Superman as (Gay) Christ Figure The debate rages on!
by The Perfessor
Well, no it really doesn’t but I did come across these two links a while back and have been a bit too distracted to post them, but I’m going to do so now, because, well, what the Hell, if you can’t poke fun at your religious beliefs, then what fun is it having them?
Seriously, the first one comes to us courtesy of our pals over at PVP who will skewer anything and anyone for a laugh.
The second reference (I’ll admit I haven’t read all the way through it) seems to be done by more a serious-minded fellow, and seems to hold Kal-El up as a holy icon. Apparently some folks really do have a lot of time on their hands, or are desperately in search of a college thesis. (OK, I’ll admit that I too wrote a couple of papers on comicbooks, but that was back in high school, after college I did it some more, but, you know, for pay, and turned it into something of a profession.)
The Perfessor
August 30th, 2006 at 7:03 pm
Let's see,
As I was walking out of the theater after Superman Returns, I heard one teenage boy "that f$@#ing movie was gaaayyy!" But they didn't say anything about a Jesus allegory.
Maybe they were partially correct.
August 30th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
After watching Superman Returns, my wife decided that whoever wrote the part of Lois Lane, or thought that making the movie sappy to draw women into the theater, was completely unfamiliar with individuals of the female persuasion. Hmmmm
August 30th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
Dude:
When I was leaving the theater after watching the most recent superman debacle, I heard a teanage boy comment on the movie thustly:
"Jesus, that was gay!"
This wisened young man seems to gotten a thread that I had overlooked.
August 30th, 2006 at 9:09 pm
I think that Bryan Singer did an admirable job of not having the camera's focal point always be Brandon Routh's super package.
August 30th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Last year (well before the debacle that was Superman Returns) I joined a Jewish friend of mine to attend a talk being given on the Upper West Side of Manhattan at a Jewish Community Center. The talk was about Jews in comics (both as creators and characters).
Intrigued, I joined him, and sat around as several Comicbook Pros and fans (all or most of whom were Jewish), expound at length on how Superman was the perfect Jewish story (like Moses, he was placed in a basket (rocket ship) and sent down the river (off into space) in order to save his life.
I was astounded. As a Roman Catholic, I had always seen Superman as a Christ figure (a father giving up his only begotten son for the salvation of another people). This image was reinforced in the ‘90s with the death and re-birth (resurrection) of Superman. Imagine, my surprise when I realized that the Jewish image of him worked every bit as well as did the Christian model.
As for being gay, well that is something I never say, but I can (intellectually) understand how gays might be able to layer that on him as well
The Perfessor