One of my greatest problems with the way that films are marketed is when a movie gets the “Christian” label. When a movie gets that tag attached, it just turns me off.
My reason is simple: I think movies are art. Art forms are able to be transcendent of the tags we give them. If there is something of God there, it will be revealed. We do not need someone ham-fisting God into a movie.
A new movie — Man of Steel — that should not have the tag “Christian” is being marketed that way.
Michael Parnell
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This latest Superman movie is being marketed to pastors. There were special screenings for pastors and there is a website which gives sermon outlines and video clips. One of the outlines is entitled, “Jesus: The Original Superhero.”
All of this is because of the messianic overtones the movie wants to give. And they are there for all to see.
The movie retells the origin of Superman (Henry Cavill), how he came from the planet Krypton to Earth as baby. We see how he was found and raised by the Kents (Kevin Costner, Diane Lane) and how the boy is taught that if he reveals himself to the world he will be rejected.
We see him struggle with his superhuman abilities and how when he does some heroic act, he disappears. It is as if he is nothing more than a spirit or an angelic presence.
All of this continues until reporter Lois Lane (Amy Adams) has an encounter with the still-hiding Clark Kent. She is covering a story about an alien ship trapped in ice in the Arctic. There is trouble and she experiences one of Superman’s superhuman acts. This also brings to earth a group of survivors from Krypton.
This group is led by General Zod (Michael Shannon). Zod was imprisoned before the death of Krypton in the Phantom Zone. He and his group escape and are searching for Superman because Zod believes that Kal-El, Superman’s Krypton identity, holds the key to resurrecting the people of Krypton.
What follows is nothing short of a knock down, drag out of a fight between Zod and his forces and Superman.
Being from another planet, Superman is affected by the radiation of our sun. That affect makes him super strong an dgives him X-ray and heat vision and the ability to fly. Zod and his fellow escapees have these same abilities.
The fighting in this movie is so intense it was hard for me to follow. There are whole parts of it where the fight scenes had me lost. But there is one thing I knew for sure.
This was violence. It was violence between beings who were indestructible. That made it violence that was bloodless. And that is the worst kind of violence. You never see the human toll of what is taking place.
The fury of the fight left nothing but devastation in its wake. An estimate I found online says that the fight scenes in this movie would have caused $700 billion of destruction. The estimated loss of life would be 200,000 people.
This clearly illustrates my large problem with the movie. First, Jesus would not use violence as the means of dealing with a problem. The whole “turn the other cheek” ideal is lost when you are using your fists to decide who is going to win. Second, Jesus would not allow himself to be the cause of death of those who are collateral damage.
I hate to say it, but this movie is a classic example of when the Hollywood marketing system gets it wrong. And more, this is a classic example of what Richard Neibuhr wrote of in his Christ and Culture.
What we are given is a vision of a Christ that is the “Christ of Culture,” to use Neibuhr’s term. The marketers hope we will see Superman as the savior of all that is good and right in our culture. Yet, they use a means to an ends that is totally foreign to the person they want to identify with. This creates for us a symbol of messiah that does not look anything like the person of Christ.
We have a vision of Jesus in tights with an “S” on his chest who saves us, not by giving of himself to the point of death, but rather by beating the stuffing out of his foes. There is no love here, only a messiah who uses any means necessary to rid the land of the blight of enemy.
And that makes it hard for me to recommend this movie.
Michael Parnell (drparnell@embarqmail.com) is pastor of Beth Car Baptist Church in Halifax, Va.
Man of Steel
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence, action and destruction, and for some language.
Directed by Jack Snyder; written by David Goyer, based on a story by Goyer and Christopher Nolan
WITH: Henry Clavill (Kal-El/Clark Kent/Superman), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Michael Shannon (General Zod), Kevin Costner (Jonathan Kent), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), Russell Crowe (Jor-El)