So I meant to write an analysis of some of the allusions in BvS as part of a video, but then I decided I wanted to make the video about something different. I didn't want to let this just sit on my computer so I thought I'd share some of my thoughts on Lolita and BvS and how they connect with you guys. This is a very rough stream of consciousness that I didn't really edit so it may not be the most coherent or well written thing ever but I think it's an interesting topic nonetheless. And I'd like to give a huge thanks to
u/TerrorKingA, he really helped me out making this. Most of the well written parts are probably from him. So here's my analysis of the Lolita allusion.
In the Helipad scene, Lex Luthor has Lois Lane at his mercy and when greeting her he says this “Plain Lo in the morning, Lola in slacks...Lois Lane” This line is a direct reference to some of the opening lines of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita which read ““She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.” The book Lolita details the dark story of Humbert Humbert and his sick desire to have sexual relations with the 12 year old Dolores, who he calls Lolita. Purely in the context of this scene, Lex likens Lois to Lolita because he sees her as the small weak child in a relationship with someone much stronger than her(Superman).
This reference to Lolita draws a direct comparison to Lex Luthor and Humbert. Both men are incredibly intelligent but are morally reprehensible. Both kill and manipulate others to achieve their goals. Both use their skill with language to divert the viewer’s attention away from the true horrors of their motivations and actions. Both use their language to give an ostensible persona that seems much more noble and sympathetic than their true character, Lex portrays himself with a philanthropist who wants the best for humanity, but in actuality, he’s a psychopath who wants to kill Superman because of personal feelings of betrayal and powerlessness, Humbert portrays himself as the victim of Lolita’s seduction and makes his desire to have Lolita appear as one of love not one of lust, when in actuality, it is, and he is the one who seduced her and becomes controlling of her.
Another similarity between the two characters is how they have an obsession with a singular goal. Lex in his obsession with destroying Superman and Humbert in his obsession to get Lolita. This obsession clouds everything they do and eventually consumes both of them. Humbert devotes the rest of his life to controlling Lolita and keeping her close to him and Lex expends untold amounts of money and time in manipulating the media, the public, the politicians, and Superman himself to destroy Superman and his image. Their obsession takes over their life to the point that they do nothing else. Lex and Humbert are also similar in how their obsession is spawned out of traumatic experiences both of them faced during their formative years. With Lex, it was the abuse he faced at the hands of his father. With Humbert, it was the fact that his first childhood love, Annabel Leigh died before they could consummate their love. Both of these events were the genesis for their mania. Lex came to hate God for not intervening and saving him which he later projected onto Superman and Humbert came to be attracted to young girls who were similar to Annabelle. Lex and Humbert both are incapable of viewing their obsessions as people. Lex can only see Clark Superman but not Clark Kent, and Humbert can only see Lolita rather than Dolores(Her real name is Dolores but to him, she’s Lolita, it’s a name he gave her). Both choose to be blind to who these people really are, and instead project their own version of who these people should be. Lex cannot see the good man that Clark Kent is and refuses to recognize his humanity, and only sees him as a False God who cannot and should not exist. Throughout the majority of the book, Humbert is blind to Lolita as a person and cannot see her beyond the object of his desire. He doesn’t seem to care much about her personality or her wants and needs.
Both Lex and Humbert are myopic to the point of self delusion. They are so self-obsessed that they shut out the world around them and replace it with what they think is reality. Both portray themselves as victims in their reality but in actuality, they are the villains. Lex Luthor ascribes his abuse and the “abominations” he faced at the hands of his father to Superman. Even though Superman wasn’t around at that time and clearly couldn’t have done anything to help him, Lex still blames him anyway because in his eyes, Superman is existentially wrong in what he represents. Superman makes irrelevant all the accomplishments that Lex has achieved. Superman’s “sin” is existing Lex projects his hatred for his father and for a god who never protected him onto Superman. Lex chooses to delude himself into believing that Superman should be killed because he can “neither be all powerful nor all good” instead of recognizing the truth of the situation, that he is just a guy who’s trying to do the right thing. Humbert also obfuscates the truth of his experiences using language. He states that Lolita is the one who seduced him and is the one who is controlling him, when in actuality, he’s the one who controls her freedom and the money she gets. She is forced to stay with him otherwise she’ll have nowhere else to go. He divorces himself from the moral evilness of his action and portrays himself as a victim of circumstance.
The similarities between Batman v. Superman don’t end with Lex and Humbert, some of the themes raised in both works are similar. Both bring up the theme of power, in Batman v. Superman, it’s about the power Superman has and how he should use his power and whether he will get corrupted by that power. But Lex’s feelings of powerlessness inspire him to become more powerful and manipulate global situations to defame Superman. In Lolita, it’s about the power that Humbert has over Lolita to control her life and to shape it to fit his whims. The issue of personal responsibility for one’s actions is also brought up in both. The debate over the responsibility Superman ought to have for his actions, for example the African Incident, is central to the movie. In Lolita Humbert spends the entire book trying to avoid personal responsibility for his actions to recuse himself from the guilt of his cruelty.
Sorry for such a long post guys but I hope some of you guys may have found it interesting!
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