IN LOVE WITH SUPERMAN

     

     I recently watched MAN OF STEEL with my husband, and, yeah, it’s really a movie for young people, but I really enjoyed it. And something about the ending got to me. In this particular movie (there are so many Superman movies) Lois Lane learns who Superman really is and ends up involved in his fight against those who represent his father’s planet of Krypton and want to destroy Superman. The whole movie is about that battle, and, of course, is full of constant action and impossible victories, but then it’s a kid’s movie about a superhero. At the very end, Superman knows he has to keep his identity hidden from the general public because of the chaos that seems to follow when people realize who he is, so he dons regular clothes and puts on those dark-rimmed glasses, and that nerdy persona we see in most of his movies. We know he will go on to save people and the planet and keep his identity hidden from all but Lois Lane.

     Why did that scene where he puts on those glasses and becomes the Superman most of us identify with touch me like it did? I think because it brought back memories of so many years of Superman movies and when there was a Superman TV series. i.e. It brings back my youth and the good feelings I had when I watched superhero movies and read their stories. Overall, it made me realize how much most people, even adults, like stories and movies about heroes.

    My grandsons are 25, 24 and 22 now, two of them with babies of their own already. But from the time they were eight or nine years old through high school I went to a lot of superhero movies with them, mainly as just one of the things we did together, and being young, those were the kind of movies they wanted to see. I never would have chosen them on my own, but I usually ended up liking each movie more than I thought I would. We watched all the Transformer movies, the several Superman movies, Batman movies, The Hulk, all those Marvel heroes and whatever else is out there.

     Silly as those movies were, and impossible as some of the action and victories were, something rang true and comforting in each movie. Something made me feel good. Something made me yearn for real heroes in life. And I believe they were good for my grandsons because they instilled in them a desire to be heroes themselves, and that meant being true and respectful, standing up for what is right and protecting good people and those they love.

     I am being a bit nostalgic here, but I love watching superhero movies more than an 81 year old woman should, I guess. No matter what her age, most women want that for themselves, a real hero. I have no doubt that’s why women love romance, and why my heroes are, in a more realistic way, like superheroes. They may at times seem a bit too heroic, but I try hard to keep things realistic.

     There are many forms of being heroic, and sometimes, rather than just being good with fist and gun, or being incredibly brave, heroism can be a man who is totally devoted to the woman he loves. He honors and respects her and loves her devotedly. He works hard to provide for her and his family and would lay down his life for any one of them.

     Let’s face it … Heroism is romantic. Heroism is honorable. And heroism is an important element in writing romance. I just never realized how much influence those old Superman movies and the TV show had on me when I was young. Combined with growing up with tv westerns as well, I’m sure the combination is what led to me writing western romance. It’s like the Bonnie Tyler song says: “I Need A Hero.” And I think all women who read romance are looking for the same thing. Kathleen Woodwiss started the trend with THE FLAME AND THE FLOWER. Romance was born. Men scoffed at it. Women devoured it. And a hot, popular, never-die genre was born.

Coming in late 2026!