So the newest Superman movie hit theatres today. David Corenswet plays the titular hero, Nicholas Hoult plays Superman’s nemesis Lex Luthor, and Rachel Brosnahan completes the triangle as Lois Lane. Superman movies are usually enjoyable and I plan to go see this one at some point, but its hard to get a good story for the Man Of Steel because he is invulnerable to almost everything, and can do nearly everything.
Of course there are a lot of “movie physics” in the story. Movie physics are those things that would never work in reality but work in the movies. My Editor (the opposite of my Muse) will let me suspend disbelief most of the time so I can sit back, immerse myself in the fiction, and just enjoy the movie. The only time my Editor won’t let me do that is while watching superhero movies.
For instance, in the trailer for Superman a building is falling over. We see a woman in a car, that presumably would be crushed by said falling building. She looks out her window and sees Superman holding up said falling building. Hurray, he’s saved her!
“No! I cry foul,” says my Editor. “That would never happen. Just because Superman is capable of holding up the whole building, with him applying pressure on one small point doesn’t mean that the building won’t crumble to pieces around him. It doesn’t have the structural integrity to not fall apart.”
< sigh >
“Can’t you just let it go and accept that Superman can hold up a building and let me enjoy the movie?”
“No! It breaks the laws of physics! It strains my incredulity too far.”
“OK, so you have problems with Superman holding up an entire building, but you’ve got no problem with him being able to fly?”
“That doesn’t strain credibility for me, so no.”
“And you’ve got no problem that Superman has his dog Krypto who can also fly and is super strong?”
“No, because doggy.”
“And you have no issues with the other superheroes in the movie, like Green Lantern, Hawkgirl, and Metamorpho?”
“No, because superheroes.”
“Then what’s the issue about structural integrity?”
“It’s just wrong!”
“Fine. But can you keep it to yourself, at least until after the movie is over?”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thanks!”
You need to keep the Editor satisfied the same way the Muse needs to be kept satisfied. If you don’t, the Editor starts stomping all over a story as the Muse is writing it. When they start clashing, my writing comes to a complete halt and nobody likes that.
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