Thursday, June 22, 2006

The Second Coming of Superman: or Super Jesus

A look at the upcoming movie Superman Returns and its Christian themes:

Thank you Hollywood. Thank you Warner Brothers. Thank you director Brian Singer. Thank you for leaving me and my church alone!

Next week the highly anticipated film “Superman Returns” debuts in theaters. Early reviews are incredibly positive, and some are predicting the return of the original superhero to the silver screen will break box office records. But the web is also chatting about the movie’s apparently overt Christian themes. That made me wonder—why didn’t I receive any marketing materials at my church? Why no posters, toys for the children’s ministry, or helpful super-sermon ideas? Why wasn't America's comic book messiah marketed to Christians?

CNN’s entertainment page is running an article titled “Jesus Christ Superman” that discusses the film’s Christian credentials. Billed as a sequel to the original movie directed by Richard Donner in 1978, “Superman Returns” has a digitally resurrected Marlon Brando playing Superman’s “heavenly” father that has sent is only son to earth as a “light to show the way.”

In the new film, directed by Brian Singer, Superman returns to Metropolis after an absence of five years just in time to rescue humanity from cataclysmic destruction—a story line that could be seen as symbolic of Jesus’ death and resurrection or his eschatological second advent. In one scene the man of steel is stabbed in the side with a kryptonite shard just as Christ was pierced by the Roman’s spear. And another scene shows Superman with outstretched arms reminiscent of Jesus’ crucifixion. Read More.

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