Omputih is too advanced in their promotional activities to sell their
products. The Hollywood is banking on Superman to prevent the sliding
down of revenues generated from the block buster movies. This time
around the promoters of the movie uses religion to arouse excitement
among the crowd to see Superman. After all this is all about dollar and
cents.
Those who got emotionally involved in or at least becoming interested
in the discussion about this movie are actually the target segment of
the marketing effort. Pls be aware of this or else the Muslims will
forever become the batteries just like in the movie triology "The
Matrix"
>>> Berita Informasi 28/06/2006 17:18:47 >>>
Religious imagery surrounded 'Superman' from beginning; Jewish roots
noted; Christian-flavoured scenes easy to detect - By JEFFREY WEISS
Call it The Passion of Kal-El? Superman Returns is splashed with
enough Christian imagery for a cathedral full of stained-glass windows.
The movie's director is Jewish. So were the two teenagers who
created the Superman character - based in part on Jewish sacred stories
and legends - in 1932. Nonetheless, obvious images from iconic Christian
art and stories are as common in this film as product placements are in
most summer blockbusters: Superman, having been sent by his
father, saves the world while (almost) sacrificing his own life. The
villain, Lex Luthor, stabs him in the side. While he is being brutally
beaten, the only sympathetic face belongs to a "fallen woman."
Director Bryan Singer has said he sees Jewish and Christian roots in
Superman. "So it's sort of the American dream combined with a
little bit of the myth, the concept of Messiah. He's the Jesus Christ of
superheroes," he told the magazine Wizard last year. More
recently, in an
interview with The Associated Press, he said: "These allegories are
part of how you're raised. They find their way into your work..."
Superman was created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, high school
classmates in a Jewish neighbourhood in Cleveland. They were both
steeped in the immigrant Jewish culture of the day, said Rabbi Simcha
Weinstein, author of Up, Up and Oy Vey!: How Jewish History and Values
Shaped the Comic Book Superhero. In the Superman story, young
Kal-El's father realizes their home planet, Krypton, is about to blow
up. He places his infant son in a tiny rocket. Kal-El escapes to Earth,
is adopted, and becomes a mighty superhero. The character's
creators might have borrowed from the ancient story of parents who saved
their child from death by placing him alone on a river in a small
basket. He was found, adopted and grew to be a mighty hero. That's Moses
from the Book of Exodus. "Was it conscious? I don't think so,"
Rabbi Weinstein
said of the parallel. "But they tapped into their own mythology."
Since the days of Siegel and Shuster, control of the character has
passed through the hands of many dozens of writers. Some have emphasized
the quasi-religious roots more than others. The 1978 Superman
movie, co-written by Mario Puzo and directed by Richard Donner,
resonated with many Christians. In a line resurrected for the new movie,
Superman's dad (played by Marlon Brando) says: "They can be a great
people, Kal-El, if they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the
way. For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent
them you ... my only son." That's almost straight out of the
Gospel of John, said Reg Grant, a professor of pastoral ministries at
Dallas Theological Seminary. But there's a vital difference from the
message of Christianity: The caped, comic book "saviour" is not sent to
save people from their own evil. "He comes to help us find our
potential,"
Dr. Grant said. In fact, the new movie, despite its Christ
imagery, could hardly be less theological. There's nothing of prayer or
heaven. Superman offers salvation only from the perils of this world.
To hammer that point, Luthor steals a quote from science fiction
author Arthur C. Clarke: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic." Or, though he doesn't say so, from
divinity. Still, one hardly need be a theologian to spot
Christian-flavoured scenes in Superman Returns. The movie starts
with Superman returning to Earth after five years in space. When he
slams into the old Smallville farm, his adopted Earth mom rushes out to
him. He collapses in her arms in a pose evoking Renaissance images of
the dead Jesus in Mary's arms. Later, when Luthor gets the upper
hand, he and his henchmen briefly pummel Superman with the brutality -
if not the gore - of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. The one
compassionate
face belongs to Luthor's girlfriend, a fallen woman straight out of
the old church tales of Mary Magdalene. Luthor stabs Superman in
the side with a shard of Kryptonite, an image that evokes the fate of
Jesus on the cross. But the hero recovers and plunges into the fiery
bowels of Earth - which look hellish enough for any brimstone preacher.
He rises, carrying an entire evil continent, the creation of
Luthor, which would otherwise destroy much of the world. Superman takes
on this burden of "sin" even though he knows the effort may kill him.
And when he succeeds in his work of salvation, he falls to Earth, arms
outstretched in a classic crucifix pose. The parallels, however,
break down more than once: The movie makes it clear that Superman slept
with Lois Lane at least once. And he's prone to jealousy and other
emotional insecurities. And even Superman's origins owe plenty to
nonreligious influences that were familiar in the 1930s: the
spinach-powered strength of Popeye, the secret identities of Zorro and
the Scarlet Pimpernel. "Superman is a fictional alien. He is
neither Jewish nor Christian," said Rabbi Weinstein, adding that he's
amused by the discussion. On the other hand, he recognizes that
people of faith are drawn to the character. "When I talk about my
weekly Bible portion, my congregants usually start sleeping," he said.
"But when I bring in Superman, they wake up." - Copyright (C) 2006
KRT News Service
Panduan untuk bakal pengantin & sudah berkahwin.. cara utk mengawal
kewangan, meningkatkan dana kewangan utk berkahwin & sesudah berkahwin,
berbelanja secara berhemah.. insha ALlah
layari laman web>> http://www.maskahwin.com/index.php?ref=delete
untuk keterangan lanjut
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