I’ll admit that I know very little about the Superman comics, and that I never really watched the films as closely as I did with James Gunn’s version, wanting to analyze every frame and every character interaction as closely as if it were made specifically for me. However, before anything else happened, the moment we got news about Rachel Brosnahan’s casting, I knew that with her specific range, she’d become my favorite Lois Lane. And she did.
There’s something about Brosnahan that’s so effortlessly cool, but simultaneously grounded, dorky, and realistic. Prickly but indescribably soft, especially as Lois. We see bits of it in her embodiment of Midge Maisel in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, but it comes to light categorically in Superman, allowing her to match Clark’s softness with beautiful ease. The contrast we get between the two of them makes their relationship even more fitting, adding layers to her character in a manner that feels especially relatable for the prickly softies.
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More on that in a bit, but first, the journalistic point of view: I don’t always appreciate the depiction of journalists in the media because more often than not, we’re stereotypically unfeeling and one-dimensional. Yes, facts matter, but heart does, too, and the emotions behind what we’re covering are a huge part of what makes the pieces evocative. What we see in her version is a journalist who not only asks questions, but she explores every angle with her heart fully centered. There are edges to her, yes, and they come out during the interview with Clark, but Rachel Brosnahan still makes it clear that she cares—and deeply—even if, at times, her words come out clipped.
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Brosnahan is great with dry humor, and she’s also remarkable at subtly allowing her character’s emotions to peek out from the armor she has them guarded behind. And Lois Lane is armored. For reasons that the film alone doesn’t show us because of the short runtime, but Brosnahan does. People who think they’re bad at relationships are hiding something—whether that’s pain from their past or pain they currently feel—there’s a reason for the walls. There are open wounds that are maybe still gushing.
It’s not that she’s so career-driven that she has no time for matters of the heart, because the greater good matters far more than the story she breaks. And we see it in her willingness to try. We see it in her willingness to open up. We see it in her inability to hold back when he opens his heart for her. And, most evidently, we see all of this with her loyalty to keeping Clark’s secret. She isn’t trying to climb her way to the top, even as it’s twice as hard to be a female journalist—fictional world, or real. Lois’ determination is fully there, but so is her desire to do the right thing and her desire to love. Like Clark’s softness, hers shines differently.
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While Clark is more open, Lois is rightfully more reserved. And it’s Brosnahan’s embodiment that ensures we see Lois’ layers and nuances in a film that’s all about the different ways people show empathy. She proves that Lois Lane is willing to go far for the people she cares about, and she proves that doing the right thing is more important than doing the easy thing. Knowing how popular the story of Lois and Clark is, and how revered the adaptations are, I’m certain that other actresses who’ve embodied her have brought something that’s uniquely their own to ensure that the character is one fans will remember long after the credits roll.
Like with Superman/Clark, the writing gives us enough to see why Lois is such an exquisite character, but the bit of edge that Rachel Brosnahan’s version holds works best for me because I see the part of myself who gets grumpy on a deadline and frustrated beyond belief when I don’t have all the answers. Softness comes in many forms, and sometimes, it’s prickly. We nip a little, but we’ll go to the ends of the earth anytime, still. We’ll fight like hell for our people, and Lois Lane fights—with all her heart. We can be sensitive and feel everything, but frustrations are so human, and the fact that it’s manifested through different characters continues to make Superman such a comfort movie.
There’s such an incomparable range in the movie that depicts different forms of softness, and it’s where it shines so effortlessly as a movie about the greater good of humanity and human complexities.
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What are your thoughts on Rachel Brosnahan’s Lois Lane? Let us know in the comments below.
First Featured Image Credit: ©Warner Bros.