Last weekend I went out and saw Superman Returns. It was an enjoyable film made in a way that honored the traditional characters, orginal films, and updated them both. My wife made a comment that Superman is kind of a boring character. I have to agree with her, birthed out of 50′s America, Superman is not a particularly real person, he is too plastic. But the movie was fun.
One of the overwhelming things that struck about the film, however, was the strong Christ imagery in Superman. Superman is set up as a savior for the people of earth. His father says that he has sent Superman to be a light for the people of earth. Superman takes Lois up in the clouds and tells her that he hears all the cries of help from all the people and that they need him to be their savior. Superman is unquestionably set up as a Christ figure, the savior, the son sent by the Father to save the earth.
There are a number of movies that have Christ figures in them, saviors, redeemers, those who are downtrodden and rise up to lead them people around them into a better life. Just thinking for a minute some of the movies with Christ figures I can come up with are Mel Gibson in Braveheart, The Mission, Neo in the Matrix, V is for Vendetta, The 5th Element, The Green Mile, K-Pax, Starman, Terminator 2 and even Saving Private Ryan.
What is the best Christ figure in a film? Or what is your favorite Christ figure in film? I have to say that my favorite is probably Neo in the Matrix because the parallels to the Gospel are so direct. You have Morpheus as John the Baptist preparing the way of the one to come. You have prophecies about his coming. You have him submitting to the choice of whether or not to take on this mantle as his takes the red pill. Later in the trilogy he even dies to bring salvation to the people of Zion. I am not that huge of a Matrix fan, it got a little overhyped, but always like the Christ imagery.
So now it is your turn. What Christ figures from films do you like? What about some obscure or harder to identify figures?
July 5, 2006 at 4:33 am
A more obscure character that comes to mind is Jiminy Cricket – he even shared the initials and acted as a conscience throughout the film (although I must admit my recollection is a bit rusty).
But I’m curious about what makes a Christ-figure a Christ-figure. Just because an author intends a character to be a Christ figure, are there a prerequisite number of hoops the character must go through before they can truly be considered modeled after Christ?
I’m not trying to be sacreligious but I wonder…must they die? Must they say something close to something from Scripture? Will any “savior” in a plot suffice or must they be a certain kind of savior? Does there need to be Biblical names or allusions? Must there be a Kingdom or heven or hell?
What exactly makes a Christ-figure a Christ-figure?
July 5, 2006 at 11:16 am
RoboCop.
Cool Hand Luke.
Percy Talbott from Spitfire Grill. She’s a girl Christ-figure.
Babette from Babette’s Feast. Another Christ-like girl.
July 5, 2006 at 12:39 pm
I can’t think of anything other than the ones that have been mentioned already. I was going to add Mel Gibson’s character in “The Patriot.”
On a related topic, last night A&E had a two-hour documentary on Superman and the character’s development over its history. One of the things it talked about was how Superman was recasted, I forget the year or so, but in a way that followed Biblical stories, especially with his adoption in Kansas being close to the story of Moses. They touched on the being like Jesus as well. The only thing that bothered me about it was when they discussed “Smallville” and how they had the character on a cross-like structure in pre-launch advertising.
July 5, 2006 at 12:58 pm
Maggie, I like the Robocop suggestion, I will chew on that for a couple of days.
Shannon, good call on the Moses like beginning. I hadn’t really connected the came from a small town in the middle of nowhere (Nazareth) to save world aspect of the Superman imagery.
Dave, great question, what all is needed to be a Christ figure. I think there are probably a lot of different variables, but here are a couple of my thoughts.
1) Always fighting for a cause bigger than themselves
2) Battling an Evil Power
3) Tested in their faith
4) Talks about truth
5) Helps if they die and come back to life
6) Often have dual identities
7) Wise teachings
8) Rise up from obscurity
9) Misunderstood
10) Does things others say can’t be done.
There are my first thoughts, what do you have to add to that list?
July 5, 2006 at 3:31 pm
I agree with all 10. But is this a case of Christians seeing the world through their own worldview. After all, Moses meets 9 of the 10 criteria (sans death and res.)
But Moses really was a messianic figure. David, literally the first “Anointed One,” also meets the criteria.
Do directors/authors see a difference between Christ figures and a Messianic motif? How would a director/author distinguish between the two?
A couple of thoughts:
1 – Trinitarian characters – specifically father figure (ala Lion King)
2 – Death and Resurrection will do it every time
3 – In “wise teachings” quote or nearly quote Jesus
4 – Disciples/sidekicks might help distinguish from other messiahs who seemed to run solo
July 5, 2006 at 6:09 pm
How about the Christ-figure brings new life to the people? There life is much more of a life when he/she enters the picture? Also, this figure brings LOVE!
July 5, 2006 at 6:11 pm
Oh, the Christ-figure helps the people to recognize their shortcomings and makes something great come out of it.
July 5, 2006 at 6:20 pm
As I was making my list of criteria I realized that most superheroes fulfill many of these ideas. Certainly Moses did, after all he is a foreshadow of the coming of Christ isn’t he? Same with David. As you study the prophet/king/priest role of Christ I think you can see a lot of paralells between Christ and both of those people. I think you are right about the sidekicks as well, it helps to take a group of normal people and turn them into something special as well.
July 7, 2006 at 1:41 am
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Superman was created by a couple of Jewish kids. Were they going for a Christ-like figure? I think that the Christ-like hero is a common paradigm for storytellers to mirror even when they are unaware of the roots of that character and story. In a similar example, the movie Magnolia ends with frogs falling from the sky. The writer/director had no idea that there was a plague of frogs in the Bible until one of his actors brought him a bible with that page marked. He then placed the number of the chapter and verse throughout the film as phone numbers, apartment numbers, and other random places just to do somethinga little extra, but there was no Biblical reason behind the rain of frogs, yet many people have (mis)interpreted the film based around that scene.
Now, the film about Christ I want to see is a zombie movie about the people who rose from the dead after Jesus was crucified. How did people react to that? What would life be like if you rose from the dead after Christ was crucified?
July 7, 2006 at 2:29 am
Shay,
According to the A&E documentary that Geek in me watched, that yes it was developed by a couple of Jewish kids. I’m not sure that they went for it directly, but as the story evolved there were connections.