Superman and Christ?

[colliric]

I just late last year read the book “The Gospel According to The World’s Greatest Superhero” by Stephen Skelton(Yes he’s a protestant, but thats not the issue here). I also recently saw the “Richard Donner” edit of Superman 2 which includes a scene where Marlon Brando’s Jor-El physically “joins” or if you will “Baptises” his fully human son so the son can once again take up his Superman powers.

I found that the author of the book had made some rather interesting observations about the various incarnations of the Comic Book Superhero. He choose to focus his discussion on the 1940’s original comic strips, the Christopher Reeves portrayal and the Tom Welling starring “Smallville” tv show, during which in the first episode the young clark is hung on a “Scarecrow” pole in a Crucifixion pose.

His comments about Superman 2 including a “trinity of pure evil”(a false prophet, a Satanic leader who wants his name to replace God, and a physical beast) makes for some interesting discussion.

He also talks in detail about Bryan Singer’s new film and has interviewed Byran about the Christic elements of the superhero character.

So here is my question,

Were the Protestors who, over the issue of Marlon Brando “Playing god”, heckled Richard Donner when the '78 picture came out, in the right?

Are such metaphors biblically acceptable(I can’t go into detail but the book, Skelton’s that is, does make a strong case for) ? Can they have the power help us actually understand Christ’s mission further? Do they allow us to come closer to Christ once we understand where our attraction to such characters as superman actually comes from? What is the Catholic Church’s opinion of such things?

 

[ALotLessThumb]

Well the Superman character was supposed to be a representation of Moses- and this can be seen in the earliest stories of the character created by two Jewish gentlemen.
Superman, as a character, has definately taken on the form of a more Christ-like, Christian, figure; but I think that was largely due to reflect the readers and movie-goers who were mostly Christian/brought up in a Christian culture and the invulnerablility of the character himself.

I for one do not have a problem with the character or its emulations. C.S. Lewis and Tolkien (to name two) used Christ-like figures and other symbols to represent Christian theology. Futhermore, such recognition (and in a character who could be thought of as the ultimate good-guy superhero) can be beneficial to bringing a bit of the Christian message to all- and to be seen as a good reminder of Our real Superman. And though some people may obsess over Superman and comic book characters to a peculiar level that could border on idolatry- it also presents a small crop of people who are really looking for a higher power that they can get behind, these are people searching for evangelizers.

So basically I see more harm than good in such characters how hope that as God’s children, we continue to create and reflect even a sliver of his perfection in our lives.

 

[Luke77]

Cant speak about the 1940’s comic strips but as for Smallive it has an absoulte overzelous volume of oversexed soap like scenes quite similar to Salvation History. The condiction to modesty and good taste is obvious. My main problem with it is that in the show every one is saved in corpal matters and nothing spirtual even though it uses Christ like symbolism for the protaginist.

 

[colliric]

Cant speak about the 1940’s comic strips but as for Smallive it has an absoulte overzelous volume of oversexed soap like scenes quite similar to Salvation History. The condiction to modesty and good taste is obvious. My main problem with it is that in the show every one is saved in corpal matters and nothing spirtual even though it uses Christ like symbolism for the protaginist.

The '40s comic strip included one very blatant metaphor, Superman’s Parents were Mary Kent and Jonathan Joseph Kent. They changed that just to make it a little less obvious later on to Martha, but kept Jonathan Joseph to kind of keep the link there.