The Theme of the Captives. This major Biblical theme is
repeated in movies and goes mostly unnoticed, at least as a Biblical theme, yet
it is repeated over and over; which makes it more likely that is unconsciously
told. This theme is a manifestation of the profound inner need to find
redemption, especially from the trauma of injustice and being made blind to the
truth of what is happening. In the matrix, we see that the basis of the
story is that humans have been captured by the machines and they are being used
as energy pods, and this has gone on for centuries. They are only released when
Neo frees them all by defeating the evil agents and the machines. In the Bible
this theme takes place at the flood, the incarnation, and at the second coming.
At each of these times evil forces have over accumulated on earth and have over
run the first level of heaven, and by so doing have trapped many of the good
and innocent in their hell, or suedo-heaven. The Lord by his might and
judgement, in different ways comes and frees them. Scripture refers to this
when it speaks of how Christ descended to the hells and freed all the good
people trapped there by the evil forces. This situation is also described by
the parable of the wheat and the chaff. The meaning of this parable is that
the good people who have been trapped by the evil must stay there until Christ
comes to set all things right. We replay this theme in movies, because it is an
archetype of trauma and redemption in the human psyche. Christ came when He did
for the purpose of overcoming the immense forces of evil which had accumulated
on earth because these forces threatened to consume humankind in darkness
forever. In his life the Lord was continuously victorious against all
temptations and attacks on him from evil forces, and by so doing he subjugated
all the hells. These battles and victories of the Lord are spoken of in many
places by the prophets and the in the New Testament, especially Isaiah, the
Psalms, and in Revelation.
The theme of
releasing those who have become captives of the evil is in many great
movies, often in more than one way. We see it in ‘The Lord of the Rings’ when
Aragorn dares to venture into the land of the dead where all the ghost figures
are trapped by a curse. Aragorn seeks to recruit them to join their great dire
battle. When Aragorn demonstrated his kingly courage to the cursed throng and
its leader, they realize they can redeem their life by fighting with him. They
fight well for him and are released from the dark cave regain their full human
nature.
We also see in the
great story, ‘The Lion, the witch and the Wardrobe’ (and each of the other
Narnia stories) the theme of the release of the captives. In this movie the
witch turns people and talking animals into stone. In her huge ice mansion she
has hundreds of talking animals and creatures that she has turned to stone.
After the Narnians defeat the queen in a great battle, Aslan comes and breaths
on the statues which are then released from their trapped state and rejoice in
being reunited with their people. In this movie the same theme is also
demonstrated by the fact that the whole land is released from perpetual snow
caused by the evil queen for the last 100 years.
This theme comes
into play several times in Narnia: In ‘The Silver Chair’ where the prince was
captured and put under a spell by the witch as were all the underground people
that were her captives. This theme is a major part of the story in the Alien
movies where human beings are also held in pods, kept alive for a time and used
as energy and food. This same theme take place in 'I-robot', and 'Minority report'.
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