As Freud might say (between puffs on his cigar), "Zis iz a most innntersssting dizcussion."
Woody and Alcyone have voted not guilty. Tank, Ann, and Ray all vote guilty, but both Tank and Ann have confessed that they haven't read the statute and therefore don't know what Superman is really charged with. Ann's argument that Superman should be guilty of something is one she has made most eloquently a number of times, and one which I have also wrestled with. Tank and Ray have both stated that "my Superman doesn't kill," and I must assume that their meaning is that the Superman they envision is required to refrain from taking any human life irrespective of the provocation. (By the by, Ray, I’m glad you’re reading, even after you told us you wouldn’t.)
The problem with their possessive statements is that this is not "their" Superman. He isn't mine, either. We don’t own him. I'm sure we're all aware of the standard disclaimer that says, among other things, that "the characters in this work are not my property," a disclaimer which adorns most, if not all, the works on the archive site. This disclaimer points towards Clark Kent, Superman, Lois Lane, and the other major characters in our stories, save those whom we ourselves invent (Blair Collins, for example).
You, like myself, must recognize that these are not "our" characters. I can envision Superman taking a life with sufficient provocation. Others cannot. On the one hand, Alcyone pointed out that supernatural control of one's negative emotions can't be compartmentalized and must spill over onto one's positive emotions. On the other, the point that an uncontrolled super-being is many times more dangerous than a normal uncontrolled human is also quite valid. Superman is, and has always been, a delicate balancing act, one which has grown more difficult as the years have brought a more complex socio-political background against which he must be presented.
If we want Clark to be passionate about Lois, we have to allow him to be passionate about law and order. I don't want to write about a super-vigilante, but I also don't want to write about a Superman who's emotionally hamstrung and unable to fully express himself. I don't want Superman to kill lawbreakers willy-nilly, but I also don't want those lawbreakers to get away with their evil deeds.
It's a quandary for me, and it's a puzzle for each of you, too. Believe me, I know. It was one of the reasons I wasn’t sure I should write this story. But any refusal to entertain possibilities puts us, as writers, in a box. There are types of stories which appeal to me more than other types, and others which I simply won’t read for various personal reasons, but that doesn’t mean that I think that those other types of stories are bad or evil or invalid, or that the authors are flat wrong and should have spent their time in more useful pursuits.
The discussion of whether or not Superman is capable of killing has been done to death (oops) in another thread. I’ve stated my position, others have stated theirs, but while many have been given valid points to consider, I doubt that anyone’s mind was changed in either direction. But I believe that flat, dogmatic statements about what certain characters would or would not do in certain situations aren’t valid. For example, I know of a story where one character is tempted to succumb to an “indecent proposal,” and I know which way I’d take that plot line. But I didn’t write that story. Whether or not the character should do what I would have that character do is immaterial. It’s that writer’s choice, and I wasn’t consulted. (Nor am I upset because I wasn’t consulted.)
If you don’t like this story because “your Superman doesn’t kill,” then I must point out that this is NOT “your” Superman, either within this story or within the larger context of fandom. I don’t demand that you read my stuff, and I have no intention of boycotting or trashing any author’s work who might not like what I’ve written. I welcome intelligent and civilized feedback, so please keep posting it.
And, as always, thanks for reading.
