Here are more examples of Biblical themes. Please ad your thoughts and examples in the comment section.
Theme: The Apocalypse. In many movies – ‘A Boy
and His Dog’, ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Silent Green’, ‘The Day the Earth stood Still’,
‘Terminator’, ‘Waterworld’ and countless super hero, science fiction, and
horror movies, the Apocalypse is depicted in various ways. In ‘Man of Steel’ there
is an apocalyptic vision of the end of the world. When superman is taken into
Zod’s ship Zod gets into his head and tells him of his vision to destroy all
the people of earth. Superman is shown sinking into a sea of skulls and screaming
out as Zod reveals his hellish vision for earth. Superman is horrified at this genocide.
This corresponds to the greatest vulnerability Jesus had while on earth; that
is, his infinite love for all humanity, and correspondingly his pain at the
possibility of their destruction. During His ministry Evil forces could effect
Jesus by destroying, capturing and causing pain and suffering to humanity. This
vulnerability can be seen (among other places) When Jesus enters Jerusalem the
last time - he weeps, because he so loves humanity, and his great plans for
Jerusalem have been lost. The evil forces are like terrorists on earth who kill
and capture innocent people to horrify and control their enimies. At the end of
the movie when superman has Zod by the neck Zod retaliates by using his lazer
eyes to almost kill innocent people standing nearby, and Superman screams out
in moral agony for him not to do it, and finally kills Zod.
Theme: Hades and Sheol. In the Matrix there are
parrelels between the trainman and the god of the underworld, Hades, who
ruthlessly ruled the dark realm named after himself. In mythology Hades was a
lesser god who received the short end of the stick when realms were divied up
to rule, but he was given total power over his realm. The train man also has
total control of his dreary realm, called ‘mobile avenue’, and is said to be
between worlds from which no-one can escape. Like Hades the trainmans realm of
power is a place of bleak nothingness, in a kind of limbo, separate from life
and God; and no one can come in or out, except by Hades will. The trainman says
to Neo, “Down here,
I make the rules. Down here I make the threats. Down here... I'm God”.
Theme: Humanity Rejects or Kills the ‘One’ or the
Savior. In the movie ‘Starman’, in which Jeff Bridges is an alien that is a
Christ figure, most of the people are afriad of him and what he can do, and the
government tries to kill or capture him; but there are a few who see him and
help him. Batman and Spiderman are also treated as the enemy of the police or
military; as the mainstream authroites try to kill them. This happens in a lot
of movies and is a very sigificant theme; They can be intrepreted as an
allegory of humanities, in the Old Testament the Isrealites, rejection of the
Lord. Movies often depict the trauma, loss, and tragedy associated with this
rejection. Again in Superman this theme is huge; a big part of the story is
that superman cannot reveal his identity untill his time comes. His father
convinces him that he must painstakingly keep from revealing his identity for
otherwise people would reject him, or even kill him. When he is a kid he is
assualted by bullies in the presence of his father, but he does not fight back;
he turns the other cheek. Indeed, his father sacrifices his own life for this
principle; - when a tornado is about to destroy him, he signals to Kent to not
come save him, for otherwise he would reveal his true self. This theme also demonstrates
another important principle, that is, that Jesus profoundly disciplined himself
to not reveal himself untill his time came. He did not use his powers to fight
his enemies, but allowed all to act in freedom, both enemies and those who
loved him.
These themes are
also in the The Green Mile; the
central character is kind, gentle, and has miraculous powers of healing - a
Christ figure. He performs healing on several people, he suffers greatly from understanding
love, and he sees with great pain humanities cruelty to each other. He is thought
to be the enemy of society and is imprisoned and killed by the authorites.
Theme: Jesus reveals himself and teaches to good,
common people. In the Bible the disciples were salt of the earth fisherman
not educated men. He chooses simple good men who can be taught. It is an
essential part of the Superman story that his parents are simple, honest,
American farmers. Spiderman’s back story is similar in this way also. In the
Hobbitt this is a very big theme. It is part of the whole meaning of the
Hobbits and their shire that they are kind, innocent farmers, but in their
hearts hold great courage. Gandolf gives a speech expressing how it is true to
the workings of life that the defeat of evil in the darkest of times would come
through simple, common, salt of the earth folks – humble hobbits.
Theme: Ressurection and Healing. This is a
clear Christ allegory in several movies, such as ‘Starman’, ‘Matrix’, ‘The Lion
the Witch and the Wardrobe’, and several other movies. Similarly in movies and
stories there is a figure who is able to heal, such as Gandolf in the ‘Lord of
the Rings’. Neo resserects Trinity; Lucy heals with her magic ointment in
Narnia; in ‘The Green Mile’ the Christ figure heals the wardens wife of terminal
cancer.
Theme: Overcoming primal truama. This is a
large subject to include, but worth identifying because of the trauma of
dealing with the darkness I dscussed above.
The trauma of dealing with cruelty and unjustice, the emotional struggle
of change and growth, the pain of emerging into our true identity, and the
yearning to recognize and be in alingment with the goodness of the Lord – are
expressed in the intense situations movies portray that ‘show what someone is
made of’ in a crisis. There are inumerable movies of this kind; some examples
not mentioned are ‘Platoon’, ‘Snitch’, ‘Shawshank Redemption’, and ‘Awakenings’.
Also soundtracks in movies have become very effective at evoking these feelings.
Many movies have intense gutteral sound-effects, and powerful, redemptive music,
(matching incredible heroics on screen) that increase the feeling of truama,
greif, healing and love. A great example of this is ‘Schindle’s List’, which
contains such beautiful moving music set against the most intense injustice and
suffering. In the end Schindler is overcome with such redemptive love he is
infeebled like a baby with tears. In Captain Phillips at the end the truama he
suffered is depicted very effectively along with caring treatment. In superhero
movies The powerful sounds of evil machines and characters are juxtoposed with the glorious rizing musical strains
while the superheros battle to save innocent people – the sounds contribute
enormously to an emotional impact that taps into our deepest fears and
yearnings. In ‘Man of Steel’ there are several times where Superman lets out an
intense primal scream as he performs his feats, such as when he saves his
mother, or when he destroys the world machine. He screams at the end - first as
Zod threatens to kill innocent people, and then again after Zod is dead and the
struggle is over. He is bowed in silence and then he lets out a primal scream
that comes from the incredible effort and feelings of birthing into his true
identiy and powers, - and mourning the loss of Krypton, - and the love of
saving humanity on earth. These actions are reminiscnet of the passion of Christs
when in the Garden He cries out to His father in His agony and effort to
fulfill his mission.
Theme: The internal of humans reaches into Heaven,
and the external is in the world. In the movie ‘Pride and Prejudice’
Elizabeth is shown in meditative states reflecting on things. In one scene her
inner view is depicted by showing the colors one sees as you look at the sun
through closed eyes. Then her inner vision is depicted by a scene of her
standing at a beautiful precipice while music washes over in increasing waves expanding
the feeling of an elavated view; she is feeling and percieving the trancedance
of true love. The movie examplifies ‘love truly conjugal’, which I believe, only
those whose internal is open to heaven and the Lord can expereince.
No comments:
Post a Comment