This is not the most important thing in the world. Or, maybe it is. As part of its marketing campaign for "Man of Steel, Warner Brothers Studios is pushing the movie with Christian pastors. The studio invited them to screenings. It made Christian-themed trailers. It drafted sermon notes: “How might the story of Superman awaken our passion for the greatest hero who ever lived and died and rose again?”
And it's sort of working:
Baltimore pastor Quentin Scott is among dozens of ministers who received an e-mail invitation from Grace Hill Media, a Hollywood-based Christian marketing firm, to an early screening of “Man of Steel.”
“There was an actual push to say `We’re putting out something that speaks to your group,' ” said Scott, one of the pastors of Shiloh Christian Community Church in Baltimore.
At first, Scott said, he didn’t buy the religious pitch. Then he decided to attend a free midweek screening in Baltimore.
“When I sat and listened to the movie I actually saw it was the story of Christ, and the love of God was weaved into the story," said the pastor.
I wouldn't want to begrudge Christian pastors a hook for a Sunday sermon; it's hard coming up with fresh ideas. And of course, there is a Christian subtext to Superman. He has supernatural powers. He has a human form but is not wholly of this earth. He always does the right thing. He is a role model. Jews were instrumental in his creation.
But almost any superhero scenario can be viewed as Christian allegory; Superman was merely the first. Watch recent superhero movies such as "The Dark Knight Rises" or "The Green Lantern" or even "Iron Man III." They all call on the hero to make seemingly impossible sacrifices before "rising" again. The hero is the only one able or willing to make such sacrifices for the good of all. [Spoiler alert!] Even Captain Kirk, not even a superhero, heroically dies to save his crew and is then literally resurrected in "Star Trek Into Darkness."
What's troubling about this is the seamless connection being forged between mass marketing and spirituality, the exploitation of Christian themes to put more money in the pockets of
"South Park" lampooned the Jesus-as-superhero idea more than a decade ago with the Super Best Friends: Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Moses, Joseph Smith, Krishna, Laozi and Sea Man (the last an "Aquaman" knockoff, constantly ragged upon). Do we really want to lump Jesus in the same category as Aquaman? Hasn't He suffered enough? Since then, the episode's depiction of Muhammad has rendered it impossible to air for fear of reprisal. And Hollywood has taken the rest and made it into a reality.
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