raywest

15th Dec 2017

Superman (1978)

Question: Why was Lois so uncomfortable when Clark said "Swell"? It's a word that was extremely popular in the 70s (the timeframe of this movie) and although not as common nowadays, it's still used to this day.

Answer: It's not that Lois was uncomfortable with the word, she said there are very few people left who feel comfortable saying swell these days. She is basically saying there's not a lot of people left who speak like they're still living in the 50's. Swell was more popular in the 40's and 50's as slang for "excellent." In the late 70's, it wasn't really a popular slang word, or had dissolved into meaning "fine" or "ok." Today the word is used more ironically "oh, you need me to pay because your forgot your wallet, swell." It would be similar to if someone said "neat-o" unironically and the reply was "who says neat-o these days?"

Bishop73

Answer: "Swell" is not really a slang expression that was widely used in the 1970s. By that time it was considered quite dated in the manner that Clark is using it. It was more popularly used in the mid-20th century (40s and 50s).

raywest

3rd Jul 2013

Superman (1978)

Question: Jonathan Kent dies of a heart attack. So why does he look at his arm in shock before he collapses? What does that tell him?

Gavin Jackson

Chosen answer: Massive heart attacks are often preceded by pain in the left arm before it is felt elsewhere. The aorta, the main artery leading away from the heart runs down the left arm. There can also be pain in the right arm, but the left one is more common.

raywest

5th Dec 2010

Superman (1978)

Question: One thing I don't understand about the movie is why kryptonite is so harmful (almost making him drown in a pool), yet he was born there and he didn't die. Kryptonite did come from his home planet, Krypton, right? How come he didn't die when he was born?

Answer: When Krypton exploded, the resulting debris was chemically altered through nuclear fusion, converting it into kryptonite. Bits traveled through space, some eventually ending up on Earth, where it is now lethal to anyone who was from that planet.

raywest

Pieces of Krypton that exploded in the Red Sun were made radioactive, and the Red Sun is one of the weaknesses of the Kryptonians.

I thought the Red Sun was poisonous to Kryptonians and caused the remnants of the planet Krypton to become radioactive and also absorb some of the solar energy from the Red Sun. I was under that impression, maybe I'm mistaken.

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