Despite the warnings on Rotten Tomatoes, I found myself in the theater watching Man of Steel. I’d decided this was the film I wanted to see on my birthday and, critics be darned, I was gonna see it. Really should have listened to the critics this time.
For some reason I’ve been obsessed with superhero films recently. This is a genre to which I’ve not given an iota of attention or respect. Fantasy has always been a serious favorite, then somehow I began to dabble in other arenas. I could blame Chris Nolan, or I could blame my “sons” (my husband is a pastor and most of our congregants are young men). They convinced me to go see The Avengers with them, which led to research, which led to X-Men. What intrigued me about this group was the fact that their special powers rendered them at most dangerous, but at least lonely, outcast, rejected. Thrust together in community, they find the potential for love and acceptance, and the must decide whether to use their powers for good or ill.
The Man of Steel trailers promised something like unto this: scenes of a lonely young man struggling and wandering. Scenes of bullies and rejections. In the third trailer released (above), Kal-El’s birth mother is heard saying “He will be an outcast, they will kill him.” Lois Lane (Amy Adams) describes him as “someone who has spent a lifetime covering his tracks, for some he was a guardian angel, for others, a ghost who never quite fit in.” The first part of the film devolves the human side of Superman, emphasizing his powerlessness, being despised and rejected by men, versus the omnipotence that he must harness until the appropriate time. Then—Shazam!—he arrives. Savior!
Well… I sat in the theater puzzled, hearing the critics’ voices in my head. The script was stilted and too simple, such marvelous actors stuck by the words they were given. Spaces left open for wit and sarcasm were left gaping. Clark Kent goes from human to “divine” at warp speed with little transition, and we are left with special effects and fight scenes and NOISE… So. Much. Noise.
I never thought I’d say this but my favorite scenes all had Kevin Costner in them. Although the dialogue could have been better, Clark’s earthly father was touching in explaining the Whys and Whens of his existence. The first quarter of the film gives us a picture of a truly “human” Clark, the rejected loner having to disappear whenever his power gets the best of him. The humbled and alienated Kent allows the audience to enter in, to associate with while knowing something was going to happen. Then BANG… A couple rushed, obvious-Christ-image scenes, and Clark is assigned His Superman suit and we are off to bigger and better things.
A couple things: In addition to Costner, Russell Crowe and Diane Lane are as super as the script allows. I’m sure the special effects are good—not much for that myself. I am no Superman scholar, but the movie makes it seem as if the Messiah and Christ imagery is inherent in the DC Comics [Ed note: it is not! A perennial temptation, though]. While Clark’s assertion that he is 33 years old during one scene is one of the few attempts at humor during the film, some other references are about as subtle as a brick thrown to the head—and apparently Warner Brothers wants Christians to buy into it.
What haunted me during the entire film, however, was this: like Judas, this is how we really want our Messiah to be. We want to grit our teeth and find Jesus on the White Horse of wrath and judgment. Or we sit, scratching our heads like John the Baptist, asking “Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?” We are like the Early Church believers who expected Jesus to show up any minute and “restore the kingdom of Israel” in the way they imagined.
While the film’s writers and producers may have meant to accentuate the Christ imagery, this other fact is accidentally accurate. As modern day believers, we still want Warrior Christ, whose humanity disappears in unimaginable feats that we can see (and hear, much too loudly). We want supernatural signs and wonders, we want entertainment and action, we want public extermination of the bad guys with jaw-dropping special effects. As Russell Crowe’s heavenly father figure says: “He will be a god to them” and “In time, you will help them accomplish wonders.”
So, what happened to Isaiah 53?
“…He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces…he was despised…He was oppressed, he was afflicted…he was cut off out of the land of the living…he poured out his soul to death…”
Or Philippians 2?
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
It seems we naturally want this trailer, and not the one above.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, / neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, / so are my ways higher than your ways
And my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8-9)
As my friend and I were talking after church last night, I think we will be surprised and shocked when He comes again and we see Him face to face.
