hcourageous:

Look, I’m going to put an end to the idea that for a movie or a story to be hopeful, it has to be light and fluffy.

This is blatantly just not a factual idea. Sure, of course you can prefer a certain type of presentation in your storytelling, that’s FAIR, but saying a movie you like isn’t hopeful because it presents it in a different way isn’t right.

Hope isn’t about laughs, it’s not about everyone smiling all the times and it’s not meant to be easy either. Hope is hard, it’s really hard, and having hope in the middle of dark times can be almost excruciating, to cling to the idea that there could be something good coming when everything seems so dark.

AND THAT is the main narrative of Man of Steel, which remains consistent throughout the film. The film has it’s flaws, but this isn’t one of them. And to be fair, the movie itself isn’t even that dark. There’s a lot of really lovely moments between Clark and everyone he interacts with, showing his kindness and openness, and his need to do good.

Man of Steel touches down on the idea that humans have the ability to strive towards not just greatness but goodness. Like when Perry White and Steve Lombard stayed with Jenny, through certain death. That is goodness. That is hopeful. That is a mirror of what humanity could be. That is Colonel Hardy sacrificing his life for the world, “a good death” he says to Faora. It’s Clark choosing to save a family, choosing to become the last of his kind, choosing innocence over destruction.

Man of Steel is hopeful.