Jesus Christ Superstar?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Monica4316
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
Flavius_Aetius said:
I suppose it really depends on the director; for instance I’ve heard the production of Jesus Christ Superstar that had Jack Black as King Herod was incredibly blasphemous. However I went to the play here in Tucson Arizona around 2008 and found the blasphemy to be less than what I expected (also it had Ted Needly from the movie!).
Click to expand...
I was lucky enough to see a production with Ted Needly. Can he ever sing 30 years later!
Flavius_Aetius said:
The big issues would probably be.
  1. The play mostly keeps a POV with Judas who makes it clear that his view is that Jesus is just a man and that he’s let himself believe he’s God from what people around him have said. Of course this IS Judas and quite honestly in no way is his view or actions any more heroic than what the real Judas was.
Click to expand...
I think the last song makes it pretty clear that Judas doesn’t “get it”. The way Judas is portrayed, he seems to be a sort of “political revolutionary” who sees Jesus as a sort of “leader of the revolution”. It seems that Judas wants to be the “campaign manager” of Jesus’ “campaign”, and Judas doesn’t get why Jesus isn’t doing it the “right way”. That’s sort of the idea.
Flavius_Aetius said:
  1. One of the songs that happens when Jesus is on the cross has Judas come to Jesus from the dead (ususally in a Red tuxedo insinuating he’s in Hell) and the song basically has Judas singing to Jesus if it was all worth it in the end. Some productions makes Judas as a doubtful faithless soul (Such as the one I went to), though I’ve seen that other directors like to use this song to make Judas proud and mocking of Jesus pretty much singing that it was a pointless death.
Click to expand...
I think the tux is more a nod to the 70s than anything (the 70s movie is quite the anachronism stew). But yah, it’s another indication that Judas still doesn’t “get it”. I’ve always seen it as just another “I still don’t get it” moment, never as a mocking one. Maybe the furthest I’ve thought about it is in a sort of pleading manner. Mocking would be very disrespectful, and completely misunderstanding the entire context.
 
It’s a good show, especially considering I really dislike Andrew Lloyd Webber and his failure as an original composer.
But you know what? Tim Rice wrote the lyrics. So, that sort of makes up for it all.
Most all the work that ALW did with Tim Rice was great.

Anyway, it’s not blasphemous. I think a lot of people toss that word around too much, almost seems like you’ve forgotten the exact meaning of it.

Jesus Christ Superstar isn’t all that accurate. At all.

But whoever said it was supposed to be accurate? As a work of art, and good theatre, it’s a great piece.
 
Flavius_Aetius said:
  1. In the song “The Temple” the song ends with Jesus becoming frustrated with the crowds of sick and poor surrounding him asking for healing and it ends with Jesus shouting at them to “Heal yourself!” before leaving the stage.
Click to expand...
The scene is, IMHO, an amalgam of Matthew 21:14 and John 6:14-15.

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

===

When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

For the record, the 1973 film softens this a bit by having the poor and sick literally swarm Jesus, prompting Him to shout “Leave me alone!” (At this point, one of the infirm seems to say, “We did it!” For some reason, I found that rather funny :p)
  1. One of the songs that happens when Jesus is on the cross has Judas come to Jesus from the dead (ususally in a Red tuxedo insinuating he’s in Hell) and the song basically has Judas singing to Jesus if it was all worth it in the end. Some productions makes Judas as a doubtful faithless soul (Such as the one I went to), though I’ve seen that other directors like to use this song to make Judas proud and mocking of Jesus pretty much singing that it was a pointless death.
Click to expand...
Ah, the title song. Many productions handle the song differently: the 2000 version is closer to the one you’re describing here, while the 1973 one has Judas wearing a white suit and descending from the sky. I’ve even seen one production where Judas was even carried onto the stage by demons! 😃
 
Will_B said:
Yes, there are some very troublesome parts… Especially when Jesus says*** “For all you care, this bread could be my body”…*** Not really what was said, but for all we know this is how Judas may have heard it? 🤷
Click to expand...
Better if we look at the lyrics in context:

For all you care this wine could be my blood
For all you care this bread could be my body
The end - this is my blood you drink
This is my body you eat
If you would remember me when you eat and drink

Of course, the lyrics are defective when seen from a Catholic perspective (it kind of espouses a sort of Memorialism), but who can blame Tim Rice and ALW? They weren’t making a specifically-Catholic play. 🤷

BTW, for the interested: Norman Jewison and Melvyn Bragg’s Jesus in 1973 and Mark’s Gospel. The article looks at the similar themes between the 1973 film version and the Gospel of Mark.
 
Maybe i just took this illwised and being too rash-hard on the subject.
 
I should read the books (phew, i got lots of books to read. Heh).
And i also do think that movie number 2 was a letdown. I saw this before i become a catholic convert.
 
