Honestly? This may be pure fanwank, but it makes sense to me, so I'll share.
I agree that he is protesting too much, and this is why I think he is doing so.
The past season saw a ton of upheaval for Clark as a character. To a certain extent this was present in S1 and S2, but S3 really whammied him with it. That doesn't make his behavior okay, but I think it does help make it easier to understand.
To me, Clark is acting like a really freaked out, really insecure guy who is trying desperately to categorize everything around him. Lana is good. Lex is bad. No compromise, no real logical thought process, just an intensely emotional reaction. It makes a certain amount of sense for him to act this way. He's 17 or 18, and for most of his life, he's lived in a very sheltered environment in which everything was defined. He had boundaries, and from the sound of it, they were extensive and probably a little suffocating at times. But that's what he grew up with, and that's where his comfort zone exists.
Clark as a character is not used to shades of gray. He's used to things being black or white. When he first met Lex, that screwed with his head as far as this system is concerned. Lex isn't good, and he isn't bad. He's both, and every shade possible between black and white.
Clark idolized him, and perceived him in a way that was unfair to Lex, and unfair to himself. Much like he did/does with Lana. Now when these people behave in ways that conflict with Clark's view of them, he gets angry and lashes out at them, because it scares him. The more his life is in a state of flux, the more extreme his responses become to the people around him.
Much like Lex controls his environment, Clark tries to control his. And this past season he was far less than successful in doing so. Some really big things happened to rattle his cage, and they keep rattling his cage. His response to that is the classic tactic of pushing people away from him, and holding them fully responsible for things that they are, at most, only partly responsible for.
He's definately spiraling out of control, reacting in extreme ways to things from a purely emotional standpoint, and hurting the people around him. But I also think that he sees this, although he most likely doesn't want to admit it to himself, and that it hurts him as well. So his responses are not always consistent, and he attempts in his own way to make ammends, while refusing to deal with the problem.
I agree 100% with your observations about Clark's behavior, the only difference is that I think Jor-El has a lot to do with it.
I actually expected that the first ep or so of S4 would involve some kind of epiphany for Clark, in which he radically changed his behavior & attitude to start being more like Superman. So far, no dice, which makes the big question for SV not "When/How will Lex Go Bad?" but "When/How will Clark Go Good?" Because the direction he's heading in right now is toward Kal-El, the Alien Overlord.
I think Clark has to head toward Kal-El long enough for Lex to give up on him. Lex sees Seget as the hero, standing against Naman. Right now, he either doesn't recognize Clark and himself as inhabiting those roles, or he thinks he can provide the balance against Naman's power while remaining friends. But, if TPTB keep them in those roles, something needs to happen to make Lex think he can't do his part while remaining aligned with Clark.
I agree that Jor-El is a primary cause in the change in Clark's behavior from S1 to now. Jor-El, of any other entity, is an entity that Clark cannot avoid, ignore, charm, or simply physically outmatch. And because of this, Jor-El rattles Clark's cage in much the same way that Lionel tends to rattle Lex's cage; completely and with increasing malice.
"Much like Lex controls his environment, Clark tries to control his. And this past season he was far less than successful in doing so."
As much as I detest the unfairness to Lex, you've just made a great point! Life isn't going to get any easier for Clark, and he has very few 'weapons' to use to react to those kinds of adversities... :)
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momijizukamori
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I agree that he is protesting too much, and this is why I think he is doing so.
The past season saw a ton of upheaval for Clark as a character. To a certain extent this was present in S1 and S2, but S3 really whammied him with it. That doesn't make his behavior okay, but I think it does help make it easier to understand.
To me, Clark is acting like a really freaked out, really insecure guy who is trying desperately to categorize everything around him. Lana is good. Lex is bad. No compromise, no real logical thought process, just an intensely emotional reaction. It makes a certain amount of sense for him to act this way. He's 17 or 18, and for most of his life, he's lived in a very sheltered environment in which everything was defined. He had boundaries, and from the sound of it, they were extensive and probably a little suffocating at times. But that's what he grew up with, and that's where his comfort zone exists.
Clark as a character is not used to shades of gray. He's used to things being black or white. When he first met Lex, that screwed with his head as far as this system is concerned. Lex isn't good, and he isn't bad. He's both, and every shade possible between black and white.
Clark idolized him, and perceived him in a way that was unfair to Lex, and unfair to himself. Much like he did/does with Lana. Now when these people behave in ways that conflict with Clark's view of them, he gets angry and lashes out at them, because it scares him. The more his life is in a state of flux, the more extreme his responses become to the people around him.
Much like Lex controls his environment, Clark tries to control his. And this past season he was far less than successful in doing so. Some really big things happened to rattle his cage, and they keep rattling his cage. His response to that is the classic tactic of pushing people away from him, and holding them fully responsible for things that they are, at most, only partly responsible for.
He's definately spiraling out of control, reacting in extreme ways to things from a purely emotional standpoint, and hurting the people around him. But I also think that he sees this, although he most likely doesn't want to admit it to himself, and that it hurts him as well. So his responses are not always consistent, and he attempts in his own way to make ammends, while refusing to deal with the problem.
That's how I see it, at any rate.
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I actually expected that the first ep or so of S4 would involve some kind of epiphany for Clark, in which he radically changed his behavior & attitude to start being more like Superman. So far, no dice, which makes the big question for SV not "When/How will Lex Go Bad?" but "When/How will Clark Go Good?" Because the direction he's heading in right now is toward Kal-El, the Alien Overlord.
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no subject
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As much as I detest the unfairness to Lex, you've just made a great point! Life isn't going to get any easier for Clark, and he has very few 'weapons' to use to react to those kinds of adversities...
:)