selenak

Talking to

bohemiancachet the other day had reminded me of this, and so I went and rented the first season of Lois & Clark. I hadn't seen those episodes since they were originally broadcast, but I was always fond of the show, and I think it's probably my favourite incarnation of the Superman myth in terms of sheer fun and relaxation. Not the most fascinating or interesting: that would be what JMS did in Supreme Power, with Mark Milton/Hyperion as his version of Superman in a truly chilling take on what it would be actually like if a superpowered alien baby ended up on Earth. But Lois & Clark uses the screwball comedy narrative of the 30s and 40s in an inspired way, and it still holds up very well compared to what came after. Teri Hatcher is probably my favourite screen Lois (sorry, Margot Kidder fans); she and Dean Cain as Clark come across as an updated version of your basic Katharine Hepburn/Spencer Tracy or Jimmy Stewart pairing. Superman expert

searose would know, but I think Lois & Clark was probably the first to interpret Clark as the genuine self and Superman as the mask, whereas comicverse and to some degree the movies had it the other way around - Superman as the real self and Clark as the mask. Anyway, the Lois & Clark interpretation allowed for Lois' swooning about Superman not to feel sexist today, because the narrative itself presents it as misguided; in the tradition of romantic comedy, the being-swept-of-her-feet relationship is wrong way for the heroine to go, whereas the relationship that consists of banter and an equal partnership is the one to ultimately win out. It's just the twist of this particular narrative that both male rivals are the same man.

His wish for Lois to love him as Clark, not as Superman aside, what strikes one when watching this incarnation of Clark/Superman in the post-Jossverse, post-Smallville etc. world is how utterly angst-free he is. As I said, he's very much the bemused hero of a screwball comedy, with a deadpan sense of humour ("I get it; you like to be on top"), playing straight man to the energetic, high strung heroine, but basically at peace with what he is. One can't imagine him being written this way today, and certainly by and large, I prefer my superheroes angsting, but not here. The very relaxedness of Clark and the traditional Superman wink has its charm, and looking at all the gloom and doom elsewhere (i.e. any incarnation of the Batman myth, page or screen), it seems almost necessary.