COMMENTS
15 responses to ““He Will Be a God to Them”: The Confused Christology of the Man of Steel”
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Wow. Well, firstly, Warner Brothers’ marketing this film to pastors is nothing but craven, and any pastor who falls for this malarkey needs to get OUT of ministry. Secondly, picking Christ-figures out of pop culture is a freshman’s game. I was teaching Superman and Cool Hand Luke to pop culture classes back in the 70s. It’s a useless activity that does nothing but show how clever we are. These escapist fantasies are pure junk. Realistic stories, about realistic characters, in plots that could and do really happen, are the only films worth watching, period. (I collected comics as a kid, outgrew it when I was like 11.)
Point taken but… “Realistic stories, about realistic characters, in plots that could and do really happen …” unfortunately this eliminates most classic literature (some having been made into excellent films) that reveal God’s truth in ways some of us resonate with in mysterious and real ways. LOTR, Moby Dick, The Brontes, Dickens, Dante, Homer … the list goes on. These are not “realistic” but ignite our imaginations and, at least for me, push me closer to God. These and many others, push us to question what is true, what is realistic beyond the confines of our small worlds. I believe God is so much more than we know or imagine…
“Thus wielded Clark the Law of Anti-Supernatural Reductionisms.”
I don’t believe I’d want to hang out with Clark. No, I really wouldn’t.
Talking down to people is a sure way to alienate them. I grew out of doing that when I was like 11.
Touché.
People who really want realistic characters and events do best sticking to history and journalism. But most of us have better things to do than watch an endless feed of surveillance footage. 🙂
I’m surprised that Nietzsche’s “Thus spoke Zarathustra” wasn’t mentioned; particularly since this book involves ‘the death of God,’ ‘the will to power,’ and ‘the ubermensch (the over[ or super] man). I think that Man of Steel does a great job incorporating these philosophical ideas…
Terrific Lynn. You are so right that we, like the Jews, want Jesus to ride on a white charger and throw the Romans out. If Jesus were to appear today, I think I would know and accept him, but I might not. As my son said when he was six: “Dad, Jesus came lowly so that all could come to him.” Because we don’t want a lowly God, we like to see Jesus portrayed as Superman. My son also said: “They didn’t accept Jesus when He came, and we would be no different. They tried to kill him when He was born and finally succeeded on the cross.
The correlation is not perfect, no, but Superman does dimly reflect the greater story of the Gospel. Like all reflections he falls quite short of the real thing. It does give us a wonderful opportunity to engage the culture and speak to them with imagery they understand all while pointing them to the true Savior. Christ may come as the lamb the first time, but we know he will come again,
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war.His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself.He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses.From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” Rev 19: 11-16
Matthew – thanks for your comment – this speaks something I didn’t quite have the words for – “like all reflections he feels short of the real thing…” Imagery and shadows and allegories and analogies do all point to the true Savior Christ – which is why I read literature and look at art and listen to music and watch film. God created our ability to imagine whilst we live in the shadow world, before we get to our true home, the home we long for. As the next verses of Philippians 2 say – God has ALREADY highly exalted Christ and Jesus will, indeed, come again … we don’t know how exactly that powerful coming will look or sound or feel but, for now, to borrow Sally Lloyd Jones words – “Every story whispers His name.” Thanks be to God.
Amen! I have found, like Tolkien, that the best human stories are so because the point to the greater story of the Gospel. God has used these stories to teach me about himself and constantly remind me that I long for him most of all. “Man Of Steel” is a very dim reflection to be sure, but like I said in my review on my blog, “We have the choice to do good or evil, to serve ourselves or others and it is these choices that grow us into heroes or villains.” We can choose to follow the Lord or follow our own path and films like this remind me that there is a better way. It’s not from a superman but from the Creator of the universe.
I’m no fan of the studios trying to co-opt the churches into marketing the film from the pulpits, but if I had a dollar for every time I have heard a Tolkien or Lion, Witch & Wardrobe reference from the pulpit, I’d have a nice retirement saved up by now.
