Superman, Angels and Joan of Arc

Perhaps you remember my mentioning Dave, my cartoonist friend. He wrote me about Superman. I'd like to share what he has to say.

I also have a couple notes from Sam, my reporter friend. He fills us in with his own thoughts about angels.

Maybe you're telling me there's no connection between Superman and angels. But, hey, they both fly and they both come to the rescue of the good guys.

Here's Dave first.

"I find it hard to connect Superman and Jesus, other than the fact that Superman was able to perform feats that would seem God-like to us mere earthlings. Superman was created in 1938 by a couple of teen-agers, Jerry Siegel (writer) and Joe Shuster (artist). Superman's only link to the Bible is that He was modeled after Samson, according to his creators. The first strong man in the comics and still the most popular ever.

"I was listening to a radio talk show last week and they were disscussing the movie verson of C.S. Lewis's Narnia. It's expected to stir up quite a controversy. I'm anxious to hear your thoughts on this, should be interesting."

And now Sam.

"More male movie angels--Clarence, who is more ghost than angel since he hasn't earned his wings, in "It's a Wonderful Life," Claude Rains in "Here Comes Mr. Jordan," Jack Benny as the angel Athanael in "A Horn Blows at Midnight," and John Travolta as one of the few movie angels depicted with wings, in "Michael."

"I can't remember an angel with a feminine name in the Bible, which seems to favor male angels such as Michael, Gabriel, and even Lucifer. But let someone paint a picture of two toddlers crossing a dilapidated bridge or asleep in the forest, and the angel hovering over them is always a female. Is that because angels are supposed to be weaker and subservient to God, like the stereotypical depiction, even in the Bible, of women's relationship to men? It's certainly not an image that I would endorse!

"I read McEver's essay on Christ-like figures, to which you referred, and frankly was surprised that he cites main characters in "Cool Hand Luke" and "Sling Blade" and yet overlooks a much better example as portrayed by Ingrid Bergman in her 1948 starring role as "Joan of Arc."

"Also, what about Jesus as a hippie in the successful stage play (and ho-hum movie) Jesus Christ, Superstar? If Paul Newman and Billy Joe Thorton were Christ figures in their respective films, then so was Madonna in "Evita".

"As for "The Last Temptation of Christ," I never saw the movie but did read the book years before the film was made and was quite impressed with its premise. The Bible tells of Jesus being tempted by the devil in the wilderness by suggesting that he use miracles to provide food and drink for himself. The Last Temptation of Christ suggests what seems to me to be the most seductive temptation--simply to live a full life as a man instead of making the spiritial sacrifice for mankind. The hardest temptation to resist is simply to do nothing at all.Ironically, Paul Newman's first role as a leading man was in a sandals-and-toga religious film, "The Silver Chalice," in which the best acting was done by Jack Palance as the evil Simon the Magician who was fatally determined to outdo Jesus in the performance of miracles. Palance portrays evil much better than Newman portrays good.

So far Sam.

I also have always felt that Jack Palance made the ideal bad guy! Further that Scorsese movie about Christ's temptation had to do with Mary Magdalene and him tempted to get married and have children, a hot topic in these days since the DaVinci Code. And I've written a little to correct the idea that women are portrayed in the Bible as subservient to men.

I'll have more to say about the newest of The Chronicles of Narnia movie as soon as I've seen it. Meanwhile, make sure your Christmas present to that woman in your life is a good one. I write to everyone from Colorado. No need to sing here about ". . . dreaming of a White Christmas."