Why Christians Don't Need Superman
07-28-2006
by Johann Snyder

Lois Lane wrote an article that explained why the world didn't need Superman, but perhaps it should have been entitled "Why Christians Don't Need Superman." There are a lot of reasons why Superman Returns didn't soar at the box office, but part of the reason was certainly the lack of support by Christian audiences; which is something that baffles me. Of all the movies released this summer, you would think this was the one that Christians should have really been excited about and supported, but apparently it just wasn't Christian enough. Why? Because it didn't have Christ, only someone like Christ, and when it comes to the gospel on the big screen, that apparently isn't good enough.

You know, there was a time when the Church felt that Hollywood was completely ignoring them. Many Christians saw nothing worthwhile whatsoever coming out of Hollywood, and anything that did have any sort of reference to God, the Church or Christianity was usually derogatory or insulting. All of that begin to change in 2004 when Mel Gibson released a little picture called The Passion of the Christ. It quickly became the number one grossing R-rated film of all time, due in a large part to the efforts of Christians and their support of the film. Now, admittedly this was an independent effort by Mel Gibson and not a film made by Hollywood proper, but let's face it, Mel Gibson has always been one of the faces of Hollywood. Christians wholeheartedly accepted this film and were excited about how they could use it to reach people with the gospel. When Narnia came out, once again Christians mobilized to support a film that had portrayed the gospel message. Once again, Christians had a tool to reach people for Christ. It seemed as though Hollywood was finally learning that there was a market for so called "Christian" movies. But why were these Christian movies so successful when other Christian efforts such as Hoodwinked and Luther only met with modest success. These movies were about Christians or made by Christians, and yet they did not receive the same sort of wholehearted support as The Passion or Narnia. Why? Were they not "Christian" enough? Were they made for the "wrong" reasons? Were they not blatant enough with the gospel? Maybe it's because they didn't really feature Christ, which leads us to why Christians don't need Superman.

Author Steve Skelton thoroughly illustrated the parallels between Superman and Jesus Christ in his book The Gospel According to the World's Greatest Superhero. Director Bryan Singer has repeatedly stated in various interviews that he's extremely aware of the fact that Superman is a Christ figure and made sure that those elements were very central to the new movie; much as they were in the 1978 original. Considering that so many writers, directors, animators and more understand that Superman is a Christ figure in the mainstream world, one would think that Christians would have been excited about a major film that features a prominent character which throughout most of his history has pointed to Christ. But that was not the case. Despite a fevered discussion of the spiritual implications of Superman taking place in the mainstream press, Christian media seemed at best indifferent on the topic. In fact, they often seemed intent on down-playing any parallels that might be drawn between the Man of Steel and the Son of Man. Over and over again I read reviews at Christian websites that emphasized that Superman is not Jesus, was never meant to be Jesus, and therefore the Church should not promote any coincidental connections between the two; Christians don't need Superman to help them lead people to Christ or the gospel. We now had movies that actually had Jesus in them to do that.

You know, it occurs to me that when Jesus talked to people, He didn't use Himself in every story. In fact, He often used stories about everyday people - some of them not very pleasant or respectable - to illustrate truths about God and His Kingdom. These were called parables, and they were a valuable tool for reaching people with Truth. In today's society, we have a wealth of parables playing at the multi-plex almost every weekend; stories that illustrate the Gospel in broad, exciting strokes that engages the hearts and emotions of viewers. Now granted, not every one of these stories will actually have Christ in them, but then, Jesus didn't often tell stories that included Him as a character either. But He did tell stories with characters and situations that people could relate to and in a round-a-bout way eventually led to Him and revealed truths about God's kingdom. Couldn't movies, especially ones such as Superman Returns, do the same? I find it so interesting that Christians were ready to say that The Da Vinci Code was an opportunity to engage people with the gospel because it got so much wrong but had people talking about Jesus, and yet when Superman came along and actually got some things right and had mainstream media talking about Jesus, it's wasn't an opportunity to spread the gospel except to point out again what Superman got wrong so far as it's portrayal of a Christ-like figure that apparently wasn't Christ-like enough.

Well, one thing is for sure, the job of Christians is to point people to Christ and to spread the good news of the gospel. If there are movies that inadvertently or purposely aid in that cause, I say we should use them. Jesus used stories from the culture around Him to reveal the kingdom of God to those who would listen, and we have an opportunity every weekend to do the same. Some opportunities, like Superman Returns, are better than others because the tie-ins with the gospel are more prevalent and obvious. Christians may not need Superman, but the world does. The world is looking for a savior, and if they see something in a character like Superman that gives them hope, we should be there to explain to them why they feel that way and point them to the one true source of hope and life in the universe; a real hero that we all need., a super-man that came to earth to save us all, a God-man that died and rose again. These things actually happened once in history, so let's take whatever opportunity we have to show that the myths people see at the movies are actually shadows of a reality that took place over two thousand years ago. No, Christians don't need Superman, but we could use his help in the never-ending battle to point people to the Way, the Truth, and the Life

Johann "Yo" Snyder is the host of the Mid-day show at M88 radio, 88.3FM in Albuquerque, NM. He writes a monthly blog that takes some elements of current events and pop culture to illustrate spiritual points. The archives for these articles can be found at: http://www.m88.org/yo-duh.asp