From Star Wars to Superman (Sophia Institute Press)

Within Hollywood, there are so many movies that flood the big screens every year. Most of them are trash if we're being honest, and that's no surprise seeing that most of Hollywood has become a land of filth and sleaze. However, if you look at some movies close enough, you can see Christ symbology in them. Yes, you can re-read that sentence and let it sink in. It's hard to believe, but even some of the most questionable of directors, producers, actors, and actresses have done moves with this type of symbology in them. Whether or not it was intentional is not my place to say, but I do know that every man and woman has a Christ-shaped hole in their soul and only He can fill it. Recently, James Papandrea wrote called From Star Wars to Superman: Christ Figures in Science Fiction and Superhero Films.

The book is divided into the following four sections:

1. Aliens Incarnate
2. Alternate Universes
3. Time Travel as Incarnation
4. Jesus Christ, Superhero

These sections are then divided further into chapters with each chapter devoted to a specific movie or television series. Such movies/TV shows covered are Star Trek, Star Wars, Tron, Lost, The Matrix, Planet of the Apes, and a big chapter devoted to all the DC and Marvel films. The chapter on The Matrix was interesting to me, as I admit I watched the series once and was a bit confused by it. Not only did Papandrea explain that Neo is a gnostic version of Christ and talk about the theme of free will in the movies, he also explains several confusing scenes in the movie. Much appreciated! The chapters I enjoyed reading the most were on Star Wars and The Planet of the Apes. These are two series I thoroughly enjoy, and, as he pointed out, while you can see elements of a "Savior" in these movies, none of them are orthodox representations of Christ.

Overall, I found this to be an interesting book. Some of the chapters didn't speak to me, because they were series I never bothered watching (Tron, Lost, and Pleasantville), but I was enthralled by most of the other chapters. What I found most telling was the brief summary in the end. "Of the 19 characters surveyed in this book, only five (counting Superman and Wonder Woman) come out looking like reasonably orthodox analogies for Christ. The rest look more like heretical versions, with seven leaning toward the adoptionist/Arian and six leaning toward the gnostic." This is to be expected, as it is Hollywood after all, but it is disappointing. I'm glad to have read this book and would recommend it to all Christian fans of these types of movies/shows, so they don't misinterpret them and think that these figures are orthodox representations of Christ.

This book was provided to me for free by Sophia Institute Press in exchange for an honest review.