The Superman as Christ figure analogy is just that – an analogy. By definition it is limited as such. And the parallels are absolutely there – they are inherent in the narrative of the character & always have been (even if they were not intended by Simon & Schuster).
Lynn- fantastic write up and great discussion here.
Our 19 year-old son saw the film last week and told us not to bother. He said “it has no substance”. This from a kid who loves the Transformer movies.
Your critique reminds me of how I felt about the “Disneyfication” of “The Chronicles of Narnia”. It was like I was watching C.S. Lewis being de-clawed on screen.
It sounds like nuance and resonance are missing from Man of Steel. It’s much easier and more profitable to just throw shiny things at the “green screen” and crank the volume.
At the risk of stirring the hornet’s nest, I would humbly submit my two-cents to this thoughtful conversation. Those who read Mbird regularly know how much the writers here love analogies and illustration and drawing connections, (even ones that sometimes aren’t really there!).
That said, I don’t think Superman is a Christ analogy but (gasp!) an idol. Not in a “comic books are of the devil” sort of way, but in a “this scratches every power-grabbing, glory obsessed itch in my flesh” way.
This is what I think Lynn (and correct me if I’m wrong, Lynn!) Lynn was trying to get at with her review. Superman is like a resurrection without a death, an ascent without a decent, a gospel without a law. He’s all the victory in Christianity without the defeat. He is the book of Revelation without the Four Gospels.
Even in the Death of Superman series, Superman doesn’t lay down his life for Metropolis against Doomsday, but instead dies fighting as equals. And his resurrection isn’t really a vindication, but a regeneration chamber in the fortress of solitude (and here ends the extent of my comic book knowledge).
Jesus isn’t Jesus without humiliation, suffering, defeat, and powerlessness- all the things that represent both the opposite of Superman AND the opposite of human desire. Superman is how we wish life was, when in reality we’re relegated to being Clark Kent and him only. So when we’re drawn to find a Christ-figure in Superman, I question whether that’s the power of analogy or the human heart yearning to pole-fault over the offense of the cross and what it says about life.
I love Superman! I love love love love superhero stories, Marvel Studio movies, and heck, going to a convention in cosplay is on my bucketlist! But I see more dissimilarities between Superman and Jesus than I do similarities, or at the very least, the Superman/Jesus analogy leads me to a wrong understanding of Jesus.
Yes, yes, yes … thank you Bryan. I was thinking the post should be re-named “The Misadventures of Mistaken Christology.” Perhaps the title was misleading in a small sense, but as Matthew said above “Superman does dimly reflect the greater story of the Gospel. Like all reflections he falls quite short of the real thing.” I absolutely agree with that and, in that sense, we could call it “mistaken,” “imperfect,” or use other adjectives. I think the Capital M “Mistaken” I am referring to is what you say Bryan – it is the Church’s mistake in how we teach and act and live … so my main critique was much more of the Church and our modern interpretation of Christianity. We often seem to make Christ into what we want Him to be, rather than who He says He is. We give Him our script and tell Him to play His part. The film was the vehicle in this critique. It seems we have come more to want excitement and entertainment and special effects than wanting Jesus Himself ; the church is often complicit in giving us what we want rather than reminding us of the truth and the excruciating beauty of it. A private emailed comment to me said “is it not a good thing that culture is trying to engage the Church … at a time when the Church can barely engage her own congregants?” While I sympathize with this (as a pastor’s wife into my 13th year), and while I do believe we should engage culture (or I wouldn’t read Mbird as that is the whole point ;)), we can only do so in a limited way and shouldn’t substitute the truth of the Gospel. If Jesus Himself does not engage us, we will create a “different “Jesus that will then be a “different” Gospel and this is – as you say, Bryan, idolatry.
I too love Superheros and literature and film that – as Matthew said above – that uses imagery to – however dimly – point us to the true Christ.