SuperChrist is back!
Ok, so I've missed the boat on this, what with living in Australia and all. But I saw Superman Returns last night (don't ask) and was astounded at the film's overt Christianity. Sample scenes:
When will I see you, pines Lois Lane. Answer: "I'm always around" (Nice Holy Spirit hat-tip)
- Lois has lost faith as Superman takes off for five years. The fickle woman! That's an order of magnitude shorter than the 1980-odd years Christians have been waiting (St Paul died a disappointed man). But while we're waiting for the real deal, we can at least make do with Superman returning to restore the faith of a benighted world, and Lois, particularly.
- The father-son relationship, where Supey's father tells him he was sent to Earth because we "lack the light to show the way" and it's for this reason that "I have sent them you, my only son". Later, Supey passes the torch onto his son with pseudo-mystical incantations over his bedside: The father becomes the son as the son becomes the father. I presume the Holy Spirit was only absent because the special effects budget was tied up elsewhere.
- The most revealing? Supey tells Lois that "the world needs a saviour". A saviour? Not a hero? Do the Christian Right really need any further shots in the arm?
Add to this several backlit shots of SuperChrist flying over Earth with arms extended in martyr-poses, and the resemblance is uncanny. It's Jesus Mark II! Returned at last in time for the noughties, a revamped saviour with cooler miracle capabilities installed during his time in heaven. Walking on water? Pshaw - stopping jumbos is what it takes to wow the faithless these days. But he still faces the Romans (Lex Luthor and cronies) who laugh at his lack of temporal power, kick him mercilessly out of Jerusalem along the stations of the cross as Supey wallows beneath the weight of our sins to finish with a Kryptonite stabbing reminiscent of a certain soldier's certain spear-wound to the side. Then after three days of death, shrunk down to a minute or two for moviegoers sakes, he returneth to vanquish death and sin forevermore! And because it's the age of Dan Brown, there's even a hat tip to the Da Vinci Code, with the sub-plot of the son-of-Superman conflating several biblical stories, complete with the virgin birth (the kisses Lois and Supey exchange are sibling-like), a patient Joseph figure nursing another man's child, and a hidden blood line that manifests itself like a US college teacher from the wilds of obscurity. Any publicity is good publicity, after all.
If there is any remaining doubt, The Age reports that the film studio originally wanted Jim Caviezel, (Mel Gibson's Jesus Christ in The Passion of the Christ) but had to make do with a relative nobody who succeeded only in bringing in appreciative murmurs from the gay community.
----
Can I also add the lamest Christian tie-in I've yet seen: www.jesusandtheworldcup.com
If they couldn't think of anything better to sustain the populist hype post-Da Vinci code, can I suggest www.americanjesusandtheevilnorthkoreans.com?
Ok, so I've missed the boat on this, what with living in Australia and all. But I saw Superman Returns last night (don't ask) and was astounded at the film's overt Christianity. Sample scenes:
When will I see you, pines Lois Lane. Answer: "I'm always around" (Nice Holy Spirit hat-tip)
- Lois has lost faith as Superman takes off for five years. The fickle woman! That's an order of magnitude shorter than the 1980-odd years Christians have been waiting (St Paul died a disappointed man). But while we're waiting for the real deal, we can at least make do with Superman returning to restore the faith of a benighted world, and Lois, particularly.
- The father-son relationship, where Supey's father tells him he was sent to Earth because we "lack the light to show the way" and it's for this reason that "I have sent them you, my only son". Later, Supey passes the torch onto his son with pseudo-mystical incantations over his bedside: The father becomes the son as the son becomes the father. I presume the Holy Spirit was only absent because the special effects budget was tied up elsewhere.
- The most revealing? Supey tells Lois that "the world needs a saviour". A saviour? Not a hero? Do the Christian Right really need any further shots in the arm?
Add to this several backlit shots of SuperChrist flying over Earth with arms extended in martyr-poses, and the resemblance is uncanny. It's Jesus Mark II! Returned at last in time for the noughties, a revamped saviour with cooler miracle capabilities installed during his time in heaven. Walking on water? Pshaw - stopping jumbos is what it takes to wow the faithless these days. But he still faces the Romans (Lex Luthor and cronies) who laugh at his lack of temporal power, kick him mercilessly out of Jerusalem along the stations of the cross as Supey wallows beneath the weight of our sins to finish with a Kryptonite stabbing reminiscent of a certain soldier's certain spear-wound to the side. Then after three days of death, shrunk down to a minute or two for moviegoers sakes, he returneth to vanquish death and sin forevermore! And because it's the age of Dan Brown, there's even a hat tip to the Da Vinci Code, with the sub-plot of the son-of-Superman conflating several biblical stories, complete with the virgin birth (the kisses Lois and Supey exchange are sibling-like), a patient Joseph figure nursing another man's child, and a hidden blood line that manifests itself like a US college teacher from the wilds of obscurity. Any publicity is good publicity, after all.
If there is any remaining doubt, The Age reports that the film studio originally wanted Jim Caviezel, (Mel Gibson's Jesus Christ in The Passion of the Christ) but had to make do with a relative nobody who succeeded only in bringing in appreciative murmurs from the gay community.
----
Can I also add the lamest Christian tie-in I've yet seen: www.jesusandtheworldcup.com
If they couldn't think of anything better to sustain the populist hype post-Da Vinci code, can I suggest www.americanjesusandtheevilnorthkoreans.com?
posted by Doug @ 7/05/2006 03:23:00 pm
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