with patients the subjects wouldn't interrupt it all and he would wait until the time ran out on the experiment conversely in a similar study the subjects were bumped in the hall without an apology then they would interrupt without hesitation intelligence creativity and performance can all be primed when asked to recall a list of items from memory subjects listed more items if they were told to think about professors and scientists first when asked to come up with creative uses for a brick subjects performed better if they were primed to the logo for Apple versus the logo for IBM in several experiments show test taking performance can be affected simply and how it's presented to the test taker sometimes in ways that frighteningly fall along racial cultural lines holding money the color of walls holding a hot or cold cup of coffee and more can alter Into our subconscious and produced measurable influence on her behavior up with some links in the show notes so how does this apply to Jonathan and Clark during the tornado scene will consider their history their training their patterns and then think about what stimuli existed in the station wagon which might impact or affect the decisions this is why we explored the larger context and the history to see what decisions they were primed to make first let's consider what their default training has been for the past 1500 days and aside from a few blips here and there the 13 years prior to that it was secrecy right Clark was always advised to try and keep his powers a secret and we've just been told that they been reliably doing that for the past four years with intensity and that also means that the default is also obedience Clark followed that plan and those instructions despite this blowup outburst and tantrum Clark is expressing frustration with the fact that he has been rigidly obedient for the last quarter of his entire life and mostly obedient for the rest of his life the default the history the value that they had drilled into him for 17 years straight is to maintain his secret as a priority but reinforced especially these past four years because of the bus incident that is a lot of inertia and history to overcome in a split second isn't necessarily surprising that when pushed into a decision-making crisis Clark defaults to how he had been trained to think for the past four years well maybe will explore that more later but let's consider some other stimuli Clark did overcome his training to rebel little and express his frustration but how did that feel if felt awful Clark broke from his four years of obedience did something different but it hurt his parents and flooded him with regret and remorse he demonstrated disobedience anger distrust and it all felt wrong so in these next few moments Clark would be primed to not repeat that feeling he defers to dad showing that he can be obedient patient listen and that he loves entrusts his dad is his real parent meanwhile for Jonathan there's a complex stew of emotions thoughts and concepts bubbling up the most elemental one the one that we've been harping on all episode the one that was Jonathan's obsession throughout Clark's life is of course Clark's safety more than anything else if there's a single value or concept Jonathan has in relation to Clark was keeping him safe for the past 17 years so unsurprisingly nearly every decision Jonathan makes in the next two minutes can be seen as prioritizing Clark's safety there also some other potential stimuli Clark's tantrum showed that he was not ready and immature he was acting like a child and this would trigger Jonathan's paternalism and protectiveness and his role as parent and father over this child we can see how this would influence Jonathan to give orders to Clark and again instinctively prioritize Clark's safety Clark's tantrum also showed that Clark was hurting and if anything is hurting a loving parents child that would easily trigger paternalism protectiveness and Clark's needs and safety Jonathan Clark also challenged Jonathan's fatherhood which may have primed Jonathan to prove the Clark is his son and that he loves him but more likely based on their conversation it causes Jonathan to reflect upon and admit his feelings of inadequacy about his parenting making it up as you go along isn't good enough anymore Clark is about to become his own man he doesn't know why he's listening to Jonathan Jonathan is in his real dad Jonathan's parenting was improvised and wasn't enough for this special person so subconsciously Jonathan may have felt that his usefulness to Clark was adamant that Clark was moving on from them and that there was nothing more that he could do for his hurting son so fighting that sense of uselessness Jonathan makes decisions to be as useful and is helpful in the situation as possible he tries to show how much he loves his son and tries to protect his son as best he can Clark's immaturity shows that Clark isn't ready to be exposed so he needs to be protected the Jonathan's subconscious may feel that his role as parent wasn't good enough and if he feels that his time is done and that he has nothing left for this boy about to become a man except this one last sacrifice in the uncertainty of the entire situation Jonathan defaults to what they've always done and done with conviction keep Clark safe and he's at peace with that because it says all that he wants to say the Clark and the fact that Clark doesn't rush out to say Jonathan interrogation of his secret tells Jonathan the Clark's can a be okay less this all seem to speculative and interpretation note that Mark Waid the writer of kingdom common Superman birth right essentially came to the same idea on his own while Wade doesn't use the explicit psychological term of priming key intuitively arrived to that same explanation for why he personally appreciated the tornado scene so much in his review of Man of Steel Wade said I think you be surprised to find that I loved everything about Jonathan Kent I loved his protectiveness even when it made him sound like an ass hole maybe and I loved loved loved that scene were Clark didn't save him because lawyer did something magical he took to moments that individually I would've hated and he welded them together into something amazing out of context I would've hated the Clark said you're not my real dad or whatever he says right before the tornado out of context I would've load that Clark stood by frozen with helplessness as the tornado killed Jonathan but the reason that beat worked so well is because Clark had just said you're not my dad the last real words he said the Pok tearful Clark choosing to go against his every instinct in that last second because he had to show his father that he trusted him after all because he had to show Pok that Pok could trust him and that he had learned Clark did love him and that worked for me hugely it was a brave choice it worked it worked largely on the shoulders of cavil who sold it it worked as a tragic right of passage and I kind of wish I had written that scene way of met Mark Waid and he doesn't sound anything like that I just needed something to distinguish his voice so Wade ties the choices that Clark makes to the dialogue and the emotions in the station wagon and shows why they're closely linked it's no secret that overall Wade didn't like Man of Steel but you can see that he admired that scene many diehard Superman fans were no less passionate them Wade have no trouble with the amount of destruction but they can't get past the tornado scene so it's another example that reasonable minds can differ and not necessarily attempting to reconcile those differences but at least to present the perspectives of those who took something positive away from those scenes so that their point of view can be understood even if you don't accept it when we cover