Truth, Justice and...
If you're anxiously awaiting the 4th of July release of Superman Returns, the latest film revision of the comic hero, you might want to know about the film writers' feelings on the history of Superman. Since his origin in 1932, Superman has stood for "truth, justice and the American way", but in a day in age where American has become a naughty word, writers Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris have intentionally left it out of their film.
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"So, you play the movie in a foreign country, and you say, 'What does he stand for? -- truth, justice and the American way.' I think a lot of people's opinions of what the American way means outside of this country are different from what the line actually means (in Superman lore) because they are not the same anymore," Harris says. "And (using that line) would taint the meaning of what he is saying." |
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/columns/film_reporter_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002764635
It all boils down to making money. For them, it is the dollar way, since international box office sales are what appears to have driven the decision. I suppose it is too much to ask that writers attempt to create a story that lives up to the phrase instead of having a movie that dives down to the audience.
Superman is part of American culture, but like many other aspects of our culture and history, it is being erased and replaced with a global agenda, an agenda that happens to think the American way is an obscenity.