Dean's Thoughts on Entertainment

Another Christian Related Blog

A defense of Jesus Christ Superstar



Since becoming a Christian I have consistently run into trouble with the ignorance of the masses of Christians. Everyone knows that these people exist and they laugh at the Christian faith because of them. A clear indicator would be the ones who picket the local Marilyn Manson/Eminem/Teletubbie concert because most intelligent Christians can scheme up a better waste of time than trying to convince people that music is evil by whining and being immature. But since they are plentiful and for some reason in charge of the Christian Faith I have to battle them. So in this Blog I will occasionally distinguish myself from the blabbering mass of mindless Christians who pollute the world, and demonstrate their ignorance. One point on which I find they are universally ignorant is in hatred of Jesus Christ Superstar. Now there are reasons to dislike the movie (it is a musical) but I have never met someone who had actually seen it and disliked it and the movie is misinterpreted more than any other in Hollywood.



Jesus Christ Superstar is the musical portrayal of the life of Christ, it isn’t entirely founded on the Biblical narrative but it is enough to be considered Biblical (it is more Biblical than the no-denim rule at LBC which I am breaking at this moment). There are going to be inherent problems when bringing the life of Christ to the screen, but most of them should be understandable to a common audience. And I will attempt to make them Crystal clear.



Reasons the movie is hated, but shouldn’t be

It is a Movie
Because it is a movie and would like to be interesting Jesus is going to do things other than lecture and I think this turned off some Christians. The movie couldn’t go from sermon to sermon, and instead went from his entrance into Jerusalem to his death, and most of his interaction is between the disciples. And when Jesus confronts Judas before the betrayal, people get upset by scenes like this that are extra-biblical, but it serves to fuel the drama between the two characters. This is a movie that has to develop characters and propel a plot, things have to be added and deleted.

It is a musical
The problem with musicals based on a real life account is that they have to choose critical moments in the person’s life to turn into a song. So the key problem with Jesus Christ Superstar is that songs are made out of points that are often downplayed within the Christian retelling of the life of Christ. So when we look at the life of Christ from a dramatic point of view one of the most important events would be Christ’s moment of questioning, and the movie made this one moment into a six minute song. So the outcry is “They made too much of the moment of doubt!” and the response is, “When else did Jesus demonstrate emotion in such a pointed way”, of course they had to make a song about it.

Hippie’s Made It
Lots of Hippie’s did think Jesus was the Man, but I don’t think this movie embodies that idea like critics want it to. Jesus doesn’t show himself to be a hippie, he doesn’t promote free love or some crap, so I think this is another argument of ignorance.

The points of view
Each character sings their songs within their point of view on the whole drama. The problem lies in that everyone in the movie has the wrong view of Jesus on some point. If you take what Herod says and weigh it equally with what Jesus said you’re already an idiot, so the problem is you.

The Message
Christians didn’t make this movie, so it doesn’t end with a Gospel presentation. Most of the Christian movies dance around all of the issues and portray Jesus poorly and then end with the Gospel as Jesus dances with Children and sheep to the latest hit by Jars of Clay. I have yet to see a good Jesus movie, and it is a shame that this heathen version has more to say than the Christians who should honestly have the corner on the truth on this subject.

The Characters
Once again the movie has to pick characters who do things. So when you wonder “Where is John, Jesus’ beloved?” well what did he do in the gospels? “Um…he was friendly, and he was Jesus’ friend…in a friendly way.” He didn’t really do anything that you can translate to the screen, so then who did? Jesus, Mary, Peter, and Judas. The movie had Simon portray the emotions of the disciples at one point, but other than that these four are the only characters.

Mary
Much of the controversy of the movie lies with Mary, or the rumor that Jesus lies with Mary. The idea that the movie indicates that Jesus and Mary are intimate comes out of the same idea that the movie makes too much of the moment of doubt. The fact that Jesus sings a song in defense of her means he loves her and sleeps with her. And once again the problem is your misinterpretation. There is no other indication that they are intimate, except that Mary sings that she loves him…with Peter and the other disciples...So is Jesus gay?? The movie wanted a female lead, who wouldn’t, and the fact that she gets a few songs in doesn’t mean she was banging the lead.

Peter and the Disciples
People get upset that the disciples are portrayed as idiots. Well read the book of Mark and just look at the Disciples. The book of Mark shows the disciples constantly getting it wrong and when the book ends they have run away so as to not be killed with Christ. Mark doesn’t make an effort to clean up their image, Why? Because we are the disciples too. We are just like they are, and they are just like Israel in the Old Testament. The Bible doesn’t pull punches, the Disciples who were with Jesus in person are just as stupid as the Jews who were with Moses and us who are with the completed Bible. If this movie got anything right it was the portrayal of the disciples.

