I've seen a few articles commenting on how Warner Bros paid a theologian to market the new Man of Steel to Christians by comparing it to the story of Jesus. It's a great marketing idea, it seems pastors are always looking for some kind of new media to demonstrate the gospels through. But is this polluting the gospel to compare the sacred stories of Jesus in the gospels to this modern Hollywood blockbuster?
I would say no. It's not wrong or polluting. In fact, I think we can see Christ's symbolic presence in almost any captivating story that contains good vs evil. Of course the story is going to be different and have its own spins on theological symbols within it, but that is to be expected of symbolism in general. I just saw Man of Steel this past weekend with one of my friends, so I thought I would look into some of the symbolism here. Is Jesus the Man of Steel? This post will contain spoilers.
At a first glance it is easy to see the Christian symbolism. Clark is living among humans, yet he is so much more than that. He is constantly hiding who he is because his "time has not yet come" to show his true identity to the world. When Zod, a Kryptonian general, comes to earth, he seeks Clark by threatening the whole world to give him up. Clark, after reflection at a church, decides that he will not submit himself to Zod, but rather submits himself to the human race. He willingly lets the military bind him and takes him in for questioning, despite the fact that he could escape at any time. The military reluctantly hands him over to Zod to appease him. Aboard Zod's ship, which has been designed to replicate Krypton's harsher environment, we see Clark weak for the first time. He spits up blood, and passes out. After a psychic conversation with Zod, Clark confirms that Zod is trying to replicate Krypton's environment on the earth, which would wipe out humanity.
Clark, with the help of his Kryptonian father's electronic consciousness, Jor-El, escapes, and after quite a bit of planning and battling he sends Zod's companions back into the Phantom Zone and goes head to head with Zod himself, where Clark emerges victorious, being forced to kill Zod when he was trying to fry some humans with his heat vision. The end shows Clark, now established as Superman, throw down a military drone in front of a sergeant, who was trying to use the drone to find out where Superman dwells. Superman makes it clear that he is on humanity's side, but also that he can never be controlled by the government.
Christ metaphors abound. The human child who is "not of this earth." The choice to submit to human rulers when he could have easily resisted. The fall of a hero, only to rise up and reveal his identity to the world and to save it simultaneously. That much is easy to see. But what really intrigued me the most in this allegory was Zod. If Superman was Christ, who was Zod in all of this?
The easy answer would be Satan. It would just make sense, right? Well, not really. Zod had good intentions: he wanted to restore his home. Does Satan have any remnant of good intentions? In the final battle between Superman and Zod, Zod emerges from the ashes of a ravaged city, and tells Superman that he destroyed Zod's purpose and the future of his people. He tells Superman, "My soul... that is what you have taken from me!" and then proceeds to attack him.
Zod seems too human to me to be Satan. I think that he is the Jews of the gospels. Now bear with me, this movie was not antisemitic. In the gospels the Jews thought they were God's chosen people. They wanted a political Messiah who would come to return Israel to its former glory. They demanded Jesus death despite the reluctance of Pilate. They sound like Zod to me.
As with all allegory, we must look past the metaphors and fictitious elements to see the point that is being portrayed. The point of the movie was not to demonize 1st century Jews. Instead, allegories work to inspire ideas with modern implications. So what can we infer from investigating the heavy Christ allegory in Man of Steel?
That's easy. We want to be like Superman, and therefore like Christ. We want to protect humanity despite any alienation we experience from it. We want to have the willpower he has to always do what we know is right, despite any power we possess. But more importantly, we don't want to be like Zod. We don't want to let our power get the best of us when it comes to getting what we want. We don't want to perpetuate a culture that brings violence to other worlds, coldly restricts personal rights and liberties, and is oblivious to the realty around it, such as an imploding planet core. We don't want to be the Jews as described in the gospels.
Christians today, however, seem to confuse Jesus' identity like the Jews of the gospels did. They say they love Jesus because they want to fit under the "right" faction in their religious worldview, but they really tend to like the Jews as portrayed in the gospels more than Jesus. They say that Christ is a personal savior, but really think he is mighty king to come at the end times to judge with an iron rod, separating the worthy from the unworthy. Does this sound like Superman or Zod? Jesus' nature, or the nature of the Messiah the Jews of the Bible wanted?
In the same way Christians often try to establish Jesus as a political ruler, which is contrary to his nature (John 18.36). They want America to be ruled by a religious code enforced through the government, like a ban on homosexual marriage. They say we have kicked God out of our country, which may be true, but is forcing our own religious culture onto an entire country Christ-like? Could perhaps this be symbolized by Zod's terraforming machine? Many would argue that culture and values are always being forced by the government, which I am not arguing against. But since when were Christians supposed to be part of the ways of this world? Jesus changed the world through inspiring others through wisdom and selfless love, not control. It seems like most Christians want Christ to be what he was not: a controlling Messiah. They are putting new wine into old wineskins. They are dressing Zod up as Superman.
I think the allegory in Man of Steel does a fantastic job of showing the flaw of typical fundamentalist theology today: it's caught in the middle between Superman and Zod. It wants to show God's selfless love to others, but often wants to do so through control and forcing one culture onto another. Does that sound like something Superman would do? Or, more importantly, is this something Jesus did? Nope.
Is Jesus the Man of Steel? I don't know, but he sure as hell isn't Zod.
