The Gospel According to the Movies
Posted 5/20/2023
Christians and non-Christians generally agree that Jesus Christ has had a huge impact on world history, culture, and literature ever since Jesus waled the Earth.
A Christology is a story which mirrors the life and saving role of Jesus Christ. Usually such a story will have Jesus like character who goes through at least some of the core experiences that Jesus did: teaching, miracle working, saving, death, and resurrection. These stories have been told for a long time and includes stories portrayed as movies. Some of these movies are extremely popular. In some cases, the writers may not even intend to have a Christology in their script, but it is there nonetheless. To be clear, none of these characters are Jesus, but they have some important things in common with Jesus.
E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982): A lonely boy befriends a lovable space alien who is left behind by his fellow visitors. E.T. is able to heal wounds with his finger. Jesus also had a healing touch. E.T. is inevitably discovered by the government of Earth’s most powerful country and the intense study of him by government agents worsens the creature’s already sickened condition and he eventually dies. Jesus suffered a similar fate in the hands of the government of the most powerful civilization in the world at the time. Like Jesus, E.T. came back to life and ascended into the heavens.
Superman (1978): A child is sent from a doomed planet to ours and is raised by Earth parents and grows up with superhuman powers which he uses to protect us. Superman, like Jesus was sent from above, has abilities the rest of us do not have, and is here to save people. Superman is described as the “Son of Jorel.” Any description of a person as “Son of” is reminiscent of Jesus being described as the “Son of God.” Both Superman and Jesus have an earth mother and a heavenly father. One important difference is that Superman violated his oath not to interfere with human history by reversing time to undo the death of his beloved Lois Lane. Jesus never used his powers to do things He was not supposed to do, even when tempted by Satan. A character in Superman Returns, one of several sequels, says that this world needs a savior. This is exactly what Christian disciples and missionaries have been telling us for centuries! There is also an Old Testament parallel since Moses, like Superman, was sent away by his parents, adopted by others, and grew up to be a hero.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (2005): Four children accidentally enter a parallel universe by walking into a wardrobe where some of the animals talk and they work with Aslan, a talking lion who is the rightful ruler of that world, to liberate the world from an evil queen. One of the children betrays the others. Though the queen demands blood, Aslan agrees to die in his place. Aslan later rises back to life and breaks the spell that the queen has over that world. If I were to visit Narnia, I would be able to tell the people there that there is a similar story in our own world. There was also a being with absolute power in our world who suffered and died to pay a price for us, rose from the dead, and defeated evil. The story was written by C.S. Lewis, an atheist who became a Christian and wrote books of science fiction, fantasy, and theology. Lewis was trying to teach not just the readers, but also himself about Christianity.
The Matrix (1999): A young man sometimes known as Neo is told that the world he knows is just a computer-generated fantasy and that the real world has been rendered harsh, dark, and desolate by war and that humans are enslaved and harvested for their energy by machines. Neo accepts his role as the “chosen one” to pop into this simulation and tell people the truth. Jesus also taught that he had come from to our world from the outside and that we were enslaved in a sense.
The Terminator (1984): A murderous robot from the future targets a woman because she will later give birth to a great military leader who will lead the human race in the war against the machines who take over the world. Another time traveler provides the protection this woman needs. In the first sequel it is her son that needs protection. Jesus was also a savior-of-humanity figure who needed to be protected. When Jesus was a small child, He was targeted by a king who feared being replaced. The important difference is that the savior in The Terminator was more like the military leader that the Israelites expected rather than the spiritual savior and peacemaker that Jesus turned out to be.
Not all of these movies are suitable and enjoyable for all ages and types of people. Nonetheless, Christians can and do use these and other stories like them to illustrate key points in their faith. At any rate the frequent appearance of the Jesus story demonstrates the conscious or subconscious impact of one of the most touching stories in history on these writers.