Judas



Judas is the other key point of dissention. Once again the convention of a movie is the culprit. What is more interesting and important; a man who is Jesus’ friend and who likes to eat bread dipped in honey and plays mancala twice a week, or a man who travels with Jesus and is lead to betray him? “Oh, so that’s why they chose Judas!” But besides the reason for making him important there are reasons to have issue with the Judas narrative, and some of them have ground so I will address them later. Oh, and people hated the fact that he was black, but if you wanted to be accurate the whole cast would have had dark skin since Jesus and the disciples were all middle-eastern. So not quite black, but closer. I think racism would probably be the point of contention here, and Judas being black isn’t nearly as bad as a woman playing Peter Pan so…

Sympathy for Pilate
People like their villains evil, bad to the bone, rotten to the core. But Pilate killed Jesus because the people kind of blackmailed him and put him in a corner. That isn’t evil enough for some people. But these same people didn’t read the Bible, or any of the History of Jerusalem at that time.

Reasons why you could dislike the movie

These are reasons I would consider valid excuses for disliking the movie, but I don’t usually hear these arguments I usually hear “Mary is a slut and Jesus had relations with her in the movie and I saw a Baby and the Baby looked at me!” But that was The Last Temptation of Christ, and maybe the two get mixed up in Christian’s minds, especially since they probably didn’t watch either one I guess it would be easy to confuse them.

Sympathy for Judas



There are many different groups and people who have sympathy for Judas, so this movie couldn’t be faulted for creating this problem, but they do embrace it within the movie. The core is that if we believe in Predestination (Which I do) you understand that Judas was chosen for his role in the betrayal and that the crucifixion could not have happened without his help, or someone like him. Therefore, Judas was a necessary evil and that maybe he should be appreciated for something. The sympathy goes beyond though, when they have Judas realize his predestination in the movie and blame God for making him do it. That argument isn’t entirely without merit but it is a more controversial inclusion in the movie so I understand this point as valid.

The Ending
The movie ends with Jesus’ death and does not show the resurrection. Although this doesn’t necessitate that the movie disowns the Resurrection, it doesn’t give Christians the warm fuzzies. I believe the movie ends with a Question, “Who is Jesus to you?” I think the movie portrays what is generally received as true and avoids what is sometimes perceived as false. Jesus doesn’t do any miracles in the movie. And in the final song Judas is singing in white “Buddha is he where your at, is he where you are, could Mohammed move a mountain or was that just P.R.” The question is unanswered by the movie, and I would be scared if the Non-Christian writers did try to answer it. But, it isn’t wholly Christian so there is a point of contention and this does have some ground, so I would understand if someone objected to the ending. But it shouldn’t negate the whole movie.

The Reasons the Movie should be liked

The Portrayal of the Disciples – See Above

The Portrayal of the People’s desire for a political King and not a spiritual savior

Throughout the Bible and the movie the people and Disciples are awaiting the King of Judah from the line of David to rise up and crush the Romans and make Israel powerful again. When Jesus arrives He comes to be a light to mankind, and not a political leader. And everyone got that one wrong. The disciples didn’t get it until after He died, and they didn’t understand why Jesus felt He needed to die because you can’t destroy Rome from the grave. The reason that Rome was afraid of Jesus was that he might unite Israel against them. So the expectation of a King was critical to the whole movie and Biblical narrative. And it was this Kingship that Jesus denies before Pilate, Jesus did not come to rule, He came to save. We have yet to see the Return of the King. (That was a sweet pun wasn’t it, but I won’t dwell on it because it might be heretical)

The Music
Man I still rock that CD, mostly the second disc which has Gethsemane, and the best songs by Pilate and Judas. You show me another song that can be exciting as it counts slowly to 39…not even The Count could get me to count that high without getting bored. And Jesus can scream like a banshee, and I only wish I had them pipes. If I ever learn to sing I want to do a one man show if this movie where I play all the parts. But I guess if I had to choose a role I would play Pilate.

It’s a Rock Opera
Musicals and the Opera and the like are generally crap, rolled up in feces and lathered with urine. But Rock opera’s rule. Bum-Bum-Bamp-Bamp-Bampanamp
Note – This blurb is me being ignorant, it was my turn

It’s Good
Despite the two possible Theological issues the movie is awesome, and if you have no religious fervor you have no excuse. For shame.