Padraig1972 said:
It mocks The Lord and it was easy for me then to decide to forget all about it. May the Lord have mercy on Liam Neeson and provide him with some common sense.
Click to expand...
I honestly don’t see anything wrong with Narnia. I actually found the movie encouraging in my faith.
patrick457 said:
Oh boy, another JCS thread! 🙂

For the record, which movie do you mean? Do you mean the 1973 one or the 2000 version by Gale Edwards?
Click to expand...
the 1973 one
 
Thanks for all the responses,

based on the descriptions, the movie seems kind of irreverent to me… 🤷 I don’t know
 
Okay so I just watched bits of the 1973 movie on youtube, and I do find it irreverent… 😦 And I disagree with how they portrayed Jesus, it’s not like Him at all.
 
Monica4316 said:
Okay so I just watched bits of the 1973 movie on youtube, and I do find it irreverent… 😦 And I disagree with how they portrayed Jesus, it’s not like Him at all.
Click to expand...
Can you give us a link to the clip you watched so that we can at the very least explain it in context?

Not to pass judgement, but some people seem to stretch the word “irreverent” to include things like “I didn’t like it” or “not my cup of tea”, or even to “not my spirituality” (there are probably at least a dozen orthodox Catholic spiritualities. People often make the mistake of thinking theirs is the only “good” one).
 
Padraig1972 said:
I have seen the first two ones and the whole Aslam (lion character) gave me a bad feeling.
But hey, that is me. I just recent this kind of portrays.
Click to expand...
so you resent animated lions. What, pray, does that have to do with irreverent film portrayals of our Lord? The movie which this thread is discussing, based on an adaptation of a broadway musical, portrays Jesus, Judas and other apostles and figures in the gospels as characters in that musical, as actual people. If you have seen it and have an opinion, this is a good place to express it. Why drag in another movie that is entirely different and does not portray our Lord or other gospel characters?
 
puzzleannie said:
so you resent animated lions. What, pray, does that have to do with irreverent film portrayals of our Lord? The movie which this thread is discussing, based on an adaptation of a broadway musical, portrays Jesus, Judas and other apostles and figures in the gospels as characters in that musical, as actual people. If you have seen it and have an opinion, this is a good place to express it. Why drag in another movie that is entirely different and does not portray our Lord or other gospel characters?
Click to expand...
While I don’t believe that the Narnia series is disrespectful to God, Aslan (the Lion) is sort of a portrayal of Jesus Christ. A quote from C. S. Lewis that I found off of Wikipedia:
If Aslan represented the immaterial Deity, he would be an allegorical figure. In reality however, he is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, ‘What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?’ This is not allegory at all.
Click to expand...
 
puzzleannie said:
so you resent animated lions. What, pray, does that have to do with irreverent film portrayals of our Lord? The movie which this thread is discussing, based on an adaptation of a broadway musical, portrays Jesus, Judas and other apostles and figures in the gospels as characters in that musical, as actual people. If you have seen it and have an opinion, this is a good place to express it. Why drag in another movie that is entirely different and does not portray our Lord or other gospel characters?
Click to expand...
I don`t plan to watch it and like i said later on in this thread, maybe i was too hard-harsh on this matter.

And the reason i mentioned the first one is because i was asked if i had read the books of Narnia. Now, having that said: i won`t pay anymore attention to either Narnia or musicals. There are better and far more exciting things to focus on.
 
Okay I think I just realized the problem I have with this movie…

1 - doesn’t portray the holiness of Jesus, Apostles, St Mary Magdalene, etc.

2 - when I see Jesus in this movie, it’s different from Our Lord as we know Him… I just find it doesn’t portray Him correctly. I mean His personality.
 
Monica4316 said:
1 - doesn’t portray the holiness of Jesus, Apostles, St Mary Magdalene, etc.
Click to expand...
Obviously you’re not going to find haloes on their heads! 😃
2 - when I see Jesus in this movie, it’s different from Our Lord as we know Him… I just find it doesn’t portray Him correctly. I mean His personality.
Click to expand...
Can you please give a concrete example? 🙂
 
patrick457 said:
Can you please give a concrete example? 🙂
Click to expand...
I can give one or two that don’t run true to the biblical Jesus. The most obvious ones come from Gethsemane.

‘If I die what would be my reward?’ … ‘Would I be more noticed than I ever was before?’

These aren’t right. The biblical Jesus on the contrary warned against expecting to be rewarded for one’s good deeds, and against expecting to be noticed for one’s noble actions.

And the final lyric - ‘Take me now, before I change my mind’ - completely wrong. The biblical Jesus, again completely contrary to this, blasted those who having put their hand to the plow looked back - in other words those who change their minds too easily.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top