PEL Presents PMP#203: What Superman?
The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast
Mark Linsenmayer
4.6 • 2.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 August 2025
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In light of the new James Gunn film Superman, Mark, Lawrence, Sarahlyn, and Al talk about the character, his stories, and past films and shows.
Did Zack Snyder (Man of Steel) miss the point? Are the Richard Donner films (chiefly 1978's Superman: The Movie) as good as nostalgia would have us recall them? How does one write a convincing plot centered around a flawless, basically all-powerful hero? How should the Lex Luthor character fit in?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | it's definitely a bird it's pretty much pop a culture podcast where we cause the earth to turn back just a bit so we can reflect on the things we've ingested and today the object of our reflection is the character and stories of Superman since his creation in 1938 by Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. |
| 0:24.0 | In light of the new James Gunn film, Superman. |
| 0:27.4 | I'm Mark Linson-Myer, and I also look different with glasses. |
| 0:31.6 | I'm Al Baker, the original, the best. |
| 0:36.4 | I'm Sarah Lynn Bruck, the greatest criminal mind on earth. |
| 0:41.0 | Soon you will all do my bidding. |
| 0:43.2 | This is Lawrence Ware, and Superman is a defender of truth, justice, in the American way, but he's an alien. |
| 0:48.3 | How does that work? |
| 0:49.3 | He's an illegal alien. |
| 0:50.7 | I know. It could be the UK way. |
| 0:52.6 | I don't understand Superman at all. Yeah, in the new film, does he say, and the American way? What does that entail? Is it capitalism? He does not. He does not. They stopped saying the American way in, I think, the 80s that was dropped from the official Superman credo. Was that the 80s? |
| 1:11.5 | I think it was in the 70s or the 80s. |
| 1:13.0 | But like, I legit never understood that. |
| 1:15.1 | I never understood how an alien can say he's defending the American way, but he's also |
| 1:21.2 | involved in other stuff. |
| 1:23.5 | And also better Superman than Elon Musk. |
| 1:26.6 | Are we sure about that? |
| 1:28.0 | They're both aliens. |
| 1:29.1 | Yes. |
| 1:29.6 | And that really is, in many ways, is the key question at the heart of James Gunn's new film. |
| 1:34.8 | Is immigrants versus Elon Musk? |
| 1:38.2 | Jump right into the political aspect. |
... |
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