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alamais


"Ala is a horse philanderer." —Senator fourths

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Sep
12th
2014

The Mythology of Man of Steel · 10:17am Sep 12th, 2014

I wish more/any people had liked Man of Steel. I missed most of the first part of the movie when I saw it the first time, and didn't really pick up on the background I did see, but I recently DVRed it, and I've watched it three times since then. Part of it is that the soundtrack has embedded itself in my brain, but it's also the story. While the main plot had its issues, there's a whole mess of interesting space for speculation and mythological worldbuilding based on what little history of Krypton was shown. Keep in mind I have no clue of any of the Superman mythos from the comics: the only prior exposure I've had was the Christopher Reeves movies, and I've never read a DC comic so I know nothing of that larger universe. That said, I've seen some people spin certain things in the movie as plot holes or writer laziness, but I disagree. What I mean is, I think that what's there is significant hinting that Krypton's past is both complex and horrifying, and while there may be holes that were left, those holes just make it more interesting to me.

Zod's crew spent decades looking for signs of his people while trying to find Kal-El, and found nothing but corpses and still functional technology. Technology that in turn was able to keep Zod's people alive (remember, they thought they'd starve to death before they managed to refit the phantom drive, so their ship wasn't originally meant for long-term living). This implies that the Kryptonian pioneers weren't just recalled or 'cut off' as Jor-El states: they were killed, and by something that they couldn't effectively fight, and at nearly the same time across their entire empire. Even the 'scout ship' on Earth: it shows no sign of damage, but its crew are dead in their beds. I'd conjecture that either a plague or some sort of non-corporeal enemy was wiping Kryptonians out on a galactic scale. What's not clear is whether the 'population controls' Jor mentions are simply a cover story for these megadeaths, or something that was enacted on Krypton after the empire receded.

What does this say about Jor's history lesson? Well, I'd venture that one explanation is that he just doesn't know the truth. We've no real statement of Kryptonian lifespan, but we do see active birth in the genesis chamber when Jor steals the Codex, so they can't be immortal or excessively long-lived, or for a stable population births would be incredibly rare. That means those events tens of thousands of years ago were still a long damned time ago for Jor and the last Kryptonians. Think of how much of our history has been lost in just a few thousand years, and especially of how much has been codified as religion and other doctrine. This is an important point, because when Jor tells Zod about Kal, Zod is outraged, calling natural conception and birth, "heresy". Not just illegal, but religiously forbidden.

We've no explicit picture of this Kryptonian religion, but we can piece a few things together. Overall, it seems to have led to a state of complacence and cultural stagnation. The ship, the genesis chamber, the computer tech, even the suit Kal acquires with the seal of El on it--everything is basically the same as it was tens of thousands of years ago. The 'modern' Kryptonians have no advancement, and no significant changes of style or fashion.

In fact, the only innovation in recent times may be due to Jor, and may center around the 'phantom zone'--he claims to have designed Zod's prison ship and he fits a phantom drive to Kal's skiff. Still, this is not new technology, because the ancient world engine appears to use the same tech to link to Zod's ship for terraforming operations. Thus, at most Jor has reinvented phantom tech, and perhaps he's just rediscovered it or brought it back into use.

The 'genetic caste system' is a part of the religious doctrine, but it's not clear just how old it is. What is clear, however, is that artificial reproduction may in fact have a truly ancient history, predating the 'population controls'. This is backed by the presence of a genesis chamber on the scout ship: artificial reproduction is not a post-decline invention, but what's key is that the Codex must be. There'd be no reason to have a genesis chamber on the scout ship unless it was at one time able to operate without the Codex, or with a piece of it. Jor's having to steal the Codex implies that copying it is infeasible, so what seems to have occurred during or after the decline is the consolidation of the Kryptonian genepool into the Codex and only the Codex. I can't even speculate what the embodiment of the Codex in a decorated fragment of a skull implies. Another thing which is unclear is whether the artificial reproduction is in fact cloning, or whether there is still any amount of randomization and recombination in the process.

The caste system also seems to involve genetic manipulation of character traits and mental states. Overall, most Kryptonians have no sense of style or artistry (no changes in thousands of years) and no creativity, imagination, or inventiveness (the politicians failing to heed Jor's warning or foresee his solution). Faora-Ul's little monologue while she's beating on Kal in the IHOP states that she is--and by extension all of the 'warrior caste' are--genetically stripped of any sense of morality. In effect, they were born to be sociopaths, but sociopaths loyal to Krypton. The events of the movie, then, are essentially a failure of this restricted system: Zod is convinced that a strictly controlled Kryptonian 'rebirth' is the best path to preserve what he understands as 'Krypton', and he hasn't the creativity and imagination to see or accept alternate solutions. Of course there's a lingering nature-vs-nurture issue here: it's entirely possible that a Kryptonian birthed to be a warrior could choose a different path if raised outside of the central doctrine, just as Jor, birthed to be a scientist, was still a more-than-capable warrior.

It seems then that this entire system of religious doctrine, genetic restriction, caste structure, and overall cultural stiffness and stagnation are what Jor believed needed to die along with Krypton. While he had some hope that the basic Kryptonian gene pool might be revived and put to use by Kal, he left it up to his son--born randomly, freely, and with infinite potential for all these traits other Kryptonians lacked--to decide whether to put it to use. Of course, that potential still exists within Kal, and all it would take is another ship with a genesis chamber to activate it.

The big lingering question is how many of these components of Doomed Krypton were remnants of reactions or weapons against the plague or enemy that destroyed the ancient galactic empire. Is the religious doctrine a codification of that which allowed Krypton to survive? Was the morality-free warrior caste a true necessity? Why was the consolidation of the Codex required? And did Krypton abandon the stars because there's something out there best left alone?

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Comments ( 3 )

And yes, another part of the reason I've been pondering all this is because that annoying crossover-oriented part of my brain keeps trying to figure out how to mix ponies into this universe. :rainbowwild:

I keep thinking something could be done with the Kryptonians--and two humans--who got sucked into the phantom zone at the end... But I think that's mainly because I really liked Faora. :ajsmug:

2448784 Turns out ponies are the true terror in the universe.

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