the creative intentions will go into the possibility that the scene was intentionally created to be ambivalent and ambiguous rather than being clear-cut but that's another show so what did we learn in this episode we learned the Kents were good parents and the provided enough safety and security that Clark could have the luxury of an identity crisis we learned how being safe meant that Clark didn't use his powers or explore his limits since the bus rescue we showed how would be impossible for Clark or Jonathan to know the Clark was safe against military weapons or against the might of the tornado and how that's consistent with the film and Superman tradition and that means that criticisms relying on the assumption that they knew that Clark would be safe probably faulty we talked about the Kents were keeping Clark safe from what their fears were and why the film didn't expressly state that basically because the scope of fears were too many to terrible and to speculative to explicitly state but nonetheless real possibilities that might've concerned that we learn that Clark was on track to take over the farm and why that was the plan but we also looked at why Clark was so frustrated by he was so hurtful and then we look to Jonathan's remarkable response we speculated where things would've went without a tornado and then we learned about priming and then reviewed the scene for how would primed the decisions that followed finally we wrapped with a writer who disliked Man of Steel but loved how the tornado scene worked okay I think I've rambled on long enough here some shows I suggest you check out if you want to extend your enjoyment of the Superman mythos got it together from the far reaches of beings that are assembled and that's what got dedicated to the bust greatest superhero is safe a Superman like featuring Superman: the DC comics crisis Superman podcast is Superman this you will podcast is Superman forever and about the you you you you are you will podcast KL from Superman homepage.com is John Wilson really help you are leaving my present bride your retailer Michael they start to Sam result is the original Mario is given by an highlighted I gave Younis and how has Gotti they because that what.com thanks so much soliciting I just love discussing the stuff and if you been sticking with me hopefully you do to I'm genuinely grateful for each and every listener and hope you'll join us Man of Steel answers.com that way if you got questions you want answered or insights that you want to share commentary to make you can post in the comments for all your like-minded apologist to see or you can email me at mosaic@ManofSteelofSteelanswers.com if you like what you heard please review the show on iTunes or stitcher and subscribed this is Dr. awkward your DC cinematic universe apologist signing off CNX time that answers making decisions even simple ones is a tricky process and you'll very very bad as the world face with thousands of decisions every day that according to scientists the choices we make for most the time behaving online and the flow the moment is uncertain world were doing this weekend and overall reality is not always as tight as stronger awareness of was wrong in our choices some reasons for our actions and were actually in 1996 professor John pod shocked and outraged his fellow psychologists publishes studies which comes associate is showed that are decisions can be subliminally manipulated like it is results early 90s and you as long as you is going to far as being surprised at the results of these studies will only because of all the long experience these things keep working this summer the middle effect the rest so many cages physical all television watching a movie reading of what's happening in your TV is a great and that just by itself is because of the labor you might be more likely to see another person has a great personal another person as a kind person or an intelligent person more than usual and more than you would have had the prior to And that's the nature of private images that he was slipping thoughts and feelings into our subconscious is one of what is more worried is how those thoughts and feelings can then change of behavior today one of John barges PhD students is running an experiment to investigate the priming effects of temperature what we do in our experiment we very briefly expose people to warmer whole substance and what we expect to happen is that simple experience with a warm substance or close-ups as will find people to sort of doing sees feelings of warmth and comfort and the things that we learn about since were very young and what we have those things in my those things we know will color people start with some decisions and their behaviors as volunteers for the experiment for us to hold a warm cup of coffee of them by Laura have been prime with heat the brothers of experiment is the record participants judgments about Marxist colleague Randy the theory is that the hot drink will somehow elicit positive feelings towards Randy even several minutes after experiencing the wall of the cost and he is the killer question would you give Randy, job is saying Wallman friendly things about stranger might just be the normal response time to cool things that will accept for the temperature of the identical conditions the same conversation with Randy and six minutes later the same questions from Lawrence as the experiment shows markedly that a brief encounter with the beverage could see you are the high all five it's a powerful effect people to help you get is rinky-dink little manipulations in moving people's behavior all over the place and we also real little defensive and we hear about it I don't know logistics working we do these things only work in a similar sorry but they do and now our job is to understand and try to explain to people why that is why does the human mind is constructed in a way that you can get these effects at all he can quantify this for us and gives that sensitive company is a training will be spent working through these kinds and eyes an average of about 60 hours on deadly force that is the use of firearms and an average of just over 60 hours on self-defense compare that to de-escalation conflict resolution training the average there's only eight hours of training and most of that is in a classroom and when of this is a fully the situation a full physical scales the test the monthly film will comfortable with and he is coming to an end when we on for dear life thinking that our service and a Size it's about me here now and when things are calm it's about us everywhere forever and that's how confidence changes are decisions when we lack confidence it's me here now when confidence is high is us everywhere forever and I think that's the only way we ever when these long-term battles is to give them some sort of emotional salience some reason why they matter to us right now otherwise it will never work only way to try and now has a name this kind of practical the Ulysses contract in the alien this moment where Ulysses and his men failed island time in Ulysses now hear the siren song there dead sailors were so attracted alleys that they would steer toward their ships in a long time so on his way there for the music started he came over the plan he had his mental him to the mast with ropes he couldn't move any had them build their own years with beeswax and he said no matter what I do to I'm just a crazy man just keep growing just keep going and so when they got to the siren a the Ulysses because dreaming yelling in telling the men go towards the women we don't want to pass this up and of course the men happy to hear not swayed by the siren song and for this the present tense Ulysses by using his men wrote literally around the future Ulysses because he knew that guy would be weak you have answers