Tuesday, March 31, 2009

An Essentially Christian Plotline



There is a young man, different from other young men. Ancient prophecies foretell his coming, and he performs miraculous feats. Eventually, confronted by his enemies, he must sacrifice his own life—an act that saves mankind from calamity—but in a mystery as great as that of his origin, he is reborn, to preside in glory over a world redeemed. Tell this story to one of the world’s 2 billion Christians, and he’ll recognize it instantly. Tell it to a science-fiction and fantasy fan, and he’ll ask why you’re making minor alterations to the plot of The Matrix or Superman Returns. For reasons that have as much to do with global politics as with our cultural moment, some of this generation’s most successful sci-fi and fantasy movie franchises follow an essentially Christian plotline. Benjamin A. Plotinsky


I would disagree in that I do not think the reason is substantially political or cultural. I believe the reason is that truth is inherently interesting even if it's only true on an allegorical level.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

each will see the same object through their own rose tinted glasses.

some Buddhist will say the matrix is a Buddhist movie,
some Christians will say it's a Christian movie
and some atheists will say it's a atheistic movie.

now, do not be mistaken, i am not here to join this fray of greedy ppl & make my own attempt to drag The Matrix to my side... rather..

it is not a matter of how, or who wins this greedy snatching game of an attempt of ally with popular culture, but what it seeks to achieve.

this is a good opportunity to gain an insight into the minds of some religious ppl and their motives, the extend they are willing to go to use just abt anything(however far fetched) to justify their own positions.

attempts to align with just abt anything that happens to occur over the horizon of popular culture simply smacks of desperation.

i am pretty sure the intelligent reader can adequately come to their own conclusions.