Well, it's so interesting to read your very thoughtful replies to this, guys.
And I think each of you have a point. Not only that, but in many ways, you are more right than I am. Because the rest of you start from the show and analyse that, whereas I start from the comics and from what I think that Lois and Clark
ought to be. Let me explain, however, that what I
really compare the show with is not the old, classic Superman, the guy who was a hopeless nerd when he was Clark Kent and who became Superman at least in part so that he could reject Lois. No, I'm comparing the TV show with the comic books in the early nineties. Back then, Clark Kent wasn't too different from Dean Cain's version of the Farmboy from Krypton. Comic book Clark from the early and mid nineties was attractive and likable, and he very much wanted Lois, too. And she responded. Because comic book Lois from the early and mid nineties loved Clark back, and she did so in what I thought was a mature, positive way. Comic book Lois from the nineties could
never have fallen for Lex. She had no Claude in her past. And whatever Sam had done to her, she didn't let it color her perception of Clark.
I guess that, bottom line, it has hurt me that so many people have seemed to be angry at Lois, because they thought that Season One Lois was such a bitch. And I've just wanted to protest that Lois was never like that! That's not the Lois I've grown up with!
But the rest of you people here look at Lois the way she was presented in the show and try to analyse the woman that you saw there. You're doing an admirable job, too. I particularly appreciated Arawn's and Carol's observation that Lois was really very attracted to Clark right away, but her attraction to him scared her and made her push him away even harder, because of her bad experiences in the past. Of course Arawn has an important point, too, when he points out that Farmboy Clark seemed to be the wrong man for Lois to fall for, whereas suave city-man Lex was the right kind of guy. And like some others of you pointed out, Clark wasn't
proposing to Lois in the episode where tried to persuade her not to marry Lex. But Carol is right again when she points out that Clark hadn't been actively dating Lois or trying to move their relationship forward, so it was hard for Lois to know that Clark's interest in her was as serious as Lex's interest in her seemed to be.
In other words, First Season Lois is much more of a complex, insecure character than a heartless bitch.
But I will keep insisting on two things. If Lois's instincts told her that Clark was a desirable, attractive guy that she very much wanted, then her instincts should have warned her off Lex more than they did. Yes, like some of you pointed out, her instincts did make her reject Lex in the end. They didn't totally let her down.
Another thing I just can't accept is that Lois was a galactically stupid woman who would misread any guy. There is no way I can think of her like that. Yes, she was fooled by a pair of glasses, but I'll keep insisting that in the LnC universe, as well as in the comic book and movie universe, the laws of nature are different, so that Clark's glasses, different hairstyle, different clothes, different body language, different way of speaking etcetera are enough to fool
everybody, not just Lois. In "our" universe, these things wouldn't have been enough to fool the world for long. After all, if Superman had existed for real he would have been the most famous and recognizable person in the world, and even Clark Kent is a moderately public person. In "our" world, there is no way that his cover wouldn't have been blown within days. To see what I mean, imagine that one of today's most famous persons had tried to live a double life in such a way that even his "other identity" was seen in public. Imagine George W. Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brad Pitt. Imagine that any of these guys honestly tried to be "Clark Kent" on top of their well-known super-famous personas. Imagine that they repeatedly switched between their two personas, and that they didn't use more than clothing, body language, glasses or contacts and perhaps a wig to change from one persona to another. How long would it take before their cover was blown? Honestly, it wouldn't take long. But in the LnC universe as well as in the comic books,
no one can see that Clark Kent is Superman. That's why I insist that Lois can't be galactically stupid for failing to see it. And that's why I insist that she doesn't deserve to be regarded as galactically stupid when it comes to reading men in general, just because she didn't see through Clark's cover. And that's why we shouldn't expect her instincts to be totally off when it comes to Lex, either - although it's true that LnC's Lex was much more subtle and much better at hiding his evil nature than his counterpart in the comics.
Anyway, it's been an interesting discussion! And I guess you are right - I don't really give the complex Lois Lane from LnC a fair chance, because I'm stuck on the way Lois was in the comics. And ultimately I just need to defend her, you know?
Thanks for discussing this topic with me, people!
Ann
