51 – First Contact

Man of Steel Answers Insight Commentary

Recorded March 13th and 20th. First contact, ship detection and landing, Zod’s ultimatum, The War of the Worlds, and The Wizard of Oz.

Answers, insights, and commentary on:

• I. First Contact
  
• As an intended approach
• Guidelines for what counts
• Prior in-story contacts
• Detecting Kal’s vessel and landing
• Military response and suppression
• Ultimatum questions
• “Are we alone in the universe?”
• Winston Churchill

• II. War of the Worlds – The Book
  
• H.G. Wells and Jules Verne
• Man versus the mechanized future
• Superman terraforming Earth
• Superman’s arc enabling The League
• Man as animal
• Panic and fragility
• Human heroes overcoming instinct

• III. War of the Worlds – The Broadcast
  
• 1938 Orson Welles broadcast
• Halloween public panic
• Press exaggerated story
• Fake news, virality, and creative control
• Real public panics
• Humbling humanity
• Myopia and normalizing the extraordinary

• IV. First Impressions
  
• Lois Lane and handshakes
• Pete picking up the tab
• Definitions, Apologetics, and “Yucatan”
• Selling Superman
• Judgment, taste, and capacity
• Clark is more able than we see
• Superman is more human than we know

• V. Wizard of Oz
  
• Similarities to Superman and BvS
• Hero’s Journey and circular story
• Flexible and open to interpretation
• Explicit Oz references
• As an allegory for populism

• VI. Application
• Academic scholarship
• Fandom good for empathy
• Superheroes inspire altruism
• Science fiction, escapism, and reality

To learn more:
The War of the Worlds 1938 broadcast | Orson Welles
American Experience: War of the Worlds | PBS
War of the Worlds | RadioLab
Big Picture Science | SETI Institute
Churchill Ordered UFO Cover-Up | BBC
Churchill Essay on Aliens | NY Times
Should Humans Try To Contact Alien Civilizations? | Motherboard
Don’t Panic | WNYC
How the Panic Broadcast Really Went Down | Michigan Radio
American Icons: Wizard of Oz | Studio 360
The Wizard of Oz | TED Ed
Everything is Amazing and Nobody is Happy | Louis C.K.
God, The Universe and Everything Else (1988) | BBC
Does Smiling Make You Happier? | HowStuffWorks
Power Poses Work – Amy Cuddy | TED
Power Poses Are False (replication crisis) | Fortune
Are Fandoms Good or Unhealthy? | SciShow Psych
How Harry Potter Turns You Into A Wizard | SciShow Psych
Always take social science studies with a grain of salt.

End-notes (recorded on March 23rd):
Superman: War of the Worlds (2000, Elseworlds) | Lark
Planet of Oz | SuperFriends
Warner Bros. v. AVELA | 8th Circuit
H.G. Wells meets Orson Welles (1940) | KTSA
Superman Meets Orson Welles (1950) | Superman #62
Somewhere Over The Rainbow A Wonderful World | Kamakawiwoʻole
Go The Distance Defying Gravity | Kick Full

Justice League Universe Podcast:
Interview with Clay Enos – Appreciating intention and interpretation
Batman v. Superman Anniversary Special – Value fans get from BvS

Web: ManOfSteelAnswers.com
Twitter: @mosanswers
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