Jesus doesn't hold a candle to Clark Kent!

I caught this little tidbit on cnn.com and thought it warranted commentary as only I can provide. I'm gonna cut and paste the opening couple of paragraphs and provide the link below for the full article if anyone is interested.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/14/film.supermanchristfigure.ap/index.html


LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- First there were the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Now, for many Christian moviegoers comes another gospel.
As the hype machine shifts into high gear for the upcoming release of "Superman Returns," some are reading deeply into the film whose hero returns from a deathlike absence to play savior to the world.
"It is so on the nose that anyone who has not caught on that Superman is a Christ figure, you think, 'Who else could it be referring to?' " said Steve Skelton, who wrote a book examining parallels between Superman and Christ.


I really don't think the creators of the second best superhero made him into christ, considering that Jerome Seigel and Joseph Shuster were BOTH JEWISH!!!! This article gets even better:

Some have also seen the hero as a gay icon, forced to live a double life with his super-self in the closet. A recent edition of the gay magazine "The Advocate" even asked on its cover, "How gay is Superman?"

What is it about special interest groups looking to adopt pop culture mythology and spin it in a favorable way suited to them? It's not just Superman, it's everything. He-Man is supposedly an allegory of homosexuality (same thing, a man forced to lead a double life, keeping it secret from his Dad). The Smurfs are supposedly communists living under the iron fist of capitalism (Gargamel). Scooby Doo is pro-marijuana propoganda (although that one is SO blatant, i'm pretty sure there's merit to it). There's also Super Mario Brothers which allegedly promotes and anti-italian agenda (stereotypical Italians as plumbers and one of the many creatures are called 'goombas'). Sidenote here: there is definitely something drugged about super mario brothers - you eat mushrooms, all the wild colors, the trippy duck/turtle monsters, and you are saving princess toadstool after all. You can apply these theories to any pop culture phenomenon. This is actually kind of fun to write about. Have any of you guys heard wild theories about popular cartoons, etc? I'd like to hear some more.



Tags: Superman