Though I do see what you mean: the other characters, while having a slightly whimsical "comic book" style flair to them, are fairly realistic. Perry White and Louis Lane, Ma and Pa Kent, etc. Even Jimmy "gee whiz" Olson, I can picture that there is actually a naive kid out there that behaves like him. Clark Kent just comes off like he is mentally retarded at times. Although at the same time, the villains are equally ridiculous, so the rules get violated regularly enough that it just becomes part of the world. I mean what, no one can tell Superman is Clark because he isn't wearing the glasses?? You have to just accept stuff like that. That's the way the comics were at that point, too. Donner's Superman films were widely seen as the most realistic interpretation of the character ever done up to that point, which opened the door to the more down-to-earth and gritty portrayals in the early 1990s.