Maggers Wrote:I never connected Jesus and Superman when watching Christopher Reeve, but the new guy had a very Jesus vibe, IMO. And with Jor-el saying that he's sending us his only son...well, how could I not make the connection?
And that was very deliberately done in the first Christopher Reeve film. I read that Richard Donner even got death threats from the fundys over it.
The whole Superman/Christ allegory was supposed to be continued into Superman II, as well, but after the bonehead producers fired Richard Donner and removed all of Brando's footage, most of that got dropped.
There was a really nifty scene in which Brando sacrificed the last of his life force to return his son's powers. On the page, it simultaneously evokes the idea of temptation and resurrection, and you could probably just about write a thesis on all the possible meanings, especially given the source of the temptation.
For those interested in reading the scene in question, the script is
here in PDF format. Look on page 75, starting with scene 466A.
I was glad to see the religious subtext restored somewhat in the new one just because I find the allegory interesting. I need to see the new one again, though, to decide what I really thought of it. I saw it at the drive-in (best way to see a movie with a baby!), and the boneheads had it a bit out of focus the whole time. It was frustrating sometimes trying to figure out what the heck was going on.
Blake